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Vineyard Church North Phoenix | VCNP Leadership Monthly for July, 2007

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VCNP Leadership Monthly for July, 2007

Brian's Corner

Dear Leaders,

I hope your summer is going well and I’m sure many of you are enjoying well deserved vacations.

Many times, we find ourselves serving in thankless settings. Though things may be going well in our areas of service, we often do not hear how well things are going. As a matter of fact, much of the feedback we do receive only comes when we do something wrong. So I would like to take a moment to thank you for your hard, faithful Kingdom work. You are doing a great job! What you do to serve here at the Vineyard makes a huge difference in people’s lives. Thank you!

As I was praying and thinking about this month’s leadership update, I ran across an article by Todd Rhoades that I thought would be helpful to us as a leadership team. I have adapted his article to fit our purposes, but the gist of this article was originally written by Rhoades. I hope you enjoy it.

Keep up the amazing Kingdom work!

Love,

Brian

The Seven Worst Communication Habits for Church Leaders

In a secular leadership article by Jamie Walters entitled, “The Seven Worst Communication Habits,” Walters writes, “the big seven worst habits of communication are ‘bad enough’ when they happen occasionally. They become ’big and bad‘ when they’re practiced habitually. And they do, ultimately, exact a cost, whether it be in miscommunications, lost projects, lowered productivity, missed opportunities, or poor relationships.”

These are the same bad communication habits that creep into church life and relationships!

Here are the top seven. Have any of these caused you a problem in the past few weeks?

  1. Contacting others only when you need something.
    Is there someone in your life that you hear from only when they need something? Are you like me and find that annoying? Walters says that this type of person “routinely surfaces when they’re job hunting, when they’ve got a problem, when they need a reference, and when they want ideas from you.” When they don’t

    QUESTION: Do you, as a church leader, only contact people when you need them to do something for you or your ministry? If so, you run the risk of making people feel ‘used.’
    SOLUTION: If you feel guilty of this communication habit, make a list of people that come to mind and make contact with them this week. Ask for nothing, just touch base. They’ll appreciate the contact!


  2. Not following up, or closing the loop.
    Have you ever given someone a gift and not received a thank you? Has someone promised to let you know the outcome of a certain meeting or conversation, but you never heard back from them? This type of person simply is not closing the loop or following up with you. This is a vitally important communication skill.

    QUESTION: Is there anyone in your ministry area(s) that you recently promised to get back with or follow-up with that you haven’t?
    SOLUTION: Contact that person this week and close the loop. They’ll love the fact that you did follow-up.


  3. Not returning telephone calls or email messages.
    How frustrated do you get when you’re trying to get in touch with someone and they simply don’t return your call or email? Actually, this is a pretty common occurrence, but it still is a very bad communication practice. It should be your goal to quickly acknowledge and return each phone call, email, and note you receive.

    QUESTION: What ‘pink’ telephone message slip do you still have on your desk? What emails have been sitting in your ‘inbox’ waiting to be replied to? What voicemail have you not responded to?
    SOLUTION: Take a few moments and clear your desk and your in-box. Your quick response will help you gain credibility in your communication.


  4. Foregoing basic courtesy.
    Have you ever been on the receiving end of a nasty email or phone call? Have you ever felt ‘snubbed’ by someone? Do you know anyone who you feel is downright rude? This type of person may be self-absorbed; they may feel entitled to have a bad attitude; or maybe they just don’t know better. But you know when you come into contact with them, it’s a real turn-off.

    QUESTION: Is there anyone that instantly comes to mind that you’ve been ‘discourteous’ to? Maybe someone you avoided (obviously) at church recently; maybe someone you were short with; maybe someone you were rude to?
    SOLUTION: You know the solution. Make it right with that person. Apologize for your behavior and do your best to get that relationship back on track. The lack of basic courtesy is a real communication stopper in ministry… and it happens much too often.


  5. Not listening.
    This is something we probably all need to work on. How many times are we so concentrated on things that are important to us that we fail to listen to others? Jamie says, “One hallmark of poor listening is that a person won’t ask any questions. Another hallmark is that he or she might repeatedly paraphrase incorrectly, or “put words in your mouth” that you neither say or agree with. On an interpersonal level, poor listening skills result in miscommunications, lost opportunities, lower productivity due to mistakes or redundant efforts, employee turnover, and other costly scenarios.”

