7 Questions for our Staff

Recently, Andrew Norton, our Business Manager here at Grace Church, sent me a copy of this post he found on Perry Noble’s blog, pastor of a wonderful church in Anderson, South Carolina. We have well over 100 employees here at Grace Church, Lititz Christian School, and Morningstar Daycare. I encourage each of them to answer these 7 questions that Perry poses:

#1 - Am I Living Above Reproach? According to II Timothy 2:20-21, PURITY MATTERS! I am sick and tired of pastors and church leaders making seriously bad immoral decisions and shipwrecking the faith of so many people…we are called to live above reproach. One of the questions I often ask people in a one on one setting is, “Is there anything going on in your private life that, if it became public, would disqualify you from ministry?”

#2 - Is This Job My Passion Or My Paycheck? God created us all for a purpose in life…and it wasn’t to just draw a paycheck. Ministry needs to be a passion…an obsession…NOT just a way to make a living.

#3 - Am I In Line With Where We Are Going As A Church? A staff that is united and focused is a powerful force in this world. But a staff that is divided has never produced good fruit.

#4 - Do I Feel Like I Deserve More? Ministry is one of the most under appreciated jobs in the world! (The other two are mothers and teachers!!!) BUT…if a staff member is always going around complaining about how hard they are working OR comparing themselves to other staff and saying, “They don’t work as hard as me,” there’s a problem!

#5 - Am I Reflecting On How Things Used To Be Or Passionate About How Things Are Going To Be? Things change–PERIOD! And in a church world staff need to be able to change as well. That means systems AND relationships are going to be different this time next year if the church continues to reach people…and a staff member who is stuck in the past will weigh the rest of the staff down!

#6 - Do I Feel Like I Have To “Kill Time” Because There Is “Nothing To Do?” This one is HUGE…there have been a very few instances where a staff member has said, “Yeah, I don’t really have anything to do.” My response has always been, “With thousands of people coming to our church, you have plenty to do!” I then encourage them to send a card, make a phone call or do something to communicate a thank you!

#7 - Do I Fully Trust The Leadership? It is good to do a gut check from time to time for any staff member…to look at their supervisor and say, “Do I REALLY trust that guy or girl?” AND to look at the senior pastor and ask, “Do I trust that dude?” Because if trust isn’t there then problems WILL surface because a person who doesn’t trust the leadership will always become divisive or lazy!