Samuel r. Chand - What Other Leaders Are Saying

Chand is not training a few preachers to stand in a pulpit; he ispreparing a generation of men and women to shake up this nation.

Bishop Eddie L. Long,Lithonia, Georgia

Samuel Chand is pioneering the church into tomorrow.Bill McCartney,

Promise Keepers, Denver, Colorado

In the words of my late father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., DrChand is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Hehas a dynamic way of hitting you with the truth and yet easing yourpain at the same time.

Bernice A. King,Atlanta, Georgia

Chands keen insights and vast leadership exposure have preparedhim well for forecasting and setting leadership directions.

Dr. John C. Maxwell,The Injoy Group

A compelling, modern-day prophet, Chand leads and ministers outof the integrity of his heart.

Crawford W. Loritts Jr.,Campus Crusade for Christ, USA

He models the reality of a marketplace gospel. I recommend hisinsights as invaluable.

Paul L. Walker,Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee

What Other Leaders Are Saying

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I believe in what he has to say, and I am sure you will be blessed andchallenged by it.

Gerald Brooks,Grace Outreach Center, Plano, Texas

A unique call of God to motivate and prepare leaders for the twenty-first century.

Kenneth C. Ulmer,Faithful Central Bible Church, Inglewood, California

Articulate and witty, giving fresh thought and new perspective. Heis futuristic in his approach, confronting current paradigms and chal-lenging his readers.

La Fayette Scales,Rhema Christian Center, Columbus, Ohio

This book will awaken your Spirit and challenge your intellect.Wiley Jackson, Jr.,

Word in Action Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia

Samuel Chand is one of the brightest lights on the horizon of thechurch today.

Jay Hayford,Van Nuys, California

He epitomizes the aphorism: Leadership begins with vision, andvision is a holy discontent with things as they are.

Ray Bakke,International Urban Associates, Seattle, Washington

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Dr. Chands assignment in life is clearly to develop the church inunprecedented ways into what God has destined it to be at such a timeas this.

Cynthia L. Hale,Ray of Hope Christian Church, Decatur, Georgia

Dr. Chand is an emerging voice in the arena of church leadershipdevelopment. He challenges the church to be relevant and effective tothe times. His voice is refreshing and thought provoking.

Tony Morris, Senior Leader,New Covenant Christian Center, Seattle, Washington

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Copyright 2003 Dr. Samuel R. Chand

Printed in the United States of America

Published by:Mall Publishing Company

641 Homewood AvenueHighland Park, Illinois 60035

Toll Free: 1-877-203-2453E-mail: [email protected]

www.mallpublishing.biz

Cover Design by Andrew Ostrowski

Book Design by Marlon B. Villadiego

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by anyinformation storage or retrieval system,without the permission

in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are fromthe King James Version (KJV) of the Holy Bible.

ISBN 0-9741022-7-X

For licensing / copyright information, for additional copiesor for use in specialized settings contact:

Dr. Samuel R. Chand

950 Eagles Landing Parkway, Suite 295Stockbridge, GA 30281

www.samchand.com

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t sCHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

APPENDIX

WHOS HOLDING YOUR LADDER?

WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS HOLDING YOUR LADDER?

FIVE CORE QUALITIES OF LADDER HOLDERS

HOW DO WE RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS?

ARE WE MANAGING LADDERS?

CAN WE TURN LADDER HOLDERS INTO LADDER CLIMBERS?

ARE WE LOOKING UP THE LADDER?

HOW DID JESUS CHOOSE LADDER HOLDERS?

WHOSE LADDER ARE YOU HOLDING?

TEACHING THIS MATERIAL

1

15

25

45

61

81

101

109

115

123

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1W h o s H o l d i n g Yo u rL a d d e r ?I stared out the window while I waited for someone

to call me into the sanctuary. I was a featured speakerat a conference at Evangel Church in Queens, NewYork. As I meditated on the points I wanted to cover,something in the street below diverted my attention.

A man stood on a ladder painting-not that uncom-mon a sight. I smiled, remembering my student days inBible college. I had spent my summers doing that kindof work. Yet I couldn't take my eyes off the man. For


several minutes I watched his graceful motions as hemoved his brush across the surface.

"I wonder who's holding the ladder for him?" Iasked aloud. I couldn't see all the way to the streetlevel.

As I stood in pastor Robert Johansson's study, Ikept thinking of that question. Someone had to be down

there bracing the painter's ladderalthough I couldn't see him. Myimpression was made while Istared down from about eightfloors above street level. As Iwatched the man paint the exteri-or wall, I noticed he could coveronly a limited area. He stretchedas far as he could to the left andthen to the right and even reachedabove his head. As I observed him,it occurred to me that he was onlygoing to the height that he was

comfortable in climbing or reaching. What would allow him to go higher? I asked myself.

I could see that he stood on an extension ladder, so hecould go higher-and he would have to if he wanted tofinish the job. If the ladder reached the top of the build-ing, he still needed one thing. He had to have someoneon the street level to hold his ladder steady while heworked.

By himself, the painter couldn't go any farther. Hehad stretched and reached and done everything hecould by himself. He had to have help.

Page 2 Whos Holding Your Ladder?

C H A P T E R 1

Whether inmanagement or

systems, the effectiveness of a

leader depends onthe person or

persons who holdthe ladder; those

who are insupport roles.


As I watched his graceful strokes I thought aboutthat action in leadership terms. It struck me that,whether in management or systems, the effectiveness ofa leader depends on the person or persons who hold theladder-those who are in support roles.

Then another thought struck me: Those who holdthe ladders are as important as the leaders themselves.

My mind wouldn't let go of that image. As I staredout that window in Queens, I kept thinking, no leadergets to the top without those down below who hold theladder. I craned my neck trying to see the street level,but I never could see who held that ladder.

Then I smiled as my mind shifted to the symbolismof leadership, success, and peoplein enabling roles. Those who faith-fully support from the bottom areoften unseen. That doesn't dimin-ish their importance or the needfor them. It does mean that eventhough their ministries or theirpositions are every bit as important as the painter onthe top, sometimes they do their work unnoticed.Sometimes God may be the only one who knows who'sholding the ladder.

I took the idea even further. I began to think of theladder as the symbol of the dream-the vision of theleader-and, of course, that makes the painter thevisionary. Once the visionaries start up their ladders,ministry can be large, and far-reaching, or narrow, andconfined. The visionaries could have all the trainingpossible, the most expensive equipment, years of

Page 3Whos Holding Your Ladder?

W H O S H O L D I N G Y O U R L A D D E R ?

Sometimes Godmay be the onlyone who knows

who's holding theladder.


experience and knowledge about painting, and couldhave all the expertise and be extremely passionateabout what they're doing, but that's not the decidingfactor. The ladder holder determines the height of theladder climber. "That's it!" I cried out. "Those who holdthe ladder control the ascent of the visionaries."

LADDERS AND LEADERSHIP

Long after I left the conference in Queens, I contin-ued to dwell on that idea. I considered how that concept

applies to leadership in businessor in the church. Immediately, Iremembered three examples (orparadigms as we like to call themtoday). I first heard them deliv-ered as part of a powerful messageby pastor Gerald Brooks fromGrace Outreach Center in Plano,Texas. In a large conference Iattended, he pointed out that

there are three ways in which we do ministry. The first is to do everything ourselves. That's how a

number of leaders try to function, especially when thecongregation is small. Eventually the realization hits:That's too much work.

The second is to hire it out. Some churches pay oth-ers to take over part or all of the load. Thats too muchmoney.

The third is to develop others. Some leaders teachpeople how to do the tasks. Thats too much time.


C H A P T E R O N E

The ladder holderdetermines the

height of the ladderclimber.

Those who hold theladder control the

ascent of thevisionaries.


Pastor Brooks pointed out that he had given usthree paradigms and all of them had drawbacks. "Whatis the wise thing to do?" he asked.

Obviously, the answer is the third option-to devel-op others. However, too many church leaders get sobusy painting at the top of theirown ladders, they don't realizehow much help they need. Theydon't realize the importance ofdeveloping ladder holders untilthey're sixty feet above groundand start to look down. Becausethey didn't teach others to hold theladders for them, a few visionarieshave fallen. Others have burnedout from overwork and trying to doeverything themselves. Some havesimply quit trying. "It's just toohard," they say, "and too lonely."

