You carry the weight of the vision cast from above, translating it into action through the organization, often with limited autonomy. You stand in the gap between the top leader’s expectations and the realities of execution, shielding them from the pushback while managing the frustrations of those below you. It’s an incredibly difficult and often lonely position.

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I was 23 years old and started a role in a new department at the organization where I had been working for 5 years. My boss (let's call him Pete) was twice my age, had multiple college degrees, and had significantly more experience than me. Everyone else on the team was also older and more experienced than me.

A few months into the role, the president of the organization called me into his office and asked me to take over running the department. Pete wasn't leaving. He not only was staying in the organization, he was staying in the department. I would be Pete's boss. I'd also be overseeing the other staff who were once my coworkers. Talk about awkward.

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The intensity around racial injustice increased as the summer continued. Just as I had never been on offense around topics of race, I had never been on defense either. Every person we hired who was not a person of color was met with disappointment and questions. Why do we keep hiring white people? Why is our candidate pool all white people? Why aren’t capable leaders of color applying for our roles?

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As is true with schools, corporations, small businesses, government agencies, non-profits and all human-led entities -- some of them are led by people who are self-serving and corrupt. The church is not excluded. A few scandals and suddenly we think every megachurch pastor is committing fraud or abuse, or at a minimum putting their own interests above that of their church.

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It's 2025. The world is shifting. We are facing changes all around us: politics, technology, climate, artificial intelligence, family dynamics, and more. As leaders, while holding tight to our core convictions, we must never stop changing and growing and learning. Every day we wake up, the world changed over night. We won't get the same results tomorrow doing the same thing we did yesterday.

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The role of Senior Pastor is a really hard job. Do you want to make it a bit easier? If I could sit down with your pastor and ask, “What do you need from the men and women on your team?" -- I’m fairly confident I know what they would say.

Here are 11 things your pastor needs you to be…

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When the budget needs to be cut, often we zero out the learning and development for our staff before anything else. Here is the problem. If your leaders are empty, if they are void of ideas, if they are uninspired or unmotivated or isolated or just exhausted -- then you aren't going to be able to move your mission forward.

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Last month I was on a flight to Seattle. I boarded early and made my way to seat 7F to settle in for the nearly four hour flight. Everyone was on board and in their seats when a flight attendant approached me and said, "Excuse me Mr. Stevens, the pilots would like to speak with you."

That was a first…

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I've long been a believer in pastors having side hustles well before I knew that's what they were called. The term "side hustle" has a long history that has changed over time but has emerged in the age of the internet and Uber and Etsy with a new meaning.

A side hustle, as defined by Entrepreneur.com, is "any type of employment undertaken in addition to one's full-time job. These are often freelance or piecework in nature, providing a supplemental income." 

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