Posted on Monday, August 16, 2021

Don’t Waste Your Desert

by Josh Reich

Have you ever had a moment where things didn’t go the way you expected them to go? You had a plan, you were working on that plan, but then, it shifted. The job fell through, the money you planned to have got used up somehow, a relationship dried up. Maybe you prayed for something, and God didn’t do what you expected or hoped He would do.

All of us experience that.

For the last year, I expected God to do something. I was so convinced I knew exactly what God was doing, but I didn’t. So what seemed like a perfectly laid out plan for my life didn’t happen.

When life doesn’t turn out how you expect.

At first, I was frustrated. I wanted to stop praying. I was so mad at God. Didn’t he know the great plans I had for my life?

As I look back, though, what I saw as great plans were really just easy plans. If I got the job I applied for; my family wouldn’t have to move, we wouldn’t have to leave friends and start over, I would move into a new role at the church I was already on staff at and keep things moving into the next season. It was easy. I also know, now looking back, I wasn’t wired for that, and that wasn’t my next best step.

How God forms us.

How do you make sure you don’t waste your desert? Or, as I recently heard Albert Tate say, “What if the season you are in isn’t the test, but the preparation for the test to come?” So how do you make sure you are ready?

This is incredibly important but easy to miss in the desert. But we want to make sure we are prepared for the future God has for us.

As I walked through my most recent desert, here are 3 questions I found helpful to ask:

3 questions to ask, so you don’t waste your desert.

How are you spending your time in the wilderness? In the desert, it is easy to be like the children of Israel and complain. This makes sense because the desert isn’t fun. It is harsh. It is a barren place with little water, lots of sun, no shade, and creatures that can kill you!

But it is important to ask, how am I spending my time in the desert? And, am I spending my time on the things God is spending his time on in me?

As Katie and I spent months walking around the desert of Tucson behind our neighborhood, we kept asking, “God, what are you doing? What are you doing in us? What are you preparing us for?” These questions shifted our perspective, which is incredibly important to not wasting your desert.

But how do you figure those things out? It is what you do with your time in the desert that determines what happens in the desert.

What you do with your time in the desert determines what happens in the desert.

When Jesus was in the desert in Mark 1 & Matthew 4, he spent his time fasting and praying, so he was ready to battle the devil and do the work in the desert that He needed to do.

Are you moving closer to God or pulling away? Every desert in Scripture is an invitation from God to pull closer to him or pull away from Him. To listen more closely to His voice or to listen more to the voices of those around you. It is a moment to decide if you will dig into the soul work God is doing in you or pull away from that and go the shortcut and skip that hard work.

The shortcut seems easier. The nation of Israel got tired of waiting on Moses to bring a word from God, so they built a golden calf to worship.

The reality of the desert is that God will often seem incredibly distant and silent. You can go weeks, months, or even years without a clear sign from God, a clear word from Him. This is disorienting and disillusioning. In our most recent desert, God felt silent for over a year. It seemed like He was speaking clearly to lots of people around us but not to us. In fact, we almost missed Him because of how He spoke to us about Massachusetts; it wasn’t what we expected Him to do.

If the wilderness is your training camp, what is being toned and strengthened in you? This last question is critical.

Don’t waste your desert.

The best way to not waste your desert season is to ask: God, what is being strengthened in me? What do you want me to learn about you? About myself.

There are things about God and ourselves that we can only learn in the deserts of life.

There are things about God and ourselves that we can only learn in the deserts of life.

Don’t mistake this question, though; this isn’t necessarily why God has you where you are, but it is the path that God wants you on to know what He wants you to know.

As Katie and I walked through our desert in Tucson, God showed us things in our hearts that we ended to know. He showed us what our desires for life, family, and ministry really were and that they wouldn’t be found where we were. He showed me what I really valued in life and what it would take to get to those places. We needed the time of the desert for those things to crystallize in our hearts and minds.

I think something else happens; our faith is strengthened as we dig into God’s word and presence in the desert. As we fight to hear God’s voice, as we strain to hear Him, we learn how to hear Him, and that is such a gift. It is not always easy and obvious, but His voice is always there.

Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2021

God’s Love for You

by Josh Reich

One of the strongest and clearest messages throughout the Bible is God’s love for us. We are reminded that God doesn’t forget us (even though many of us feel forgotten), that God is close to us (even though He often feels far away), and that not only has He created us in His image, but He knows us, and that doesn’t scare Him away (although we always fear that the moment someone truly knows us, they’ll bolt).

And yet, many of us still struggle to believe God loves us.

We believe God loves the world. We believe that through Jesus God will redeem and restore the world, but we have a hard time placing ourselves in that.

So we run, we hide, we put up fronts, wear masks, beat ourselves up for past mistakes, try to earn God’s love, try to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love, and all the while God’s love sits there.

If you’re like me, you can relate to this.

The problem for many of us is that we read verses about God’s love for the world and us (John 3:16), that Jesus loves us (John 15:9), that God predestined us in love (Ephesians 1:4 – 5), that God sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17), that God loved us first (1 John 4:19), that God draws us to Himself (John 6:44). We read the apostle Paul saying over 160 times that as a follower of Jesus, we are “in Christ”, and yet we live each and every day as if God is disappointed in us, indifferent towards us, mildly happy with us or just “likes” us.

We’ll say things like, “I know God has forgiven me, but I can’t forgive myself.” Or, “Yes, God loves me, but I can’t love myself.”

When we say those things, we have made love and forgiveness something it is not. We have based that on our own definitions and life.

Over the last two years, if there is one message that God has put on my heart for me to learn, it is this: His gracious, unrelenting, never stopping love for me.

Personally, I keep going back to Luke 15 and the stories that Jesus told. A shepherd who goes after a lost lamb, a woman who searches for a coin and a father who runs out to meet his son who doesn’t deserve grace, let alone a party. Through this passage, God has softened my heart to understand and feel His love.

Some of us (at least I did) balked a little at this because it seemed too emotional, made God too close and personal, and we feared it would take away His transcendence and power. He’s God, Creator of the universe. Yes, and He’s also a personal God who created you in His image and sent His Son to die in your place so He could rescue you and so you could know His great love for you.

Here’s my challenge to you. Spend as much time as you need, months or years. Dive into Luke 15 and the passages listed above and ask God, “Show me Your love for me; help me to understand and feel Your love for me.”

Posted on Monday, August 9, 2021

How to Start a New Season of Life & Ministry

by Josh Reich

You’ve left your job, the last season just ended, you’ve changed roles, or you’ve had a relationship shift or change.

Once you let go of it, how do you start a new season?

Too often, we miss out on the next season because we hold on to the last season. As a friend said to me once, “I feel like you are making me pay for the things someone else did.” This is easy to do, and if we do it, we will miss out on the future that God has for us.

We also need to have a clear vision for the future and the next season so that we not only experience all that God has for us but so that we enjoy it.

I shared recently how to let go of your last season. Today, I want to share how to move into a new season, some of the things I’ve learned moving to Massachusetts.

3 things to remember as you start a new season in life, marriage or your career.

1. What do you hope for in the future? List out what you hope happens, all the prayers you are praying, all the things you are hoping God does, all the places and experiences you are hoping happen. This is so important because you can simply get started in the busyness of a new season.

For us, it was a monumental task to move across the country, and it was easy to hit the ground running here. But stop and ask, “Now that we are here, what does God want to do? Why has God brought us to this place this season? What does God have in mind for us?” If you are moving into a new role, you were chosen, not someone else. So why you? This is important whether you moved for a job or got promoted.

If you are entering a new season of marriage or parenting, what do you hope for in this next season? It could be as simple as more sleep, but write it out. This helps to create a vision of the future, a way to plan and pray as you move forward.

One question you must ask at the start of a new season.

2. Ask the right questions. This applies to any new season, but I want to focus on entering a new role at work.

When I knew we were leaving Tucson, I read Every Pastor’s First 180 Days: How to Start and Stay Strong in a New Church Job by Charles Stone, and in it, he lists out questions you should ask people in your new church. So, over this past month, I have been asking staff, elders, and people in the church the following questions:

What is going well at Community Covenant Church (CCC)?
What is not going well at CCC?
What is one thing about CCC you hope doesn’t change?
What is one thing about CCC you hope does change?
What burning questions would you like to ask me?
If money weren’t an issue, what would be your next full-time hire(s) and why?
If you were in my shoes, what would you focus on first?
How can I pray for you?

The answers have been insightful for me as I’m learning the church’s culture and where people are. But I’m also getting a sense of what is stirring in the people of the church and what God has placed on their hearts, which has been so helpful for me.

How to interview the people who just interviewed you.

As you move into a new season, whether in your personal or professional life, ask people ahead of you what you need to know. One of my favorite questions to ask is, “What question should I be asking that I’m not?” This has been really helpful in my personal life regarding the different seasons of marriage and parenting.

3. Take a breath and a step. Calmly, but courageously step into the next season. Whether that is a new season in marriage, parenting, your career, or a hobby, step into it. We are parenting teens and tweens now. The toddler days are over. I can lament what once was, but I will miss all that this next season of life has to offer if I do.

Figure out as many of the exciting things that lay ahead, all the adventures awaiting you, and step into them. Don’t look back. Look forward to it and enjoy it!