When I used the term develop-ing others, I carefully chose thatword instead of training. There isa vast difference between training people and develop-ing them. Training focuses on tasks; developing focuseson the person. Training is uni-directional; developing isomni-directional. We train people to become reception-ists. When we're finished, they're good receptionists andthey do their tasks well. We have not developed them sothat they are ready to move into other positions.

God never intended for the local church to be a one-person organization. That takes us back to the concept



Three ways inwhich we do

ministry:The first is to doeverything our-

selves. That's toomuch work.

The second is tohire it out. Thatstoo much money.

The third one is todevelop others.

Thats too muchtime.


of developing leaders. If we don't develop and equip oth-ers, we're never going to have the kind of ladder holderswe need-especially when we want to climb to the high-est rungs.

Perhaps the best way to show how this works is toconsider the contrast between projects and people. Weleaders need ladder holders the most when we make thejump from activities to working with individuals.Projects involve policies, programs, buildings, ideas, orsystems. Those are fairly stable and easily understood.We can usually control the variables.

When we move beyond projects, not only have wemade a major leap, but we also have to change our way

of thinking. We can't treat peoplethe way we treat ideas or activi-ties. Obviously, most people areegocentric and more concernedabout themselves than with oth-ers. That is, they don't naturallycare about serving God or others.That's something they have tolearn in their growth process.Realizing that fact about human

nature forces us constantly to scramble for newanswers. We need to help those we develop to:

understand their purpose, grasp why their roles are important, cope with disappointment as well as

with success, ignite their passion, be inspired to reach

their fullest potential.


C H A P T E R O N E

There is a vastdifference betweentraining people and

developing them.Training focuses on

tasks; developingfocuses on the

person.


Some leaders feel as if they're progressing becauseaction is going on. They point to the commotion andnoise level around them. In reality, they may be goingbackward. Having many activitiesisn't always advancing. The proofcomes when the tumult ceases.That's when people realize theaction has been taking them back-ward.

For example, this happenswhen leaders move from projectsto people. Because they're not setup or taught to deal with people, they end up going backto the projects. That is, they end up managing ratherthan leading. We lead people, but we manage things.

Sometimes trying to move from projects to peopleends in messy scandals, deep-seated anger, and seriousrecriminations. Many things are happening-even goodthings-but they don't extend the kingdom of God orenable Christians to grow.

Too many of those who call themselves leaders areactually good at projects. They can visualize what needsto be done. They are aware that unless the watersmiraculously part, they'll need to build a bridge to takethem across the Jordan River. They're often consciousof the need to get to the other side of the river whileeveryone else is enjoying the water. They grasp theproblems involved in making a structure strong enoughor wide enough. Too often, however, they don't knowhow to get it done because they don't know how to workwell with people. They're aware only that they need a



We leaders needladder holders the

most when wemake the jump

from activities toworking withindividuals.


bridge built, and they can't understand why everyonedoesn't volunteer and pitch in to accomplish the task.They are project leaders.

If they don't have excellent people skills, they focuson managing others-putting individuals into jobs toget the task completed. They have little concern for thetalents or interests of those who are doing the task."Just get it done," is the first sentence in their vocabu-lary.

This shows a crucial difference in leadership.Project leaders see the need, andwe admire their concern to getthings finished. They're not veryconcerned about who does what, so

long as they get the bridge built and the ark of thecovenant and all the priestly equipment get carriedsafely across the Jordan.

In short, dealing with projects is easier; dealingwith people is more difficult.

By the time the project leaders set up camp on theeast side of the Jordan, someone begins to realize thatdoing projects and building bridges aren't what reallycounts. They need bridges, of course, but they realizethat the priorities are wrong. In the end, God's kingdommatures and stretches through people being edified,appreciated, and developed. In God's eyes, people countmore than bridges, elevators, escalators, or ladders. Allprojects need people-but they need the right kind.They especially need the committed, talented workersto build the bridge correctly.


C H A P T E R O N E

We lead people, butwe manage things.


THE RIGHT LADDER HOLDERS

For days after I left Pastor Johansson's church, Ithought about the ladder holders. I've been aroundthousands of leaders both in themarketplace and in ministry. I'vecome to one foundational under-standing: The most importantdecision leaders make-no matterwhether it's to build a bridgeacross the Jordan or erecting ladders to scale the wallsof enemy strongholds-is to select the right helpers. Ifthey don't have the right people holding the ladder, theproject will fail.

In the church, we need to choose leaders who areinvolved, active, and already showing their commit-ment to Jesus Christ by their involvement. In business,we need the same kind of dedication. When we look atthe qualities we seek, however, before anything else, weneed to start with integrity.

Does that sound obvious? It may not be. I have afriend who became pastor of a church where they had aboard of fifteen elders. Annually, the congregationelected five elders who served three years. That sound-ed fine, but the problem my friend faced was the elec-tion of those five elders each year.

He felt frustrated because most of the elders didn'tattend Sunday school and yet they made decisionsabout the educational programs. Several of them didn'ttithe, and yet they were the people who made decisionsabout church finances. Three of them attended church



Dealing withprojects is easier;

dealing with peopleis more difficult.


about once a month and spent more Sundays on the golfcourse than at worship, and yet they made the decisionsabout evangelism and outreach.

"Why did you elect him?" the pastor asked about oneelder.

"To honor him. He's been in this church all his lifeand his daddy was an elder."

"He is one of the best businessmen in the city andpeople respect his decisions," said another. "He can helpus make good decisions."

"If we make him an elder," was another response,"maybe he'll get active as a leader."

"Get him active as a leader," my friend countered,"and then make him an elder."

It took my pastor-friend two more years of thechurch electing elders for him to get across the need for

integrity. It took another twoyears before he had a church boardthat functioned with vision andcommitment. By the end of thefifth year of his ministry, he hadpeople in leadership who faithfullyworshiped every week and whogave at least ten percent of their

income. Some taught Sunday school, sang in the choir,or participated in study groups. All of them had proventhemselves in some form of ministry before they becameelders. In short, they were people of integrity.

Why is this quality so crucial? The answer is thatultimately, the fulfillment of the vision depends on thepeople who support the ladder of the visionary leader.


C H A P T E R O N E

In God's eyes,people count more

than bridges,elevators,

escalators, orladders.


Here's an example of how this works. I can changethe light bulb in the ceiling in my living room. That'snot a big problem because all I need is a six-footstepladder. I can stand on whatever rung I need toreach the fixture. I don't need anyone to hold my ladder.

What happens if the bulbs on the outside that illu-minate my driveway need changing (they are two sto-ries up from the ground)? I can't change them frominside the house or by leaning down from the roof. Theonly way to get the bulbs changed is to use a twenty-footladder.

To stand twenty feet above the ground on a piece ofwood eighteen inches by six is scary enough. What hap-pens if the ladder begins to sway? What happens if I getup there and reach just an inch too far to the left? Yes,I need someone to hold my ladder.

A situation like that actually happened to me. Oneevening we had invited friendsover to celebrate the birthday ofour daughter, Rachel. She hadturned eighteen. My wife Brendahad worked hard getting the houseready for guests. Earlier in theweek she had given me a few out-door chores to do, and one of them was to change thefloodlights. I had forgotten to do that task.

Fifteen minutes before our first guests were due, Iwent to snap on the outside lights and they didn't comeon. Then I remembered: I had forgotten to put in a newbulb.

"I'll get it done," I yelled as I raced into the garage,



The most important decisionleaders make is to

select the righthelpers.


grabbed a bulb, and pulled out my fold-up, handydandy, Home Depot ladder. I set it up next to the

garage. Then I turned around andlooked at the distance from theground. Until that moment, I had-n't realized how high the light wasfrom the ground. I was experi-enced in climbing up and downladders, so I shrugged. Just onebulb-no big deal-and I startedclimbing. About two-thirds of the

way up, I felt the ladder begin to wobble-just a little-but enough that I knew it wasn't safe to keep going.

"Rachel! Come and help," I called. "I need you tohold the ladder for me."

My daughter came outside and stared at me, notsure what she was supposed to do. She leaned forwardwith an arm on each side. I smiled at her naivet.

"No, you have to hold this so that when I get up tothe top the ladder doesn't wobble and cause me to fall."

I came down and asked her to stand in front of theladder. "Now you curl your toes at the bottom." Ishowed her how.

"These are my new shoes!""What do you want?" I asked and laughed. "Do you

want scratched shoes or a father with a broken leg?" She wanted to run in and change shoes first, but it

was almost time for guests. Impatiently I said, "No.Right now I don't care about your shoes. Just hold theladder."

She held the ladder just as I had shown her. When


C H A P T E R O N E

Ultimately, thefulfillment of thevision depends on

the people whosupport the ladder

of the visionaryleader.


I reached the top, however, the old bulb broke as I wasunscrewing it, and the metal section stayed in the out-let. I had to climb down the ladder, hurry inside thehouse, turn off the breaker, and grab pliers to unscrewthe metal residue.

When I went back up, Rachel faithfully held the lad-der. (She didn't scuff her shoes.)As I came down, I realized theimportance of what she had done.To my daughter, holding the lad-der had seemed like such a mean-ingless chore. To me, it was a safe-ty issue. I would not have been able to change that lightif she or someone had not held my ladder.

As I put away my equipment, I thought, that's theway it works in the church and in the business world.The higher we need to go, the more important ladderholders become. It was one of those great moments ofinsight to me. I've always valued people, but in thatinstant, I realized the absolute necessity of seeking,recruiting, and training individuals to hold ladders ordo any other leadership function.

Since that day in Queens, the message of holdingladders has become increasingly significant to me. As Itravel around the country, I sometimes ask, "Who isholding your ladder?" I'm convinced that all successfulpainters who are able to reach high on the building doso because of those below who are steadying them whilethey work and fulfill their vision.

Those who insist on doing everything themselvescan still paint-but not very high and not very



The higher we needto go, the more

important ladderholders become.


effectively. And because they insist on doing it them-selves, it's not very safe or sensible.

C H A P T E R O N E



"I'm a nobody.""I don't make any difference. No one even misses

me when I'm absent.""I just answer the telephone in our office and do

a little word processing. Anybody can do what I do.""I'm not a preacher or a singer, so I'm just one of

the lesser lights in our church."Those are typical of the kind of responses I've

heard from individuals-the support people-those

2W h a t K i n d O f P e r s o n I s H o l d i n g Yo u rL a d d e r ?Who's Ladder 092903.qxd 9/30/2003 1:47 PM Page 15

who are just as important in their own supportingroles as the stars of the show.

I want to be clear about identifying ladder holders. They are the foundation of any

organization. They are the ones who allow leaders to

reach their highest potential. They have the ladder held so securely that

the leaders don't have to fret orconstantly worry if they'll fall.

In the previous chapter I asked, "Who is holdingyour ladder?" Now I ask, what kind of person is hold-ing your ladder? Let's look more closely at those weaccept, enlist, recruit, or hire to hold our ladders.

The most obvious point is we can't just throwanybody into the job.

To give an idea of the importance of this role, I'lluse myself as an example. Iweigh about 155 pounds and I'mfive feet eight, so I'm not a heavyperson. Let's say you decide toclimb a ladder that reachestwenty feet. I might be able tohold your ladder if the ground istotally level. What happenswhen you decide to ascend a

forty-foot ladder? You don't want just anybody downat the bottom.

At conferences, I often illustrate this. I look forone of the largest men in the audience and then askhim to come up to the platform and stand next to me.


C H A P T E R T W O

Ladder holders arethe foundation ofany organization.They are the oneswho allow leaders

to reach theirhighest potential.


I make certain he towers over me by at least six inch-es and weighs fifty or more pounds more than I do.

As the man stands next to me, the differencesbetween us are too obvious to comment on. "If youwere climbing a forty-foot ladder, whom would youchoose to hold that ladder?" I ask the audience.Obviously, they always choose the other man.

"Look at me! I'm a great ladder holder," I say."You don't know this, but I have a PhD in ladderholding. I love holding ladders. There's nothing I feelbetter about than doing just that. It gives me suchdeep joy and inner satisfaction. Besides that, I havelearned beautiful techniques. Why, I can hold anyladder with two fingers and use only one foot. WhenI hold a ladder, I am so graceful, it looks as if I'm pos-ing for a sculptor. Besides, I've held many ladders inmy life. I have also held ladders in Kenya, India, andAustralia, so I'm an international ladder holder. Allright, a few ladders did shake a little, but so far noone has fallen-I mean, not yet."

I point to the man next to me. "You don't knowanything about him and you haven't questioned himabout his experience. Yet just looking at us, you'drather have him hold your ladder when you have toclimb forty feet high. Why would you choose this less-experienced person over me?"

"He's taller.""He's stronger.""He's bigger than you."I don't blame the audience. If I had a choice, I'd

want someone who is heavier and stronger than I am


W H AT K I N D O F P E R S O N I S H O L D I N G Y O U R L A D D E R ?


to be at the bottom of my ladder. The principle works in any form of leadership.

Leaders call for the bigger man because their livesare on the line. The higher the climb, the strongerthe person they want at the bottom. That just makescommon sense.

I also discovered that the audience didn't careabout my education, and theydidn't want to know that I couldpose gracefully while I did myjob. They wanted physicalstrength-assurance they wouldbe safe when they reached thirty

feet, forty, fifty, and even sixty. "We want someone strong enough to hold the lad-

der so we can feel safe," someone usually yells out.

NEGATIVE QUALITIES

We don't always want to pick the person who islargest. It depends on the task. Strength is impor-tant, but often we have other qualities we need. Oneway to see this is to focus on the qualities we don'twant.

What does this say to us who are in leadershiproles?

We need to pick the right people to do the job wewant done.

Here are the kinds of people we don't want tohold our ladders.

1. We don't want those who need constant


C H A P T E R T W O

We need to pick theright people to dothe job we want

done.


reminding. When I know I'm going to have to make afifty-foot climb, what kind of person do I choose? Aswe think about the tasks in our church or businessthat need doing, whom will we ask?

It's stressful and frustrating if we have to say tosomeone on Sunday morning, "Don't forget. Youpromised to help me Tuesday night." What a chore itis if we have to call that same person two hoursbefore the scheduled time and say, "I just wanted toremind you that we start at 7:30 tonight."

We have many people like that in our businessesand in our churches. For instance, I'll tell you abouta man I'll call Hector. He had the nicest smile of any-one I've ever seen. "Would you come over Fridaynight and help?" I once asked. He agreed and prom-ised that he wanted to do anything he could to helpme.

It didn't take me long to realize that Hectorwould do anything-that is, if I reminded himenough times. This is slightly exaggerated, but itseemed that by Tuesday, I'dhave to call and remind himwhat I wanted him to do. OnWednesday, I'd have to tell himwhat time I wanted him at thechurch. Thursday, I'd have tocall again just to make sure hehadn't forgotten and planned to do something else.

This doesn't apply only to Hector, because he hasbrothers and sisters-and the church and the mar-ketplace is filled with them. If I make all the



I want to makesure that my ladderholder understandswhat I'm trying to

accomplish.


arrangements and then explain in simple detail,they'll do what I want. Some of them will come on theright day, but I can also expect them to arrive atleast fifteen minutes late.

Others want to help, but I have to explain everystep about how to do the job. It's the same job Iexplained three weeks earlier and will need to clari-fy again in another three weeks.

What do we say about people like Hector? "By the time I get through telling him I might as

well do it myself," is the common reaction.Sometimes we're so tired of those who need con-

stant reminding that we try to mount the steps byourselves without any support. That's a mistake. Wehave focused so much on the negative ladder holders,we forget there are other, dependable individuals wecan call on.

2. We don't want those who behave casually.Here's a question every business and church leaderneeds to ask: "Are the people I hire or recruit inten-tional about their work?" If Elmer holds my ladderwill he curl all his toes and hold the ladder with bothhands? Or will he have one hand draped casuallyacross one of the rungs and a cup of Starbucks coffeein the other? Will he sip his coffee and carry on a con-versation with someone across the street while I'mup there painting? I hope not. If Elmer is going tohold my ladder I want his total attention.

I want to make sure that my ladder holder under-stands what I'm trying to accomplish. Think of thevarious volunteer jobs in the church, such as being


C H A P T E R T W O


an usher. For example, I finished a conference inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday night andhad planned to take the overnight flight back toAtlanta. Because of bad weather in the east, theflight was canceled and I could not get out until mid-day Sunday. I picked a church near the hotel andwent inside.

Two ushers stood in the doorway chatting abouta gospel concert one of them had attended. They bothheld bulletins in their hands. I paused, stared atthem, but they were too involved to notice me. I wait-ed a few seconds and asked, "May I have a bulletin?"

"Oh, sure," said one of them as he handed one tome and then took a step backward so that I could getthrough. As soon as I passed, the two men picked uptheir conversation. I wouldn't want either of them tobe a ladder holder for me!

What about the people in the parking lot whodirect traffic? As the lot gets full, are they alert tohelp people find space for their cars? What about thefriendliness of our nursery workers? What about theminister of music or choir director? Do they careabout serving or only performing?

How about the church office? Is the receptionistanswering phones intentionally or casually? That is,does the receptionist make each caller feel special oract as if it's a minor intrusion on her time? Are peo-ple promptly returning their voice-mail messages?

Haven't most of us walked into an office andwaited for several minutes while the receptionistfinishes a personal call? I've even had receptionists




ignore me when I say, "Excuse me." Sometimes with-out ever looking up at me the person behind the desksays sharply, "Just a minute." On one occasion awoman was filing her nails and barked at me, "Can'tyou see I'm busy?"

When I've spoken about such situations in confer-ences, one or two business people walk up to me laterand refer to these negative qualities. They say some-thing like, "That makes more sense for me than any-thing else." They realize the importance of the inten-tional focus of everyone in their organization.

3. We don't want resum builders. Who are theresum builders? They're the kinds who, whilethey're holding my ladder, aren't giving me theirtotal attention. They're looking around at other

things they'll do after they've fin-ished with me. I'm only a tempo-rary job until the real job comesalong. They do the work-barely-but that's not their realarea of interest. They're looking

around for the brighter light, the shinier ladder, orthe taller building. They're not committed to whatthey're doing now; they're thinking of what theywant to do in their next position.

I want people to have their eyes on me while theyhold my ladder. Too often, especially in the market-place, those who are supposed to hold ladders areonly holding on enough to appear to be working.They're working-but not on the ladder. They'repositioning themselves for the next job.


C H A P T E R T W O

As leaders, we needto choose those who

are committed to us.


This means that when we select ladder holders,as leaders, we need to choose those who are commit-ted to us. If we're going to be forty feet in the air, wedon't want someone who may wave as she leaves usand moves on to hold a larger ladder down the streetwhile we're still up in the air.

4. We don't want unhappy people. I've neverunderstood why somebody would keep going to thesame church for thirty-eight years and leave madevery Sunday. Most of us know individuals like thatin our church. We also know them in the market-place. They're unhappy when they come, and they'reangry when they leave. The music will be too loudone week and not lively enough the next. The pastorprayed too long or didn't preach enough gospel.

Think of a situation like this. Suppose Amos goesto the ABC Barbeque on Friday night. He tellsPastor Green they have lousy food, slow service, andhigh prices."

"That's terrible," Pastor Green says. The following week, Amos says, "I ate at the ABC

Barbeque again Friday night. They still have lousyfood, slow service, and high prices."

Every week Amos will complain about the restau-rant but he won't stop going there. Doesn't someoneneed to say to him, "Go somewhere else to eat"? I'veoften said to pastors, "Some of your members couldget their healing if they just parked their car atsomebody else's church."

We don't apply the same common sense to theperpetual grumblers in our congregations. They've




been unhappy for forty-three years. The chancesaren't very good that they'll change.

5. We don't want people just to agree. When I wasa pastor, I became aware of people who would agreewith all my plans and ideas. "Oh, yes, yes, pastor,"she might say. "I'll help you on the building plan. I'mthere to help you with a new and more focused min-istry to women, and I'll support you as you push thatmen's ministry." She also wants to help me with theyouth choir.

Then, as the visionary leader, I started thoseprojects. I started climbing the ladder, calmly andanxiety free. After all, she said she'd be there to sup-port me. I'd get up fifteen feet and look down. Shewasn't there! I'd start to move upward, trying to holdthings steady, and realize that the higher I climbedthe more help I needed at the bottom. I didn't knowwhere she was, but if I could find her, I'm sure theconversation would start like this:

"You promised to hold my ladder.""Yes, yes, of course, I'll help you. I know you're

doing the right thing."


C H A P T E R T W O


If I'm climbing, I want to be sure that my sup-porters know what I'm trying to do when I'm alone atthe top with my paint buckets, brushes, and scrap-ers. Do those at the ground understand what I'm try-ing to accomplish? Do they realize that I can't paintover cracked paint because I must first chip away theold? Or do they get impatient and yell, "Just put afresh coat over the old stuff"?

I also want to make this clear: Those who are

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gripping the ladder don't have to agree with my tac-tics or methods. They do, however, need to under-stand where I want to go even if they would havetaken a different route. They do have to believe in myvision and agree with where I'm going.

But what if they don't have the vision? What ifthey don't have any idea whereI'm going? How much will I beable to depend on them and theircommitment to my vision?

For example, let's say I visitJoyful Tidings Church nextSunday morning and they have100 people in the worship serv-ice. I wait outside until churchservice is over. I hold a taperecorder in my hand. As each

person steps forward I ask, "What's the vision of thischurch?"

How many answers will I get? Could I count ontwenty people out of the hundred to give me thesame answer? I don't mean a memorized statementor something simplistic such as "Our vision is to savesouls." The church may not have an evangelistic pro-gram and no one has joined the church in two years,but is that still the vision? Not likely.

What happens at Joyful Tidings Church when Iask? If they don't know the vision, how can they be intune with the pastor? They may love the pastor andnod appreciatively at the sermons every week. Theymay enjoy the music program and feel inspired by


C H A P T E R T H R E E

Those who aregripping the ladderdon't have to agreewith my tactics ormethods. They dohave to believe in

my vision andagree with where

I'm going.


the worship. But that's still moving in the realm ofprojects. The sermon is a project; the music is a proj-ect. What is the vision?

Because I raised that issue myself several times,I started asking myself a question. If I had to find aladder holder what core qualities would I seek? Whatwould they have to have for me to consider them asclass A, number one, top-notch, eagle, ladder hold-ers?

I came up with five qualities I'd insist on. Thereare others I'd like to see and that I would hope for.But these are the essentials for ladder holders.

TThhee ffiirrsstt qquuaalliittyy iiss ssttrreennggtthh.. They have to bestrong. By that, I mean they must be people who canhandle instruction and criticism, with whom I canuse plain language and not have to walk on eggshellsand fix things for them. That means that if they needto be corrected in certain areas they can change themwithout my having to worry about how much I'mgoing to hurt their feelings.

I'm not referring to being crass, rude, arrogant,or obnoxious. For example, let's focus on the personrunning the sound system. Last Sunday morning thesound system reverberated at times and caused meto shudder. At other times, the amplification was solow that people strained to hear what I said.

I don't want excuses or lengthy explanation, andthis is more important than whether the sound engi-neer slept well the night before. This is ministry-service-to the body of Jesus Christ.

"The sound wasn't right," I need to be able to say


F I V E C O R E Q U A L I T I E S O F L A D D E R H O L D E R S


and then add, "Do whatever you have to do to makeit happen. People can't worship when they have toclamp their hands over their ears."

I expect the sound engineer to know how to takecare of those things. When I speak that way, I'm nottrying to hurt feelings; I'm just conducting business.

In the church, however, we know that some mem-bers are so fragile we can hardly correct them with-out their getting upset. "I'm doing my best, youknow," they may say. "Why are you always pickingon me? Why don't you like me? Why do you find faultwith everything I do?"

We need strong ladder holders-those strongenough to take criticism and who want to do better.

