Originally published on TonyMorganLive.com
Leading campus pastors is one of the most rewarding roles a church leader can have. You get the opportunity to serve and celebrate God’s work in multiple communities through multiple people all at the same time! This excitement certainly comes with its own set of challenges. After all, the group you lead is diverse, each facing their own set of local needs and opportunities.
At one point, I was leading three campus pastors in completely different places: one launching in a suburb, one renovating a building near Amish country, and another established in a rural elementary school. I imagine your campuses have their own distinctions, as well.
So how do you manage this level of diversity on your team? Despite the differences, your campus pastors – and even campus ministry staff – generally share a common set of needs. Meet these, and you’ll set them up to win in big ways:
Need #1: Time to “do nothing” when they start
It’s one thing to read and understand your mission, vision, values, and strategy. It is another to embody it, speak it, and lead it from the heart. When you are on-boarding a new campus pastor, give him or her time to be trained on your organization’s DNA, shadow existing campus pastors, and sit-in on the meetings of various departments. Many people will wonder if you’re paying them to “do nothing.” In reality, you’ll be setting them up for success.
Need #2: Time to invest in their people
People buy into their campus pastor before they buy into the vision. When we launched our sixth campus at NewPointe, one volunteer told me he was serving because he couldn’t not help the campus pastor. That speaks to the level of commitment people have when they truly get to know their leader. In a multisite model, departmental and campus meetings can easily overtake the calendar. Eliminate as much as you possibly can to enable your leaders to invest in their people.