3 important things to do as you start a new season.

Posted on Thursday, August 5, 2021

11 Ways to Engage Guests at Your Church

by Josh Reich

two man and woman standing on doorway

Recently, I attended a virtual conference with some of the team from my new church, Community Covenant Church, on church systems. They spent a great deal of time discussing how to engage people, engage guests, and help them take their first steps at a church.

And I was reminded of something important: Words matter. What you say, and when you say it, matters a great deal. What you say as a person, leader or church reveals your values.

When you stand on a stage and address those new to your church, what you say matters, it has always rubbed me the wrong way when I hear the word visitor at a church instead of guest. Now, you might wonder, is the difference really a big deal? I think it is.

Here’s why: A visitor is someone you expect not to come back. A guest is someone you prepare for. So by calling them guests, we are seeking to communicate we are thinking about them, expecting them to come, and have thought through their experience from start to finish.

Here are some practical things to do for guests:

11 tips to make a great first impression with guests at your church.

Have friendly faces outside who say, “hi.” This goes a long way. Telling someone, “We’re glad to see you,” communicates so much.
Create a culture of “showing” not “pointing.” If a guest looks lost or wants to know where a bathroom is or the auditorium, don’t point and say, “It’s down there on the left.” Walk with them to where they need to go, show them.
Have signs. This is crucial. People don’t know where things are. I think a church should always have more signs than they have. This helps guests move through your church unnoticed if they choose to do so, allowing them to move at their own pace. You should have signs that tell people where to park, where the front door is (this isn’t always obvious at a church), where bathrooms are, where kids go, and where the auditorium is.
Make guest sign-in for kids fast and secure. When parents drop their kids off, they are dropping off their most precious possession. This is more nerve-wracking than most churches realize. It should be secure. Parents (or the adult responsible for the child) should have to fill something out and get a badge that enables only them to get their child (no tag, no pick-up.) Leaders in the kid’s area should have shirts, vests, badges, something that identifies them as workers.
Call them guests. This is self-explanatory, but this communicates who you think they are and your preparedness for them.
Tell them why you do what you do. Where else do you stand and sing with a group of people songs you don’t know? Where else do you listen to a 30-60 minute message without moving? Communion? Prayer? Announcements? All these things can be foreign to people, so please explain what you are doing and why you are doing them. Tell them how long the service will be and stick to that. If you preach through books of the Bible, tell them why you do that. A simple line, “We’re going to sing songs to God that we believe to be true about him.” Or, “we love to preach through books of the Bible as we believe the Bible is true and authoritative for our lives.” Things like this also remind regulars why you do what you do.
Have clear next steps. If your service is step 1, what is step 2? What should they do? How do they get more involved? Make this obvious.
Let them identify themselves in their time. Let guests tell you who they are when they want. Please don’t give them a visitor badge or a nametag, and don’t make them stand up. Then, when they are ready, they’ll tell you they are there.
Speak to them, let them know you know they are there, and expected. For example, say things like, “You may be new” or, “You might be here today, and you don’t know why you are, or you may have been dragged here by a friend” or, “You might be here and aren’t sure you believe in Jesus.” This says, “I’ve thought about you; this message is for you. I’m going to speak to where you are.” This also tells your regulars it is safe to bring their friends here.
Give them something. People think churches want something from them, money, time, etc. At the end of the service, tell guests where they can get a gift for being with you as a thank you. My preference is not to make them give you a connection card for a gift that doesn’t feel like a gift. Just be generous to them.
Invite them back. Tell everyone, “We’d love to see you next Sunday.” Invite them back. You do this with guests when they come over; you talk about getting together again.

11 ideas to welcome guests to your church.

Posted on Monday, August 2, 2021

How to Let Go of Your Last Season

by Josh Reich

During my transition from Tucson to Massachusetts, I read a beneficial book called Every Pastor’s First 180 Days: How to Start and Stay Strong in a New Church Job by Charles Stone. One of the things I came across in it was a quote from Lauren Suval, “Psychologists tell us that we can’t open a new chapter in our lives without closing the prior one. It’s called closure.”

Psychologists tell us that we can’t open a new chapter in our lives without closing the prior one. It’s called closure. -Lauren Suval

Instinctively, we know this. But many of us miss out on the next season because we don’t let go of the last season. Instead, we carry hurt or bitterness into a new role, a new church, or a new relationship.

A season-changing event could be a life stage change (a child starting or ending school, becoming an empty nester); it could be a promotion or retirement; it could be a job change; a significant birthday, etc.

Here are three things to keep in mind to let go of the last season:

3 questions to ask to let go of something or someone?

