Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader

By Lavern E. Brown, Gordon E. Penfold and Gary J. Westra

ADVANCED PRAISE FOR PASTOR UNIQUE: Becoming a Turnaround Leader

Each year thousands of books are written, published, and distributed. Few are really significant works. Pastor Unique is, in my view, a significant book.

Gary L. McIntosh, D.Min., Ph.D.

Talbot Seminary, Biola University

Helping pastors understand themselves and their role is crucial and fundamental. So is training them in the tactics and strategies of change. Furthermore, they must learn how their personalities help or hinder leading change. I believe the process described in this book is targeted more specifically than any other I know to provide this training

.

Paul Borden. Ph.D.

Director, Church Health Initiative

I am grateful to the authors for including The Birkman Method in their work with pastors. My father, Roger Birkman, was passionate about helping people of faith gain a clearer, more accurate understanding of self and others. The authentic kind of leadership development recommended in this book will profoundly impact pastors and the people they lead. We are proud that Birkman can play a role in the important initiative represented in Pastor Unique.

Sharon Birkman Fink, CEO

Birkman International, Inc.

Are you still searching for that killer church health conference, that rock star pastor to imitate, or the perfect formula that will tell you how lead your church to effective service in Jesus mission? Pastors who chase dreams of high powered ministry by looking for answers outside of themselves are inevitably discouraged when they learn that what works for others wont work for them.

If thats your story, Pastor Unique is what youve been looking for. Inside you will learn how to use all the tools the Head of the Church has already given you your identity, your personality, and your life experience to become a turnaround leader in your church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512748017

Lavern E. Brown

Lavern (Bud) Brown, D.Min., has served as an intentional interim pastor in four turnaround churches. He has served in a wide variety of ministry contexts including rural communities, mid-sized cities and large suburban centers. His experience in small, medium and megachurches affords him a broad understanding of the unique challenges faced by churches of various sizes. His work has been published in academic journals, Christian magazines, books and popular websites. Gordon E. Penfold, D.Min pastored four turnaround churches along with two intentional interims. He has trained pastors across the US and Ukraine, Russia and Armenia. His dissertation, “Characteristics of Turnaround Pastors among Evangelical Churches in the Rocky Mountain States,” led to publishing of Re:Vision—The Key to Transforming Your Church (Baker Books), co-authored with Dr. Aubrey Malphurs. Gary Westra, D.Min., has served as lead pastor in several turnarounds. He has been in ministry over 35 years in churches under 100 to over 1000. He is a Certified Consultant in The Birkman Method, coaches churches and pastors, and works as a hospice chaplain.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Lavern E. Brown, Gordon E. Penfold, Gary J. Westra.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the authors except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the authors and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-4800-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4801-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910855

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/10/2016

Contents

Foreword

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 Help, I’m a Pastor!

Chapter 2 The Pastor’s Worth

Chapter 3 Leading Beyond Your Limits

Chapter 4 Discerning Turnaround Behavior: The Advantage of The Birkman Method®

Chapter 5 Research Results: What Distinguishes Turnaround Pastors?

Chapter 6 Pastor, God Intends for You to Lead!

Chapter 7 Why Is Leading Change So Difficult?

Chapter 8 Managing Conflict

Chapter 9 A Guest Chapter by Dr. Paul Borden

Chapter 10 What’s Next?

Chapter 11 Conclusion

Epilogue The Predictive and Practical Power of the Pastor Unique Model

Appendix A Distinguishing Factors of the Birkman Method®208

Appendix B Recent Research for Discovering TAP Characteristics

Appendix C Turnaround Pastors Must Stand Apart

Endnotes

About the Authors

Each year thousands of books are written, published, and distributed. Few, of course, are really significant works. Pastor Unique is, in my view, a significant book.

Gary L. McIntosh, D.Min., Ph.D.

Talbot Seminary

Helping pastors understand themselves and their role is crucial and fundamental. So is training them in the tactics and strategies of change. Furthermore, they must learn how their personalities help or hinder leading change. The process described Pastor Unique is targeted more precisely than any other I know to provide this training.

Paul. D. Borden, Ph.D.

Director, Church Health Initiative

Christianity is in the midst of a profound cultural transition, one in which many congregations are undergoing crisis. As a professor of theology and a part-time pastor of just such a congregation, I welcome the insights and tools that this text provides. It is precisely what the contemporary church requires to help meet the challenge of the day. Any pastor, and certainly any pastor of a congregation in decline, will find valuable resources here to help focus and improve his or her leadership. The book deserves our praise, and its authors our thanks.

