By Brad Dupray
As an elder for 28 years at Community Christian Church in Tamarac, Florida, John Chace has experienced just about everything an elder can experience, including mushrooming growth, as Community”s attendance has grown from 900 to 2,000 in the past five months. John was in the news business for 42 years, including nearly three decades with the Florida Sun-Sentinel, where he recently retired as community news editor, after also serving as city, national, international, and state editor. He and his wife of 40 years, Pat, were high school sweethearts in Cincinnati. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in political science.
Isn”t a church staff adequate to provide leadership for a church? These are trained pastors.
Yes, the staff is professionally trained and we as elders expect them to be innovative in the ideas they come up with, but we share the ministry of vision and strategic planning and, especially, the pastoring of the church. There”s a lot of team effort.
Do you ever have the need to step in and slow the staff down””or even turn them in a different direction?
No. In the 28 years I”ve been here we”ve been blessed with great harmony and you can see that God blesses harmony. Our vision is incredibly similar because it”s based on all of the elements of the Great Commission and taking care of the people God has blessed us with. Staff and eldership have a passion for evangelism and shepherding””certainly disciple making.
How do elders and staff avoid conflict?
If you”re biblically based, Spirit-led, and you have a passion for serving God”s people, everything seems to work. Staff and eldership here are serious about the Word of God. We”re committed to solid doctrine. We”re committed to the Restoration principles. If you”re following all of those guidelines, things can work pretty smoothly.
Having said that, if there is an issue of conflict in the congregation, we”re quick to address that in a scriptural way. As chairman I end up, at times, with some “one-on-ones” that generally take care of any issues we have.
It sounds like it”s a matter of maintaining focus.
When the church is operating as God wants it to, with the harmony he intended, it grows, it serves, and it”s so focused on its mission that people don”t see the problems; they see the mission, they see the goals. They see beyond themselves. That”s the climate we try to foster. That”s being proactive to a great degree based on the tools that God gives us.
It”s amazing, but not surprising, what God can do when you follow the biblical plan for leadership and pray for his leading and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We are blessed with quality staff and elders who have the hearts of servants, make themselves available, and are committed to doing his will.
At the same time, however, there”s had to be some bumps along the road.
During an early growth spurt, in the 1980s, when we were struggling with moving from the small church to the bigger church model, that was a tough time when we lost some focus. It was never about doctrine””we”ve always been rock solid about doctrine””but it was the challenge of breaking out of that 150-225 range that was difficult for some of the old, traditional leadership.
“Traditional leadership,” meaning”¦
Back in the late “80s we went from a church board to strictly an eldership. We used to have a formal board of deacons and board of elders, and we also had the joint board. We decided this was not the biblical model, but a “man-made” model, if you will. Interestingly enough, the deacons led the way to restore the biblical model of leadership. We still have plenty of servant-leaders, but only the eldership, as we see in the early church, is overseeing God”s church. And once again, no surprise, God blesses when you follow his plan.
What is the best way that a group of elders can support their staff?
Certainly by being supportive, wanting the staff to be innovative in methodology, while being rock solid on doctrine. Both staff and elders need to know the demographics, the market, and what is most effective in teaching people to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That differs by geography. Not every strategy works in every market. I”m a Cincinnati guy. There”s a world of difference between what works in the Midwest and what works in South Florida.
We are supportive in wanting the staff to be looking into all those dynamics of the area and determining what”s most effective in reaching the people. That includes what”s most effective in the worship atmosphere, teaching from the pulpit, and the programs that are offered.
Your church has just been through a huge building program. Would you consider that a bonding experience between elders and staff, or did you have to scuffle your way through it?
It has absolutely been bonding. We”ve had to stretch ourselves as we”ve reached to meet several challenging goals. The elders, in particular, have had an extremely important role in keeping the staff encouraged, “propped up.” One of the elders would just call Scott (senior pastor Scott Eynon) and say, “How you doing?” There was even more interaction between staff and eldership during the building process, sometimes just to say, “Hang in there.” God didn”t bring us this far to just let us go at this stage.