1. What (or who) do you need to grieve? What (or who) do you need to let go of? No matter how great the last season was, there are losses with it. No matter how much you are looking forward to the next season, there are things to grieve from the last season. Our kids recently started acting like teenagers with friends, phones, video games, movies, staying up late, and sleeping in. This is exciting and fun. But, Katie and I realized some of the things we lost: time in the evening as a couple, time as a family, etc. To move forward and enjoy this season, we have to grieve that and let go of it. We also have to figure out how to move forward into this new season (come back for the next post on that.)

One of the things I had to do when we left Tucson was grieving what didn’t happen. These weren’t necessarily bad things, but hopes and dreams that I had for our time there. Things I had hoped we would accomplish, things that I believed would happen, relationships I expected to play out that didn’t. This is painful and is simply listing out what we had hoped to do.

As the season closes, is there anyone you need to talk to? Is there any hurt you are carrying that you need to deal with? Sometimes, to move forward, you need to deal with your own heart, and it isn’t a conversation you need to have. Do you need to let go and give something or someone over to God? When I look back on Tucson, some of the things and situations that I need to let go of aren’t necessarily sinful. I’ve heard of people holding “funerals” for these or not following people and organizations on social media. But you will need to figure out how you should grieve and let go.

Is there anyone or anything you need to let go of?

2. What do you need to celebrate? Depending on the season you are coming out of, this might be hard to do. It is easy to focus on the negative from a time, but how do you celebrate? What did God do through you, in you, and around you?

This list will probably surprise you. But this list will also not include things you had hoped for, which is why you need to grieve. On our last Sunday in Tucson, many of the people who were a part of Revolution (the church we planted in 2008) showed up at my last sermon to say goodbye. There were many tears and a lot of laughter as we remembered moments together, ways we saw God move. People were able to speak life to Katie and me about the impact we had made in their lives. This was so good for us and so humbling to see what God did in and around us.

If you struggle with finding positive things, ask someone else. But part of the closing of a chapter is thanking God for all that He has done. This also helps to keep your heart in the right place.

3. What did you learn that will influence you in the future? The end of every season brings with it all kinds of lessons. At some point, you need to sit down and ask what you learned.

As a leader, every experience and situation I have is an opportunity to learn. As I look back on my 15 years in Tucson at both Revolution and Pantano, I have learned so many things. Some are things I’d like to continue doing, some are things I’d like to stop doing as a leader. There are specific lessons from my time of not being a lead pastor at Pantano that helped me further clarify who I am and how I lead most effectively. To me, my 18 months at Pantano was a season of preparation for this next season that I don’t want to waste.

The greatest thing I learned in the last 5 years is what matters most to me. God used my time at Pantano to clarify in my heart who I am, who I want to become as a leader and the path that He has me on. I’m so thankful for those insights He gave me.

I think too often we are ready to turn a page in life that we miss God’s lessons for us. But, if we miss this, we will miss the full future God has for us.

If we don’t let go, we will miss the full future God has for us.

Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2021

How Pastors Miss What’s Happening in Their Church

by Josh Reich

Recently I was sitting with a group of pastors who all had the same reaction to what was going on in their churches.

Surprise.

Each pastor thought things were going relatively well before covid. They thought their church was healthy because they saw a number of people getting baptized, they met first-time guests each week and they had a full room.

Yet, the surprise came because as we have walked through covid it has revealed what is actually happening beneath the surface of our churches. It has revealed who we really are and how we are really doing.

Do you really know where your church is and what’s happening in your church?

What if you didn’t need a crisis to know what is happening in your church?

The other thing that makes this a challenge is that the longer you are at a church, the longer you are in leadership, the further you get from what is happening. And, people don’t like to give you bad news, so all you hear are good things.

As a leader you must make sure you have ways to find out how things are actually going in your church.

Here’s how:

3 things to watch if you are a pastor.

1. Staff & volunteer turnover. The longer you lead, the more change you will see in your staff and volunteer base. This happens for all kinds of reasons: people move for a job, they transition to be closer to family, the role they were in is no longer their passion or they have outgrown it, or they haven’t kept up with the growth of the church. Not all turnover is bad.

But, all turnover is data you need to be aware of. If, in the last few years, you have had a high turnover rate in your staff, do you know why? If you do exit interviews (and you should), don’t dismiss the information you receive from them, even if you don’t like what you hear.

High turnover tells a story that you need to know about as a leader.

On the flip side of this, it can also be unhealthy if you have no new voices or leaders at the top levels of your organization. This doesn’t mean you need to promote people past their ability or fire anyone. But, the longer you are a leader the more comfortable you get with the leaders you have around you, and the less you want new voices in that circle.