To use the ladder imageagain, I can't be sixty feet in theair and have to yell down to rem-edy the mistakes my holder ismaking. I need someone strongenough to do the task right andto be secure enough that I canyell down instructions and know

the person will listen.Another way I explain this is to say, "The greater

the need, the shorter the prayer." If I were drowningI wouldn't say, "Oh God, The Everlasting Father ofAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Almighty One whowas, is, and ever shall be, hallowed be thy name,seeth thou that I drownest? Throwest me a rope thatI may cling to safely even as I am always safe in theold rugged cross."



We need strongladder holders;

those strongenough to take

criticism and whowant to do better.


No, I'm going to scream, "Help, God!" I won'tworry about whether I addressed the entire Trinityor only Jesus. I won't be concerned about whether Iconcluded with "In Jesus' Name Amen." I'm too busytrying to stay alive!

Hence, the greater the need, the shorter theprayer. And when I'm up there on a forty-foot ladderthe need is great. It's not an option-I must have peo-ple holding the ladder who can handle instructions intwo to three words and be able to do it quickly.

TThhee sseeccoonndd qquuaalliittyy iiss aatttteennttiivveenneessss.. They need tobe able to pay attention, be alert to what I'm sayingand absorb it quickly. I don't want to give them thesame lessons repeatedly.

Can't we assume that if James and Martha havebeen ushering for twenty-seven years, they ought toknow what they're supposed to do? Those who cleanthe church ought to know where every wastebasketis. Those who sing in the choir ought to know thetime they're supposed to be there to rehearse onWednesday night and what time they're expected tobe in their robes on Sunday morning.

We don't have to chase after attentive peoplerepeatedly. They understand the first time.

TThhee tthhiirrdd qquuaalliittyy iiss ffaaiitthhffuullnneessss.. I'm not refer-ring to having faith in the Lord. That's assumed ifthey're going to serve in the church. I'm talkingabout having faith in me as their leader and beingcommitted to me.

I learned very early in my own ministry that ifthey aren't faithful to me-if they aren't committed




to the same vision I am-they'll abandon me. Theworst thing is that they run away, not before I startand not when I explain what I want. They nod, smile,and agree, but as soon as I'm fifteen feet away, theyabandon me.

I need people who remain at the ladder no matterhow difficult things become. As long as I'm up there,the faithful show me that I can be assured they'redown below. They don't need my constantly yellingdown, "You're doing a great job. You're wonderful."They're steady and I know I can count on them.

TThhee ffoouurrtthh qquuaalliittyy iiss ffiirrmmnneessss.. By that I meannot exploited by manipulative people. In everychurch and in every corporation there are manipula-tive types. Al Qaeda terrorists aren't new-only thename. Terrorism in the church is nothing new, butit's usually cloaked in ecclesiastical language, hiddenin the by-laws, or made to sound spiritual andappealing. The ultimate goal of church terrorists iscontrol and destruction. That sounds harsh, I'm sure,but that's what they're after.

They may speak in pious language such as, "TheHoly Spirit led me," or say, "The Lord spoke to myheart." They may be extremely self-deceived or justmean spirited. It doesn't matter which because theend is the same. They want to destroy the presentplans and operations. They do it in so many ways,but the one I've noticed most often is what I callseductive manipulation.

An illustration may help-and it's an embarrass-ing one at that. My first serious awareness of




seductive manipulation came about when I was atwenty-six-year-old assistant pastor of a church inOregon. A few of the leaders began to call me aside.They flattered me and told me how much theyadmired my ministry and loved my commitment.

"You know, we really enjoy it when you preach.When you're in the pulpit we get something out ofthe service," they would say and throw their armsaround me. "We wish you could preach every Sundayand every Tuesday."

Until then I had never thought of such a thing. Ihad come to assist the senior pastor.

"You feed us when you preach or teach. You'reanointed and you understand. The pastor just does-n't speak to us. His messages are all right, butthey're just not relevant to our needs."

This kind of conversation didn't happen just once,but over a period of weeks. I was young, nave, andegocentric. Very stupidly, I allowed them to manipu-late me by their constant ego stroking. Instead ofbeing the faithful ladder holder I should have been Istarted enjoying those conversations. At first, I lis-tened and thanked them. When I walked away, I'dfeel really special and anointed.

It wasn't long before I participated in the conver-sations. "You're right. He just doesn't understand theneeds of people today."

I still remember at a business meeting wherethere was a particularly important item on the agen-da. Several of the elders-the ones who had beenstroking my ego-had convinced me that the plan the




pastor wanted to put into action was unwise. Hespoke and explained exactly what he wanted to seehappen.

"May I say something?" I asked. When the pastornodded, I stood up. I strongly disagreed with every-thing he had said. Point by point, I argued againstwhat he wanted done. My seductive manipulatorshad done a good job on me.

I was wrong. I think I knew that thirty secondsafter I began to speak. However, I didn't know howto back down and say, "I'm sorry." My words carried,and we vetoed something the pastor was committedto. I should have been his senior ladder holder and Ihad not only waffled, but I had worked against him.I wasn't the firm assistant he deserved.

God has a way of evening things out. The follow-ing year when I was a pastor in Michigan, I reapedthe fruit of the bad seed I had sown in Oregon. I wasthen the senior pastor and the same type of seductivemanipulators moved in on my territory.

Through that sad experience, I learned threeimportant lessons:

1. If we disagree with our leader we don't do sopublicly. We need to discuss it with that person inprivate.

2. If we disagree, we ought to search our motivesbefore we speak. We need to be sure that others don'tset us up. They won't speak up themselves, but theywill find nave and trusting souls to do the work forthem.

3. If we disagree, we should be sure we don't do it




for personal gain. I didn't get it at the time, but thosemanipulators had instilled a desire in me to becomethe senior pastor. Because of them, I coveted a posi-tion that God had not called me to.

As I've thought with much shame about mybehavior in Oregon, I realized-too late-that my agenda wasnot that I disagreed and wantedto express my viewpoint. Mysecret agenda was that I wantedto look smarter, brighter, andbetter informed than the seniorpastor. Those seductive manipu-lators were using me-just asSatan used Eve in the Garden ofEden. And just like Eve, I wastoo nave to realize what wasgoing on-until it was too late.

TThhee ffiinnaall qquuaalliittyy iiss llooyyaallttyy.. Ido not mean they must agree all the time. Loyaltydoesn't mean repeating, "Yes, yes, yes," no matterwhat the visionary says.

I have formulated three sentences that explainwhat I mean.

1. You may disagree with my head but not myheart.

2. You may disagree with how I do things but notwhy I do things.

3. You may disagree with my methods but not mymotivations.



1. If we disagreewith our leader we

don't do sopublicly.

2. If we disagree,we ought to searchour motives before

we speak3. If we disagree,we should be surewe don't do it for

personal gain.


PASTOR OR CEO

When I first went to Beulah Heights BibleCollege as president in 1989, Ididn't have a background inhuman resources. We had sevenpeople on our staff at that time-four of them part time and threefull time. (Fourteen years later,we had more than ninety peopleon staff.) Over the years I'velearned a few lessons about lad-der holders that might be helpfulto those who hire and fire.

Although my experience hasbeen largely with personnel atBeulah Heights Bible College,these principles carry through inpastoral situations as well.Almost any week in the year, Ihave conversations with pastorswho have problems with paidstaff. They have a difficult jobtoday. On one hand, they arepastors-that means they'reshepherds who care for thesheep. On the other hand, theyare the Chief Executive Officers(CEOs) and the congregationholds them responsible for the

smooth running business of the church.



The five essentialqualities we seek:

1. Strength. They have tobe people who can handleinstruction and criticism.

2. Attentiveness. Theyought to be alert to whatI'm saying and absorb itquickly. I don't want togive them the same les-

sons repeatedly.3. Faithfulness. They

must have faith in me astheir leader and be

committed to me. If theyaren't faithful to me-ifthey aren't committed tothe same vision I am-

they'll abandon me4. Firmness.

Manipulative peoplewon't be able to

exploit them. 5. Loyalty. They don't

always have to agree, but(1) They may disagree

with my head but not myheart. (2) They may

disagree with how I dothings but not why I do

things. (3) They maydisagree with my

methods but not mymotivations.


The first thing I've learned is that even thoughthey are both pastor and CEO, they can't be both atthe same time. I try to help them understand the dif-ference between the two and when to give priority toone and when to the other.

