If you don’t write it down, it doesn’t happen.
I’m learning this as a leader and as a preacher.
A great failure of leadership is lack of clarity in expectations. I know this is true because there have been plenty of times in leading this team at Good Shepherd that my expectations were murky at best. And when people don’t know what you expect from them the result is often Judges 17:6: “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
People’s intentions are good, but because of a lack of direction, chaos reigns.
So we’ve recently gotten much better at putting expectations down on paper (actually, we type them into a computer and it somehow prints them out on paper). Expectations that can be quantified, verified, and modified. Kentucky fried, even.
If that sounds more like “business” than “church,” so be it.
Because people respond. Since it is on paper, it happens.
If you are leading people, get it on paper.
When it comes to preaching, I have a lot of good ideas throughout any given day. There are a myriad of sermons embedded in the things I read in a novel or see in a TV ad or hear in a conversation.
But if I do not follow that moment of inspiration — “hey, that will preach!” — by writing it down somewhere, then the idea gets lost. And that is frustrating — to know you had a good idea for a sermon or an entire series but you lost it.
The answer? Get it on paper. If you want to be at all creative, you’ve got to write everything down.
Two seemingly disparate activities: leadership & creativity. To be effective at either, get it on paper.
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It was the paper that got me!
On August 24, 2008, in a little southern Ohio country church, I gave my life to Christ and confessed my sins to him.
Returning to our home in Charlotte my wife and I began the task of looking for a church to call home. Wasn’t long till we found our way to Good Shepherd.
It was at Christmas time while visiting family and friends in Ohio that I was asked the question “what was it that made you go back”. This question was posed by a very dear friend of mine who is a pastor. Looking back, I’m sure he was wanting to try this approach for his church.
The answer I gave him; The Bulletin! The Sunday Bulletin is what brought me back to Good Shepherd. While the music and preaching are spirit filled and nothing short of awesome, it came down to a simple printed document.
I’m a creative type and like dabbling in web design, photography and other things. So when we walked into Good Shepherd that Sunday morning and were handed the bulletin made of heavy, gloss paper with an obvious attention to detail, I knew I wanted to see more.
Heroes printed documents matched the big screens in the sanctuary seamlessly. Big screens matched the big smiles of those wearing the perfectly matched Heroes shirt’s, shacking our hands and asking for our return.
On Sunday December 14 2008 we became members of Good Shepherd and are very proud to call it home.
All because of a printed document many call “The Bulletin”.
May God continue to bless you and your family, Talbot. You guys keep up the GREAT work!
Matt
Kudos to Rebecca Grayson and others for making our design as effective as it is.
Thanks for the good word, Matt.
Great reminder Talbot! Couldn’t agree more!