Be aware of that temptation and make sure you have ways for new voices to speak into what is happening at a church.

2. Why do people stay and leave your church. This is connected to the first one. But do you know why people come to your church? Do you know what keeps them? Do you know why people are leaving your church? It isn’t always good or bad, but you need to know.

Do you know why people come to your church? Do you know why people are leaving your church?

As much as possible when people leave your church, talk to them. Take them to coffee and see what you can learn from them. They may or may not want to talk with you, but it is worth trying to find out.

When someone new comes to your church and gets connected, find out what kept them. Ask them how they found you, why they came back a second time or a third time. Ask them what made them get engaged. This helps you to know what is working and not working in your church.

How to know what is working and not working in your church.

3. New life, groups, and baptisms. This is all about new life, about the next steps being taken.

If you haven’t seen any new groups getting started or new leaders being raised up, there is a problem with your groups, assimilation, or leadership development system. If you aren’t seeing people cross the line of faith or people getting baptized, then you need to step back and ask why.

It is easy to see a crowd in a room and think you are doing well. But you need to dig into the steps people are taking or not taking.

Are people stepping up to volunteer and join teams? Or is it the same people who have always done it?

I know, as a leader, it is easier to pretend things are working just fine and it is hard to know after covid where people are. But your job as a leader is to know reality and define it for your church so that you can lead through it.

3 things to keep an eye on in your church.

Posted on Wednesday, July 14, 2021

How to Know It’s time to Leave a Ministry Part 2

by Josh Reich

I’ve been asked by lots of friends and pastors recently, “How did you know it was time to leave Tucson? Time to leave Pantano?” It’s a question that every pastor and leader wrestles with at some point in their ministry.

I’ve watched many friends leave too soon because it was hard or they wanted to live somewhere else.

Is it time for you to quit your ministry job and find a new one?

I was talking with a mentor during a really low point several years ago. I had been contacted by several churches, all larger churches in more prestigious places. But then, none of the doors opened; they all closed. When I talked with him about it, he told me, “Josh, you must feel pushed from somewhere and pulled to somewhere else.” He went on, “You might be pushed, but you might not be. But you are definitely not pulled somewhere yet.”

And he was right.

In my last post, I shared how to know that you are being pushed from somewhere. Today, I want to share how you know you are being pulled somewhere.

How to know you should take a ministry job.

Before diving in, I think we often make this decision very mystical and talk about calling. That does matter. But, I also think there are many practical reasons to move to a new ministry opportunity that we can overlook because they can feel less spiritual.

So, here goes:

4 ways to know if you should take a ministry job.

1. You want to live in that place. This became clearer a few years ago as we went through The Leaders Journey with Crosspoint. The leaders of that talk a lot about the power of place and the theology of place. They said, “God gave Adam and Eve a garden, He gave the nation of Israel a land, and He gives the church a city.” Woven into each one of us is a place. Place matters a lot in our lives. There are certain places where we feel more alive, closer to Jesus, or we feel more comfortable somewhere. Maybe you love living in a city, or you want to live in a place with a lot of space. I have a friend who recently moved back to his hometown and bought a farm. That was home to him.

After hearing that, I remember sitting there and thinking, “Tucson isn’t our place.” There isn’t anything wrong with Tucson; it just wasn’t us. It wasn’t home. When I flew to Massachusetts to meet with the team at CCC, my first thought was, “This feels like home.”

For all of us, this matters. This is especially important as our kids get older and think about where we want them to be.

Now a caution. We can hear this and think, “I want to live there,” and think of some really hip or exotic location. And maybe that’s where you should live. But, over the years, I have watched many pastors and church planters move to “cool” places to live, only to get burned out or run over because they didn’t fit there.

As Katie and I prayed through what our place was, we talked with our kids, thought through what made us feel alive, what made us feel dead inside. This helps to clarify #2 on this list.

How to know you should move to a specific place.

2. You feel a draw to the people of the church and the area. Deeply connected to “your place” are the people of that place.

Each city, state, and region has a specific ethos, narrative, and culture of how things are done. This came home to me through two experiences. One, talking to my brother-in-law, who worked for several years in Germany with Young Life. He told me that when a young life staffer goes to a new city or country, they are encouraged to research and discern the sin and narrative of that place. What lies underneath it. Every place, while similar, is also very different. Tucson’s sin and narrative are very different from the one here in Massachusetts.

The second was reading American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. This book opened my eyes to how different America is, how unique each region is and why leaders need to be aware of those differences. One of the questions I asked during the interview process at each church was for descriptions of the area: what words describe the city, the people in the city, and the sin or idol in that place. The answers were incredibly enlightening.

Why it matters to understand the region you lead and live in.

