One thing I learned

One Thing I Learned from Serving on a Church Board – Have a Plan

For the last couple years, I had the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors for Calvary Chapel Jaco. Calvary Chapel Jaco is a church on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica planted and led by Pastor Mike Lawrence and family. Here’s one thing I learned.

Win:

I was available.

I provided organizational advice when needed. I even managed to visit Costa Rica a few times. I was also able to host Pastor Mike and his family when they would visit South Florida. Being on staff at a growing church in Miami gave me tons of insight that I was able to share with the team at Calvary Chapel Jaco. Costa Rica is a beautiful place and the work that is being done by Calvary Chapel Jaco is awesome. It was a privilege to be a part of it.

Fail:

I wasn’t able to send long term missionaries to serve alongside them.

We sent ZERO long term missionaries to serve in Costa Rica. ZERO. I see that as a huge fail, my biggest failure. Looking back at it, I realized that I had no long term plan. My plan was just to expose people to ministry and missions, and hope that someone would want to go. I needed to be way more intentional than that. That was my fault. If I could do it all over, I would develop a pipeline like this…..

What I learned:

Have a plan. Serving on a Board of Directors means that you’ll need to get stuff done in your spare time. You can’t just sit around waiting for things to happen. You can’t be passive. If you have an ambitious goal then you need to be aggressive and purposeful in making that happen. Not doing that is my failure and now is my lesson learned.

One thing I learned from Samaritan’s Purse – Never leave a man behind

By Pedro 2 Comments

If you think about it, there are a lot of things you can learn from the people in your company. In my case, there are really a lot of things I can learn. But for now, I’ll just speak about one.

1. Never leave a man behind.

This is inspired by Dr. Kent Brantly and his miraculous survival of the deadly Ebola virus. Today, Dr. Brantly and his family were with us at Samaritan’s Purse International Headquarters in Boone, NC.

Pardon the blurry picture!

Here is an excellent article by our President, Franklin Graham, which outlines the decisions around Dr. Brantly’s treatment.

There was some pressure to not allow Ebola patients to come back to the US for treatment. I’m proud of Franklin Graham and the staff at Samaritan’s Purse for, as usual, doing what’s right instead of what’s popular. The popular decision would have been to leave Dr. Brantly in Liberia and let him die from Ebola. People didn’t want to take the risk. It was unpopular.

Franklin Graham said it was “No ethical dilemma” to bring Dr. Brantly back home. He was not willing to leave a man behind. It wasn’t popular, but it was the right decision to bring him home and use the best medical care in the world to bring him back to health. Are you willing to do great things for people who do great things? Are you willing to take risks for those who take risks? Some organizations are good at sitting back and pondering the great questions of life. We happen to be very effective at getting things done.

I’m proud to work for an organization that won’t leave a man behind.

One thing I learned from my Pastor – Take Responsibility

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Responsibility is something we take seriously at Calvary Chapel Kendall. We don’t just give it out, we don’t abuse it, and we don’t take it lightly. My Pastor has taught me to take responsibility for my actions and for the actions of my team. It’s a part of leadership. Too many people nowadays, especially younger people, are unwilling to take responsibility for their actions. This is troubling. On the other hand, when a young person is willing to own up to their mistakes, that’s a great sign of maturity, especially when they own up to the mistakes of their team. Seek out those who are willing to take responsibility, promote them, and watch them excel! Take those who make excuses and tell them to grow up! If they don’t….. get rid of them.

Is this easy? Absolutely not, owning up to something is one of the most difficult things you can do. Apologizing for it even more so. We all make mistakes, so when you do, do you give an excuse, or do you give an apology?

One thing I learned from my Pastor – Engage People

By Pedro Leave a Comment

At Calvary Chapel Kendall, the bubble does not exist. The bubble is easy to succumb to. It makes you want to attend Christian schools, Christian restaurants, Christian vacations, Christian businesses of all kinds. The bubble is the fabricated world in which many Christian ministers live. There’s nothing wrong with patronage at a Christian owned business, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we can live in the Kingdom here on Earth. The Kingdom will be brought in by Christ, only. We encourage our congregants to interact and be salt and light in the world in which they live. We encourage them to Occupy.

Always engage. Find a way to interact with people that you normally wouldn’t interact with. This keeps you “normal.”

Involve yourself in people’s lives. Be salt and light to people through their ups and downs.

Plant seeds, harvest, whatever. As you live alongside people, plant seeds, pray for them, invite them to Church, serve them practically, do whatever. Be a part of the evangelistic process in any capacity.

One thing I learned from my Pastor – Assume the best

By Pedro 2 Comments

This is a series of posts in which I will outline things that I’ve learned from my Pastor (hence the name!). These little chunks of wisdom may or may not only come from my Senior Pastor, but may also come from any pastors at my church that have helped, and continue to help me grow as a Christian and as a man.

Assume the best

Did somebody maliciously hurt you? Probably not.

Is someone trying to take over your ministry? Probably not.

Is your coworker out to get you? Probably not.

Do people always have your best intentions in mind? Probably not.

Still, my Pastor has taught me to assume the best in people, especially those who are on our ministry teams. Most people do not exist for the purpose of annoying us, although it does feel that way sometimes. Be slow to anger, quick to forgive, and don’t be afraid tackle something head on. Most importantly, assume the best in people, at least until they prove the worst.