Last week I started an online interactive course through the Willow Creek Association’s LIFT project called Shaping Culture. I’m excited to be a part of this and thrilled to write about it here on my blog. The LIFT project was born out of a deep concern for pastors (hooray!) I share that same concern. If you go to the LIFT project website www.willowcreek.com/lift/ you can watch a rather sobering video that highlights statistics about pastors. As the video indicates, the harsh reality is that many of us pastors do life in isolation. We’re often running on fumes, we lack confidence and a confidant. We are stressed out, feel incompetent, lack deep friendships, and think about quitting almost every day. Truth is pastoral ministry is incredibly challenging and it takes a toll. As I understand it the the LIFT project is meant to provide world class professional development through the computer desk top of pastors, and ministry leaders. It is meant to strengthen our leadership and perhaps more importantly pour into our souls. I’m pumped about that!
The course I’m a part of is called Shaping Culture. This is huge! As a leader I’ve seen that the most powerful force we face is the culture of our church or organization. I also believe that our effectiveness at shaping that culture greatly determines how successful we’ll be in accomplishing our God-given mission. I’m looking forward to learning and interacting with other leaders as well as the facilitators of the course.
I’ll post about my experience with the course over the next 7 weeks. Feel free to respond here or email me directly pastor@wasatchhills.org if there’s any more you would like to know about LIFT.