Week Three – Staff Report on Board – David

Discuss what you think a staff member’s report to a board should include and what it should accomplish?

I would think that a staff member would report on how things are going within their organization. For example, a youth pastor would probably report on how the youth growing, or declining whatever the case. I would also think that staff members would address issues or conflicts they have, and address a change.

In the end result, I believe that the board would discuss whatever issues are addresses and come to a conclusion. I do not think that everything is ever settle how that makes everyone happy; I would think that people argue a lot in these meetings.

Week Three – Administrative Work – David

Administrative Work
Brookhaven Wesleyan Church
I interviewed Pastor John Walton the assistant pastor
January 21, 2009

60% preparing for music
20% Spiritual Formation
20% Missions

Monday: clean up day –he gets all his stuff organized so the week can go smooth
Tuesday: Communication days –he contacts his people.
Wednesday: Teach Bible studies and have staff meetings
Thursday: Meet with Praise team
Firday and Saturday: day off (sometimes there are things to attend. Usually visitations)
Sunday: Worship and Praise

Pastor John Walton is an assistant pastor at Brookhaven Wesleyan church. His responcibility in the church is music, spiritual formation, and missions. For music, he is responsible for worship leading, commmunicating, organizing, creating, and presenting with/to the congregation. For spiritual formation, he is responsible for recruiting, organizing communicating, and teaching. For missions, he is responsible for recruiting, communicating, organixing, implementing, and presenting loaca and global missions to everyone.

With these three responsibilities as his prime focus, he still has other pastoral responsibilities like: visitations, weekly meetings, building/facility jobs, funeral help, preaching, and many more.

Observations:
Pastors have too many things to do with too little of time.
Pastors have many little jobs that people would not think of them having to do.
Everyone in the office has to take part in the work within it, and the pastors have to take part in their share of locking the doors or fixing the budget or whatever.
Pastor John has to manage his time wisely or he will not be able to handle things.
There is a lot of pressure on Pastors to get things done on time or they will be taking time out of something else that needs to get done.

TICK TICK TICK.... the semester is slipping away...

TICK TICK TICK....  the semester is slipping away... don't skip too many weeks ... or you could get slammed at mid term...  (You can do some late but you will still lose the on-time credit for it)

Keep on keeping on

I just read through all your work below... you guys are on track--keep on keeping on!

Week two – Tithing - David

Tithing
The word “tithe” refers to the giving of a “tenth” of one’s income to God or for other charitable purposes. The law of tithing simply means that the God, our creator, requires us to pay Him the first tenth of our increase or income.

Tithing is mention in the Old and New Testament; Paul strongly talks about how we should tithe our offerings to God. I believe that tithing is commanded by God and that we should give a tenth of what we earned to the church.

We see in Genesis 14:17-20 that Abraham was faithfully paying tithes to God. In Malachi 3:8-11, God declares “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings.” (9) You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. (10) Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this, Says the LORD of hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. (11) And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, Says the LORD of hosts.”

Paul definitely speaks of tithing as a law! So anyone who fails to tithe is breaking an important law of the Creator God! This is one reason for so many personal and financial curses on our land today! Also in the New Testament, Jesus mentions tithing three times. In Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42, Jesus acknowledged to the Pharisees that they tithed and should do so. Another record of Jesus mentioning the tithe is in Luke 18:9-14 where he told a parable about a Pharisee who gave tithes.

Week two – Making a Budget – David

Making a Budget
Brookhaven Wesleyan Church
I interviewed Pastor John Walton the assistant pastor
January 21, 2009

Process:
1. Staff submits subjective budget lines to treasurer
2. Treasurer takes budget to committee meeting where the budget is set
3. Budget is given to Local Board of Administration for final vote of approval

Each pastor has his/her own different procedure on the budget lines. Their job is to gather the subjective needs in the area they are accounted for, and submit them to the treasurer. For instance, one of Pastor John’s budget lines is the musical department, so when creating the budget he would go and find what needs replacing and/or repaired. He determines how much money it is all going to cost and records the final cost onto the budget.

Once the treasurer has all the budget lines, he/she takes the request to the Finance committee which consists of four people: the Senior Pastor, Treasurer, Vice Chairman of the Board, and one elected official. In this meeting, the committee sets the budget for all the needs in the church. This includes everything like salaries, utilities, and even snow removal. After the budget is set, it is then taken to the Local Board of Administration where there is a vote to see whether the budget is approved. If the budget is not approved, then the Local Board of Administration will change it. Pastor John says he has been in meetings that have been one hour long, to meetings that have went for three hours long.

Week one - Kinds of Leadership - David

Kinds of Leadership
What is leadership? The dictionary meaning is: 1) the position or function of a leader; 2) the ability to lead; and 3) an act or instance of leading; guidance; direction.
When we attempt to answer what leadership is, we automatically think that leadership is someone who takes a leadership position and only leads down to people under them. That is not true! No matter what leadership position one is in, he/she can lead in three different ways. In John Maxwell’s book The 360-Degree Leader, Maxwell teaches us the skills we need to become an all-around 360-degree leader. He tells us that not only can we “lead down” to our followers, but we can “lead up” to our leader, and “lead across” to our colleagues.
So what is leadership, well I will tell you what it is not, leadership is NOT a power play of lording authority over others and glorifying oneself, it is not an authoritarian attitude or a charismatic control either.
What does the Bible say about leadership?
· Numbers 27:16-17- goal oriented and people oriented
· Deuteronomy 1:14-18- fairness; impartiality, strength, know limitation sand include others
· Acts 6:3- Be a good model
· Galatians 5:22-23 – Fruits of the spirit; if you don’t use fruit it rots
· Philippians 2:3 – honest understanding of yourself, strong external focus
· Philippians 4:13- know where your strength comes form; Christ:

· A leader should have ethics. They should be love centered, with the idea of being a servant; being aggressively self-giving. (Ephesians 6:4, Philippians 2:6-8, and Thessalonians 2:11)
· A leader should church centered and always connected with the local church. (Acts 2:41-42; 1 Corinthians 12)
· A leader should have responsibility. They should be Christ centered; ultimately responsible to Christ. (Matthew 25:31-46; John)
· A leader should be dynamic and spirit centered. (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18; John 14-17)
With in the leadership role, there are characteristics, qualities, and principles.
The characteristic components would be:
· Beliefs – basic understanding of God and people.
· Values – Attitudes you have about the worth of beliefs.
· Skills – knowledge and abilities we develop over a lifetime.
· Traits – qualities that people have (honesty, imagination)
The qualities of Leadership would be:
· Religious commitment- commitment to Christ, foundation ; commitment to body of Christ.
· Discipline and Self-control – delayed gratification.
· Affirming of others – look for every opportunity to build others up.
· Loving toward others – must have strength involved, willing to say no/ not always PC.
· Honesty/Integrity – yourself and others.
· Service not gain.
· Wisdom – more than knowledge, its effective use.
· Emotional Health.
The principles of leadership would be:
· Know yourself – improve yourself.
· Technically proficient – you need to know it, be the best you can.
· Seek Responsibility – take positions that will stretch you.
· Sound Decisions/Timely Decisions – gather as much information as you can.
· Set the example – never know when someone is watching.
· Know your people – don’t burn out your followers.
· Keep your people in formed – timely information.
· Develop Responsibility – in your people, they need to own it.
· Follow-up – give people the authority to do what you ask, check up on them from time to time.
· Train your people – on going, give them what they need to accomplish the task (K) Use your resources – know what your peoples gifts are