Leadership Roles
I don't believe that anybody should be strapped down to a job description. But I do believe that anybody who's going to be a leader should have a pretty solid idea what he or she will be responsible for. I've discussed this arrangement with almost every person mentioned, and the responses varied from thrilled to interested.
So heres' my thinking: (I'll just type it all out, then come back and explain it.)
Ryan Wiksell: Pastor, Worship Leader
Christina Wiksell: Administrative Director
Matt Stephens: Fellowship Leader
Melissa Stephens: Financial Director, Fellowship Co-leader
Josh Wilmoth: Discipleship Leader
Krissy Wilmoth: Home Church Director
Phillip Scoggins: Outreach Leader
Amy Scoggins: Outreach Co-leader, Arts Director
Mik Mikulan: Project Manager
Now the explanations:
Ryan: Of course I am the Pastor of The Core, and that will involve overseeing the responsibilities of the other leaders, and shepherding the rest. I can be the official Worship Leader, but naturally that doesn't exclude anyone else from leading worship.
Christina: She has gotten excited recently about coordinating the scheduling for Front Porch construction, and due to her organizational talents, Administrative Director seems like a pretty good fit.
Matt: Matt and Melissa have really inspired me the way they have made such strong connections with Josh & Krissy, and I know they have a real passion for community-building. "Fellowship Leader" may come across sounding like potlucks and barbeques, but we know there is a much deeper meaning than that. Once again, this would not exclude Matt or Melissa from leading worship or teaching (especially if they're going to teach about Fellowship or Community.)
Melissa: In some ways, Matt & Melissa could share the title of Fellowship Leader, but also, Melissa could continue doing the finances, if she likes. The reason I use the term Financial Director instead of Treasurer, is because I would like her to be recognized as someone who is available to minister to people by helping them with their finances.
Josh: He is such an excellent teacher, that I think he would really enjoy this role--not just teaching, but working out a discipleship strategy for us all as a group, and also overseeing accountability and mentorship.
Krissy: She is always checking the website to see what to bring, and enjoys cooking, and has two kids. She and Josh have shared with me a desire to give the kids a little more meaningful interaction with the group. So I was thinking Krissy could be responsible for keeping the food calendar, and making sure that the children are taken care of, and also that they are ministered to in a substantial way. These are two of the major organizational issues of Home Church, so I thought Home Church Director might be a good title. It could also then branch out into managing the Network of Home Churches, once there is one.
Phil & Amy: They love going to the square, and have a real passion for making new connections with strange people. They are sort of fearless in that way. They could share the title of Outreach Leader, and when the Front Porch gets up and running, Amy could be dubbed the official Arts Director (since she is an artist and an art teacher,) responsible for our connections to the art community and overseeing our participation in the First Friday Art Walk.
Mik: He has already been named Project Manager for the Front Porch. His role once this project is finished is a bridge we'll cross when we come to it.
There it is... thoughts?
posted by The Coreman at 4:29 PM
4 Comments:
Just a couple questions...Are we publishing the schedule for food and kid watch online? And are we doing food for any other meetings than Sunday morning?
I am cool with my "title" and responsibilities. Thanks for thinking of what would be a good fit for me and Josh.
11:09 AM
I'm so glad you like your title. You're the only one I didn't get to talk with about it. So great.
Here's a thought regarding the food & kids' focus schedules: Kris, if you wanted to come up with a schedule for November & December, then post it to The Core Journal, I could link to it from the Calendar page of The Core Website. Then, sometime in early to mid December, you could come up with a schedule for January & February, and we'll do the same thing again. Just create a post and call it "Food & Kids - November & December" If you need help figuring out how to create a post, let me know.
11:47 AM
First, re: my role. I agree that the title connotes something less than what it will actually be, but I'm ok with that. I'm not interested in impressing anyone, only giving them an accurate idea of what I do. If "Fellowship" consists of community-building and any vision-casting with regard to this, then I think this would be a perfect fit.
Second, re: Administration and Finances. These definitely need to be separate roles for purposes of checks and balances. Also, it will be necessary that the pastor and financial director never be in the same immediate family as well, for legal/accountability purposes.
Third, re: roles in general. I'm ok with having roles in general for the purpose of making sure things get done, but we have to be very mindful that this could easily lead to each of us "defending our turf" if we start giving "too much input" to each other. For example, if I insist that a particular book, topic, or scripture passage needs to be addressed in more than one or two gatherings, I might come across as "overstepping my boundaries". So long as we can commit to collaborating without feeling like people are stepping on each others' toes, i think this will work well. I also think that we should work together on each of these areas regularly, as we will be most effective when we put our minds, hearts, skills, and experiences together. While this will always be very important, it is especially important now, since we really are not well-established in terms of numbers, programs, etc.
That said, I developed a discipleship "curriculum" and plan in college that might be good jumping off point for Josh/us. Also, The Making of a Disciple by Keith Phillips is a wonderful guide for discipleship. I have a copy if anyone would like to borrow it, as well as a couple of other books on disciple-making, such as The Master's Plan for Making Disiples by Arn & Arn.
12:28 PM
Melissa and I discussed the roles when I got home this evening, and realized an important step to this process. Remember the strategic planning framework we talked about this past Sunday (those of you who were there... those who weren't, I will post a copy on the blog)? The first step was assessment and the second, capacity building. One important assessment we made was that each of us has a lot to learn about our respective roles. We may be geared and knowledgeable about certain things, but nevertheless we lack significant experience so we still lack a good deal of "capacity" to fulfill these roles successfully. An important next step in our assessment process will be calling around to some churches (starting with those with whom we are already connected in some way) and asking them if they would be willing to provide us "job descriptions" for each of their leadership positions that are similar to ours. This will help us identify "gaps" in our skill set and knowledge base and enable us to improve upon these weaknesses. And that's where capacity building comes in.
More on this to come, but this is good for now.
6:27 PM
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