Open with story about trying to hire someone, and planning on a performance evaluation.

Performance Evaluation

Funnies:

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned because I couldn't concentrate.

I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe.

I was a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it. It was a so-so job.

I worked in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.

I was a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I couldn't cut the mustard.

I got fired from a job at a zoo feeding giraffes; they said I wasn't up to it.

We may not like it, but sometimes we are in need of a performance evaluation…

It is too easy to coast through life, living each day, with no vision, no goals, and no accountability…

That’s the scary part about a performance evaluation… it brings a measure of accountability…

Proverbs 27:17 NASB95

17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

Sometimes sharpening is uncomfortable, but necessary for proper functioning…

Hebrews says it a different way:

Hebrews 10:24–25 NASB95

24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Encouragement is the prerequisite for accountability…

There are some who would just as soon cut you down to make themselves feel better as hold you accountable with the intention of encouraging you.

The ground is level under the cross…

We all need each other…

You ever wonder why there are so many different illustrations of the Church in scripture?

It’s because the Church is a living organism, a body made up of many parts, and each has their place and not all are the same…

We need each other just as different parts of the body rely on other parts to survive.

Tell story about sunday school discussion about vulnerability

This isn’t an easy walk. Diversity is difficult, but necessary.

If we all looked alike, it would be easy, but that’s not the plan of God.

Ministry would be easy, except for people…

Being a Christian would be easy if it weren’t for people…

Sometimes it’s not even the world that makes it difficult! We expect them to think us strange…

It’s when those who are close to you hurt you that hurts the deepest…

Ministry is difficult!

Show funny pic

Sometimes we need a performance evaluation!

Every minister in the room knows exactly why this is funny!

This is why young ministers are leaving the church in droves… But what do we do?

I believe the answer lies in a biblical performance evaluation…

Biblical? Is that a thing?

I’m working on my doctorate in leadership and creative communication. I’m a leadership training addict…

I’m constantly reading about leadership principles and strategies…

And you know what I keep finding? The principles that the greatest leadership minds in history use can be found in the scriptures!

God didn’t give us this great mission without showing us how to do it.

For example, One of the most repeated principles in leadership is the necessity of vision, mission, and application.

Explain the difference

If we are going to do a performance evaluation of ourselves or of our ministry, we must start with VISION.

Proverbs 29:18 NASB95

18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

What is our vision? Do we have a vision? The big vision of the Church is directly pulled from scripture:

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Whatever our personal or ministerial vision, it is always a variation of this commission.

This is the anchor for all ministry opportunities: make disciples.

Nothing trumps this standard. If there’s question about it, it goes through this standard first. Does it point people to Jesus?

Mission/Strategy:

Acts 1:8 NASB95

8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

BE - not just do…

Jerusalem - home, here, neighborhoods

Judea & Samaria - regions

All the earth - world missions

Application:

Matthew 22:37–40 NASB95

37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”