I’ll be gone this Sunday from Suncrest-East for the first time since launch.  I had a lot of reservations about it, but in the end decided it would be best for my family that our vacation extend through Sunday.  The decision was a lot harder than I first thought it would be.  Don’t get me wrong.  We have an incredible team, but being there makes me feel a lot better.

I feel very similar to the first time we left my first born alone with a baby sitter.  Will he be okay?  Will he survive without me?  The answer is of course yes both then and now.

This is also a leadership test.  What happens when a leader is not present says a lot about the leader.  I have always wanted to be the kind of leader that replaces himself…the kind of leader that…

…releases more than controls,

…leads more than manages,

…and reproduces more than delegates.

At the Catalyst One Day conference, Craig Groeschel said that a leader delegates authority not just tasks.  That really struck a cord with me.  I hate feeling like someone’s whipping boy sent on an errand.  I want to be given the authority to actually make a difference with a ministry not just perform a bunch of tasks.

At one time in my ministry experience I was given the responsibility to make sure tasks were done in a certain area of ministry, but I was not given authority over it.  That never set well with me but I could never figure out the problem.  It took some time for me to figure out that I had been assigned tasks but no real authority to do what needed to be done with the ministry…no real authority to lead in the ministry.

That’s not what I want for our leaders at Suncrest-East.  And I believe in the preparation for the launch of our campus we created a real ownership by our launch team because they had the authority to lead, not just perform tasks.

So, in the end, I have complete confidence in our team to pull off a fabulous experience this Sunday or any Sunday for that matter, with or without me.