Church Relevance’s list of 2012 church conference recommendations has been updated to almost 40 ministry conferences. There’s no way it includes all of the conferences worth considering.

So check out the list, and please leave a comment letting us know which conferences we forgot and which ones you’ll be attending.

I love books. From the Bible to theologians to business experts, books are a quick way to get wisdom which in the long run helps you make better choices and avoid dangerous pitfalls.

Over time my library has grown to about 1,500 books I haven’t read yet, but over time, my responsibilities have also grown to the point that I have to be very strategic about what I read and how long I read it.

In 2012, I have purposed to read more by using book summaries from Leaders Book Summaries. I’ve avoided book summaries in the past because I liked the sense of accomplishment from reading a book in its entirety, but few books pack insights into every page, so I was just wasting time and adding needless clutter to my mind.

5 Reasons I Chose Leaders Book Summaries

1. Book summaries are cheaper than full books.
   With Leaders Book Summaries, I can get 10 book summaries for the cost of 1 full price book.
2. Book summaries save time and consequently money.
   The average reader takes 5-6 hours to read a whole book and only 15-20 minutes to read a book summary. In other words, you can read 20 book summaries in the time it takes you to read one whole book. Time is the scarcest and costliest thing I have, so the savings with Leaders Book Summaries is huge.
3. Book summaries are more effective teachers (research proven).
   According to research by Carnegie-Mellon University,  people who read good summaries of books actually learn and retain more information than those who read the whole book.
4. Book summaries ensure I am growing as a leader.
   Harry Truman said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Without a plan, it is easy to keep saying I’ll read some books but keep procrastinating. Leaders Book Summaries guarantees I’ll cover at least  30 books each year.
5. Book summaries ensure my team is growing.
   At Open Church, I have signed my core team up to be getting Leaders Book Summaries each month. They offer a Church Subscription option that allows all of your leaders to receive the monthly book summaries. Many pastors find it easier to train busy lay leaders with 12-15 page book summaries rather than a whole book.

Leaders Book Summaries is also a great way to screen my book buying. If a summary is particularly good, I can better determine if reading the whole book is worth my time and money.

For more details, check out StudyLeadership.com.

Special thanks to Leaders Book Summaries for supporting Church Relevance by sponsoring this post.

QUESTION:

While I love my ministry job and my church, I am becoming increasingly “burned out” and depressed with what I do. Currently our church is having some pretty major financial difficulties, which makes this a good opportunity for me to resign.

I have always felt a unique calling on my life to serve with some sort of humanitarian organization. I see ministries like Feed the Children, Samaritans Purse, Hope for Haiti, Hello Somebody, and Sevenly and I have such a strong desire to do what they are doing. I know that you have very unique ministry, so I am hoping that you could offer me a little bit of advice about how I could begin a new career with an organization like those that I have mentioned.

-  Anonymous

ANSWER:

There are really two questions here:

1. Should I resign from my current church?
2. How do I begin a new career with a humanitarian organization?

I answered the first question yesterday. Click here to read it.

#2 :: How do I begin a new career with a humanitarian organization?

First, determine what you want to do and if you need to get paid.
Second, pray about if there is a specific organization you should work for.

The challenge with step 2 is sometimes God gives us a passion and calling to a general area of ministry, but then we add some of our own extra details and assume our ideas are part of God’s calling. For example, a leader of popular nonprofit told me an average job listings might have 100 applicants but 96 of those 100 will say that God called them to work there.

So pray and be pragmatic, too. Here are a few scenarios for landing a job at a great nonprofit.