It may help if I explain it this way. Let's say I'mthe senior minister at FirstSpiritual Church. To every paidstaff member, I am the CEO firstand the pastor second. Thatmeans I must first do the busi-ness of the church with them.When I have accomplished that,I can function as their pastor. If I get the orderwrong, I am in trouble and so is the organization.

To every church member, I am the pastor firstand the CEO second. I must be able to reach out tothem as those who need to be nurtured, strength-ened, encouraged, rebuked, and disciplined. WhenI've performed my pastoral duties, I can function asthe CEO. If I get this wrong, then it's back to thematter of putting projects before people. If I see themembers only as the means to accomplish what Iwant done, then I'll manipulate, threaten, coerce, orflatter them into fulfilling my agenda.

When I function as CEO with paid employees, thefirst lesson we learned is that we hire people forwhat they know; we fire them for who they are.

We may hire the musician because she can makethe simplest music sound like a concerto in everypiece she plays. We fire her because she has a bad



Even though theyare both pastor andCEO, they can't be

both at the sametime.


attitude. We hire an office manager because he is acomputer whiz and understands spreadsheets, profitand loss, government regulations, and knows all thelatest software. We fire him because he can't getalong with people.

What do we do when it's time to put someone onstaff? My suggestion is that we need to re-think ourpolicy. We want competent people, obviously. Butwhen we select ladder holders, we need to spendmore time with who they are rather than what theyknow.

I can read their resums and I can talk to peoplethey've worked for and with. That is important. But

I also know that troubles in thejob usually start over personalityissues and not over competency.Once hired, they will give me joyor grief. With few exceptions, thepeople I have fired I have termi-

nated because of their attitudes. Rarely have I had toget rid of someone for lack of ability to do the job.

This leads me to the second lesson I've learned:Hire slowly and fire quickly.

It's better to have a vacancy than to have badhelp. Suppose the doctor diagnoses you with cancer,says surgery is the only option, and asks, "Whenwould you want it scheduled?"

I'm guessing you'll say, "As soon as possible."As a leader, a good question to ask ourselves is

this, Why do I tolerate incompetent staff? Why do Iallow them to infect the rest of the staff with their



We hire people forwhat they know;we fire them for

who they are.


bad attitude? Here is the way I like to say it: Don'trush hiring decisions; don't delay firing decisions.

The third lesson I've learned is this: The besttime to fire somebody is the firsttime it goes through your head.We tend to get our roles confusedagain here. Instead of thinkingas a CEO and for the good of theorganization, we tend to switchto our pastoral role and figureout ways to excuse or overlookproblems serious enough that we'd consider termi-nating them.

I've also learned that if the situation is seriousenough to fire people and we don't, after that webegin to search for reasons to keep them.

About the time I figured out this third lesson, Ispotted an advertisement in USA Today 1 by RandallMurphy, the founder and president of the AcclivusCorporation. I don't know much about Acclivusexcept that their clients include major organizationssuch as Dunn and Bradstreet, Exxon, Mobile, Dell,FedEx, Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up and Roadway Express.The ad read: "When you are assigned the task of tak-ing the hill-or the market-you are less concernedabout who is for you and more concerned about whois with you."

Those words impacted me and I read the sen-tence several times. I've translated Murphy's state-ment into the business of the church such as when acongregation starts a new building program.



Hire slowly andfire quickly.

Don't rush hiringdecisions; don't

delay firingdecisions.


Those who make pledges are for us; those whopay their pledges are with us. We don't have to beinvolved with churches very long before we recognizethat there is a large gap between those two groups.

Just because people say, "I'm for you," that isn'tthe real issue. The real issue is what happens intheir lives. Do they do what they promise? Do theyfaithfully follow their words by their actions?

THREE LEVELS OF LADDER HOLDERS

I've already mentioned the five things we have towatch for that tell us who those ladder holders are.

From there, I started thinkingabout what happens with ladderholders in a church.

I concluded that there arethree levels of ladder holders.

First, there are the followers.This word can refer to everybodyin the congregation.

Second are the ministers.They feel God has called them,empowered them, and giftedthem to serve in the church.When I use the word minister, I

don't mean ordained ministers and pastors, althoughit may include them-I refer to all of those who havea heart to serve others.

Third are leaders. They minister through others.They don't have only a sense of calling; they also



The best time tofire somebody is

the first time it goesthrough yourhead If the

situation is seriousenough to fire peo-ple and we don't,

we begin to searchfor reasons to keep

them.


have passion-and that passion is to see God workthrough others. True leaders don't try to deceivethemselves into thinking they can or even want to doeverything. They're willing to empower and trustothers. Ministers do service primarily by themselves;leaders do service through others.

Throughout my years of serving in the church, wehave ruined many good ministers by shoving theminto leadership. Here's an exam-ple of what I mean. Let's say thatJosh has a passion for doingprison ministry. He's also giftedbecause he knows how to connectwith the incarcerated. They lis-ten to him because they trusthim. On his own and withoutanyone from the church behindhim, Josh goes to the local jailevery Friday and Saturday. Hedoes this out of concern and love.He carries Gospel portions withhim and teaches prisoners how to read the NewTestament. He sings, he preaches, and he takes timeto counsel with anyone who asks him to.

After two years, Josh has an amazing array ofresults, such as several people believing in JesusChrist. Some of them have joined the church.Everyone recognizes the value of Josh's ministry.

One day the pastor says, "We need to start anofficial prison ministry through our church. Josh isalready doing it, so let's put him in charge."



Those who makepledges are for us;

those who pay theirpledges are with us.

We don't have tobe involved with

churches very longbefore we recognizethat there is a largegap between those

two groups.


"Every time we take prayer requests," an eldersays, "Josh asks us to pray for the prison ministryand the prisoners."

"He regularly sends e-mails about the people whogot saved," says a deacon.

"He's passionate about it," says one.The board agrees unanimously.That decision may sound like a good idea, but in

the ten minutes they took tomake that official verdict, theyruined Josh and his ministry.

Until then, Josh had been anexcellent minister for God. Hedid an outstanding job as long ashe was the only one who did thework. He has a tender heart andpeople instinctively trust him.

Yet his ministry has beenruined, because Josh has movedfrom ministry to leadership. He'sno longer person-centered. He'soverwhelmed with recruitingmusicians and evangelists. He'sconstantly scheduling who willgo to which jail and at what

time. He must spend an immense amount of timeteaching those who have volunteered for ministry.They need to understand appropriate behavior andwhat they can and can't do for the prisoners. He hasto explain, for instance, that they can't carry mail inor out for those incarcerated. They can't give advice,



There are threelevels of ladder

holders1. Followers. Thisword can refer toeverybody in the

congregation. 2. Ministers. Theyfeel God has calledthem, empoweredthem, and gifted

them to serve.3. Leaders. Theyminister through

others.


especially not legal advice. Several times he has hadto go to the sheriff and apologize for mistakes hispeople make.

After four months, Josh realizes that he has tomanage and lead people. He no longer has a min-istry. His passion starts to dry up. The well-meaningchurch board has ruined him.He's pouring his efforts intoholding the ladder for others andhe needs to be climbing his ownladder.

This comes down to sayingthat even though someone likeJosh is doing an exemplary min-istry, it doesn't mean he can function well as a goodladder holder.

TRAINING LADDER HOLDERS

This leads me to emphasize that ladder holdersneed to be trained. Very few ministers have qualifiedand trained ladder holders. I've held conversationswith pastors of large churches all over this country. Ipoint out the qualities I've already mentioned. Theyneed people who are strong, attentive, faithful, firm,and loyal.

Then I say, "Name your ladder holders. I'm notasking for positions and titles such as deacons ortrustees. Think about those five qualities I gave you."I pause and then say, "Tell me the names of your lad-der holders."



Ministers doservice primarily

by themselves;leaders do servicethrough others.


No matter how many times I've done this, thehighest anybody has been able to name is five. Thesize of the congregation doesn't seem to matter,whether it's a church of 100 members or one withmore than 10,000.

When the pastors can't get beyond a few names,it tells me that the church has done an excellent jobof raising followers but has been abysmal aboutdoing leadership development.