    QUESTION: Did you catch yourself “zoning out” recently while someone was talking to you? Have you had a conversation lately where you really don’t remember what the other person was saying? Do you find yourself thinking of what you’re going to say next rather than listening?
    SOLUTION: Work hard this week on listening and ‘being interested’ in what people are saying to you… (yes, even if you’re not!) Ask questions. Re-state back to people what they are saying. Most of all… adjust your attitude so you make listening a priority.


  6. Telling Lies.
    Pastors and church leaders telling lies? Hopefully not blatant ones! But how many times do you tell ‘little lies’ to keep from hurting someone’s feelings? Does any instance come to mind where you may have slanted the truth for your own gain?

    QUESTION: Do you ever ‘play’ with the truth? Do you shade a story or situation differently depending on who you’re talking with? Do you withhold parts of the truth in order to sway people to your side?
    SOLUTION: Stop playing games with the truth. As the psalmist said, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Ps. 141:3 NIV)


  7. Spewing chronic negativity.
    It’s easy to be negative, especially if you’re in a bad situation. But leadership requires that we step above the petty negativeness of our situation. Being negative, especially with the wrong people, is a leading vision-killer.

    QUESTION: Do you find yourself constantly being negative? Is your negativity affecting others?
    SOLUTION: Refer again to Psalms 141:3. Rather than dwell (and comment) on the negative, try to find solutions or speak positively about the situation.

Those are seven of the worst communication habits we go up against every day. The questions and solutions given are much easier to type out than they are to live!

Let’s try to pick one or two areas of weakness this week and try to improve.

(This article, in its original form, was written by Todd Rhoades and is from Monday Morning Insight, a Christian leadership resource group. You can find his original article at mondaymorninginsight.com.)

Update on Recent Events

Women’s Evening Bible Study (WEBS) – Women of Strength

The 2007 summer session of WEBS went really well! We had about 120 women attending each week. We are exploring various topics surrounding the theme of “Women of Strength.” Many women came and were challenged by the Word and from other women.

-Thora Anderson, Associate Pastor

Vineyard Youth Camp – Live, Love, Give, and Die

Camp this year was a success, though it was a bit different from the average camp. We took ninety young men and women (7-12th grade) to UCYC in Prescott, AZ. Speakers and worship leaders challenged our young members to do more than make an emotional decision while they experienced a camp high. Our youth were challenged to make life-long decisions. They were challenged to live their lives with integrity, where they act and live the same in church, at home, and at school. Many of the youth responded by recommitting to living a life of discipleship. They enjoyed dialed in worship and phenomenal guest speakers throughout the camp experience.

Looking forward, please pray for our young men and women as they continue to live out their faith in the days and weeks to come.

-Craig Beyer, Associate Pastor

Memorial Day Baptism

Memorial Day Baptism Update with Pictures

Everyone had a great time at this year's Memorial Day Family Fun Day and Baptism at the Glendale Community College pool. "Celebration" was indeed the word of the day as fifty-seven people were baptized, taking a stance to symbolize their new life in Christ. Celebration carried over to other events throughout the day. Families enjoyed great food and family members of all ages participated in several games, including relay races, a hula hoop competition, and watermelon and jello eating contests.

As a result of the great turn out, we will be starting a second, identical moMENtum meeting on Thursdays at 6:30 pm. Our next meetings will be Monday, June 11 at 6:30 pm and Thursday, June 14th at 6:30 pm in the Youth Auditorium. All men are welcome to join us. You can sign up in the church courtyard beginning June 2.

Our younger members (children) also enjoyed some good slippery fun on the jumbo slide and slip-n-slides and enjoyed an all-out water assault in the Super Soaker Zone. The day's activities culminated in a family water balloon war. Families were able to spend the entire afternoon playing games and enjoying being with each other. Life doesn’t get any better than that!

Join us for the next Family Fun Day and Baptism on Labor Day, September 3rd.

-Jody Kingston, Children’s Pastor

  

Events and Highlights

Here are some major events that we can expect to see soon:

Upcoming Classes:

 
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