The Grace Staff Culture (Part 1)

As I serve on a wonderful team daily at Grace Church, I've committed myself to communicating regularly the following concepts to the staff throughout 2009. These concepts aren't new and have been tossed around by many others even in our ministry, but they represent the culture we are looking to enhance and even create amongst our entire team as we move forward for the Lord.

Of course, the primary statement that drives every decision we make is rooted in "Meeting as many people as possible and moving them to where God wants them to be." My desire is to create a team atmosphere where there is an honest understanding that every major decision we make (whether hard or easy) has gone through the lens of the above mentioned statement.

Our M & M statement drives questions and solutions that revolve around our ministries, facility, staffing and finances. We have come to a place where personal comfort doesn't drive us but rather a firm commitment to sell out to meeting and moving. Recently, every staff member has been asked once again to search deep within their hearts and ask themselves "Do I really believe in Meeting and Moving?" The answer to that question helps both me as the Executive Pastor and the staff member to evaluate whether Grace is the place for them. I acknowledge that this might seem harsh to some, but I believe it is very hard and even uncomfortable to serve on a team that filters all major decisions through our meeting and moving philosophy. Thus, I acknowledge that serving on the Grace Church staff might not be for everyone, but to serve with those who who have sold out to M & M sure gets me up out of bed in the morning with passion and excitement for the day! They energize me and help my passion for Christ and His church grow.

In my next post, I begin sharing the four "C's" that we look for in every staff member at Grace. These four "C's" will be used to measure performance but more importantly to help every member of the team keep moving in the right direction for the Lord. The last thing I want as an Executive Pastor is a staff that has grown stagnant. How can we lead a church towards "Moving" if we as a staff have grown static in our own personal walks. Thus, I hope to communicate just how important these four "C's" are to the Grace Staff Culture in my next few posts.