3. The opportunity fits who you are. This is the question of passion, gifts, talents, and experiences.

Ultimately, this is what led me away from Pantano and to Community Covenant Church. After 18 months on staff at Pantano, I knew that who I was wasn’t a fit for the role there. The things that make up who I am didn’t align closely enough with where they wanted the church to go, and that is okay. That means someone else is being pulled there. But, as I talked with the team at CCC, I knew that I was being pulled there. The desires they have for the church, how disciples are made, how preaching is done, and leadership values were more closely aligned with who I am.

How to know you want to work at a specific church.

Values of a church matter, the culture and how they do things matter, especially as you come into a church. You also need to know if it is a turnaround, or if the church is growing and healthy. Did they just come off a painful transition or a healthy one? All of those go into your fit for them.

Just because a church wants you or that you want doesn’t mean you are being pulled towards it. And just because a church doesn’t choose you doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you.

Which leads to the last one.

4 ways to know a ministry job is right for you and your family.

4. You want to give yourself to that church and those people. Again, the question of context is important. The connection that comes when you talk with the team already there and your experiences with the church matter. This is when you need to pay close attention and process this with close friends and your spouse because it is very easy to talk yourself into an opportunity. For help on how to do that, you can read here and here.

I say give yourself to a church and people because as a pastor, that is what you are doing. But, you also need to understand how long it will take you to bring about needed changes, either in the church or in the staff. As I talked to different churches, I asked myself, “Do I want to wait that long? Do I want to put 5 years into this church before I see any headway?” Now, the answer to those questions might be yes or no; there isn’t a right or wrong answer as you process through these. But, you do need to process through them.

The last thing you want to do is talk yourself into a job.

One question I kept asking myself as I talked with churches was, “In 10 years, will I be glad I moved here? Will I be glad I chose this church, this place? Will I be glad I chose this role?” I think the answer needs to be a resounding “yes” as much as it can be, or as much as you know of the place.

In 10 years, will I be glad I moved here? Will I be glad I chose this church, this place?

Posted on Monday, July 5, 2021

How to Know It’s Time to Leave a Ministry

by Josh Reich

One of the things I’ve been asked a lot over the last month from pastors and friends is, “How do I know when it’s time to leave a job? To leave a ministry?”

It’s a hard question to navigate. When you are exhausted you feel like you are out of ideas. Or maybe it is really hard and you want to leave. Should you? Maybe. Maybe not. Just because something is hard, or you feel you are in over your head or dried up, doesn’t mean it is time to leave. But it could. Just because you want to have a fresh start or want to live somewhere different doesn’t mean you should move.

How do you know if it’s time to find a new ministry job?

And that’s the hard part.

Not to mention all the details related to moving your family, all the connections you will have to end, and the relational side of ministry. It becomes a multi-layered discussion and decision.

So, how do you know?

How do you know if you should look for a new job?

I was talking with a mentor during a really low point several years ago. I had been contacted by several churches, all larger churches, in more prestigious places. But then, none of the doors opened, they all closed. When I was talking with him about it he told me, “Josh, you must feel pushed from somewhere and pulled to somewhere else.” He went on, “You might be pushed, but you might not be. But you are definitely not pulled somewhere yet.”

And he was right.

So, before you update your resume or start looking at job listings, ask yourself, “Do I feel pushed from here?”

How do you know?

5 ways to know you are done at your church.

1. You feel released. This is very subjective but very important. Do you feel like God is telling you that you can leave? Not just that you want to, but God is saying, “Go.” I have had seasons where I wanted to go and God kept saying, “No.” That’s hard. But if that is the case, stop looking and ask God for endurance. Endurance was my prayer for years as God continued to work on me.

2. It is best for your family. This is important because ministry is not just your job as a pastor, but a family sport and commitment. Is your family suffering where you are? Are you far away from family? These are important things. One of the things we prayed through in this transition was asking God to lead us to a church and a place where our family would thrive.

3. You did what you set out to do. All of us have dreams when we move somewhere or start a ministry. Did you do what you set out to do? I know I didn’t, but as I reflected on my time in Tucson here’s how I framed it: I didn’t do everything I dreamed we’d do, but I also did more than I dreamed we’d do. And that’s important. You can leave with your head held high and your character intact.

4. Your passion for your city is gone. This doesn’t necessarily mean it is time for you to move on, but it might. I know I was convicted several years ago that I didn’t have the passion for my city that I needed. I began asking God to break my heart for Tucson, and he did. But your passion waning can be a sign it is time.

5. It no longer feels like home. Again, this is subjective but important. Where you live matters. The place you live is a really big deal and you need to wrestle this to the ground. Do you want to be in a city, near mountains, on a farm, near family, away from family? What makes it feel like home?