5 Routes to Get Your Dream Job

1. Any Task / Volunteer (Easy)
   If you don’t care what you do and can volunteer while bivocationally work elsewhere, then it can be pretty easy to find a role to fit at a progressive humanitarian organization. Contact them and say you’ll do anything - done. If there is a specific organization you’d love to serve, sometimes this is the only route to go in order to get your foot in the door. Be prepared for it not to be glamorous.
   >> I’ve done this before. I shredded a lot of documents.
2. Any Task / Paid (Moderate)
   If you are willing to do anything but also require a paycheck, things get more challenging. The global economy is hurting and fundraising is down for many nonprofits. The causes that are thriving and/or doing cool things may have over 100 people apply for each job position. It helps if you have friends who work there, a well-known reputation, or some remarkably impressive skill.
   >> I’ve done this before. I did a lot of manual labor.
3. Specific Role / Volunteer (Moderate)
   What’s your dream job? If you have the skills and competency to do it and can work bivocationally, then approaching an organization by offering to do a specific role for free might just be your ticket to living your dream. When working for free, you can actually sometimes craft a role that never existed before and the organization didn’t even realize they needed. It can be incredibly liberating to be a high level volunteer rather than paid staff - more of what you love, less grunt work, less bureaucracy. It does have its limitations though. Few organizations can successfully assimilate volunteer team members into their organizational rhythm like a paid team member.
   >> I’ve gone this route with several organizations. It is the format I used while at LifeChurch.tv for a couple of years, which gave me a tremendous amount of flexibility to float around and work with 7 different departments.
4. Specific Role / Paid (Tough)
   Almost always timing is everything with this. To be available to take a dream role exactly when an organization wants that role filled and has the money to pay you is elusive.
   >> I’ve approached organizations and organizations have approached me numerous times, but seldom has the timing been right for both sides.
5. Start You Own Humanitarian Organization (Tough)
   Successful organizations almost always seem cooler from a distance. The closer your get to the core of an organization, the easier it is to see all of their ugly flaws, blemishes, and failures. Your romanticized ideals of a career in humanitarian work probably doesn’t really exist. It could be impossible, but your best chance for getting close to those ideals may actually be starting your own humanitarian organization. If God calls you to start something, one of the sweetest feelings in the world is being in his will regardless of how challenging that may be. However, if you aren’t called, starting something could be one of the worst chapters of your life. Pray about it.
   >> I have experienced no greater vocational joy or challenge than to pursue God’s leading to start a nonprofit. However, if you do not feel called, there is a good chance you should stay away from such an undertaking.

3 Keys to Starting a New Career

1. Have the skills that pay the bills.
   Hopefully you started a decade ago reading the books, learning the skills, and getting the experience you’ll need to competively serve a new career. If you don’t have them, start today and go from there.
2. Cut through the clutter.
   Currently, the U.S. unemployment rate is at 8.5%. Nobody wants the mundane jobs. Causes are cool and among some of the first places people dream about working for. If you seem remotely like everyone else you, are replaceable and boring. How will you impress me? How are you the linchpin I didn’t realize I needed until I met you? Why should I care? Do everything you can to set yourself apart from the other 100 applicants that are boring the HR department.
3. Follow the Holy Spirit.
   Pray, listen, and follow. Doing otherwise could make you miserable.

Questions to Gauge Your Seriousness

• How badly do you want a career like this?
• Would you sacrifice and sell most of your belongings to make it happen?
• Would you sacrifice your other dreams to have the chance to pursue this one?
• Do you want to work at one of the organizations you listed because of what they do (and how they do it) or because they are famous?
  Fame is the wrong reason. There are hundreds of nonprofits (often copycats) doing what they do. But the rarity is finding a group that does the “how” well.

If someone came to me offering to work for free, had remarkable skills, took initiative, respected boundaries, and got results, I’d do everything I could to keep that person with my nonprofit. Bringing value along with sincere personal sacrifice is one of the quickest ways to win the heartstrings of a nonprofit founder.

How would you answer Anonymous’ second question? Leave a comment to help him out.

QUESTION:

While I love my ministry job and my church, I am becoming increasingly “burned out” and depressed with what I do. Currently our church is having some pretty major financial difficulties, which makes this a good opportunity for me to resign.

I have always felt a unique calling on my life to serve with some sort of humanitarian organization. I see ministries like Feed the Children, Samaritans Purse, Hope for Haiti, Hello Somebody, and Sevenly and I have such a strong desire to do what they are doing. I know that you have very unique ministry, so I am hoping that you could offer me a little bit of advice about how I could begin a new career with an organization like those that I have mentioned.

-  Anonymous

ANSWER:

There are really two questions here:

1. Should I resign from my current church?
2. How do I begin a new career with a humanitarian organization?

I will answer the 1st now and the 2nd tomorrow (click to read it).

#1 :: Should I resign from my current church?

Pray. Pray hard.

Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This requires a delicate answer, and no one can truly answer it except for you and the Holy Spirit. Understand that you are not alone. Many ministers feel burned out. Many ministers are depressed. Many nonprofits are having major financial difficulties.

Don’t leave because it is tough (unless God tells you to go).
The pursuit of the Great Commission when done right is never easy. There will be many trials, but we are to be joyful about these challenges because they test our faith and mature us (James 1:2-4).

