Saturday, April 21, 2018
Hey Fletch … We hired an XP about a year ago and he is killing us. He is gruff, direct and all business. He doesn’t get what it means to be a pastor. Help!
DRF—Many new Executive Pastors come from the business world. They are used to making decisions, corporate policy and a fast pace. I wrote a “Hey Fletch” on ‘The Church Moves as Glacial Speed.’ You may want to read it and give it to him.
The only problem to comparing the church to a glacier is that it does a horrible disservice to glaciers! The first thing that a corporate type needs to learn is that the church has all its stakeholders present every Sunday. Companies rarely gather all their owners, stockholders and customers together at one place, let alone every week. Church members deeply care about how the campus looks, changes that are made, using the facility for their group and how communication is shared on Sundays and in email.
Pastors are a different breed of cat. Most pay for seminary on their own. Who gets lucrative stock options to put into a retirement account? There is often little job security when new leadership comes to a church. Pastors are leading the charge of a spiritual war—praying with grieving families, counseling a teen who is suicidal, teaching the Word with conviction, discipling people through challenging situations.
Here are some things you can do. Invite your XP into your ministry. Take them on a youth trip to Mexico. Grab their hand and bring them for a day into the local homeless shelter with you. Ask them to join you in a challenging “on call” situation. Take them to lunch and share the challenges of your ministry.
Your XP is on a steep learning curve, just as you were when you first entered ministry!
