No Longer The Lone Ranger Summary

A Subjective View of Staff Your Church for Spiritual Growth

The title of the first chapter of this book is No Longer the Lone Ranger. I remember watching the Lone Ranger on television when I was younger with my father. The Lone Ranger was a fictional cowboy that alone fought the bad people and rid towns of illegal activity. Traditionally, the pastor in many cases was the solo leader of the church. He had mountains of responsibilities during those times, but he was able to handle most of the responsibilities on his own. The church of today needs multiple staff members to work along side the Pastor. The book on pages 12-16 gives reasons why there should be multiple staff members in the church.
The reasons listed for the need of multiple
staff members are as follows: no one has all of the gifts, the loss of volunteers, the changing roles of the pastors from generalist to specialist, the increasing numbers of large churches, the expectations and needs of people, the loss of church loyalty, and because team ministry is biblical. I would briefly like at this point to comment on some of the listed reasons.
Indeed, no one has all of the spiritual gifts although various people according to the book believe that the Pastor should. Jesus is the only person who possessed all of the spiritual gifts. Those people that believe that the Pastor should possess all of the spiritual gifts have to realize that the pastor is only human, and he is, therefore, limited. As humans, we are limited physically, but unlimited spiritually. The loss of volunteers means just what it states. Increased costs of living and cultural and lifestyle variations in the changing world has cut down on the ability of people to volunteer.
Additionally, due to changing times, the rises in problems that people have that did not exist in the past, and a change in church demographics, the Pastor's role has shifted from being a generalist to a specialist. In terms of a medical doctor, the generalist handles the overall scope of the patients' health. A specialist is needed to treat a various aspect of the person's health. Because of the changing roles, the church needs other staff members that are specialists in various areas to work together to meet the needs of the church. Moreover, the idea of team ministry is biblical. Two examples given in the book are according to Acts 14:23-24 Paul ordained elders in every church and Peter addressed the elders (I Peter 5:1).
Chapter two focuses on Staffing for Growth. The opening quote from Titus Chapter 1 verse five and is as follows:

For this reason, I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.

This quote was a message from Paul to Titus. Titus was a person who Paul won to Christ. He became a person Paul sent to the churches to represent him because this was around the time Paul was in prison. Paul's message to Titus was to spread the Gospel to the people of Crete and appoint elders in every city. Therefore, his task was to equip people (elders) for team ministry. This book gives a method for hiring church staff. I find the method presented as useful, but it would take a Pastor to really be able to provide more insights into this method. This method however seems very reputable. The first thing the book mentions in developing a new church should be to focus on finding people. There cannot be a church without people. Once the people are found, the next goal should be keeping people. That makes sense and seems self-explanatory. The next task should be celebrating with the people. This means the development of an appropriate worship service and appropriate church activities.
The next goal according to the book is educating people through the development of Sunday school, youth and women's ministries. I disagree with educating people as being the fourth goal. I think that should be number one or at least coupled to number one. The next task listed is overseeing people. The various ministries need to be organized and thus needs an overseer or much oversight. The final task should be caring for the people by hospital visits, doing weddings, baptisms, funerals, and providing counseling. The book recommends that the three priorities in early years should be finding people, keeping people, and celebrating with people. The Priorities in later years according to the book should be educating people, overseeing people, and caring for people. The book says that priorities in early year tasks create growth while priority in later years create decline as shown by the chart at the top of page 25 of the text. I am not sure if I totally agree. I believe that these tasks should not be ordered as so but should overlap to some extent. The book defines the tasks of finding people, keeping people, celebrating with people, educating people, overseeing people, and caring for people are Nomothetic Roles. If the Senior Pastor does not posses al of these qualities he should hire an associate pastors to balance out the qualities he does not have. In addition to those nomothetic roles, there should be idiographic roles according to the book. Idiographic roles focus more on the individual while nomothetic roles focus more on the group as a whole. Three things that the idiographic roles focus on are adult ministry, youth ministry, and children's ministry. The Adult ministry should focus on seniors, singles, mid-life, college, and career. Youth ministry should focus on high school, junior high, Middle school, and pre-adolescence. Children's ministry should focus on elementary, kindergarten, pre-kindergarten, children ages two to three, toddlers, and nursery age children. It is recommended that the senior pastor and the first associate staff person hired should fulfill the nomothetic roles, while the third person should fulfill the idiographic roles. The next people to be hired should then alternate between the various nomothetic roles and idiographic roles. I have heard the church be described as the body of Christ. We all make up that body. The body is the sum of its parts. We each represent a part of that body. The body cannot function effectively without all of its parts. So for growth in the church each leader and person must fulfill his or her role or part.
The title of Chapter three is Adding Team Members. This chapter focuses on the addition of full time staff members. The book gives several questions to ask to determine if full time staff members are needed. Some of those things are is there more to do than the pastor can handle, is the church becoming more complex, are there new ministry opportunities that we would like to focus on but cannot, are there need we should be meeting but are not, do we desire to move the church in new directions while maintaining current ministry opportunities, and are many things getting done. The book lists five other questions to ask, but I believe that these are the most relevant questions. In addition, the book gives several criteria on page 43 to determine whether support staff members are needed:
1. The Church is built around programs.
2. A large number of full time professional staff are employed.
3. The pastoral staff are specialists.
Also, the book says fewer support staff members are needed if the church is built around small-group ministry, there is a large number of part-time staff, and if the pastoral staff members are generalists. I totally agree with the book's opinion of whether more or fewer support staff members are needed. I think, also, that the criteria for support staff overlap with the criteria for full-time staff. Moreover, the book in chapter three pages 43-45 links the church attendance and budget on whether new members are needed. The Book uses the following charts to show this:

Professional Staff Members

Average
Attendance at Full-Time Program Support
Worship Staff Positions Staff
150 1 1
300 2 1.5
450 3 2
600 4 2.5
750 5 3
900 6 3.5
1050 7 4
1200 8 4.5

Church Budget Full-Time Staff Positions Part-Time Staff
Over 1 Million 4.8 1.5
500,0001-1 Million 3.5 1.1
300,001-500,000 2.6 0.9
200,001-300,000 1.9 0.9
150,001-200,000 1.6 0.7
100,001-150,000 1.2 0.6
50,000-100,000 0.9 0.4
Under 50,0000 0.6 0.4

Finally in Chapter three, the book addresses the issue of whtherstaff should be brought from outside or grown within the church. It gives several advantages and drawbacks to home grown staff. The benefits are as follows:

1. They are committed to your philosophy of ministry.
2. You have observed their temperament, loyalty, ministry, and work ethic.
3. They are committed for the long term.
4. They posses an existing network of friends, neighbors, and contacts
The drawbacks are as follows:
1.
They may lack professional training.
2. They may be "without honor in their own country."
3. They may be difficult to confront and fire.
4. They may have tunnel vision.

All of these benefits and drawbacks seem logical, but there is one drawback I did not understand the meaning of. The drawback was number two: They may be "without honor in their own country." I could not even provide a guess of the meaning. The book does suggest that the information provided on Adding Team Members is only a starting point because all churches are different. Prayer should be the primary determining factor in deciding which direction to turn when adding new staff members. I think that that prayer is very important in any decision process. Chapter four is titled Recruiting Staff. I cannot give an opinioned summary other than what I provided in The Objective View of Staff Your Church. Chapter four opens with the following statement by William M. Easum:

Hire staff to equip the laity not to do ministry.

That is a very interesting quote because it seems as if you should hire staff to do both. What I think that this quote means is that if you hire staff members to equip the lay members of the church, then ministry will come through in a much more profound
way.
Moreover, I think that the diagram on page 54 summarizes this chapter well. It says two important things to look at when hiring are the integrity and skills or the particular person. If the person has strong integrity and strong skills, they are a definite hire. If a person strong integrity and weak skills, then the person is a possible hire. However, if the person has strong skills but lack integrity or lack integrity and skills they should not be hired. The American Heritage Dictionary Third Edition defines Integrity as follows: steadfast adherence to a strict ethical code; honesty; the state of being unimpaired; soundness; the quality of being whole or undivided; and completeness. I totally agree with that chart because the character of a person outweighs their skills any day. What good is it to hire someone with the appropriate skills who cannot get along with any one, is always causing confusion, or who steals even if they do their job properly. A person who lacks integrity may perform their duty well but may affect the performance of other staff members. If everyone does not succeed then the whole team fails. This thought provided lead way into the next chapter (Chapter Five) Appreciating Team Roles. As I stated in the "Objective View of Staff Your Church" paper, I think that the opening quotation from Bill Bradley summarizes this chapter well:

The point of the game is not how well the individual does, but whether the team wins. That's the beautiful heart of the game, the blending of personalities, the mutual sacrifices for the group success.
At this point, I would like to comment on the statement that I made above when discussing No Longer the Lone Ranger. The statement was as follows: As humans, we are limited physically, but unlimited spiritually. We have limits but when God is in control and we team together with other Christians to do the work of the Lord, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. As the cliché says: Teamwork equals success. I totally believe that statement concerning the ministry of Word to the lost. This previous mentioned idea leads way into the next chapter (Chapter six) which has the title of Teaming Together. I believe again that the opening quote brings home the message of this chapter:
We are in this fight together.

In other words, a healthy team in the ministry needs each member to survive and thrive in the overall mission of the church of spreading the gospel. Additionally, in Chapter six, the book gives several models for staffing: Those models are the Vertical Model, the Horizontal Model, the Circular Model, the Inverted Model, the Pod Model, the Flying V model, and the collaborative model. All models seem useful, but again it is important to reiterate that each church is different and prayer is very important in deciding which model best fits your church. Finally, I would like to discuss the Dream Team which is mentioned toward the end of Chapter six. The Dream Team was a combination of all of the best basketball players from the NBA. They were very successful and won many games, but their success is nothing in comparison with the ultimate dream team. That ultimate team is the Trinity-The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. God, the Father is the creator and planner of everything. Christ the Son is the redeemer of all mankind who reigns in heaven with all power. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter who dwells with us daily. According to the book, Trinity consists of three equal beings, they serve functionally in different roles but yet works together in complete harmony. That is the way a Christian Church should function. The title of Chapter seven is Nurturing A Healthy Staff. As I stated in The Objective View paper, a healthy staff is on one accord working together to fulfill their mission for Christ. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, to nurture is to bring up; to feed; to educate; and to train. How can a church staff be healthy (thriving in their mission ) if they are not taught? A healthy staff must be taught and apply the message set fourth in the opening quote from Philippians 2:3-4:

Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of other as better than yourself. Don't just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing.

