In John Maxwell’s book Winning With People: Discover The People Principles That Work For You Every Time, he unpacks The Elevator Principle. This principle tells us that some people take us up. Some people take us down. Some people take us up to the penthouse. Some people take us down to the basement.
This principle applies to anyone who works people, including pastors. Some pastors when they walk in a room take you up. And sadly, some pastors walk in a room and everything goes down.
In 2018, INJOY Stewardship Solutions had a record year serving churches and pastors. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, we wanted to bring in a guest speaker who had benefited from our services and also had unique encouragement gifts. Our desire was that his person could honor and authentically communicate the unique value every member of our team brought to adding value to a pastor’s life and ministry.
One name immediately appeared in everyone’s mind – Mike Linch, the wonderful senior pastor of NorthStar Church in Kennesaw, GA. Mike has been a personal friend for 20 years and a great friend to our ministry. If you are not listening to his podcast Linch With A Leader, you are missing out. His recent conversation with Steve Robinson, the recently-retired Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-Fil-A, is my favorite podcast interview of 2018. You can listen to this interview HERE.
As Mike talked to our team, I gleaned 13 Signs Of Inspirational Pastors:
- Inspirational Pastors Always Have A Smile On Their Face – So much of communication is non-verbal. You always walk away feeling better about yourself and life after being in the presence of Mike’s upbeat personality.
- Inspirational Pastors Love People – They drive their security team CRAZY!!! Inspirational pastors have to be around people. You cannot keep them in the green room or designated areas. They immediately head to the lobby or talk to someone they see sitting in the crowd. They just LOVE people.
- Inspirational Pastors Are Well-Prepared So They Can Add Maximum Value – Mike and I spent a great deal of time talking about the evening’s agenda. But we spent even more time discussing where the team was in their personal and professional lives. We talked about who would be in the room and their individual responsibilities. Mike and I discussed the text and content he would use and how to best leverage it. Being inspirational can accomplished by default. However, it can go to another level by design.
- Inspirational Pastors Arrive Early – You can’t “wing” inspiration. You must arrive early, walk slowly through the crowd, get a feel for the room, and flow of the meetings. Arriving early allows you to know what people laugh about, cry about, and dream about.
- Inspirational Pastors Are Funny – Humor is a pastor’s friend. Mike is just flat-out funny. This allows him to connect with everyone in the room.
- Inspirational Pastors Use The Bible As Their Frame Of Reference – Nothing changes a human life like the Word of God. Teaching from the book of Nehemiah, Mike showed how the team at INJOY Stewardship helped NorthStar rebuild its walls.
- Inspirational Pastors Are Vulnerable And Transparent – Mike shared how our team helped him not only raise funds needed to retire their debt, but also be a friend during a difficult season of ministry. Pain and worry are common feelings we all possess.
- Inspirational Pastors Are Specific – Mike shared specific stories of team members who played key roles in their campaign along the way.
- Inspirational Pastors Are Inclusive – They involve everyone. Yes, Mike shared stories of specific people but he also tied in how every member played specific key roles in NorthStar’s and all churches’ success.
- Inspirational Pastors Make Statements You Will Never Forget – Now that NorthStar Church is debt-free, the church gives away their former mortgage payment to the community and other Kingdom-minded ventures each month. Mike said, “Because you helped us rebuild our walls, we can now help others rebuild their’s.” There was not a dry eye on our team when he said that.
- Inspirational Pastors Stay Late – Inspirational leaders arrive early but they also stay late shaking hands and adding value to people who want to meet them.
- Inspirational Pastors Are In High Demand – Mike has spoken at other INJOY Stewardship events but this was the first time he spoke to our entire team. Let’s just say I confident future invitations will be coming.
- Inspirational Pastors Are Remarkable And Make A Lasting Impact – All the team could talk about the next day was Mike’s speech and how great it was.
Are you an inspirational pastor? These 13 signs will provide a good framework for self-evaluation.
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