Lyle Dabney, Dr. theol.,

Associate Professor of Theology,

Marquette University,

Pastor, Bethany-Calvary United Methodist Church

This book is a must read and will be a valuable resource for the next decade. Having served as a pastor and a seminary professor for over 40 years I am excited to recommend Pastor Unique to pastors and those training to become pastors. The authors are seasoned veterans with a variety of ministry experience and speak from both the heart and the head and base their wisdom upon the word of God. This book is filled with empirical research and personal reflection that provide insight for pastoral leadership and awareness of personality development. There are many good books on pastoral leadership. This is a great book.

Fred Chay D.Min. P.hD.

Professor of Theology

Dean of Doctor of Ministry Studies

Grace School of Theology

If denominational officials would use this book and the tools it provides all the mystery of who can and can’t bring new life to a stuck church would be eliminated. A must read for any pastor thinking about turnaround.

Bill Easum

Founder & President, The Effective Church Group, recipient of the prestigious Donald McGavran Award for outstanding church leadership

Pastor Unique addresses the need for gifted and skilled Pastors to turnaround plateaued and declining churches. With 80-90% of churches in America in a plateaued or declining state, all Christian leaders need to read and heed this book. I highly recommend this book to denominational leaders and pastors who are seeking to help churches change their trajectory and move upward into missional effectiveness.

Tom Harris, Executive Director

Interim Pastor Ministries

Employing sound research techniques, Bud Brown, Gordon Penfold and Gary Westra identified key qualities possessed by pastors who succeed in leading declining churches back to health and growth. With its groundbreaking approach, Pastor Unique gives hope to pastors by training and empowering them to become the leaders their churches need to have an impact on future generations.

Jeanne Ryder Ballard, MA, MS. D.Min.

Adjunct Professor

Associate Director, D.Min. Studies

Dallas Theological Seminary

"I am grateful to Lavern Brown, Gordon Penfold, and Gary Westra for writing this book and for including The Birkman Method® in their work with pastors. My father, Roger Birkman, was the son of a pastor who descended from five generations of pastors. When he created The Birkman Method he saw it as his own kind of ministry and was passionate about helping people of faith gain a clearer, more accurate understanding of self and others. Perceptions of any leader carry great weight, so this most authentic kind of leadership development recommended in this book can profoundly impact both the pastors individually and the people they lead. Leadership challenges in ministry are just like corporate leadership challenges—only harder. We are proud that Birkman can play a role in the important initiative represented in Pastor Unique."

Sharon Birkman Fink, CEO

Birkman International, Inc.

author with Stephanie Capparell,

The Birkman Method: Your Personality at work

All too often we guess at what kind of leader is needed to grow or turnaround a church. Lavern Brown, Gordon Penfold and Gary Westra have done the hard research to identify leadership characteristics that change the direction of a church. Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader is a must read for pastors who find themselves with the challenge of a turnaround church; a denomination which has many churches in decline; or a pastoral search committee looking for the right leader to face a shrinking congregation.

Brent Garrison, Ph.D.

Vice President of Education at CEO Forum

The authors are not afraid to look the church and pastor in the eye and tell them what they need to hear. With a finger their pulse, they use objective criteria to show how to improve the health of the church while strengthening and encouraging the pastor. This book has the potential to change churches—and lives—in an unsurpassed way for the glory of God. I recommend this book to every current or prospective pastor.

Charlie Bing, Ph.D.

GraceLife Ministries

Reading Pastor Unique and attending a Turnaround Pastors Boot Camp should be required reading and a required activity for everyone entering and those already in pastoral ministry. Let’s be honest; most churches are not growing. Pastor Unique tell us why and what to do about it. And, it all relates to pastoral leadership or lack of trained, skilled past/leaders.

John Vawter, D.Min.

Former president, Western Seminary and Phoenix Seminary

I am truly blessed by your book. It challenges me and discourages me; if only I’d read it thirty-five years ago! I find amazing wisdom here in the best practices you prescribe for pastors. Thank you for all the hard work, insight, and collective wisdom in this book. People are going to get saved, and churches are going to grow!

Michael Hodgin

Editor and Author

The authors of Pastor Unique understand the critical need for the development of turn-around pastor leadership, given that over 80% of churches in America are plateaued or declining in attendance. They bring their ministry experience and passion for healthy churches and effective leadership to bear on this epidemic. Their research of successful turn-around pastors has led them to identify the key behaviors and practices that non turn-around pastors can develop through assessment, training and mentoring. If you are a pastor facing the daunting task of leading a church that is plateaued and declining, Pastor Unique is a must read.