Also, How can a church staff be taught if the don't have a great leader (Senior Pastor)? This is one of the characteristics given in the book. Another characteristic given is that a healthy team is relatively small. What better example is there than the disciples? There were twelve disciples, but it is interesting to note, according to the book, that they were found in the Scriptures always in groups of three each with a leader. Ways this chapter gives for nurturing a healthy staff is having meeting time, social time, great communication with one another, individual time for each member with the Senior Pastor, and support from each other. I think that those are excellent models given for nurturing a healthy staff. Additionally, I believe another characteristic (the most important one) should be constant prayer. Coupled with nurturing, a healthy team should be motivated. The title of Chapter eight was Motivating a Superior Staff. The book lists several ways of motivating a superior staff. They are determining a mission, considering goals, providing constant feed back to one another, offering rewards for great work, and providing avenues of support. If you do all of these things motivation can be measured and found to be high. The title of Chapter nine is Discipling Up. This chapter was one of the more difficult chapters for me to understand the first time I read it, and still was upon further examination. My opinion of the overall message of this chapter. Because of that, is the same as my Objective View paper. I think that this chapter is telling church staff to be willing to assist the pastor in anyway possible without taking over. Moreover, I believe that the chapter is saying the church staff should uplift the pastor and make the environment comfortable for the Senior Pastor because the Senior Pastor's job is not easy. Ways to support the Senior Pastor is to represent the Senior Pastor fairly, try to understand him, try to do it his way (do not be confrontational), keep him informed, and give him alternatives. Doing these things makes the Senior Pastor feel good and makes his ministry more fruitful and the ministry of the church as a whole. Chapter ten is titled Managing Staff Conflicts. We are human beings and because of the power of sin there will be conflict when we group together. However, God is not a God of conflict. According to I Corinthians 14:40 it is desired that all things be done decently and in order. Reasons the book gives for staff conflict are communication problems (both lack of communication and harmful communication), motivational problems, team organizational problems (misunderstanding individual roles), and a lack of trust. This chapter provides several recommendations on managing and resolving conflicts-allowing healthy conflict, deal with conflict as early as possible, practice healthy communication, and to decide whether to try to meet the demands of both sides, one side over the other, neither side, allow the conflict to work out on its own, or dropping the issue all together. I agree with all of the ideas presented except for allowing healthy conflict. I think that all conflict should be avoided, but dealt with if it arises. Once conflict is minimized, but managed effectively an elite team can be developed. The title of chapter eleven is Leading an Elite Team. I think that an elite team in terms of church staff is one that lives up to the best of its potential in spreading the Word and equipping others to spread the Word. Again the opening quote of chapter eleven spoke to me:

There are three ways to making a successful team: (1) Coming together is the beginning. (2) Working together is progress. (3) Staying together is success.

The success aspect of a team of church staff members is when God is glorified. To accomplish this as the opening quote implies the team should come together, work together through conflicts, and staying together through it all. I think that my synopsis of chapter twelve in the Objective view paper summarized my opinion well:

A successful church staff should have definite goals and a leader (Senior Pastor) that realizes these goals and looks toward fulfilling those goals. I believe that the following quote from the beginning of the chapter by Mary Parker Follet summarizes the previous statement well:

The most successful leader of all is one who sees another picture not yet actualized.

Churches must realize that they are connected in that their goals are ultimately all the same: To spread the good news to the ends of the earth. Therefore, churches must form an unwritten agreement. The book gives five broad ideas of the unwritten agreement. The five ideas are a clear direction, learning and innovation, high expectations, technology, and appreciation. I will summarize these broad ideas in part three of this paper. I think that the Book Staff your Church for Growth was a Great Book. It was organized well. I think that the opening quotes for each chapter were very effective in providing insight to the overall meaning of the chapters. My favorite quote was the quote from the opening of chapter five:

The point of the game is not how well the individual does, but whether the team wins. That's the beautiful heart of the game, the blending of personalities, the mutual sacrifices for the group success.

The only way a church staff can be successful is if everyone puts aside or sacrifices his or her pride and does his or her part. Success will equal the church staff being a light unto the dark world by compelling others to come to Jesus and equipping others to do the work of the Heavenly Father. As a young adult, I have certain spiritual needs and certain expectations of church. The spiritual needs and expectations vary from individual to individual. Not all those expectations will be met, but it is important that the church works to meet as many spiritual needs and expectations (expectations if they line up with the Word of God) as possible. The book provides an excellent, ordered, and organized guide of the importance of team ministry in meeting the needs of the people.