Patrick O'Connell

Leading by Hand

If you're leading people I have a question for you: How often do you write handwritten thank you cards to the people on your teams?

Emails and verbal affirmations don't count. I am talking about sitting down and writing words on a card with a pen. There's something intimate about the act of handwriting that the person receiving the note connects with. 

If you can't remember may I encourage you to start writing. Not only are you missing  out on an opportunity to show gratitude but you're missing out as a leader. People aren't going to care about you, your vision, or your plans until they know you care about them. Leadership is a people thing. The sooner you let people know you appreciate them the better it's going to be for everyone.

Two years ago I set a goal of writing three thank you cards every week to the people who contribute on my ministry teams. I write them and then pray for the person I am thanking and get it into the mail.

I hope my contributors appreciate the card. I want them to know how grateful I am for each of them. But the real benefit of writing cards has been personal. The practice has helped me grow as a leader. I have come to realize every one of our contributors brings something unique to the table. 

I use the time it takes me to write the card to pray for the person.During the five minutes it takes me to write the card, I am focused on the person and thinking about the things that I can do to help them grow.

Writing thank you cards is a great way to build humility into the rhythm of the leader's life.

If you do thank your team with handwritten letters, how often do you write them? I'd love to know the details.

The challenges of transition

I left the business/corporate world to be a part of the Restore team. This transition has been challenging and so I thought I'd share some of the things that I've been learning:

• My sense of value is no longer driven by monetary gain nor promotion. I've had to trade my scorecard in for another.
• I've needed to measure my daily productivity differently. No longer can I sit back at the end of the day and tally my work. Results in ministry tend to take longer to appear.
• I've needed to exercise some discipline in setting some office hours. I office from home. At the beginning of this project I was having difficulty knowing when to quit for the day. (I a m better now.)
• Instead of "producing", I am now planting and growing relationships.
• I no longer have the mission field of work and so I need to be intentional about finding people to meet.
• I can't do everything myself and therefore have learned to trust people to do their part.
• Reproducing myself, my ministries, etc.In the corporate world we simply hired more people.

Despite these challenges, the journey has been wonderful. Restore is doing well and I am feeling more and comfortable everyday in my new life.

I suppose what I am saying is that I've come to TRUST GOD and he's not failed me.

Exponential 2008 Recap

So I spent most of the week at the Exponential Conference in Orlando.

This was the first church conference I've ever attended and man did I have a blast. I am energized and inspired by all of the speakers. I learned a ton and got to meet some really cool people.

I went to the conference with the entire Restore team and we had a blast. We spent all day at the conference and then would come back to our room and talk until late in the night. I can't tell you how cool it is to hang out with people who are truly passionate about Jesus and his church. We have more ideas and inspiration than we know what to do with at this point. I am sure some of this will be finding it's way into Restore.

One of the highlights was meeting Pastor Rick Warren at the New Thing dinner Wednesday night. Rick came around to our tables and introduced himself. I thought it was kind of cool that he took so much time to come around before delivering his talk.

Tommy and Troy have written a recap of the conference so check out their blogs for more details. (You can follow the links to their blogs on the left.)

Did I tell you I had a blast...

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to serve him in this way...

Called to the Ministry?

For anyone who might be contending with a decision to enter the ministry, check out this post by Joe Thorn. Honest and direct.