Seven Things Every Pastor Needs to Consider When Embracing the Need for Crazy Change

1. Remember that you are the shepherd.  This role trumps all other roles for a pastor.  Maintaining a shepherd's perspective will keep the needed implementation of change in the right perspective.  This is God's work; Christ is the Chief Shepherd; pastors are the under shepherd.  This mindset is a constant must!

2. Choose love over management.  Everything that pastors do must be laced with love first and foremost.  The vision is not about people...rather, the vision is people!  Management is about systems.  But ministry comes first!  People must know that they have the leader's love if they will even consider embracing change.

3. Assume you are never communicating enough.  Someone said that 20 percent of leadership is making the right decisions.  Eighty percent is appropriately communicating those decisions.  Make sure you finish the process of change by good and continual communication!

4. Recruit a fresh set of ears and eyes.  Be willing to enlist an unbiased viewpoint, someone to be a sounding board and someone to speak honestly to the situation at hand.  Those eyes and ears will see and hear what has potentially yet to be seen and heard.

5. Accentuate the positive.  Any change can lead to negative vibes.  It's critical that key leaders see the good in the change and vocalize it all along the way.  It's important to remember that the negative tends to carry more power, so honestly and liberally speak the positive.  As long as it's not wrongfully embellished, others will listen and follow.

6. Involve key people in implementing the change.  Communicating the need for change starts with key people in the leadership structure and congregation.  Giving opportunity to dialogue about the pros and cons is critical to buy-in.  Once buy-in is captured, involve them in the communication of the needed change, its value and process with certain talking-points for a unified expression of information.

7. Make changes that matter.  It's easy as a leader to see a number of changes that need to be made.  Prioritizing and scheduling change is as much a part of the the change process as the implementation.  Be a change agent versus a change addict.