youthwork TALKTalk about youth ministry and life…

Now Discover Your Strengths – Buckingam and Clifton

A while back I read: Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham and I was fascinated and captured by the idea of what he calls ‘The Strengths Revolution’. I came to realize that he had laid the groundwork in a prior book,  Now, Discover Your Strengths. This book has been a long time coming for me and has sat in my ‘books to read’ pile for a while… I wish had read this sooner… It’s been out a while, but if you have not read this, you should add it to your book list

In this book, Buckingham addresses the premise behind ‘The Strengths Revolution’, which is this: Rather than focusing on bettering ourselves in our weaker areas of work / ministry, we should discover the our strongest areas and learn to build and capitalize on them, (while also learning to ‘manage around our weaknesses’). Too many of us have learned to focus on the areas we are not good at, rather than building on our strengths. Buckingham maintains that we will have greater impact and fulfillment when we work from our strengths and not our weaknesses.

Sounds simple? Why wouldn’t we be living this out already? This seems a very basic concept, right? However, in my ministry, I have often been inclined to focus on getting better at an area I am weak in. Or I try to be stronger in an area I see in someone I admire who is in ministry.

Let’s be honest for minute… How many of us see a Speaker at a conference, or know a prolific youthworker and wish we could communicate and write like them? How many of us try to mimic the style and strengths they have? How many of us lacking administration strengths try to be ultra organized in all we do, but no matter how hard we try, it just never seems to happen. How many hours have we spent focused on our weaknesses while our best talents and skills get placed on the back burner?

This book is a MUST read for all in youth ministry if we desire to highly effective. It is a must read if we desire to be confident and at peace with who we are. It is a must read if we want to understand others around us and how to effectively help them work from their strengths

The book itself comes with an online ’strengths finder profile’ for each reader to take, as well as a definition and breakdown of the strengths areas after you take it. This has been valuable to me as I confirm and rediscover who I am and where my focus needs to be. The book also gives many examples of professionals with different strengths and how they managed to harness their strengths and accomplish greater things. These examples were extremely helpful for me as I related to the characters stories.

All in all, a great read and I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy and talk it through with a friend or ministry partner. It’s been a wonderful process as I have been defining my strengths with greater clarity. Maybe you can get the same result?

Phil <><

This book is a MUST read for lead pastors and every youth worker. The principles, research, and conclusions in this book have the ability to transform a cluttered and visionless ministry. Practical application of the simple church principles could move our ministries from a trajectory of burnout and help us hit the target of transformation in our ministries and personal lives…

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger begin the book refering to the ’simple revolution’ and the move of generations toward simplicity and solid ideas without clutter. The idea is this: Successful organizations are responding to a generation of people who strive to remove clutter and seek to quickly understand how to take a next step to buy a product or buy in to a program that is clearly defined. Gone are the days of the large menu approach from many boomer driven models that sought to provide as many options to cover all their basis… Gone are the days of churches trying to do everything for every single person, group or idea. In their research they found the following: 

…simple churches are growing and vibrant. Churches with a simple process for reaching and maturing people are expanding the Kingdom… Conversely, complex churches are struggling and anemic…

The book walks through their extensive research while also giving examples of churches who follow a simple or complex model. As I read, I was struck by how so many churches try to provide so many ideas and programs that they end up have no identity.

A number of years ago, I remember being at a church where we went through the 40 days of purpose campaign. At the end of the campaign we had a ministry fair so that people could sign up to get plugged into a ministry. I remember someone commenting to me about how the church was amazing because of the 130+ ministries it provided… I began to count the weekly attendance and concluded that if EVERYONE served each week, that each ministry would have 8-10 people in it… Obviously that is not likely to happen in any church. However, I was disturbed by the fact that many of the same people served in multiple ministries… “How can that be a good thing?” I wondered. To this day, I am aware that the same church has had leadership struggles and lacks direction, and still has many programs and ministries… and ultimately has shrunk by about 50% or more… How is a large menu ministry effective?

If you see this in your church or ministry, take some time to read Simple Church and learn how you can find “Clarity, Movement, Alignment, and Focus”. Simple church is helping me narrow my focus and process how I move unchurched students into becoming sold out followers of Jesus. Simple church is helping my leaders and parents understand quickly and simply how our process works… When it’s simple and solid, people see the vision and know how to support it. When it’s simple and solid, students know what their next step is….

Hope you get a chance to read it…. 

My next book: ‘IT’ By Craig Groeshel. 

Phil <><

Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors, Mark Riddle.

A great book that every senior pastor needs to get from their youth pastor! But, also a book that every youth pastor needs to read to better understand the dynamics of their churches and their senior pastors.

I would also say that this book is an essential book for a youth pastor who is looking to get hired at a church anytime soon. It will open your eyes to how a church thinks and acts in the hiring process. You will save yourself time and pain if you read this.

Mark highlights many challenges that youth pastors face, but also allows them to see the big picture of what is going on in their own minds, as well as the mind of the senior pastor and church. It’s a great ‘bridge builder’ of a book and is very practical and relevant. Mark writes in short chapters,  making it a quick and easy read ADD people like me. 

Buy two copies and see if your senior pastor will read this with you. It’s sure to create good communication and honest dialogue. 

Mark Riddle is a writer, consultant and blogger. You can check out his blog at: www.theriddlegroup.com/blog