While at The Orange Conference last week, Andy Stanley spoke specifically to to the issue of staff culture. Many of the points I’ve heard before in one of his leadership podcasts, but it was a great and timely reminder. He spoke at length about creating a staff culture where mutual submission is present. Yes, God may have called key leadership and senior staff to do something significant and the primarily purpose for additional staff is to serve that vision (I truly do believe that), but this doesn’t mean that senior staff doesn’t and shouldn’t serve the staff that works for them. This type of mutual submission creates a healthy culture where people want to work.

Specific points from Andy’s talk include:

1. Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. Don’t buy into the myth that you have to do it for everyone.
2. Systematize top-down service.
3. Create and maintain a sustainable pace.
4. Celebrate and reward mutual submission when you see it. What’s rewarded is repeated. What’s punished is avoided. What’s neither rewarded or punished gets neglected.
5. Confront your ego. If you have a big ego, then let your staff know.
6. Drop the term loyalty from your vocabulary. If you need to demand loyalty, you’ve got personal loyalty problems.

All of these items are leadership gold, but I wanted to speak the the two that stuck out to me the most.

Systematize top-down service

I recognize that I’m a systems guy to the core. I’m always looking for time-savings tools that allow me to automate tasks. I also recognize that systems also keep me accountable. There are things that I want to do, but left to my own devices, I’ll neglect them. I need a reminder or process that triggers my action. Andy talked about how they do 3 month reviews for every employee. In this review, new employees communicate how leadership could better help them get their job done. Whenever possible, they act on this request as an opportunity to serve the staff. So, I’m writing this one down as an area for personal development. I want to serve my staff and I want them to feel like they’re loved an valued, but I’ll be far more successful at this when I create a system to help me.

Create and maintain a sustainable pace

This statement brings all kinds of conviction and guilt at times. I suffer from work-aholic tendencies. I take on more than I can handle and on top of that, I’ve been attempting to maintain two jobs for the past year as opposed to just my normal work. In addition, I’ve taken on some side projects that are both time consuming but also very important to me. At this moment, I don’t really know what a sustainable pace is. I’ll have to dissect this one more… maybe asking for a little help here from others.

I’ve actually been able to attend more breakouts than last year… and I’ve actually been paying closer attention in the general sessions as compared to last year. I hope to publish my notes from some of the sessions/breakouts later tonight. I also had the opportunity to lead a preconference breakout on yesterday, and include some notes from that as well.

Stay tuned…

On this day, Jay Martin, Or jaymart as I know him wrote a great post about the book. He included a clip from the famous movie, “Spartacus.” I have to admit, I’ve never seen this movie, but he includes the clip of the famous part of the movie where multiple people stand and say, “I am Spartacus.” Jay described that when he read the book, he immediately identified with Eric Newman and after hearing so many other people declare “I am Eric Newman,” it made him think of this clip. Jay is giving away a couple of copies, so be sure to comment on his blog soon.

Amy O, a new kid on the Kidmin blog requested a copy of the Eric Trap and wrote her review here. I’m biased, but I liked her brief summation. “THE ERIC TRAP IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS ON KIDMIN THAT I HAVE READ!” The All Caps was her idea… so she must have really like it. Honestly, I think you’re going to like it. All these other people have… if weven’t not yet convinced you that this book is a great resource, I’m not sure what else to say.

Matt Norman who actively blogs over at Kidmin1124.com wrote a great post. Matt simply posted a brief summary of each chapter which is helpful as by just reading his summary’s you’ll see how this book is just right for you. I did love his opening line thought:

“the week caught up with Eric as he buried his face in his hands and wept.” With this one sentence I knew that his book was for me.

I think many people can relate to that experience.

Neil Hancock did his blog review over on his blog, Fight 4 the Heart. Neil said that he read the book because there wasn’t an Eric Trap movie in the works. Ha! I’m glad he pushed through anyway. I actually haven’t thought about movie deals, maybe we’ll work on that next year… would have to be pretty low budget though. Neil continues the sentiment you’re hearing most other people, you’ll likely identify with Eric’s plight.

Vanessa Small also wrote her review at her blog, LetThemCome1014. She is currently a volunteer who has high hopes to be in full time ministry in the near future. She found the book insightful as something to keep in mind so that she might not fall into the same traps.

Lastly, Joy Bowen wrote a blog review on her site, ImpulsiveJoy. She broke the book down into four things she was challenged by: Answer the Question, Talk to Your Leaders and Volunteers, Seek Out Your Senior Pastor and Have a Heart to Heart. Joy also made a quick video with her review. Enjoy the video below.

My boss, the Executive Pastor at Gateway is coming with me to Orange (Which I’m super stoked about) this year. He came to the Orange Tour in Dallas and has read Think Orange, so he gets the whole Orange strategy. This is the first time I’ve brought someone who isn’t on my kidmin or student ministry team, so I’m not sure what breakouts he should attend. I told him that I’d pick out his breakouts for him.

I’ve been told in the past that sometimes the senior pastor breakouts were great, but they weren’t necessarily focused as much on the Orange Strategy. I really want him to take in Orange, whether that means he attends breakouts for senior leaders or whatever.

So, do you have your boss attending Orange or have in the past? What breakouts would you recommend? Here’s the page/list of breakouts. Thanks for your help!

The first stop is over at the Compel Blog, which is the kidmin encouragement/resource blog for the Church of God of Prophecy denomination. Jason Vernon, the blog’s author is the senior pastor at RTP Community Church (which I wrote about a few weeks ago). He’s a great guy and I’m so glad to get the perspective of a senior pastor for this book. What spoke to him most was the chapter on delegation. Craig Gyergyo who wrote that chapter did an incredible job approaching delegation in a very unique way. Many of us do a great job delegating tasks, but we don’t delegate authority, which is huge. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Read Jason’s review here.

Stop two was an unexpected surprise. It really is great getting reviews from a variety of perspectives, including senior leaders, volunteers and others. However, I wasn’t expecting a review from a physician with a background in psychiatry. Let me tell you, Steve Grcevich from the Church4EveryChild blog had a completely different perspective. He reviewed this book from an “underneath the surface” view of the underlying reasons why Eric struggles the way he did. Steve, thank you for your perspective, it was so informative and refreshing. Please, check out this review as I think you’ll learn a lot from what he had to say.

Stop three included a review from my long-time blog/twitter friend Wendy Douglas. It was great to get her perspective, as she is a volunteer. When you talk to her, you wouldn’t know it. How much do I love volunteers like Wendy. In her review, she identifies with Eric’s struggle and she made a very important point. This book wasn’t written to point out how some children’s pastors/leaders fall short and need to get better at being a leader, but it reveal common flaws that ALL of us share. I’ll blog more about this later. Check out the review, it’s a great one!

The last stop of the Eric Trap (for the day) was over at Mike Rubin’s Providence Blog. Mike suggested renaming the book, “The Mike Trap.” Hmmm, it just doesn’t have the same ring to it… but I’ll be happy to cross out “Eric” on the cover and write your name in for you. I appreciate that Mike did point out something I’ve forgotten to reference in these posts. One of the best parts of each chapter is the “My Eric Trap” section at the end of every chapter. This section gives you a chance to ask yourself (or your team) a set of probing questions. It’s one thing to read the book, but another thing to start putting the principles in action and that’s what these sections are about. Check out Mike’s blog here.

We’ll that’s Day 8. Thanks everyone for participating, Day 9 looks to be just as exciting!

Tom Roepke, who says he is not Eric Newman, does indeed work for New Hope Community Church, the same church where Eric Newman works… except Tom is in Ohio I think and Eric’s New Hope is in Houston. Pretty funny though. Tom Created a video review to go with his post where he showed the infamous hallway with his altercation with Jim Swanson. Don’t know what I’m talking about… well, you need to read the book.

Tom reinforced what so many others have said. This book is not just for Children’s Pastors. There are nuggets of truth for staff and volunteers alike in multiple positions within the church. Enjoy the video below and be sure to read Tom’s review here. Tom, thanks for your kind words!

My friend Brian Dollar posted a great review on his blog. He shared with his readers the three reasons why he liked this book so much.

1. It’s a leadership fable – who doesn’t like a leadership fable?
2. Eric is easy to relate to – because he’s just like so many of us.
3. The lessons are impacting – even those of us who have been dong this for a long time slip in these areas from time to time.

Brian is giving away a few copies, so if you want one, check out what you need to do to win.

Jeremy Echols also posted a review of The Eric Trap. My favorite part of his review is in his “Spoiler Alert” section. He doesn’t necessarily tell you how the book ends, but you get a clearer picture of how the story goes. So, I’m not going to recommend reading that part of the review… unless you’re the type of person who likes to read the end before you get there (you probably snoop around the house for your Christmas presents too, don’t you?). I liked the review because Jeremy points out that our book doesn’t end like most people will expect. Some people like that, others do not. I personally like how it ends… but I also wrote it, so my opinion doesn’t count.

Lastly, my West Coast buddy Anthony Prince, also wrote his review of the Eric Trap. In the end, he said this book will be mandatory reading for all of his staff. That’s a great endorsement. I’m glad he did point out his only concern for the book. The main character is a man, yet the majority of those leading children’s ministry are women. We did talk about this and discuss how this may not relate to as many of the female readers. I think he’s right. However, we’ve gotten good feedback from the women folk… which helps. However, out ultimate reason for not writing from the perspective of a female kid’s pastor was pretty simple. Sam, Jim and I are dudes. If I felt I understood and knew the female mind well enough to tell a convincing story… I’m not sure I’d be writing books about children’s ministry. Ha! Thanks Anthony for your honest review!

Today though we had three more great reviews.

Even though I didn’t provide Matt McKee with an executive summary, he read our book and provided a great review here. Matt said something really important. The Eric Trap was written from the perspective of a Children’s Pastor, but this book isn’t just for Children’s Pastors. Student Pastors, Worship Pastors and even Senior Pastors could benefit from this book. The content is universal.

Andy Johnson also wrote a review on his blog, “Becoming Saturated.” Andy, like others, identified with Eric Newman, the star of The Eric Trap. I’m telling you, you’re going to see yourself in the pages of this book.

Lastly, JC Thompson wrote a blog post and provided a video review of this new resource. He stressed how important this book is to those who are young and in ministry. He had some conspiracy theories about how Eric Newman really is, I liked that. Enjoy the video below.

Sarah Richards, Children’s Pastor in MN wrote a great post summarizing the essence of The Eric Trap on her blog this morning. She’s also giving away a couple of books, so if you haven’t scored one yet, be sure to comment on her post!

Wayne Stocks, my friend from Dad in the Middle wrote a very fun post. I really appreciate his post. He expressed his hesitation with another collaborative book… and I totally get it. Collaborative books are great. One of my favorite books (Switch) is a collaborative book. However, sometimes collaborative books can get in a rut. A couple good chapters… a couple not-so-good chapters and some chapters that could go either way. All in all, they’re great resources… and this is what Wayne was feeling. However, the Eric Trap was different. He got sucked in right from the beginning and couldn’t put it down. He finished it in one day… two sittings. It seems like a lot of people have had this same experience. He’s also giving away a few books. Go visit his blog to find out how you can get a copy. Thanks Wayne for your review.

Lastly, Chris Sykes both wrote a review and made a video which is below. I think he might have been showing off a little filming outside from beautiful South Florida… ha! Chris had some strong things to say, describing The Eric Trap as a conference in a book… or even a year of coaching in a book. He accused us again of following him around and documenting his ministry life and putting it in book form. No, we’re not that creepy… but I wouldn’t put that past us.

Are you getting excited yet? The book will be available soon!