How well you influence your boss will define your youth ministry in many important ways. We all realize how important it is to have the support of those who oversee us in ministry. If they approve of the direction we are headed, we will enjoy their help and encouragement. If they aren’t on board with our decisions we will find ourselves spending much of our time explaining what we are doing and why we are doing it. You need to think about how you will lead and influence your boss if you want to see your ministry reach its potential.

Most youth workers realize that their relationship with their senior or executive pastor is vital. What they fail to recognize is that it doesn’t have to be a passive relationship. As I talk to youth workers from around the country, the issue of learning how to lead up surfaces again and again. If you feel at a loss in this area, realize that you are not alone. This issue is like most in leadership, if we don’t have a plan in place we won’t do anything about it. Consider what it would take to have an intentional, influential relationship with your boss. Then go about making that kind of relationship a reality. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Remember your boss’ perspective will often be different from yours. It has been said that our perception is what determines our perspective on reality. It can be very helpful to remember that your boss will not look at problems, obstacles, or even opportunities through the same lens as you. You need to get to know what he values, what makes him tick. When you understand his value system you can get a better handle on why he makes the decisions he does.

2. You are on the same team. Even if it doesn’t feel like it you need to trust that your boss in ministry is on your side. You are both Christ-followers. You share much more in common than the few things that are differences between you. Give your boss the benefit of the doubt and realize that you are on the same ministry team.

3. It’s in your boss’ interest to be sure you are successful. Remember that when you do your job well, your boss looks good. A great way to win an audience with your superior is to be faithful everyday in your job. If you don’t make many problems that she has to clean up, she will be more willing to listen to you when it really counts.

4. Your boss wants to be able to influence you as well. Just as you are interested in influencing him, he wants to help you grow as well. Recognize that he is trying to help you and be open to that help. You may need to filter what he says. However, if you listen to him, he is much more likely to listen to you.

Thinking through this issue is a great place to start as you strive to influence those who are above you in leadership. By focusing some of your leadership effort on your boss, you will gain an audience to influence change and enjoy their support in your ministry. Today, think about one thing you can do to start to develop more influence with your superior. Then you will be on the road to leading up.

Lonely Leadership

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who is a full time youth pastor. He was relating to me some of the struggles that he is facing in his ministry. He felt that his words had been misunderstood. He was under the microscope and from his perspective he couldn't win. His problems are like many of the rest of us who are leaders in the church. We can easily get bogged down in disagreements and challenges. I would have loved to be able to give him the advice that he needed to solve his problem. Unfortunately I don't have all the answers. I'm not even sure that I understand all the questions. What I do know is that the road of leadership can be long and lonely.

If you have been a leader for any length of time you know what this feels like. You probably recognized this early on in your leadership journey. Few of us come to a leadership role with the expectation of being alone in leadership. When we are faced with this reality it can be a tough pill to swallow.

I remember some advice I received from a leader whom I greatly respect. He told me that the longer you walk the leadership road, the less people you will find in front of you. This means that as you grow as a leader there will be fewer and fewer people you can turn to who will be able to give you mentoring and advice. If this is true, and my experience already shows me this trend, then we as leaders must prepare ourselves for a lonely road.

So what can we do about this? Here are a couple of my observations:

1. Enjoy the fellowship and mentoring of other leaders when you can. Don't be too quick to rush out on your own. You might be giving up the precious gift of friendship with one of the few leaders who is still ahead of you.

2. Realize that you will face seasons of loneliness and isolation in leadership. Develop your relationship with God during the good times so you can be prepared for the tough times. Work at creating and maintaining meaningful relationships that will carry you through these times.

3. Be proactive about spending time with the right people. You can learn from even those who haven't been a leader as long as you. Get involved with believers outside of your ministry or your leadership environment. By building into others, you will grow as well.

Don't be afraid of leadership, be realistic. Know that the leadership road is never easy but it is always worth it.

Student Leadership: Does the good outweigh the bad?

“I’ve stayed away from student leadership because of all the bad outcomes I have witnessed. I’m wondering if the good that can be done with a student leadership team outweighs all the negative possibilities of student leadership.” These were the comments shared with me during a recent conversation with a youth pastor. I have a feeling that he isn’t the only youth worker who has felt this way. The honest truth is that student leadership has so much potential for good but there are some very real downsides as well.