Stan Rieb

Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Church Network

Pastor Unique is loaded with helpful research, and the authors have done a remarkable job of turning this research into practical application for pastors of all different personalities. Their goal is becoming the best pastor you can be, based on who you are as God made you. Every pastor who wants to see his congregation grow will benefit from this significant work.

Grant Hawley

Bold Grace Ministries

What Pastor Unique concludes—that any pastor can be the agent for renewing a stagnant or declining church—is a promise that many will not believe. We pastors have been conditioned to believe that turnaround churches happen for a special few, namely dynamic CEOs that have big egos and bigger organizational abilities. But the number-crunching research in this work says differently. In making the case that turnaround-churches happen because of turnaround-pastors, the authors have brought a new model to the table. The pastor, with his or her own personality and gifting, can be mentored to adopt new behaviors that will stimulate the energy needed for change and transformation in the church. It’s not about changing one’s personality; it’s about changing the way we nurture relationships and the goal of an outward-focused Christian community. Churches can change, but only if the pastor changes first. Pastor Unique shows how.

Chip Moody, D.Min.

Vice President and Dean of Students

Doctor of Ministry Program Director

Phoenix Seminary

I love that this book deals effectively with assessment, shepherd leadership, and conflict. The authors do not pick on pastors of churches that are not growing. Obviously, they have been there, done that in churches with problems, and they explain, We will, however, jump in the hole and show you how to climb out. This is a practical and helpful book!

Mike Morris, D.Min., Ph.D.

President, Great Commission Research Network

Associate Dean of Applied Ministry and Mentorship

Ida M. Bottoms Chair of Missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Foreword

I write this foreword to Pastor Unique with great anticipation. Each year thousands of books are written, published, and distributed. Few, of course, are really significant works. Pastor Unique is, in my view, a significant book.

Churches in North America are struggling to produce new disciples. Anecdotal evidence points out that eighty percent of churches are on either a plateau or a decline. If this data is correct, then fourth-fifths of pastors are in churches that need a turnaround. While these pastors are faithful servants, it is commonly understood that most do not have the skills or knowledge to help revitalize their churches. The authors of Pastor Unique seek to rectify this problem.

Lavern (Bud) Brown, Gordon Penfold, and Gary Westra have carefully researched the characteristics of turnaround pastors and non-turnaround pastors to discover what it takes for a leader to reverse the downward decline of a church. Using the Birkman Method® evaluation tool, they drilled deeply into the relational components to find the unique characteristics of pastors, especially how such characteristics empower leaders to reverse the tendency of churches to plateau or decline. What they found is a fresh and encouraging perspective on church leadership. The bottom line? All pastors can help renew a church as they minister from their unique personality and giftedness. Not only are their results carefully researched, but they write out of their own vast ministry experience. Their stories, examples, and illustrations are to the point. Readers will find Pastor Unique empowering rather than discouraging.

I recommend Pastor Unique, and hope it receives the attention it deserves, as well as to help pastors understand their own unique personalities. May God use this book for many years to empower pastors to lead biblically, faithfully, and wisely.

Gary L. McIntosh. D.Min., Ph.D.

Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.

La Mirada, CA.

March 2016

Dedication

We know that the most important and most difficult leadership position of all bears the title of Pastor.

We dedicate this book to you who occupy that sacred office.

Remember – when you toil in silence, when you feel torn between your own inadequacy and the sufficiency of Christ, there is hope.

Allow us the privilege of showing you a better way.

Acknowledgements

First, we thank everyone who sustained us in prayer. This has been an enormous challenge and we often found ourselves bewildered about how to proceed. But God heard your prayers. We pray God’s blessings on you.

Second, we are deeply grateful to those who supported this work with generous financial gifts. Thank you Dale and Verna Leighty, Pontus Karnsund and the saints at Desert Sun Baptist Church (now Integrity Church), Rick and Kristi Krueger, Troy and Kim Killin, and John and Nicki Geigert. Our thanks also extend to the many dozens of others who supported us with financial support. Without their gifts this book may not have seen the light of day.

Third, we are indebted to the team at Birkman International. In the early days of our research, Birkman allowed us to have forty pastors take the Birkman free of charge. Without this support in building a research base, this book would never have been written. Thank you in particular to Sharon Birkman Fink for her encouragement and endorsement; to her Executive Assistant Jennifer Dickey who offered indispensable administrative support and help in communications; to former Director of Research and Development Dr. Patrick Waddlington, whose expertise in statistics was essential to our research; and finally, to former Director of Development Randy Cox. Randy is also a pastor who has used the Birkman for over two decades and consulted with hundreds of other pastors. He helped us ask the right questions and provided invaluable insight in applying our research results.

