1.04.2008

90 Good Minutes

We just got out of an all staff meeting with Pastor Rick. We don't usually have staff meetings on Fridays, but since we've been a bit scattered throughout the holidays, I think he just wanted to re-connect. It was awesome. There was no agenda; we simply sang some worship songs and then Rick opened up the discussion to anything anybody wanted to talk about. For the next 90 minutes or so Rick talked off the cuff about the various topics we brought up:
- Politics
- Separation of Church and State
- Systematic Theology
- Church History
- The current situation in Kenya
- Saddleback's path into the future
- and several other topics raised by our staff

It was really good stuff...I could have sat there for another 90 minutes

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just Curious: What did he say about Kenya?

Terrace Crawford said...

Too bad your staff meetings aren't podcast! That stuff sounds interesting.

I'm curious about Kenya too.

//TC//

Kurt Johnston said...

He only spent a few minutes on Kenya but used it as a reminder that in so much of the world there is turmoil and chaos looming just below the surface and that it doesn't take much to cause it to bubble over.

Anonymous said...

I can't tell you how envious I am of a good staff meeting. I dread ours. My Sr. Pastor and I just don't connect; it's like he cares but he just doesn't "get" me. Our communication is plastic, and we spend only 10 minutes a week together in prayer (sometimes less). He has a mentality that pastors are supposed to be distant in order to lead well, and it's killing me!

Kurt Johnston said...

Anonymous...I do feel your pain. Our meetings aren't always great. In fact, several staff members walked away frustrated with this particular one because there was no agenda, no decisions were made etc.
I just happen to really like the rare opportunities to sit and listen to people a bit older and wiser without any real agenda.

I don't have any data to back this up, but I'd be willing to bet that the frustrations you are feeling are felt by majority of young leaders. I would also hunch that it's for a couple of reasons

1) Just because somebody is a Pastor doesn't make them a good leader...especially of other leaders.

2) I do think younger leaders have a tendency to be overcritical (not saying that's you...) and don't really give their pastor a fair shot which results in the perception that the sr. pastor is poor leader, out of touch etc.