Don’t leave if the burnout is because of you doing too much (unless God tells you to go).
However, realize that the pursuit of the Great Commission when done right will not produce burn out and depression. Burn out is what happens when you give of yourself more than you fill yourself with the spiritual refreshment of a relationship with God (i.e., personal prayer, Bible study, and worship - not work related). This burnout may be from trying to do too much in your own strength rather than trusting God to show up. This burn out may be caused by you overcomplicating God’s calling for you by adding too many details, tasks, and requirements. If this is the case, cut programs and any of the fluff that is not Biblically essential to your mission, do you best, and trust God to show up.

Leave if the source of the burnout is out of your control (unless God tells you to stay)
Unfortunately, burn out sometimes is caused from abusive relationships from church leadership or from self-destructive management systems. If this is the case and you have tried to mend the relationships or repair the systems to no avail, your effectiveness in ministry may be quenched by leadership above you. Ideally, you leave as soon as possible. However, sometimes God calls people to challenging circumstances like this for a variety of reasons. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit amidst the frustrations.

Leave if the burnout is because you are called elsewhere
You mention feeling called to serve a humanitarian organization. Is it a passion, a romanticized dream, or a calling? If a calling, is the timing now or in the future? If now, then your burnout may be because you are not supposed to be working at the church. Pray hard about this. If you have to, cut distractions out of your life to heighten your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

There are many more possibilities that could be written, but I do not want to distract from the most important thing - pray and follow Gods leading.

You should also check out Anne Jackson’s book Mad Church Disease (ebook).

I will answer the second question tomorrow.

How would you answer this first question? Leave a comment to help Anonymous out.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Leadership accountability is becoming a more important issue with every pastor, politician, and leader in the limelight who has a moral failure. Personal accountability has always been important, but now people are beginning to realize it.

Good intentions aren’t enough. You need prayer, worship, and a steady diet of Scripture to stay focused. And for good measure, I also recommend using accountability questions and Internet accountability software.

15 Accountability Questions

Having an accountability partner is only successful if you consistently meet, are brutally honest, and ask the right questions. Ed Stetzer has compiled a list of 48 accountability questions used by leaders such as John Wesley, Chuck Swindoll, Neil Cole, and Church Multiplication Associates. For my own use, I’ve adapted these questions into my top 15 personal accountability questions.

Spiritual

• #1 - Did the Bible live in you this week?
• #2 - Do you give it time to speak to you everyday?
• #3 - Are you enjoying prayer?
• #4 - Do you trust God?
• #5 - When did you last speak to someone about your faith?

Relationships

• #6 - Have you been honoring, understanding, and generous to your family and important relationships?
• #7 - Have you damaged another person by your words, either behind their back or face-to-face?

Lust of the Eyes (Generosity)

• #8 - Have you been materialistic or too focused on having something?
• #9 - Have you been generous?

Pride of Life (Humility)

• #10 - Have you been proud or too focused on being something?
• #11 - Are you giving God the glory?

Lust of the Flesh (Integrity)

• #12 - Is God honored in the way you eat and drink?
• #13 - Are you improving your health through nutrition and exercise?
• #14 - Have you been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed your mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not your spouse this week?
• #15 - Have you been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?

These questions don’t cover everything, but they are manageable and help keep a broad scope of lifestyle goals in the forefront of your mind throughout the week.

Internet Accountability Software

According to a March 2002 Pastors.com survey, 54% of pastors had viewed Internet pornography within the previous year, and 30% of those pastors had visited within the previous 30 days. Keep in mind that those statistics do not include any inappropriate content often found on news sites, online ads, and countless other non-ponographic sites.

Good Internet accountability software helps keep leaders above reproach. I recommend and use Covenant Eyes because of its highly thorough monitoring and customization. I tested a free Internet accountability program but was disappointed by its inability to report questionable non-pornographic content.

Covenant Eyes allows users to add accountability partners who receive regular reports detailing and labeling Internet usage in order of maturity - highly mature (porn), mature (smut), mature teen, and teen. It also charts the average Internet usage for each hour of the day.

The content labels and customized reports are convenient, but the real value is in its detailed tracking. Covenant Eyes analyzes the URLs of all photos, stories, ads, and more on each Web page that is viewed. If there is any potentially questionable content on a page, Covenant Eyes usually catches it.

Good Internet accountability software is not just about porn. It tracks sexual content, violence, crude humor, and vulgarity. That scope makes it a great tool for quick and easy discussions between accountability partners about what types of media they let themselves consume on a regular basis.

Special thanks to Covenant Eyes for a complimentary review subscription of their Internet accountability software.

At Catalyst Dallas, Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) discussed wisdom for the older and younger generations.

I believe God wants us to work together as younger and older generations. I believe the devil wants to add division between generations.

