Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Church Multiplication

How To Determine Your Next Staff Ministry Hire

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In every growing organization, the order in which you hire your next staff member is critical to your growth trajectory. Resources are limited and every staff hour counts. How much more true is this in a non-profit organization like a church? Especially when it’s primarily a volunteer movement?

Is your next hire an administrator or a children’s pastor? Is it a youth worker? A worship leader? A groups pastor?

Peter Drucker, in his book The Effective Executive, gives us timely advice for this question:

One should only have on a team the knowledges and skills that are needed day in and day out for the bulk of the work. Specialists that may be needed once in a while, or that may have to be consulted on this or on that, should always remain outside. It is infinitely cheaper to go to them and consult them against a fee than to have them in the group to say nothing of the impact an underemployed but overskilled man has on the effectiveness of the entire group. All he can do is mischief. (Location 673)

What a great framework to determine who your next hire should be!

After all, “contracting out” various aspects of your ministry is now easier than ever. For example:

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3 Simple Ways to Become Efficient

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Since time is the only commodity that cannot be gained, multiplied, or banked, here are three simple ways for you to become more effective in the use of your time:

1. Stop doing the things that don’t really matter

  • Peter Drucker sums it up well in his book The Effective Executive. Ask yourself “‘What would happen if this were not done at all?’ And if the answer is, ‘Nothing would happen,’ then obviously the conclusion is to stop doing it.”

2. Delegate, delegate, delegate

  • If you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, record the steps and find someone else who can do it for you. They may even do it better than you, and it will free you up to do what only you can uniquely do.

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The One Thing 2014 Ministry Report Book

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The One ThingI’m so excited that The One Thing 2014 Ministry Report ebook is finally out! Not just because I wrote a chapter on “Why You Need to Rethink Your Small Group Ministry,” but because Darren is a dear friend and a sharp leader. He had the foresight to ask the important question:

What is the one new thing that has helped your ministry excel over the past year?

I want to encourage you to go download this free ebook here to learn the 11 aha moments from over this past year:

  1. Exploring New Paradigms for Effective Evangelism – Brent Dolfo
  2. 15 Characteristics of Today’s Unchurched Person – Carey Nieuwhof
  3. Mobilizing Student Missionaries – Jason Ballard 
  4. Sermon Series Planning – Phil Bowdle
  5. Execution: The Secret Sauce of Every High Functioning Leader – Darren Herbold
  6. Making Vision Real – Paul Alexander
  7. Why You Need to Rethink Your Small Group Ministry – Daniel Im (that’s me!)
  8. How to Engage a Healthy Staff – Ron Edmondson
  9. 7 Killer Mistakes Church Leaders Make – Scott Williams
  10. Wanted: A Killer Digital Strategy – Tim Nations
  11. Why Your Vision Does Not Stick – Tim Peters

5 Questions To Help You Move Further Faster

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Running

If you want to move further faster in your leadership, then you not only need to overcome the obstacles that are ahead of you, but you also need to submit the obstacles that are within you.

The way that you lead is deeply affected by your life experiences – and not always in a positive way:

  • For example, when you know that you’ve done a great job on an assignment, do you strive to tell others overtly or subtly? Do you care whether or not you’re praised and encouraged for it? Why is that anyway?
  • Or, when you know that you have done a poor job on a project, what’s going on inside of you? Do you avoid others? Do you rationalize? Why is that?

Here are five questions that every leader must ask themselves to overcome the obstacles that are preventing them from moving further faster:

  1. What are the experiences that have shaped your life?
  2. Are there any patterns underneath your current behaviours that disturb you about yourself?
  3. What are the things in your life that you are holding onto tightly?
  4. What would it look like if you let those things go and surrendered them to God?
  5. Are there any hidden patterns or addictions in your life that are hindering you from moving further faster?

“The freedom question, then, is not whether we can do whatever we want but whether we can do what we most deeply want.” – Gerald May, The Awakened Heart

What Does a Mid-Size Community Look Like? (Part 4 – SG or MSC)

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Back in May 2013, I was featured on Rick Howerton’s Blog with NavPress for a four day interview on “Small Groups or Mid-Size Communities?” He has since joined the staff at LifeWay, and thus the previous posts have gone away. Here’s the last post:

4. What does a mid-size group meeting look like and how often do these groups meet?

Imagine how it would feel like if you belonged to a community…

  • Where love was a verb and was characterized by action, rather than shallow words that didn’t do or mean anything?
  • Where blessing each other wasn’t a second thought, but it was a normal part of our daily schedule?
  • Where apathy and indifference wasn’t the normal attitude, but we were all filled with passion, filled with God’s Spirit, filled with his strength, and where everything we did was towards serving one another and Jesus?

Can you see this? Can you imagine this sort of community? Can you taste it?

I mean, just imagine what it would feel like to belong to a community where no one had any need? Where the community was more about giving to one another, than taking from one another? Just imagine if you belonged to a community that did not just meet each other’s needs, but also the needs of the outsider…of the stranger?

This is what mid-size communities are all about.

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