Now, some of you are in very unhealthy situations that might be harmful to you. I feel for you. The stress on our family in our final year in Tucson was intense. The anxiety was sky high in our house, we had health issues because of the situation we were in. If that is the case, talk to some trusted friends and mentors or a counselor. And that is also a sign that it is time.

That’s the push. Do you feel that push yet? If not, stay faithful, keep praying, dig into what God has for you. While you wait God will teach you things that you need to learn and show you things in your heart that you need to see. I know He did that for me as we waited for what was next.

But once you feel that push, you need to feel a pull.

For that, stay tuned for part 2.

Posted on Monday, June 28, 2021

How to Interview a Church

by Josh Reich

Over the last several months, I have been interviewing with churches as we sought our next step. I learned a lot about interviewing and the questions to ask in the process. It can be hard to ask questions. First of all, by the time you ask questions in the interview you are tired. You have answered theological and leadership questions, shared your story and what God is doing in your life and that can be emotionally draining.

So, you need to make sure you plan your questions. Don’t show up and throw out a random question or two. And don’t ask 0 questions, that is a sign you aren’t interested in the job. If you feel like you didn’t get to ask all your questions, set up a separate time for you to interview them. I spent hours asking questions of the team at Community Covenant Church in the process before making a decision.

Remember, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.

Remember, you are interviewing a church as much as they are interviewing you.

Below are my favorite questions that I asked each church. This was separate from my theological and philosophical questions and separate from finding the heart of a church.

Some of my favorite interview questions.

1. If money wasn’t an issue and the Holy Spirit answered every prayer you have for your church, what does this church look like in 5 years? I love this question because it causes the team to sit back and dream. I heard so many great answers to this question over my months of interviewing. But what you are listening for, especially if you are interviewing for a lead pastor role, is where this group of people would like their church to go. Because as the leader, they are hoping you will take them there.

Each time I listened to this answer I asked myself, do I want to go there? Do I want to be a part of that church in the future? I didn’t hear anything heretical from any church I talked to, but I did hear answers that made me think, “that sounds nice, but I don’t want to go there.” This is an incredibly clarifying question.

2. What is one thing you hope I do or change? What is one thing you hope I don’t do or change? These two go together. As a leader you will bring about change. You are supposed to. But you need to be careful about what changes you bring. As a new leader, you have a great opportunity to bring fresh eyes to a ministry, to see things in a different way. You also have a period of time (a honeymoon it’s often called) to bring about new ideas.

But you need to do them carefully.

Hearing what people hoped I would change or do was really helpful. The second question helped me to see what is off-limits, what matters to a church.

A new pastor must figure out what people do and do not want to be changed in their church.

3. What makes an employee successful at this church? I think you need to ask this question of a lot of different people during the interview process. Here’s why: I took a job once and in the interview process I got one answer from the leadership team of the church and I got a different answer from the admins in the church. Here’s why that matters: You need to know how people will evaluate you, but you also need to know how things actually get done. Sometimes they line up and sometimes they don’t.

4. Describe someone that would not fit the culture of your church. Again, you are trying to ask open-ended questions that paint a picture. If you ask, “Tell me about your culture” you will often hear what you want to hear or what they think they should say as a church. This question will cause the team to think back to employees who didn’t make it, people who upset the DNA and “the way things are done here.”

5. Describe how a difficult leadership situation was handled. You want to find out how conflict is handled in the church. Every church has conflicts. You will have conflicts at some point with a coworker, another elder, or a family in the church. How is that handled? How is sin handled? The way past situations were handled will give you a clue as to how future situations will be handled until you are able to influence the culture. It will also tell you how they handle sin and extend grace, and what compassion in a church looks like.

6. What is your ideal pastoral family? The reason I like to phrase it this way is it causes them to tell a story. If you ask, “What are your expectations for my wife and kids?” they might try to answer it in the way you want. Yes, they still might do that. But this way, you allow them to think about what is their ideal pastoral family?

7. Why do new people come back to your church? This question helps you to see a few things: do they have new people that come to their church? Do they get information from those guests? Do they track it and utilize it? This question also helps you to see what the community around the church might think of the church.

Three final tips:

Three tips for interviewing a church.