At the beginning of this book, I mentioned thatdeveloping people takes time, and time is one thing

we don't have in our busy lives. I also remind pastors that

their armor bearers or assistantsmay not necessarily be ladder

holders. Just because somebody is an assistant pas-tor, assistant choir director, vice president of the cor-poration, or has an impressive title doesn't make himor her a trusted ladder holder.

To make this clear, I try to get pastors to think ofsituations when the church is filled with problemsand ask, "To whom would you turn for help?"

They still stare at me in confusion, so here's anillustration that has seemed to make clear what Imean.

"Let's say you are marooned on an island. Thebattery on your cell phone is running low. You decideyou have just enough juice to make one call. Let'salso say that you know that no member of your fam-ily is available." Then I pause and ask, "Whom willyou call?"



Ladder holdersneed to be trained.


They easily eliminate the ones they wouldn't call,and some of them are promi-nent in the church. They final-ly realize that they need to calla true ladder holder-a personwho is faithful and someonewho is committed to them per-sonally. Those are the individ-uals who will do whatever nec-essary to get them off theisland.

If you were marooned onthat island, who is the ladder holder you'd call?



"When you areassigned the task oftaking the hill-orthe market-you

are less concernedabout who is for

you and more con-cerned about who

is with you."


"Who will hold my ladder?" That's a common wayfor us to get help. We look around, cry out towhomever will come to our aid, and welcome them,regardless of their abilities. We may not put it thatway. Instead we announce, "We need two newSunday school teachers. Who will serve for oneyear?" Or we plead for men to join the choir.

That method works! People volunteer and we getresults. There's just one serious problem-it's the

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wrong approach. My advice is simple. Stop asking for volunteers.I'll explain the reason. When I was a pastor and asked for volunteers,

the people who couldn't do the job always raisedtheir hands. I appreciated their zeal, but they simplycouldn't do what I needed done.

People who couldn't sing rushed to join the choir.People who had forgotten how to smile volunteeredto usher. People who disliked children raised theirhands to keep the nursery. People who couldn't teachcommitted themselves to take a Sunday school class.

I also realized another problem. Within a shorttime, those who volunteer so readily are just as ready

to un-volunteer. They seem tohear the Holy Spirit whisper "Isend you" every time the pastorcalls for help. After a few weeks,they also seem to hear the sameHoly Spirit whisper, "Your workhere is finished." Not that theyaccomplished anything produc-

tive, but at least they leave. In reality, they should-n't have volunteered in the first place.

The bigger problem occurs when those inept-but-well-meaning helpers get into their position and thenwe have to ask, "How do you get rid of them?"

That is the question; that is also the problem.How do we un-volunteer a volunteer? There isn'tmuch chance that the bass in the choir who can't hita C below middle C will ever learn. The grumbling


C H A P T E R F O U R

That is thequestion; that is

also the problem.How do we

un-volunteer avolunteer?


nursery staff person won't suddenly love to changediapers.

Suppose we read the headline in tomorrow'snewspaper that says the localpublic schools seek volunteers toteach English, science, andmath. Would I want my childrento attend a school where allinstructors are volunteers? The public wouldn'tstand for it. "We want professionals teaching ourchildren," they would insist.

Why is it that we staff our Christian Educationdepartments, our ushering committees, and ournurseries with volunteers? Could it be that reading,writing, and arithmetic are a lot more importantthan real issues of life such as preparing for heavenor personal integrity? We keep doing what thechurch has been doing for the past hundred years:we print notices in the bulletin, the newsletter, thechurch's website: we need four teachers for the chil-dren's department.

Surely there must be a better way.And there is!We need to view volunteers as unpaid staff.I've come to the conclusion that the most-quali-

fied people are waiting to be recruited. They don'trush to sign up on the legal pad hanging on a bulletinboard. They don't call the worship leader's cellphone. They're there, available, and they're willingto serve if they're asked. We need to learn how torecruit volunteers.


H O W D O W E R E C R U I T V O LU N T E E R S ?

We need to viewvolunteers asunpaid staff.


THE BIBLE AND VOLUNTEERS

Have you ever wondered what the Bible saysabout volunteerism?

From the time of the Old Testament all the wayup to John the Baptist, followers generally chosetheir leader. People would hear a great prophet, lis-ten to him, do whatever he told them, and become hisdisciple.

Something changed, however, after John theBaptist. The next leader on the world scene wasJesus. Followers didn't choose Jesus; Jesus chose fol-

lowers. I wonder how many peo-ple think about that. Each of theGospel accounts tells us howJesus went about his ministry.One of His first acts was to

choose those He wanted to follow Him and they werethe ones He trained. (See Mark 1:16-20 and Luke5:1-11.)

Sometimes people offered to follow Jesus and Heturned them down. Here are two examples. "A cer-tain man said unto him, 'Lord, I will follow theewhithersoever thou goest,' and Jesus said unto him,'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; butthe Son of Man hath not where to lay his head'"(Luke 12:57-58). Jesus said no.

Another time, Jesus set a man free from demonsand afterward the healed man wanted to go with theLord. Jesus said no. (See Mark 5:18-19.)

Jesus held a powerful vision of his ladder that



Followers didn'tchoose Jesus; Jesus

chose followers.


stretched from earth to heaven. He didn't want justanyone supporting him. In fact, just before hisbetrayal, Jesus said to his disciples: "You have notchosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that yourfruit should remain" (John 15:16a).

At no place in Jesus' ministry do we read that hestood up and said, "I need helpers to do the work. Iwant fifty people to follow me." Instead, Jesusrecruited volunteers who would hold that ladder firmno matter how hard the forces of evil struck.

Instead of seeking people to volunteer, wise lead-ers follow the Lord's example and seek out the gifted.As a pastor and as president of a growing Bible col-lege, I know that I must have gifted people in all thekey positions if we're going to be successful. Yes, I'vemade mistakes, but I've made many good decisionstoo. I watch for those who show that "extra some-thing"-call it a gift or a unique quality-but thereare individuals who have that special spark that setsthem apart. Those are the ones I want to develop.

In the New Testament, Paul writes several timesabout spiritual gifts. Although he lists nine of themin 1 Corinthians 11, he doesn't give the entire cata-logue of abilities. Obviously, there are gifts he didn'tmention, but the point is the same. If we want some-thing to happen, we rely on those who are talented,gifted, and who can make it happen. We don't sitaround and hope they'll knock on our doors. LikeJesus did, we go after them and say, "We want you.We have a place for you."




It's also interesting that those Jesus recruitedhad to decide if they wanted to follow him, even afterthey were asked. In Luke 9:59-62, Jesus asked a manto follow Him. The man protested that he had to gohome and bury his father. Jesus said, "Let the deadbury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdomof God" (v.60).

"And another also said, 'Lord, I will follow thee;but let me first go bid them farewell, which are athome at my house.' And Jesus said unto him, 'Noman, having put his hand to the plough, and lookingback, is fit for the kingdom of God'" (verses 61-62).

It's also interesting that Paul exhorts theThessalonians, "And we beseech you, brethren, toknow them which labour among you, and are overyou in the Lord, and admonish you" (1 Thessalonians5:12). The only time I hear anyone quote that verseis during ordination services. That fits, of course, butit has a much wider application.

In the first chapter of this book, I pointed outthree ways to do the work of the church and the thirdis to develop others-to teach them to do what theycan do. I also pointed out that it takes time for thatto happen. It means working with those ladder hold-ers and instructing them how to do an excellent job.Some may be best at holding short ladders and oth-ers taller ones. Some may work best alone and othersin groups. The principle still remains the same: lead-ers need to develop others.

I know that in larger congregations it becomesdifficult for the pastors to know everyone. By the




time a church has ten thousand members, the seniorpastor probably doesn't know more than 10 percentof them. It simply means they have many laddersand many painters, and they need an even largersupport force behind those painters.

True leaders develop their own followers-I'll saymore about that in the next chapter. Wise leadersassimilate people by recognizing their gifts and plac-ing them in the right role. Theyhave files on who can do whatfunction. When we need chaper-ones to go with our youth groupon a field trip, if we're smart, wedon't send out a call and ask,"Who's going to help?" Justbecause they are parents doesn't mean they wouldmake appropriate chaperones.

There may be those who don't have time or incli-nation to work with the youth department everyweek. But if we know their capabilities and call onthem two or three times a year when we have specialevents going on, they're likely to say, "Yes, I canhelp."

It's not a hopeless task to find out who is talent-ed. With great computer programs available, whenwe do intake we can do a gifts inventory, we can dothe passion inventory, or a calling inventory.

When a new member says, "I love organizingshort-term projects," that's important for us to put onfile. When we get ready to put out a new churchdirectory, for example, that's a short-term project.



Wise leaders assim-ilate people by rec-ognizing their gifts

and placing them inthe right role.


That person can organize and make the operationrun smoothly. That is the same person who won't beavailable for tasks that go on every week throughoutthe year.

Here's an example. I spoke at a leadership confer-ence in Boston at the New Covenant ChristianChurch where Bishop Gilbert Thompson, a vision-

ary, is the senior pastor. BishopThompson sat in the front rowwith an open laptop typing notesas fast as he could. He didn'twant to miss any significantinformation. I remember seeing

the smile on his face when I talked about not askingfor volunteers.

Months later Bishop Thompson's assistant saidthat one significant factor "has revolutionized ourministry. We don't ask for volunteers any more-werecruit them."

Is it any wonder that New Covenant ChristianChurch has dozens of high level ladders up?

IMPORTANT ISSUES,IMPORTANT RECRUITING

Think about volunteers this way. You are aleader. You're only four feet off the ground, butyou're climbing the rungs. As you gaze upward, youknow you're capable of reaching a height of at leastsixty feet.

As you start to ascend, are you going to cry out,



We need differentladder holders fordifferent levels of

ministry.


"People of God, someone-anyone-come and holdthis ladder?" Not likely. If you're a wise leader, youwill already have chosen (or recruited) someone youtrust. You want to reach as high as your ladder willgo and not worry whether the person at the bottom isgoing to lose interest or walk away.

When we're training ladder holders, those learn-ers need clear instruction. Church folk don't takehints and the best way to understand this is to thinkabout church announcements.

As leaders, we can put all the information in thebulletin and the newsletter. We can tell them indi-vidually in person, make phone calls, send out e-mails, proclaim it from the pulpit, and write anannouncement for the overhead or power point. Itdoesn't matter what we do or how often we send outthe information, people will still phone the churchoffice. "What time was that meeting? Was it nine ornine-thirty? Was it Monday or Tuesday?"

When we're developing ladder holders, however,we train them the right way. A good way to look atthis is from the book of Proverbs. Although much ofthe instruction reads as if it's a father giving adviceto a son, scholars have seen this differently. Theadvice and instruction is intended for scholars intraining. The instructors looked upon them as stu-dents or sons. These are instructions in personalgrowth and leadership.

In the oft-quoted Proverbs 22:6, it reads: "Trainup a child in the way he should go: and when he isold, he will not depart from it." If we apply this (and




I think this is the right way) to students or scholarsreceiving instructions, it means that if we who areleaders train new people properly-that is, when wedo it right and do it in the beginning-we'll producethe right kind of results. It also means we won't haveto take a lot of correctional action later. If a treestarts growing right the first time, we don't have tospend all kinds of time trying to straighten it out.When we're talking about ladder holders, we knowthey must be properly trained and developed.

BEFORE CLIMBING LADDERS

Joseph Campbell once said that one of the greattragedies in life is to climb to the top of the ladderonly to find that our ladder is leaning against thewrong wall. He meant that too many people takewhat he called the prudent path in life and yet theymiss the joy. He said they never discover their bliss.

How do we avoid that problem? How do we helpourselves and others discover our bliss?

Before we start climbing we have to do threethings:

1. We need to decide where we want to go. Weneed to be sure of our reason for being on the ladderin the first place. What tools do we need to do the jobfor which we're climbing the ladder? What tools willwe need when we get up there? One thing I learnedduring my student days when I painted was that itwas just too tiring and time consuming to go up anddown that ladder. I had to make sure I had




everything ready before I started up. 2. We need to be clear about our vision. We need

to be able to tell our ladder holders why we're upthere and why they're working hard. If we get reallyhigh and the ladder sways, we had better be sure weknow why we're there. When wego through those turbulenttimes-and we all do-we'd bet-ter be clear about our reason forbeing so high off the ground. Wealso need to make it clear tothose who support us so that they'll know whythey're doing their jobs.

Leaders ask two questions. I mentioned this inmy book Futuring 2, but I think it's important to sayit again here.

Leaders ask what and why; followers ask howand when. Every effective leader needs to under-stand this.

Leaders must first define the what-that whichthey want done. Once they know that answer theyneed to be clear on why: Why are we doing this?

In my book, Futuring 3, I gave this illustration.At Beulah Heights Bible College we wanted to reachout and start a curriculum for students for whomEnglish was not their first language. That was awhat-the curriculum.

Why do we want to do that? We answer, becausethe mission of the institution, even in its earliestdays was to reach unreached groups. Why? There areincreasingly large numbers of people for whom



Leaders ask whatand why;

followers ask howand when.


English is a second language and we need to reachthem. Why? Because they represent another market.Why? Because the place of missions has changed.There are more other-country born missionaries in

America today than there aremissionaries from America inother countries. Why? Becausethey don't have to get visas andthey have natural built bridges,their credibility is in place, andtheir language is in place.

3. We need to ask ourselves:what are we doing to prepareourselves as better communica-tors?

During the summer breakswhen I was a student at BeulahHeights Bible College, I earnedmy living as a painter. I'vealways said that I did it to paymy bills not because it was my

idea of a higher calling. I remember many times I'd get tired of moving up

and down. The first few days I'd forgotten a tool orrealized I needed something else and would have togo back down to get it. That was not only tiring, butit was inefficient.

Because I learned that lesson quite well, I teachit this way at conferences. I'll often ask if there areany in the audience who have done professionalpainting. Two or three people usually raise their



Before we startclimbing we have to

do three things:1. We need to

decide where wewant to go

2. We need to beclear about our

vision. 3. We need to askourselves: Whatare we doing to

prepare ourselvesas better

communicators?


hands, so I ask them to join me."Pretend I'm going to paint the second story of a

house," I say to them. "It's way up there, the paint ispeeling, and it's in pretty bad shape. I'm gettingready to go up on a forty-foot ladder. I don't want togo up and down repeatedly, so tell me what I need inmy tool belt before I go up."

"You'll need a scraper and wire brush," one willsay.

"You'll need sandpaper and a hammer."One of them will mention a nail setter because

there are always nails poking out. Someone willmention a caulking gun.

"You'll need paint and a brush and at least onerag to wipe away any smears you make," one of themwill say.

I smile because they have it exactly right. "Now,if you're climbing a forty-foot ladder as a Sundayschool teacher. You want to be an excellent Sundayschool teacher. What tools do you need to put in yourtool belt?"

Then I ask, "Is there anybody here who's aSunday school teacher? Come on up." After theycome up-and there are always a lot of them-I ask,"Are you a good Sunday school teacher?"

Besides smiles and a few giggles, they answer,"Yes."

"Can you become a better Sunday schoolteacher?"

The answer is always, "Yes!" "For you to be a better Sunday school teacher




what all do you have to do?" Then I wait for them torespond.

They always start off with "I need to pray moreand I need to read the Bible more."

Everyone nods and I say, "Yes, that's good, butwhat else do you need to do?" Before the teachersrespond, people from the audience yell out, "Readmore books."

I ask them to name a few books and they do.Then they start adding things such as, a concor-dance, a Bible dictionary, a Bible encyclopedia, anddifferent versions of the Bible.

We could ask the same questions for any positionin the church. What I want them to think about isthis: What must I do if I'm going to be a better, moreeffective communicator?

I also remind church leaders that whenever weget up to preach, we need to remind ourselves thatwe have five generations facing us.

How effective am I at reaching them? For us to bemore effective, what are we putting in our tool kitson communication skills, story telling skills, move-ment, hand gestures, body language, and vocabu-lary? What are we reading that puts us in touch withthe now generation?

It's also important to remind ourselves thateveryone is not a leader. God doesn't call all of usthat way. Even though we know that, some of us inleadership positions may be trying to fulfill jobs thatwe're not suited for.

Maybe we need to become managers.




Whos Holding Your Ladder?


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Samuel r. Chand - What Other Leaders Are Saying

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