Skip to main content

Sharpen the Axe

Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said:  "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”  This approach to preparation was popularized by Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Even so, the practice of continuing personal and professional development is not a high priority for many leaders—especially clergy.  They are too busy chopping down the tree to take time to sharpen the axe.

Since I became a certified professional life coach, I have entered into a world of required professional development that I have only observed from the outside in the past.  My friends who are public school educators, counselors, marriage therapists, and medical professional are required to take a certain number of hours of continuing education each year in order to maintain their license or certification.  Some denominational judicatories require such education for their clergy, but this is the exception in most denominations including Baptists.

I have been fortunate in my ministry to work with supervisors who both practiced and provided professional development opportunities.  Glenn Yarborough, director of student ministries for the Tennessee Baptist Convention, regularly brought interesting and gifted people to share with campus ministers at staff meetings and retreats.  Clark Bryan, my supervisor at Carson-Newman College, both encouraged and made it possible for me to complete an unfinished Doctor of Ministry degree while I was on staff there.

Given this background, I am always amazed and disappointed that professional development is not a high priority in our churches.  Staff meetings and retreats are most often devoted to program coordination and calendar planning rather than discovering and sharing new insights and understandings with one another.

Although the pastor cannot tackle this problem alone, the initiative must begin there.  The pastor must model professional development and life long learning and lobby church officers and committees to provide development opportunities for all staff members—both ordained and non-ordained. 

Such options include but are not limited to finances for book purchases, time and money to attend conferences, resources for staff development events, and sabbaticals for professional staff.  The advent of the Internet provides many valuable learning opportunities free or at minimal cost.  Judicatories, theological institutions, professional organizations, and consultants offer innovative options for lifelong learners.  Ministry leaders can also benefit from being part of a peer group or being coached by a trained life coach.

I have a tendency when I walk each morning to look down at the road rather than lifting my head and seeing the world around me.  I have to remind myself to look up and see what is going on.Too many of us go from day to day only looking at what is right before us and not engaging in new ideas, learning, and development.  Lift up your eyes and see what’s ahead!

(This blog post originally appeared on the Associated Baptist Press Blog.)

Comments

Check these out

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist.  I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age.  I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving.  This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students.  We supported missionaries at home and abroad.  We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course).  I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition.  Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect.  There were significant theological differences, often geograp

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself.     The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church.  Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs.  What once worked no longer seems to be effective.  Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s  “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educational dimension of church ministry, as the

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

In a recent blog , consultant Seth Godin addresses the power of metaphor.   He points out, “The best way to learn a complex idea is to find it living inside something else you already understand.”   In other words, “this” is like “that.” “When you see a story, an example, a wonderment,” says Godin, “take a moment to look for the metaphor inside.”   Jesus turned this around.   In the use of parables, he told a story or provided a metaphor and challenged his hearers to see the truth within. For example, in his teaching on the Kingdom (or Reign) of God in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom to such things as a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a net, a king, and a landowner.   His hearers are encouraged to use their imaginations to understand something that they had never experienced.   He also attempted to shift their perspective so that they might see signs of the Kingdom breaking into their present reality.  These are metaphors for the Kingdom. Where do w

The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church.   On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter.  Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year.  He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability on behalf of the congreg

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business.  For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates.  He has already left the church and resigned from the board of the association.