Key Takeaways:

• Church leaders and pastors are running organizations with little to no training on how to do so.

• Churches and faith ministries are similar to family businesses — in fact, churches are families!

• While business training could help church leaders run their organizations better, most business training does not focus on non-profits much less churches!

• This podcast will explain management principles and ideas specifically for use in ministry contexts.

• 20- to 30-minute episodes will be released every Monday.

• Please let us know if you have suggestions for helpful topics or something you’re struggling with that you’d like to have addressed!

Resource Link:

• Harvard Business Review Ideacast Podcast Episode 777: What Sets Family Businesses Apart

Episode Transcript

Introduction

Hi, church leaders! Welcome to the CEO Pastor Podcast. My name is Cindy and I am your host for today's episode. My goal is to provide the management expertise every church leader needs to produce the ministry experience every church leader wants. We'll skip the jargon and cliches and focus on ideas that will help you accomplish the church's mission in your unique ministry context. Ready? Let's go!

Meet Your Host

Hi and welcome to the podcast! I'm going to introduce myself, tell you why I decided to start a podcast, and what's in it for you, the listener.

So my name is Cindy and I was born and raised on Prince Edward Island in Canada. I own and operate an oyster company with my brother and I am the CFO of the company. As for my education, I have a business degree from Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and I'm also a CPA [Chartered Professional Accountant] who has an MBA, a Master of Business degree, from St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Strangely enough, I also have a degree in biblical studies. I have my Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies from Crandall University in Moncton and I also have a Master of Theology from Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Why Did I Start a Podcast?

So why did I decide to start a podcast? Well, I've worked on local church boards and committees provincially and regionally and I realized that church leaders and pastors are running organizations with little to no training on how to do so. Being a pastor is hard enough! Like, you've got to deal with the spiritual needs of the people that you're working with but to do that, and also try to run an organization with no training on how to do that, too, that's just doubly hard!

So I was listening to a Harvard Business Review podcast episode that was called "What Sets Family Businesses Apart?" and they were talking a lot about leadership and decision making in family businesses, generational differences and how to plan succession, and also conflicts within families who are working together, not just being families together. And I realized that what they were talking about is essentially the same as what happens in churches. There's a lot of generational differences, there's leadership and decision making that happens within a church, there's conflicts within a church -- no one should be surprised at that unless they've never been in a church -- and you have to figure out how to work within all those parameters. Scripture talks about how we are a family so you have to figure out how to work within that. And, just as in family businesses, in churches, you can't fire the people who are working in that church. If they're family, you're stuck with them! And you have to try to figure out how to make things work between people who may not always get along. So I said, "I think I know what to do to help people! I'm going to start a podcast!"

What’s In It for You?

Now, a lot of people who are pastors and church leaders, they already have a lot of theological training and they've been through school. And the problem with going for a business degree is they barely talk about non-profits much less how the management ideas and principles they're teaching work in a church. So what I'm going to do for you is I'm going to prevent you from having to go to school to learn these things. And I'm going to explain the management principles and ideas that I've learned and applied in our own business to help you think through how they could apply to your ministry.

Now, I can't tell you what to do. Every situation is unique. But hopefully with some ideas and some tools, you'll be able to think through some of your problems that you're encountering, and figure out the things that you need to do in order to make the organization, ie. the church or ministry you're working in, move forward.

Podcast Format and Frequency

So the way I'm going to do these, I'm going to try to keep my podcasts short, probably 20 to 30 minutes, and I'm going to release them once a week on Mondays. Most pastors that I know, although not all, have their day off on Monday, and hopefully that will catch you on your day off when you're... when you're thinking through some things and trying to reflect and prepare for the week ahead.

So I would like some feedback! If you have any suggestions on helpful topics or anything you're struggling with in specific that you'd like me to address, please send in that feedback so I can be as helpful as I can to you in your context. You can email podcast (at) ceopastor.com, or you can get in touch with me on social media.

Thanks for Listening!

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of CEO Pastor Podcast. I hope you discovered an idea that you can apply in your unique ministry context. Head over to ceopastor.com for more resources and meet up with me and other church leaders on social media for further discussion. Any questions or suggestions? Email me at podcast (at) ceopastor.com. And don't forget to share, rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast to help spread the word that managing ministry better makes ministry better.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai