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Back in 1987 I was offered an opportunity to start a new church in the suburbs North of Chicago. I was coming straight out of seminary, quite wet behind the ears. I didn’t know it, but I needed more than just a little help. It was during the transition that I discovered the sponsoring agency’s strategy for providing me with assistance and coaching… I was told “If you need help – just call us!”

Now the good news was that my supervisor truly meant what he said. Over the years I would sometimes call him for help, and he invariably dropped what he was doing and came to my rescue. Although he lived three-plus hours away across Chicago-land traffic, he always respond quickly. However, my personal experience was that the “When you need help – just call us” approach to leadership care was based on two fatal assumptions. We soon realized that this approach to providing “support’ was based on two false assumptions.

First, it was assumed that I would know when I needed help. Oops! Now, at 27 years of age, with two Master’s degrees in my pocket, I considered myself a fairly astute leader. What young leader doesn’t? I quickly realized that I simply did not know that I did not know much about church planting. My normal pattern was to first take note of the trouble I was in only after I hsd become inextricably trapped in it. Assuming the leader will know when he needs help is usually a bad assumption.

Second, my supervisors assumed that I would willingly ask for help once I discovered I was in trouble. I hate to admit it, but that was rarely the case. My pride mitigated that I look for several options before asking for assistance. As a result my supervisor routinely heard first word about emerging problems only after they had been promoted into full-blown crises.

It was in the midst of one of these long-nurtured firestorms that my supervisor casually mentioned how he wished that “just once” I would call him “before the eggs have all hit the floor.” I remember biting my lip and thinking – “Well, how about you call me every now and then!” It was in this context that I started to patch together what I call my proactive approach to “Leader Care.” My purpose here is to briefly introduce you to the four key elements of a leader care network, encouraging you to start pulling your own network together.

In my way of thinking every leader needs support on four levels. First, you need a coach who can help you focus on your project and tasks. You also need a mentor who will help you focus on yourself – your personal growth and development – as well as your family. Third, you need exposure to training of all kinds. And finally, you need the support of a group of peers with whom you can develop intimate and healthy community.

COACHING:  I discovered the value of having a coach walk alongside me to help me evaluate and accomplish my projects. In my way of thinking the coach pays close attention to my ministry and projects. My coaches have helped me learn the Art of ministry. I hired my first coach as I was preparing to launch my second church. I clearly remember weighing the costs… we were leaving our current church, taking a pay cut, and launching a new church from scratch. In spite of this my wife and I decided we believed enough in coaching to pay a valued leader $200 per month for his coaching services. (The great news was that an elder from our first church plant heard that we had hired a coach and surprised us by paying for two years of the coach’s services.) Since that time I have continued to be coached – even as I have served as a coach for many other entrepreneurial ministry leaders.

MENTORING:  I have also benefited from the presence of multiple mentors. In addition to my father, I have had several older male voices that speak with regularity into my life. These mentors will call me and inquire about an entirely different set of topics than what my coaches want to discuss.  Mentors pay close attention to me as an individual, a person, and not just as a pastor. They also pay close attention to what is happening in my family. These older and cherished leaders have helped me develop the Heart of Ministry. Perhaps my experience has been unique, but I have simply kept my eyes open for older leaders who are willing to invest little parts of their lives in me – and I’ve not been disappointed.

TRAINING:  I quickly learned to glean “nuggets” of information from multiple sources. I continued to take seminary courses even though they did not always contribute to a degree. I later enrolled in an ongoing pursuit of a formal degree. In addition to these formal types of training I have also pursued insights from workshops, seminars, and retreats. And books… of course books!  (So many books – so little time!) My experience with leaders is that you either have a passion to pursue life-long learning or you better find a way to light that passion. Those who stop learning quickly find they are outdated and caught up in the perpetual pursuit of “getting caught up.” With the multiple and varied training venues available to leaders today there is no excuse for not taking steps to let others give close attention to your intellectual and experiential growth. Through training I have been exposed to the Science of Ministry.

COMMUNITY:  In addition to coaching and mentoring I soon learned to value the close relationships that can develop between peers in close accountability relationships. In this environment I learned to benefit from what Wesley called “close communication” – that type of face-to-face communication in which one cannot easily hide. In the context of peer community I have discovered what it is to be a recipient of a Caring Touch.

My experience is that strong leaders value connections. As you discover what God wants done (the vision), and how you are to do it (the strategy), you also need to discover the people who can help you make it happen (your team.) But even when you have located your team you also need to develop a network of leaders who make it their mission to invest in you (your Leader Care Network). This is the sort of team that gives leaders traction. Without these connections leaders simply are making it difficult to stay in the game for the long haul. I encourage you to begin today building your Leader Care network.

Philip Claycomb