Pastor Steven Furtick

Some folks wrote in wanting to know what we do at Elevation to take care of our staff. Particularly, I got the most questions about how we care for the “Pastoral Staff” (clarification: we actually don’t use this term, we refer to our lead staff as Directional Staff). So I’ll focus on them by listing a few things we do to try to bless and refresh our Directional Staff families. I thought it may be helpful for other churches to see. And I want Elevators to know how you’re indirectly caring for the men who lead the church and their families through your generosity. I know the last thing you want is for one of our leaders to burn out and become another sidelined statistic. It’s the last thing I want too. So we’re doing something about it.

-We provide one date night per month for Directional Staff and their wives. This includes a healthy gift card to a nice restaurant, childcare (which is arranged and paid for by the church-), and an iPod with a Slow Jam mix. (Kidding about the iPod.)
The wives of our Directional Staff carry a heavy burden. I want them to feel valued and appreciated. And I want to proactively provide an avenue for our marriages to stay on fire.

-We provide lunch for the families of Directional Staff every Sunday. It’s a long and grueling day, and since many of these couples rarely get to sit together in a worship experience, the least we can do is ensure that they don’t have to worry about what to cook when they get home.
(I must give a shout out to Stephanie, a volunteer who sees it as her ministry to coordinate most of this. She’s amazing!)

-This one’s new: We’re paying all expenses for each couple to attend a marriage conference in 2008. I don’t just want to preach about staying connected, I want to help that happen. An investment in the marriage of our leaders is an investment in the health of our church.

-An attorney in our church is providing estate planning for all Directional Staff families. I just did this with Holly last year, and the expense was pretty substantial. This Elevator wanted to make sure that the leaders of the church have their houses in order, at no expense.

-All staff are required (not advised) to take one Sunday off from their ministry areas per quarter (this is also a brand new rule). I think this helps refresh perspective and reenergize performance.

-We pay well. We bonus generously based on performance. We offer great benefits and retirement plan options. We resource well, via books, conference budgets, etc. We celebrate a lot, finding as many ways to reward the sacrifice of these leaders as possible.

I’m hard on my staff. I expect a lot of them. But I love them and invest in them with equal or even greater intensity.
When you are the founder of a 2 year old church, and you couldn’t afford to pay anyone anything as recently as 20 months ago, it’s deeply satisfying to finally have the resources to nurture vitality in the marriages and personal lives of the men who lead the church well.

(NOTE: Senior Pastors: Don’t let this post make you feel guilty…
Staff members: Don’t let this post make you bitter…
We’re all at different places in our ability to bless our people financially, and we certainly didn’t start this way at Elevation. In fact, most of the guys I’m taking good care of now nearly starved the first year of this church. It takes time. Besides, not all benefits have to be monetary. There are other ways-perhaps even more valuable-to invest in your staff than financially. For example, I used to lead my guys through books, even when I couldn’t afford to buy the books for them. My investment was my time and leadership. Do what you can with what you have. That’s the point. I’m sure other churches are able to provide for their staff in much deeper ways than us, but we’re doing our best. It’s not a competition. In fact, if there are unique ways that your church cares for the staff, would you email them to us? (We’d like to see them.)

Yes, it’s expensive to take care of your people in this way.
But it’s infinitely more expensive to deal with the fallout if these men fall apart privately while serving God publicly.
And the Bible says that they deserve it.
Truth be known, I can never pay these guys what they’re worth to me.
So I’ll keep trying to value them the very best I can with what we have. I believe this approach will bring honor to God and sustain long term health at Elevation Church.

PS. Ask my Directional Staff if you can see their rings.