A few years ago, while our family was living in Germany, my then 18 year old daughter decided to move back to the USA.  Once there she embarked on a quest for her first car.

Since “dad” was a long time BMW guy and that’s all she had driven, she felt compelled to go in that direction.  She sent several links with pictures of the car she “had to have”.  An 11 year old BMW 330 with low miles and a conviction that “she could afford to buy it.”

I told her that while I was sure it would be a great car and she could in fact afford to buy it, I didn’t think she could afford to “own’ it.  She asked me to explain.

I tried to articulate the difference between buying and owning.  “Yes, you can make the down payment and monthly payment but the fuel (premium), mileage (15 mpg) and the maintenance could cause some financial challenges for you.”

So, she bought it.

A few months later the brakes needed to be replaced – $OUCH!

Run Flat Snow tires  – $BAM!

Oil Change – $SMACK!

Leaking Transmission Gasket – $UGH!

She’s now driving a much newer Hyundai Sonata with a 6yr/100,000 mile warranty!

Lesson learned!

In the Christian circles I run in, when starting a new ministry initiative or program, leaders often quote Luke 14:28…

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

This is all well and good.  Unfortunately they don’t always consider what happens once the “tower” is completed.  Tower maintenance, tower staff, tower furnishings, tower wifi, tower property taxes and so on.

Under the Hood:

Most churches and organizations I work with struggle to keep up with the demands of the things they are already doing.  Few, if any, have the financial resources to hire more staff or add line items to the ministry budget.

However, when someone walks into the pastor or ministry leader’s office with a shinny new ministry “vehicle”, they’re off to the races!

It doesn’t take long for them to realize that this new ministry was “easy to buy, but too expensive to own.”

The two biggest contributors to this are an unwillingness to:

A: Focus on the mission and vision you are actually called to.

B: Sell some of the other “vehicles” in the garage! (Yep, I said it)

Performance Tuning:

Set aside focused time with your leadership team and review ALL (read as ALL) of your ministry activities.  Determine which are Strategic to the accomplishment of the vision you are called to and which are not. 

If they are NOT strategic (vital to the vision), design an intentional process of elimination.  Some may be quick and easy, some may take months or years to end.

Reallocate the resources to strategic (mission critical) endeavors or, better yet, hold them in reserve for new initiatives and opportunities.

If the activity is strategic but is not effective in it’s current iteration, reallocate resources (human, financial, physical, communications) to increase it’s effectiveness.

Whether you’re leading a business, ministry or a family, you will acquire “vehicles” you believe will take you and your team where you want to go.  The most effective way to arrive at your destination is to have the fewest number of vehicles operating at the highest level of performance possible.

• Don’t buy what you can’t afford to own
• Sell off the poor performing vehicles
• Maintain and improve the vehicles that are moving you toward your vision. 

Do this and you will… lead faster!