Lock-Ins are not my favorite thing to do in the first place, so the fact that the students had trashed the sanctuary with candy wrappers and half-empty pop cans really made me mad. We had already “served” these teenagers by staying up all night with them, and now we needed to clean up after them?!
King Herod got a little excited that the Jews got a little excited when “he had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword” (Acts 12:2 NIV), so he proceeded to seize Peter also.
“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:5 NIV).
And then something miraculous happened. An angel of the Lord showed up and released Peter from his chains and walked him through the guards, unaware, and out into the street.
“Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating” (Acts 12:11 NIV).
The power of prayer is amazing!
Gossip occurs when there is not enough information. If they don’t know about something they are a bit suspicious from all 3 angles: followers, leaders, and peers (people you work with).
Gossip breeds in silence. Pessimism nurtures dissatisfaction. If people are not included in on information or are left out of the loop, then those people will operate as renegades out of the group.
A leader’s staff must be in the know. There needs to be communication… and lots of it! Staff cannot support what they have not been included in on. The leader creates a vacuum and mistrust unnecessarily.
It is always vital for synergy in any organization to have high trust and high cooperation. Those traits will not occur without communication.
This is part of a series called Patty Proverbs. When I was in college @ Multnomah University in Portland, our professor, Dr. Steve Patty, shared some proverbial leadership wisdom with his students. These are his “proverbs.”
We need covenantal relationships, not contractual relationships.
What makes leading people worth the risk? People are eternal, not programs.
What are the risks in relating with people?
You’re going to enjoy reading this book! Really, you are!
I know, I know, I’m reviewing the book so I supposed to say things like that, right?! Well, I typically have to trudge through books, particularly on leadership, because they are boring. Some people enjoy lists of principles and can easily see how to apply those principles in their given context.
Well, I am not one of those people! Perhaps this is why I’m a kids pastor. I enjoy stories… especially a really good story.
And “The Eric Trap: 5 things every leader has to get right” is a great story!
This past weekend, over one hundred middle school students descended upon the Hayward Wesleyan Church for the Spring Lock-In. I don’t know why they like doing this?!
In order to organizationally survive 10 hours with middle school students, one needs to have a comprehensive plan for the time allotted. Preferably there needs to be more activities planned that one has time for, which turned out to be good for us this time. We didn’t run out of things to do, but because of the number of students that attended, we had to not do certain activities that we had previously planned.
When I was in college @ Multnomah University, I had a professor named, Dr. Steve Patty. In his class on Managing Church Ministries, Dr. Patty taught his students some proverbial wisdom he affectionately called: Patty Proverbs.
Here they are:
HT Digital Kids Initiative
via Common Sense Media
source YouTube
