10 Learnings From My First Year

A year ago, I transitioned into a multi-ethnic megachurch after spending the majority of my life at ethnic-based churches. 

It was one of the most challenging and rewarding years of my life.

I was exposed to a new ecosystem, stretched in ways I wasn’t stretched previously, and forced to use muscles I wasn’t sure I had.

It’s safe to say I learned a lot.

While it’s difficult to capture all my learnings in a blog post, I try to highlight some of my biggest learnings in this post.

Here were some learnings:  

1. Cultural Elasticity Is More Important than Ethnic Make-Up

I’ve witnessed various Bi-Cultural leaders perform their pastoral and leadership duties. The ones who flourish? They’re the ones who walk with cultural flexibility. 

Bryan Lorritts in “Right Color, Wrong Culture: The Type of Leader Your Organization Needs to Become Multiethnic" defines this leader as those “who have the unique ability to go from one culture to another, without compromising or losing who they are in the process.”

In other words, it’s not enough to be a certain color or to represent a culture. It’s about how one adapts without compromise. Not all Bi-Cultural leaders have this ability or operate out of the same proportion. 

2. Imposter Syndrome Is Real 

Impostor syndrome (first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes) is “the idea that you’ve only succeeded due to luck, and not because of your talent or qualifications." 

“Do I really belong here?”

While I was met with genuinely positive feedback in my contributions, I oftentimes wrestled with, “Do I really belong here?”

My wife’s insight into my wiring (as well as the relational staff culture) was crucial in helping me to identify where these feelings were coming from. I also had to repent (over and over again) for doubting God’s wisdom and sovereignty in placing me where He’s placed me.

3. A Church’s Strength Is Its Rejection of Self-Preservation as the Primary Goal

During the last few months when the pandemic hit, I was a witness to the organizational resiliency that has helped the church navigate its many monumental changes over the years. Adjusted job descriptions? New structures? Innovative risk taking? Check all of the above.

Where does leadership resiliency come from? It comes when people are convinced that their job is not to keep an institution alive but to continue the work of God through the living people of God. (Oh, and also be convinced that the institution doesn’t exist to provide them a job.)

This isn’t to say sound organizational decisions aren’t valued. Of course they are. But there’s a felt difference between a church that is trying to live out God’s intentions versus a church that is making sure it doesn’t die, and I wonder if both postures lead to their respective (and ironic) destinies.

4. Preaching is Preaching   

Someone asked, “What was it like to preach to thousands of people?”

For the most part, it’s just like preaching to a congregation of any other size. Once you get up there and get into the flow, preaching is preaching.

The difference? Things like transitioning into and out of the sermon require greater intensity and focus. In a smaller congregational context, awkward transitions aren’t that noticeable. If anything, they can add to the charm of the intimacy. But in a larger context, the first few seconds become that much more important.

5. Clarity is Kindness 

This was a phrase I heard often my first year. The point is that clear communication is a form of love for others (whether it’s a supervisor’s clear communication to a staff member or a pastor’s clarity to his volunteer leaders). It creates a livable world. 

While I knew ambiguious expectations could be unhealthy, I never realized how dangerous foggy environments could be to the health and morale of a team. When a leader is unclear with his staff or team, it needs to be called out for what it is: Cruel and hurtful.

On the flip side, I’ve seen how powerful it is when things are clear. Clarity can create an avalanche of trust and speed.

6. The Multi-Ethnic Portrait Can Be As Powerful a Response to Racism as Anything

I don’t say this to say that ethnic-based churches can’t speak against racism. Of course they can.

“Proximity breeds empathy. Distance breeds suspicion.” - Eric Mason.

The Multi-Ethnic church brings proximity to those who are different.

But while ethnic churches can educate, speak out, and walk in solidarity, multi-ethnic churches can model gospel unity in a throwback Jewish/Gentile way. This is why Bryan Lorritts recently pointed to the multi-ethnic church (13 min IGTV clip) as one of the answers to our present racial tension.

When Asian Americans were targeted with racism, our church just kept platforming Asian American pastors to lead worship (and preach). My diverse small group consists of a white police officer and an African American man. This isn’t me reading about the gospel in a blog, but me learning the power of the gospel in real time.

7. A Big Front Door Can (And Should) Lead to Theological Depth

I’ve heard church leaders criticize larger churches for being theologically shallow while church leaders of larger contexts have criticized smaller churches for abandoning the mission. In this paradigm, church size determines fidelity to the Bible or to the mission.

This is just not true. (And those who stand by that stereotype are driven by an agenda or personal insecurity)

A small church can compromise theology. And a large church can be deep (theologically) and wide (missionally). It’s possible for a church to train 1,000 people for an 8-week theology course and have a wide-front door where almost a 1,000 people come to saving faith during a global pandemic. (Those are actual data points by the way)

8. Outreach Starts with the Lead Pastor

For a church to be known by its local community as a beacon of gospel hope and good works, this requires intense intentionality on the part of the senior pastor.

In other words, outreach must a true value of the senior pastor who constantly adjusts the DNA of the church through personal modeling, the provision of clear pathways for congregational engagement, and public celebration which helps cement culture.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Peter Drucker

Impact is always top-down.

If a church is not reaching the local community, it might be a resource issue, but it more likely may not be a true value of the senior pastor.

9. Churches Need More Marketplace Staff 

A lot of churches have a staff of traditional pastors (i.e. Seminary degree. Part of a denomination). While I believe these leaders are essential, I wonder if churches would be strengthened with more marketplace leaders (those who have experience outside the church world or are bi-vocational). 

Leadership is about action through lens filters. While systematic theology is an essential lens, our present culture is a more diverse, digital, fragmented and yet virtually connected society than ever before.

So to have church leaders who have greater lenses in finance, business, or organizational skills would only add to the disciple-making strategy of a church. A 1st century elder at Ephesus may have faced greater persecution, but I’m not sure he would’ve faced the same complexities as today. 

10. Every Pastor Needs Performance Accountability

In the last year, I have heard more direct (but gracious) questions of pastoral accountability be asked than all my previous ministry years combined.

Don’t leaders tend to drift toward passivity and sloppiness? In a lot of churches (big and small), leaders can coast. Yes, even senior pastors can coast. And to the detriment of God’s people.

This is why accountability is a gift. Accountability doesn’t exist for the “gotcha” moment, but to engineer an environment for sustained intentionality. And when a healthy level of accountability is baked into the pastoral culture, it sharpens the culture of the church at the people level (not just the pastoral level).

Conclusion

A wise pastor once told me that a pastor must continually learn for the sake of God’s people.

If a pastor grows in holiness, the church benefits from said holiness. If a pastor grows in racial consciousness, so can the church. If a pastor grows in ministry strategy, the church will feel its benefits.

I feel incredibly fortunate for the gift of learning during my first year. While I’m unsure of what I’ll learn in my second year, I can’t wait to see what God has in store.