Church Governance

Leadership Straight from Bill Hybels Church Governance We have learned so much about this. We were careless with term limits before. We are "nut cases" about term limits now. We have term limits... I could build a case and I could convince most of you that the best thing for a board is term limits. Not just because it gives you the obvious opportunity to remove a problematic board member with dignity, but the discipline it invokes upon you to be in non-stop search mode for who the next great board members will be. That discipline is worth the pain of term limits. Recently we had a long, fantastic board meeting. I am looking around the table and realizing that half the people around the board table I did not even know were in our church. But because of our elder selection process and because we have to graduate people as often as we do, we have to be pushing into the circles of the church that we normally do not go. And we find people who are three months away. They just need to know a little more. You need to find a little bit more about them. But they are really close to being able to be a first year elder. Then by year two they become really good elders. By year three they are rock stars. By year four you cannot imagine your church without them. Two of the three we are cycling off in June... if I talk enough about...30 seconds more about them right now I will get emotional. I would not have seen them as elders at first. When we finally interviewed them, I thought maybe. First year, they rarely talked. Second year, they start coming along. Third year, they took on enormous responsibility and grew tremendously. Fourth year, I do not want them to leave. That is how leadership development works. Let's talk pro basketball. You do not know the first year any pro basketball player steps on the court... you do not know where they will be in 5 years. Because pro basketball is not just about skills, it is a lot about the 'want to' factor. Who is going play? How many games does a pro basketball player play? Eighty... Who is going to discipline themselves to get better over 82 games? Many of the first round picks, who everyone thinks is going to be a superstar, they cannot cut it over 82 games. They play at 1/2 speed at some games, 3/4 at other ones. Then you find some young guys who come in and they think "I will get better every game." Five years they are superstars. They are some elders who are not that impressive when you first bring them on. And something in them goes 'I am going to get better at every meeting. I am going to read everything I can read. I am going to do everything I can do.' I am a big proponent of term limits because it gives you a dignified way to 'off ramp' elders and you need... If you have never needed that before, you will need it some day. I guarantee you if you do not have a dignified 'off ramp' system the day is coming when you will think 'It is the biggest decision I made in leadership.' And if you do not invoke the discipline of finding new great elders, you will leave so many people in the seats who could have been your strongest proponents. Once someone serves as an elder, they know your heart, the inner workings of the church. They are the strongest advocate for the vision of your church the rest of their life. Even if they only serve for 4 years.