Maybe you have been stung by good student leaders gone bad or by other students in the ministry becoming jealous of the student leaders. It could be that you are just worried about the direction of your team. As a former youth pastor who had a student leadership team I can tell you that what looks good on the outside can turn bad quickly. When you feel exposed to the downside of student leadership keep these four principles in mind.

1. The heart of the leader is always more important than anything that their leadership ever produces.
This is a truth that is undeniable yet it is very easy to forget. God cares most about who a leader is not what they produce. Any effective student leadership program should be focused on developing the heart of a leader within the students. This doesn’t mean that results don’t matter. On the contrary, a student leadership team that isn’t accomplishing anything really isn’t about leadership at all. However, we have to always remember that what is happening in the heart of a student leader is the real goal. While it’s easier to measure outcomes, the value that is produced with a leadership program is the life change in the students.

2. Student leaders need to learn to lead with tact and grace.
Often the problems with student leadership programs are exacerbated by student leaders who deal with frustrating or challenging situations without grace and tact. Many student leaders are just learning the importance of handling others in a way that creates influence. When they react to situations emotionally, often the first thing to go is a sense of grace for the other individual. The reaction of others often teaches them more than a shelf of leadership books ever could. This is a valuable lesson that is often learned best when the young leader succumbs to the temptation to snap at their followers. Student leadership often provides great opportunities to teach students the value of leaders who treat others well. Be sure that you student leadership program encourages students to learn how to lead others well. Then be there to help them learn the lesson as the leadership situation is teaching it to them.

3. Sometimes we as youth workers need to step in order to keep things from getting too bad.
Often we handicap ourselves in student leadership with the mindset that everything must originate from the student leaders. It is very important to give your students real leadership opportunities where both success and failure are realistic options. However, it is also very important to help students process and learn from the leadership situations that they are in. If you saw a student doing something that would harm them physically, you would step in to protect them. If you saw a student doing something that would harm them spiritually or as a leader, wouldn’t you help them through the process? We need to remember that as youth workers the ultimate responsibility for our ministries lies with us. If you see that your student leadership team is horribly off track, you need to step in. Consider suspending the leadership team for a short time until the problems can be solved. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

4. There are lessons in everything for everyone.
Finally, remember that God is in control of your ministry. No matter what happens He is trying to teach everyone, including you, new lessons about being a servant of God. For those students or parents who are disgruntled with the student leadership program, God will teach them important lessons through that frustration. For the student leaders who are feeling the pressure of leadership for the first time, God is giving them an opportunity to learn perseverance and teachability. For you, God is encouraging you to listen to and rely on Him. These great lessons would never be learned if you don’t take the risk of releasing students to lead. In fact, the ultimate value of your leadership program might not be in tasks accomplished or goals reached. It might be in understanding and internalizing all the lessons that God can use that environment to teach all of us.

In closing, I would encourage you to take the risk of releasing your students into meaningful leadership roles. While it is true that things can and do go wrong in student leadership, the outcome more than outweighs the risk involved. Remember that your legacy as a leader will be measured in the lives of the leaders you develop. Embrace student leadership as a powerful way to multiply your impact for God’s Kingdom.

One Long Busy Summer

Things at LeaderTreks have been more busy than usual this summer. With 9 missions and wilderness sites running at the same time for 10 weeks strait there wasn't much time for anything else. With around 900 participants our summer was a great success. Our staff did a great job challenging students to take leadership risks. Our teams made a lasting difference in the places where they served, orphanages were built, homes were renovated, the kingdom was expanded.

It is exciting to be a part of a big mission and purpose. I know that all of my efforts helped to create the success that we enjoyed this summer. Our staff all have ownership in the mission of LeaderTreks, from those of us who man the office to those who serve on site running trips. This sense of ownership is central to our culture.

I saw this sense of ownership play out in significant ways. Some of our staff are moving on after this summer. Even those staff were calling me with suggestions of ways we could continue to develop meaningful partnership with our host partners. I noticed other staff taking their relationships with students to deep levels in order to make an impact in their lives. People don't accomplish much without ownership.

Now that we are in the fall we are in a transition period. During this time it is important for those of us who lead to keep our team focused on owning the mission. In your ministry, try to find ways to help others own the mission and you too will be surprised by the outcomes.

The Risks We Take

Have you ever had an experience in which you heard someone else express with their words the thoughts that you had been keeping to yourself? I experienced this just a couple of nights ago as I sat and visited with a pastor and his wife who are ministering to native americans.

This pastor has been working at the same church for eight years now. His goal is to create a thriving ministry that would help heal the wounds of the local population and encourage whites and indians to worship together. He and his wife are the only ones who are leading this ministry. They desperately need someone in their congregation to grow in their leadership and help them. So far they have about 12 families in the church. At the same time the pastor is working a very demanding full time job and uses much of his income to support the church. You can imagine the demands on his time and his family as he tries to pursue his calling.

As we sat and talked about his situation he said to me, "Maybe I should take a risk for God and quit my job but I don't know if I can. I know I can trust God but I'm afraid to lose what I've got." Those words hit me like a sledge hammer. I struggle with this exact problem in my own life. I know that I haven't taken all the risks for God that I could have. I know that I hold back in my service for Him because I am afraid of losing what I have. To make it worse, I personally know many believers in other countries who are more generous than me, who take more risks than me and who have so little as compared to me. This is an awful reality.

I think more and more that our biggest problem in the American church is that we lack faith in our God. As leaders we need to be the ones to take the most risks, to hold loosely to our treasure and tightly to our God. Instead we often get that reversed.

As I left the pastor's house I listened to an old pod cast of Ravi Zacharias. It was titled Why Sit Here Until We Die, from Jan. 27, 2008. In this message he read a quote that made so much sense to me: "The death in our age is not the death of morals. That is only a symptom. What has died in our age has been faith itself. We have lost the capacity to believe in a God that orders and controls our lives."

I think that there is much truth in this quote. I can see how many of my choices are not dependant upon what God can do but are based on what I think I can do. If we as leaders were willing to expand our idea of God and be willing to take major risks for Him there is no telling what Kingdom impact we could have. I know that this is an area of prayer for me and I hope that you will pray for the courage to take risks too.

The Power of Truth

I have had several experiences in the last few days that have reinforced a truth that I have long know, namely that words of truth are extremely powerful. I'm guessing that have either spoken words of truth or have heard these type of powerful words spoken to you too.

Words of truth come in many forms. Often it is an encouraging word that helps someone understand what their skills and gifts are. Sometimes words of truth take the form of a challenge to be a better person or a better leader. These words can also be a chastisement and even a confrontation.

It is important as a leader to understand the power of truth in order to be transformation in the lives of others. We get many more chances to speak words of truth than we ever take. One way to grow in your leadership influence is to seek out and even create more opportunities to speak words of truth to your followers.

Just this last week I was on a missions trip with High School students. One student in particular stood out to me. He was the type of kid that had lots of potential but much of that potential remained untapped. As I developed trust in our relationship I started to see his need very clearly. He needed to be challenged to do more with his life and with his relationship with God. At that point I had a choice to make. I could have said nothing, that would have been easier. Or I could take the opportunity to speak words of truth. In this case I took the risk and told him some of the things I saw in him. Instead of being driven away by the truth, this student was intrigued. He asked a few clarifying questions and walked away with some new things to think about. I don't know if he is going to rise to the challenge that I laid out but I know that I did my part in his life. The rest is between him and God.

I would encourage you to think through the people God has asked you to shepperd. Who can you speak words of truth to in the next week. Take more of these type of opportunities and you will see you influence level grow.

Keeping it simple

It seems like life is full of worry these days. We can worry about finances, relationships, security, ministry. When we get caught in these worries it is easy to lose perspective and get overwhelmed.

Right now at LT we are facing some unique challenges. Many of our staff who have served with us for several years are moving on to new ministries. We are also dealing with the conflicting expectations of our partners around the world. In the midst of these challenges I often find my self trying to find solutions on my own. I know that God wants me to rest in Him and allow Him to be the solution. Why is that so hard to do?

Maybe as you think about your ministry you can relate to these feelings. It is a temptation for all of us as leaders to want to solve our own problems. I think many times God uses the complexity of our experience to drive us to Him. There are great examples of this principle in scripture. Jonah was driven to God through adversity. David learned the most valuable lessons of his life when he was caught in his sin. When our lives get complex and difficult it is important for us to stop and think about what God is trying to teach us. We need to fight the desire to just push through.

In my devotions last week I read a familiar passage in the Message and it struck me hard. Talking to the Corinthians, Paul says "All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distraction." (I Cor. 7:35) What a great prayer to pray for our own lives. But it begs the question, "Is that what I really want?" Pretty convicting for me.