Define the words they use. Churches are very good at throwing out buzzwords like relevant, collaborative, humble, generous, etc. So when they do, ask them to define those words. For example, when a church says it is generous, ask who experiences that generosity. Is it the staff? The community around them? The church itself?
Find the influencer. This is not really a question you can ask but something you must discover at any church you are interviewing: Who is the biggest influencer in the church? I made the mistake once in an interview process of assuming I knew the answer to this and it bit me once I took the job. The biggest influencer is not always the person who sits at the top, has been there the longest, or has the most visible power. But every organization, church, and team resembles someone. Figuring out who that person is will be crucial to your success in a new role.
Get financial and attendance data. I realize that coming out of covid this can be hard and not 100% accurate, but it is important. It tells a story, that’s what data does. I interviewed with one church that described themselves as growing and healthy but then they hit covid. However, as I dug into their data it showed they grew a lot in 2016 – 2018, plateaued and started to decline in 2019 and then hit covid. When I asked what happened in 2019, they pushed back and said that was an aberration. Maybe. But it is important to hear what the church thinks its data says, what story they think it tells.

7 questions and 3 tips for your next interview with a church.

Final thought: Know what answers you are looking for when you interview a church. They know what answers they want to hear from you. What will be a deal-breaker for you? What will cause a red flag to wave? My favorite answer, and one thing that stood out when I interviewed the team at Community Covenant, came when I asked them what would make me successful in 3 years. One of their elders said, “That your family would be glad you moved here.” When I asked that question of every other church, no one mentioned my family. That isn’t a deal breaker, but it was a big thing for me in this move. You need to know what those things are for you.

Posted on Monday, June 21, 2021

How to Lead When You Aren’t in Charge

by Josh Reich

Leadership is hard. That isn’t news.

It is hard to lead people. It is hard to lead followers. It is hard to lead those under you or those who work next to you on the organizational chart (you know, the ones you can’t make do something.)

It is tough to lead those over you, to lead up.

Yet, to get anywhere in leadership, you must learn to lead up.

Why?

The person above you probably controls your budget, your salary, your benefits, and if what you want to do gets done. They can decide what you will work on, what your team will get to do, how large your team is and how much budget your team gets. The list goes on and on.

The person above you potentially controls a lot.

To accomplish what you want to accomplish at work and in your life, you need to lead them well.

So how do you lead up? Here are 3 ways to lead up and accomplish what God has called you to without losing your leadership.

Because don’t mistake this: if you don’t lead up well, you will have a hard time fulfilling your potential and reaching your goals.

If you don’t lead up well, you will have a hard time fulfilling your potential and reaching your goals.

1. Affirm and back their vision. Right now, if you aren’t the leader at the top of the organizational chart, you are a follower. If you can’t follow well, you can’t lead well. What if you don’t support their vision? Unless it isn’t biblical, you chose to be there. It would be best if you were submissive to that. As long as it isn’t heretical, just different from what you would do, follow well. Having sat in both the first chair and the second chair of churches, it is easy to think you know what is best or how you would do it better when you aren’t the leader. The reality is, you only see what you see. So while it might seem right from your vantage point, remember, it is just that—your vantage point. You don’t know how your ideas would affect everyone. You don’t know the entire history of things or what has been tried before. You also don’t know what other leaders are working on.

2. Be patient. Your timing is not God’s timing. I knew when I was 21 that I would one day plant a church. I didn’t know where or when, but I knew. It was when I was 29 in a state I had never set foot in before. Those 8 years were hard, sometimes painful, but they were formative. Be in the moment. Seek to learn what you can. If you aren’t in charge, relish that. Prepare for when you are. Watch. Listen. Ask questions. Seek out mentors that will help you in the future. Read books. Be ready for when God says, “Go.” The time that you are “waiting” is not wasted time but a time of preparation.

3. Risk when the time is right. If you are being a good follower, showing character and integrity, and being patient, you will know when to risk and what to risk. You will know when to push back on ideas and when to keep your mouth shut. You will also know when you should leave or stay in your role. Your boss may not be all that you want them to be, but they also may be helping you in ways you don’t know. So support them. Ask them for more leadership opportunities, give ideas, and share your dreams. But you also need to know if you should stay, as seasons in life and ministry change.

This is a timing and heart issue. I’ve watched countless guys say “Go,” and it was terrible timing for them, their families, and the church they left. Can God overcome anything and call anyone at any time? Yes. God is also wise and doesn’t always call us to the stupidest thing we could do. If you think, “Is this stupid? That must be God’s will for my life.” That is a terrible way to discern that. But lots of people equate crazy risk with stupid. Don’t put your family in a bind. Don’t put the church you are leaving in a bind. Remember, the way you leave a church is how they will remember you. They will forget everything else you did.

The way you leave one ministry is how you will start the next ministry.

One last caveat. Not everyone is supposed to lead the team or organization. Too many people get promoted one level past their level of competency, which is heartbreaking to watch and brutal for that person to walk through. However, many of us need to learn that lesson the hard way. Be wise in that step. Pay attention to what those who love you and trust you say to you about your gifts. Don’t just listen to your “fans.”