Charlie Wear’s Notes

I know, I know, we don’t want to emulate the CEO model in church. But Donald Trump and The Apprentice are there for all of us to see. Just bear with me here.

On the Apprentice Trump is working with volunteers. They are ready, willing and able to participate in the projects, contests and challenges that face them. How much of church life would be simplified if we only worked with the willing and stopped trying to cajole the unwilling into action? I’ve heard that the volunteer armed forces works much better than the non-volunteer army under the draft. Trump is not directing the how, only the what. The teams have permission to perform their tasks in any way they see fit. How much of our church-related activities would be simplified if we spent most of our time giving permission and then letting the task leaders organize and carry out their tasks?

Okay, before you immediately stop reading, there might be something that church leaders can learn from Donald Trump and the Apprentice. Years ago, when I was the executive pastor (unpaid) of a church that was going through a transition period, I had the difficult job of evaluating the paid staff and honing their job description. I interviewed the children’s ministry leader and asked her what her vision was for children’s ministry. She had no answer.
Donald Trump is looking for answers. In the boardroom scene at the end of the Apprentice, Trump evaluates the leadership of the team and the members who lost that week’s challenge. He asks direct questions. He evaluates. He turns to on-site observers and team members for assessments. How often does anything close to that happen in the church? Donald Trump takes decisive action. So much of what happens in the church takes a long time. Sometimes it takes months to make a personnel change, unless the person in question has been caught in public immorality of some kind. So little of personnel change is based on any sort of benchmark evaluation. With Donald Trump, someone is going to get fired, it’s just that simple.