Serve Your Way to the Top – 7 Lessons I Learned While Serving My Way onto a Church Staff

Lesson 1 – Develop a Plan for Personal Growth

Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress.

-I Tim. 4:15

“The motivation behind personal growth: The conviction that you value yourself and that there is value in your dream.”

One of the best decisions I ever made was the decision to do something each day to intentionally grow in three areas:

1.) Grow in my Relationship with God- Nothing is more important than this. Without God, you can not do anything worth doing. Everyday I spend time with God, I get in the Word, and I listen to sermons.

2.) Grow in Leadership – If Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less, then we are all leaders in some aspect. I believe everyone should continually be doing something to grow in their leadership. There are tons of book and cd’s you can get your hands on. Perhaps the greatest thing you can do to grow as a leader is what Bill Hybels said, “Always be leading something.” – Nothing helps you grow like actually doing it!

3.) Grow in the Area of my Gifting and Passion - Want to know what you’re supposed to do in life? What are you passionate about and what are you good at? When you find those two – I promise it’s linked to your call. Once you find these two – give yourself to them. Do everything you can to grow in those areas.

Everyday I read, everyday I file, everyday I write, and I try somehow, to get mentored everyday.

If you don’t grow – you’ll go.

Do you have a plan for personal growth? What are you doing intentionally to grow?

This series I am starting came from an opportunity given to me by Pastor Larry Bettencourt. He puts on servant-leadership conferences for youth ministries around the nation.

He asked me to put together a lesson for youth ministry leaders. The lesson God gave me was, Serve Your Way to the Top - 7 Lessons I Learned While Serving my Way onto a Church Staff.I hope you’ll apply these principles in your own life.

These Lessons:

1.) Might Seem Like Common Sense – though we hear the same principles over and over again, we must always ask ourselves, I may know this, but am I doing it. It’s only in practice will these help you.

2.) Will Work Outside of the Church World – Though I learned these lessons serving at a church, if you’ll apply them in any arena, you’ll start to see yourself improving and climbing the ranks!

3.) Do Not Guarantee You’ll Get on Staff at Your Church – Though these were lessons I learned, the reason I am on staff is because God opened a door – PERIOD. These lessons will allow you to stand out, and as your faithful, God will open up doors and God will promote you. Trust Him for your future.

The 7 Lessons Are:

1.) Develop a Plan for Personal Growth

2.) Be Comfortable With Yourself

3.) Serve or Work as Though You Were on Staff

4.) Be a Great Number 2 – Become Indispensable

5.) Grow Something

6.) Recognize that Changed Lives, Not Popularity is what Matters

7.) You’re Not that Bad

I’ll break each of these lessons down over the next few days. My hope is that they’ll help you serve your way to the top wherever it is you are working or serving.

Last year I posted that it is hard for me to focus on intimacy with God instead of learning information about God. Chris Davis recommended I read “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer. I’m so glad I did.

This book will make you lost sight of everything in life except the pursuit of God. Causing you to seek Him in everything you do and making your whole life about an intimate relationship with Him. I loved this book!

Final Grade: 9/10    Buy it Here

Here are some of my highlights:

• There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy.

• How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers.

• The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.

• Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and “things” were allowed to enter. Within the human heart “things” have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer

• We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears

• At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will be conditioned by the choice we make.

• “Question: What is the chief End of Man? Answer: Man’s chief End is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

• “Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God.

• Millions call themselves by His Name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who is above, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above.