Matt Williams - How To Be A Team Player and Enjoy It: A Study in Staff Relationships

HOW TO BE TEAM PLAYER AND ENJOY IT

A STUDY IN STAFF RELATIONSHIPS

2013 by Matt Williams

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-62020-235-7

eISBN: 978-1-62020-333-0

UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE HOLY BIBLE. PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Cover design and typesetting: Matthew Mulder

E-book conversion: Anna Riebe

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This book is dedicated to those choice servants of the Lord who have served faithfully and wholeheartedly on church staffs and Christian school faculties over the years. Your commitment to servicemany times with little recognition or compensationhas not gone unnoticed by others. It has been a continual and living illustration to me and many others of what a true servant of the Lord should be. Thank you for your genuine Christianity.

FOREWORD

DR. MATT WILLIAMS IS A choice servant of the Lord, with special wisdom about the practical side of everyday ministry. Matt is a humble, unassuming person with a warm servants heart. He and his wife Donna have a special love for young people, and have seen their five grown children follow their steps into service for Christ. My wife and I have benefited from their kind hospitality on various occasions; they have always made us feel at home. Matt is a forty-plus-year veteran of local church and Christian college service. He has assisted numerous ministries with staff training and has organized high school leadership conferences throughout the United States for many years.

My heart resonates with Matts in our common interest in the practical side of local church ministry. For years I have had Bob Jones Universitys freshmen ministerial students read Biblical Leadership, co-authored by Ken Collier and Matt, as the first book they read during the school year. Then I require our exiting senior ministerial students to read as their last book, just before they graduate, How to Be a Team Player and Enjoy It! The combination of these books is unbeatable for down-to-earth godly and practical wisdom.

I highly commend this revised edition of Teamplayer to all those involved in ministry, whether full-time or volunteer. I encourage pastors to encourage their staff members to read through Teamplayer and discuss its vital principles. The new Further Reflections from Matts ministry friends bring additional value to the book.

May God enrich your ministry through the wisdom God has given to Matt to assist in building up Christs church in this day!

Bruce McAllister

Director of Ministerial Training and Outreach

Bob Jones University

Greenville, South Carolina

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• To my wife, Donna, for being such a godly helpmeet and support to me in the ministry for over forty years.

• To my colaborer, Amy Miller, for all your input and help in editing this revised edition. I also want to thank my friend Craig Krueger for his invaluable editing in the first edition.

• To the wonderful staff of Tri-City Ministries, for all your encouragement and godly example over the many years I served with you on the pastoral staff.

• To the special servants of the Lord at Northland Baptist Bible College/Northland International University, who were such an encouragement to me in the years I was privileged to serve there.

• To my friend Ron Raymer for the illustrations.

• To my ministry friends who wrote their Further Reflections at the conclusion of each chapter.

• To my five childrenKevin, Valarie, Kari, Joy, and Chadfor their continual encouragement and support over the years. I love you!

• And now with this new edition, to my two daughters-in-law, Holly and McKenna: what wonderful additions to our family!

• Three sons-in-law, Adam, Tim, and Joel: what godly husbands, fathers, and Christian leaders you are. Thank you!

• As of this printing, sixteen grandchildrenwhat a blessing you are!

Table of Contents

SECTION I

PREPARATION OF THE PERSON

CHAPTER 1

THE CALL TO SERVANTHOOD

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:2728

But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:4245

For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christs.

Philippians 2:2021

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT STAFF relationships. In particular, it is designed to help you become the effective person that your ministry needs. In an age of ego exaltation and media hype, where is the person who will faithfully serve under the leader of a ministry, seeking only to make his or her superior successful, and to see Gods glory promoted? I hope that person is you who are now holding this book, and it is my desire to encourage and challenge you in your efforts.

A SERVANT'S HEART

Understanding Christs paradox of the servant-leader is an absolute necessity for success in the ministry. The Lord Jesus Christ often used paradoxesseemingly contradictory statementsto highlight the differences between divine and human values. He said in Matthew 20:2728 that the one called to be chief among you is really called to be the servant, and He demonstrated that leadership in the washing of the disciples feet. By sacrificial service, Christ, the ultimate servant-leader, inspired loyalty and love in His followers. You, who are both servant and leader, are called to do the same.

Consider, by way of contrast, some government agencies that I never enjoy having to visit. Why do I dislike them so much? Because of the way people are sometimes treated at these offices. There are long lines, of course: one for this paper, one for that test, and another for payment. This is to be expected. But no one seems interested in helping. In fact, some employees seem annoyed at even having customers. Get in this lineno, you need that papergo over there. That lack of a servant spirit makes these offices a very unpleasant place to be. I am sure it is not like this everywhere, and I know many fine public employees. However, in one particular office, I found no courtesy and no helpfulness whatsoever. The frustration level got so high that two men got into a fight. One cut ahead in line, the other called him names, and the other 560 of us standing in line watched the show!