This post is part of series called Plumb Lines where Larry Osborne shares guidelines on how articulating certain “ministry plumb lines” can make decision making a snap, and can make sure that teams are in alignment with the greater mission. To start this series from the beginning, go to the Plumb Lines Intro post.
Here’s Larry with the next plumb line, Weigh (Don’t Count) Opinions.
Plumb lines. Here we go again. At North Coast we’ve got 21 of them. I’m not gonna give you all 21, but I wanna continue to give you some examples of the ones that have been most helpful for us. And one that has been incredibly helpful when it comes to senior staff and management, and elder board and listening to the congregation, is this one: weigh (don’t count) opinions.
That’s one of our major plumb lines when it comes to feedback. The reason that we don’t use surveys, especially ones that are anonymous is because when I get a response, I have no idea where it’s coming from. It’s why here at North Coast Church when anything is anonymous, it’s thrown away.
A worship response card that says, it’s too loud or too hot or too cold. If it has a name to it, we can find out who did that and why they did it. But if it’s anonymous, I don’t know where they were sitting. I don’t know anything about it. So we are fanatics about this idea of if we don’t know who it is, we don’t care what they think.
Because we believe that opinions should be listened to carefully, but they should always be weighed, not counted. And I think you’ll find some great success in your own ministry and leadership if you learn to avoid the voices that are merely shadows. And stick to the voices that have real people behind them.
And it’s why we weigh, rather than count, opinions around here. A powerful plumb line for us. Might be for you, too.
This video is part of the Plumb Lines series available for free on YouTube, To watch the video, click below.