Anyone who”s been through a building program knows the challenges that cities and other entities can throw at you. That can be discouraging, especially when a building process drags out, as ours has. We initially purchased land at our old building site and we tried to expand there but were turned down by the local government. That led us to bigger and better””God”s plan””to buy more land at a different location and ultimately build there. When you add up all of that process it amounts to about 10 years. Lengthy processes can be discouraging to both your staff and congregation, so I think one of the eldership roles in recent years has been to keep morale of staff and congregation as high as possible.
How were the elders involved in the building program?
It was a shared process. Some of us provided business and administrative leadership. One of the elders, in particular, is very construction savvy. Initially some of the eldership was involved as a team in the purchase of the land, in the overall concept of the building and its purpose””certainly not in the details. Staff did a phenomenal job of that. But because it was a shared ministry we were involved in some of the details of land negotiations, construction negotiations, and especially being a sounding board for different ideas. And we were there to help address issues raised in construction and in dealing with the city.
Has moving into the building allowed you to kind of stop and take a deep breath, or has it pushed you even harder?
Being in a building has helped us get refocused on our mission””winning souls to Christ. The building is only a means for doing that. It does dilute your focus when you”re in that building process. It”s something you have to go through, but it”s an absolute joy to get back to a real focus on our mission, which is the Great Commission.
Was the new building the main driver for your vision?
For better or worse, yes. We had an auditorium that would seat 300 uncomfortably if we “maxed it out.” We ran as many as five Sunday services for lengthy periods of time. The building we were in was limiting our growth, was limiting our ministry, and burning out the staff and the worship team. A new facility was absolutely key to carrying out our ministry in South Florida.
You had to build.
In a sense, the building was a necessary evil. I stress, the building is merely a tool, and it has been an effective tool for us. People have seen it going up for two years and wondered when we were going to get in. It has provided an attraction for worship, for teaching, for all the programming and ministry.
In that sense we need to be good stewards of the facilities God has provided so we use them properly and minister effectively to the people the building helps draw to Christ; we see God providing this building to help carry out his plan. It”s almost like a financial resource God gives you””he expects you to do well with it. It”s his.
Have you landed on the next “big, hairy, audacious goal” for the church or is it too soon?
I think we”ve had a good 10-year plan in place””our first building here is simply building one of four potential buildings. We”ve tried to look ahead and see what other steps we should take to be effective 10 years out””perhaps as far as 15 or 20. One of our buildings will be a family life center, one of our buildings will be an education center. We have a master plan that has been approved by local government to permit us to do all these things, so in that sense we were very progressive. Tied in with that is how we want to grow and minister in this community. We haven”t set any numerical goals, but our strategy is simply to have a major impact in Broward County, not just the immediate city, or the surrounding cities. We haven”t “made it,” by any means””this is just a step along the way.
How do you land on a vision that inspires the staff and the elders so they can inspire the church?
Certainly we have prayed about what God wants us to do here with his church in this area. Our staff and eldership are people of prayer. Our community is an absolute mosaic and so is Community. We have more than 50 different ethnicities represented at Community and we”re constantly aware of the cultures, the demographics of our people. Our staff and eldership must know the demographics of our community and continually express our vision for reaching out to all these different ethnicities. Whatever God leads us to, with our knowledge of our audience, is how we ultimately determine that specific vision.
I get a sense that it”s about a lot more than buildings for you.
All of our plans and strategies are really tied in to bringing in more people, introducing them to Christ, discipling them, helping them see and use their gifts, and helping them serve the community as well. We knew that on this site we had to look far ahead. We want to start other churches in this area, too. That”s part of our goal and strategy.
Brad Dupray is senior vice president, investor development, with Church Development Fund, Irvine, California.
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