To The Older Generation

• Don’t resent, fear, or judge the emerging generation. Instead, believe in them.
• You were different at one time from those who went before you.
• If you aren’t dead, you aren’t done.
• Don’t be threatened by younger generations. Realize that they need you.
• Many of us don’t know how to delegate. We think delegating is giving people something to do. Delegating tasks creates followers. Delegating responsibility creates leaders.
• Younger generations need your wisdom.
• Just be yourself. Don’t try to be cool. Authenticity trumps cool every single time.

To The Younger Generation

• You need those who have gone before you.
• Studies show that the younger generation is most often described by employers as entitled.
• Because the emerging generation feels entitled, when it comes to ministry, you feel you need to do it all now.You want to be in leadership, but you can’t speed up maturity.
• You often overestimate what God wants to do through you in the short run, and you often grossly underestimate what God wants to do through you in the long run.
• Always show your leaders honor. Honor publicly results in influence privately. Do not treat your leaders as common or ordinary.Dishonor and faith in the leaders before you limit your church.
• Some people need to repent for dishonoring the God-ordained position above them.
• Your generation is the most cause-driven generation of modern history.You are a chosen generation.
• I believe that you can do what I couldn’t do.

I am doing what I am doing right now because of the previous generations that have invested in me.

At Catalyst Dallas, Christine Caine of the A21 Campaign discussed living a risky life.

I grew up in a culture that said not to take any risks, but you cannot avoid risk. Living is risky. God created us to live a risky life. But somewhere along the way we interpreted living the blessed life with living the safe life.

God has called us to live in the time and the place that we live into to give solution to the world we live in. We live in a world that is broken, that is full of injustice, and that is full of pain.

The purpose of life is not to arrive at the coffin safely. God has called us to a radical life. Often you will find that freedom and safety are not the same thing.

Compassion is never compassion until you roll up your sleeves and cross the street. Do not confuse sympathy for compassion.

God is looking for a generation of leaders that will step out of safety and comfort.

At Catalyst Dallas, Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) discussed 3 types of courage you need for ministry.

Often times in life, a single act of courage is the tipping point for something extraordinary to happen.

Look at earlier this year with Egypt’s single expression of courage to tell their government they’ve had enough. And that single act of courage encouraged thousands around the world to stand up to their governments.

Look at Rosa Park. Her resistance to move to the back of the bus became a single act of courage that led to the anti-segregation movements.

David walking into the valley of Goliath was a single act of courage. Moses telling Pharoah, “Let my people go!” was a single act of courage. Joseph chose to marry his girlfriend, Mary, when she showed up pregnant. That took courage.

The Bible is full of single acts of courage that are tipping points into something new and extraordinary. Looking back it seems so obvious what they should do, but in the moment, it is full of isolation.

And then there are our mundane lives. You’re not going to lead an army like Gideon. You’re not going to walk into a Pharoah’s palace. And when your girlfriend shows up pregnant, you aren’t thinking that’s okay.

When you look back on your life, you won’t tell stories about the 5-year goals you met. You will tell stories about the opportunities that came along, and you sensed God moving you to take advantage of those opportunities. You were scared, but you took advantage of them anyways. Those are the stories you will tell.

I don’t want you to miss it. I don’t want you to look back and say, “If only I had…”

Three Types of Courage You Need

1. The courage to stay when it would be easier to go.
   You never know what hangs in the balance when God whispers, “Stay,” when everything else says, “Go!” If ministry is hard, it just means that you are in ministry. It is supposed to be hard. You are dealing with people. And then the grass looks so green on the other side. It takes courage to stay. Your decision to stay may be the tipping point for something extraordinary to happen in your community, your family, and your church.
2. The courage to leave when it would be easier to stay.
3. The courage to ask for help when it would be easier to pretend that everything is okay.
   Isn’t it true that more people have had to leave ministry because of this? Secrets are dangerous, but secrets in the life of a leader are extraordinarily dangerous. People become afraid to confess their secrets because they are afraid of what people will discover about them and even more afraid about what they will discover about themselves. I do not know of a high profile leader who has not been in counseling. We are all a mess. I don’t care how large your ministry is. When you are at the tip of the spear leading, you get worn down far more quickly than everyone else. We need more help and sooner help than the average people, but we are the least likely to ask for help. In the last few months, has your spouse or trusted friend said, “I think you might need to talk to someone about that”? They are right because they had the courage to say it.

What we should fear is waking up one day and not knowing if we are in the center of what God wants for our life. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of stuff.

What story do you want to tell? Every decision you make is eventually the story of your past. And the tipping point for all of us at some point in our life is a single act of courage.