Fourth, we offer special thanks to Paul Borden for graciously contributing the chapter for denominational leaders; his thinking and writing challenged us to clarify and refine our own ideas. We rank him among the mentors, teachers and fellow writers whose thinking has shaped ours. Their thoughts have become ours to such a degree that we have forgotten how those ideas first came to us. Should the reader recognize the thoughts and ideas of others in this volume, please let us know so that we can offer the appropriate thanks.

Our Board of Directors at Turnaround Pastor Inc. have been a source of encouragement to us in offering their counsel and help in their areas of expertise. To Jeanne Ballard, Ken Bratz, and Bill Knoerschild, we offer our heartfelt thanks. We are blessed to have them as partners. A special thanks to one of our Board of Advisors, Thomas Billings, Jr. Thomas is a Certified Birkman Consultant and pastor. He read and made valuable contributions to the chapters on The Birkman Method.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to Michael Hodgin who graciously blessed us with his editorial expertise. At great personal expense Michael spent hours editing this book. No doubt it felt like pushing spaghetti when he tried to harness three mavericks so we would pull together to produce our best work. To the extent that this book is easily read, Michael deserves the credit. Responsibility for the portions of lesser quality falls to us.

Thank you, pastors, who bared your souls and your ministry and submitted them to us for examination as we tracked ministry and leadership best practices. Thanks for being vulnerable for the sake of Christ and His church!

Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Gary McIntosh for not only writing the forward to this volume but for his valuable assistance and expertise in helping launch the Turnaround Pastor Boot Camp© movement. All of your work will pay rich dividends in the lives of countless pastors. Thanks for your vision to help upstarts get their feet on the ground. Apart from you, none of this would be possible.

Bud Brown

Gordon Penfold

Gary Westra

April 2016

Preface

It is unlikely in the highest degree that this book should have been written and almost miraculous that it was. Credit the Internet. Or blame it, depending upon how you evaluate this volume’s merits and faults.

The three of us met on a social media website frequented by those who practice the esoteric arts of pastoral ministry, clergy coaching, and church renewal. We discovered in one another kindred spirits who shared passion for the renewal of deteriorating churches, deep concern for the pastors who lead them, and a desire for greater understanding of why some pastors are adept at leading turnaround churches while most are not. We wondered if it was possible to discern an explanation that might lead to meaningful help for churches and pastors. Over the course of several months, our discussions led to the idea for this book.

The concept developed somewhat like an avalanche. It started slowly and progressed imperceptibly. Then it happened all at once and we were swept away by the power of the idea and a clear sense that we had been called to write.

It began when Bud posted a question to Gary about the difference between the MBTI and The Birkman Method®. In time Gordon was brought into the discussion. We began to wonder what we might discover, and what we could contribute to church renewal literature, if we applied the Birkman to Gordon’s earlier research.

Suddenly, we found ourselves standing on fresh ground.

After the data had been gathered, evaluated and subjected to careful statistical analysis, we realized that the Lord had entrusted us with remarkable and occasionally surprising insights into the nature of effective turnaround leadership in the Church.

In our minds, the case was nailed shut when we went back to evaluate several successful turnaround pastors who had puzzled us. One, for example, was an adept turnaround leader even though the more familiar typing tools indicate that he is wholly unsuited for turnaround ministry. In contrast, his Birkman profile closely matches the turnaround pastor profile in six of seven distinctive components.

The research also revealed best practices that correlate to effective turnaround leadership.

We settled on three purposes in writing this book. Our first purpose is to bring our research to the Church in the hope that pastors, church leaders, and denominational executives will understand which leadership behaviors promote church renewal and which behaviors hinder it. Our second purpose is to show how these findings can be applied profitably to several of the most vexing problems that confront declining congregations. Our third purpose is to suggest one way forward for those who want to bring renewal to moribund churches.

We are painfully aware of the limitations of our research and this book. We are hopeful that others will replicate, correct and extend this work to include a greater variety of ethnic churches, inner-city congregations, and more churches within the mainline denominations. We also hope that as our dataset grows, our research will be further refined relative to church size and context.

As it stands, the scope of this book is limited to a snapshot of what distinguishes those who have been successful turnaround leaders in the past. It begs for a longitudinal follow-up study that shows whether the best practices and the training process we advocate help pastors become effective renewal leaders. The anecdotal evidence available to us indicates that roughly one-half of those who embark on the journey will become effective turnaround leaders.

But that’s the subject of another research project.

