One Creative Process 3, Teaching Pastor

There's no way this whole team-thing could have worked without Chuck. He didn't just assign things to us, he was creative with us. He had a clear and compelling vision for what he wanted the Sunday morning gathering to look like. He planned his sermons really, really well. He was a leader of leaders in that he trusted me/us. He gave of his time, sometimes in ways that were over the top. When our team took 5 day road trips (3 of them) he went along.

Did I mention that we couldn't have done this without him?

Back to the creative process part, though.

First, Chuck came to our brainstorming meetings with a brilliant balance of preparedness and openness. He knew what he wanted to teach, but he also knew he would get valuable input that would help him connect with the congregation. He worked very hard to be able to answer our questions about his content. We would establish goals for each series as well as each service. We got better and better at being able to ask questions Bill Hybels has used for years--what do you want the congregation to know? to feel? to do? Of the many places Chuck did his job well, this was near the top.

Our teaching pastor would use time in November and December to gather ideas and suggestions about what to preach about the following year. Then as Christmas calmed down and before the new year wound up, he would spend time sketching out sermon series for February through January. These were loosely held, but well thought out plans. Sometimes things would change considerably. Other times, there was no need. Most of our series were 4-6 weeks long.

One of the things I admired about Chuck was that he allowed me to lead the Worship Arts Team. And he didn't do it well because it was me, he did it well because he trusted his leaders to lead. All of us. There were some meetings that were 3 hours long and he would only talk for 10 of those minutes. He let us do our work, was informed by what we did, had a blast with us--we laughed so much my abs were sometimes sore--and he was a member of the team led by one of his staff members. This was a fantastic dynamic to be part of. For him, for me, and for the team.

Another thing that really helped was Chuck's ability to think through the end of sermons. How should it end? What does this sermon call for us to do? And given those things, what should we sing/do after the sermon?

When we took our road trips, Chuck was great at learning from effective churches. He didn't emulate them, but while keeping his identity, he continued to learn from others.

Back to our process. He agreed with James McDonald (author of Vertical Church) that the teaching pastor can't delegate the rest of the worship gathering and focus only on the preaching. Instead of delegating, and rather than dictating, Chuck chose participating. It made all the difference.

Next time, Environment/Stage Design. And coming after that, other team members.