Just wanted to remind folks at The Bridge that we are in this thing for the long haul. Our goal has always been to create a Biblical community where long term relationships are essential as people learn how to love God and love other people. As I look around the country (and I do look), the best churches at getting this done keep their top staff people in tact for a long period of time. Matt Chandler is going to stay at The Village in the Dallas area for a long time (http://www.thevillagechurch.net/), Steven Furtick is committed long term to Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC (http://www.elevationchurch.org/), and I am in this for the duration at The Bridge. There are hundreds of others and it is important to note that these pastors are not in this to move to a bigger and better church. They believe that God has called them to revolutionize the communities that they planted churches in. These churches need to pay their senior leadership well enough that there should never be a day when that pastor is sweating how he is going to pay his bills. You might be interested in this article that shows the average amount that is paid for quality church leadership: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080819/church-pastors-pay-rises-to-more-than-80-000.htm.
While it is true that I have so far never accepted a nickel in salary so that we could get this church up and running with all of the ministries needed to deliver the Great Commission to St. Francois County, there may be a day when I will need to. But even if we are not talking about me, we must pay our God-supplied quality staff well enough to let them know that we want them here long term for long term growth and relationships. All of the leaders at the best churches in America share that philosophy. I can assure you that none of the current leadership at The Bridge is in this for the money, so we need to be diligent and take care of those who have been called to lead God's flock. We need to tithe faithfully and then be cutting edge in taking care of a quality staff. It is sure sign of a church that does not have IT for the membership to be constantly moaning about what any particular staff member makes when the people who set such things are doing so by Biblical and God-centered selfless attitudes. Our church has not done that, but we are going to have to up the ante here someday soon from a fledgling church plant to an established Kingdom factor in all areas including this one.
cara mengobati herpes kulit dengan cepat
5 years ago
2 comments:
I also might note that since our Board has a very, very limited role in day-to-day decisions about ministry, our staff really functions under an almost Elder-ship model. They must be very Godly and selfless themselves for this to work. That is why we are going to put our full staff through the Biblical Elder interview just to see how they do. My bet is that they will do great. I hope that you encourage our staff and tell them what a great job they do on a weekly basis. They are awesome!!!
Ditto!
Post a Comment