And another book.

Introduction

Monday Morning Meltdown

It’s Monday morning. Pastor Richard (not his real name) slips into his study, broken, defeated, and exhausted. He sits at his desk and stares into space. What went wrong? He poured himself out for this church. He has loved the people, but nothing is good enough for them.

On Sunday morning one family criticized him for failing to visit a sick family member. He couldn’t drop by because he was counseling a couple that was steering their marriage toward the rocks. In the midst of that he received a call from another person who was suicidal. Then an unbelieving friend died. The friend had asked for him, but by the time he shook loose from the other emergencies, it was too late. It was the one visit he desperately wanted to make, but he let other crises keep him from reaching the hospital in time.

So many demands, so little time. No matter how hard he worked, it was never enough. His pleas for help were met with constant reminders that this is what the church had hired him to do. The work of the ministry was on him.

So, on this Monday morning he’s a spent shell casing, empty. There’s nothing left to give. He places his head on his folded arms. He doesn’t want to weep, but he is unable to stop the flow of tears. His thoughts turn to his wife, a beloved partner in life and in ministry.

She has been supportive through the years, but he knows that she too is exhausted. She couldn’t cope with the unceasing demands on her husband. She did what she must to be the pastor’s wife, but the demands of a challenging church overwhelmed her. She secretly despised a church she once loved.

Overwhelmed by the relentless demands of the church and by concern for his wife, he opens his laptop computer and composes his letter of resignation. He doesn’t want to quit, but in his mind, it is his only option. His grand vision for ministry has broken apart on the rocks of ceaseless demands and unmet expectations.

After he prints the letter out and scribbles his signature at the bottom, relief and guilt wash over him. Relief, because he’s finished. Guilt, because he feels that he’s failed the Lord and the church. Most of all, feelings of self-betrayal flood his soul. His dream is crushed by the unbearable weight of relentless demands he could not satisfy.

Do you identify with Pastor Richard?

This true-to-life story is based on the experience of one of Gordon’s friends.¹ Richard loved the Lord and loved Jesus’ people. He worked hard. He did the best he could with what he had, but it wasn’t enough. He left the field in defeat.

This tragic scene is relived by many pastors across America today. Some quit when they realize that they’re not wired for ministry; they lack the temperament, skills and gifts for fruitful pastoral ministry. Others resign (or are terminated) due to moral failure. Then there are those who move every three or four years in search of a perfect church, never finding what they seek.

But we are convinced that most pastors who leave their positions do so because they have run out of ideas. In spite of heroic effort and great personal (and family) sacrifice, their churches remain stuck in the death spiral. These pastors have done all they know to do, but nothing has worked. They’re worn out and no longer able to sustain the burden of serving God the best they know how without results.

Chances are you’re reading this because you’re a pastor who has tried everything to lead your church off that plateau, but you’re stumped.

Your bookshelves groan under the weight of all those church leadership, church growth and health books. Somewhere a stack of three-ring binders, proof that you’ve tried the conference circuit, lies untouched in your office. You’ve spent a lot of time, energy and leadership capital getting the church to spruce itself up, put on friendly faces for visitors, and work toward a higher standard of excellence.

But nothing has worked.

You see few, if any, professions of faith or baptisms from one year to the next. Your visitor retention rate is in single digits. The annual budget is an exercise in faith, but the monthly balance sheets tell a different story.

Your back is against the wall. You want to make changes, but you are either afraid to roil the waters or you don’t know how to lead change. Church bullies intimidate you. Church boards are uncooperative and controlling. As a result, you struggle, and the church you pastor struggles. Because of the gridlock in your church fellowship, attendees leave in frustration.²

In spite of everything you’ve tried, your church is still on the plateau or headed down the slope. But you haven’t quit. Not yet. You’re still looking for answers.

Keep reading.

Our central thesis in this book is that you’ve unknowingly neglected to put your church’s most significant growth resource to its highest and best use. It is the one resource over which you have absolute control to do with as you please.

What is this marvelous, untapped resource?

You.

Pastor Unique is about you.

The Mess We’re In

The American Church is a mess. We’ll have more to say about that in the next chapter, but here we want to set a few items out in full view.

First, it should be a given that most pastors are righteous people who give themselves to Christ and serve his Church sacrificially.

Second, it is common knowledge that the vast majority struggle in and with the churches they serve. This problem is aggravated by the fact that educators, denominational executives and Christian leaders often don’t know how to help.

Third, of the myriad of factors that contribute to church malaise and pastoral struggles, most are beyond the pastor’s ability to control. We will examine several of these