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How do you start a new ministry position well? Dr. Iorg discusses how to be intentional and effective in your first few months in a new role.
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What is Lead On Podcast?
Ready to hone your leadership skills and unlock your full potential? Tune in to the Lead On Podcast, where Jeff Iorg dives deep into Biblical leadership.
Hosted by SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg, this dynamic podcast provides insight for seasoned executives, aspiring leaders, or those in ministry who are simply passionate about personal growth. The Lead On Podcast offers actionable, practical tips to help you navigate the complexities of ministry leadership in today's ever-changing world.
From effective communication and team building to strategic decision-making and fostering innovation, each episode is packed with valuable lessons and inspiring stories to empower you on your leadership journey.
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Welcome to the lead on podcast. This is Jeff Ords, the president of Gateway Seminary, talking with you once again about practical issues related to ministry leadership. Well, as some of you may have heard, I am in the process of starting a new job. I am the president-elect of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, and in that, responsibility will be starting a whole new, working for a whole new organization, whole new staff, whole new set of problems very soon. This process has motivated me to think through what it means to start a new ministry or to start a new job.
Jeff Iorg:And so I wanna talk with you about that on the podcast today. Most of you are going to change ministry positions at least once in your lifetime. You're going to be called to a new church, given a new assignment, put into a new responsibility. Sometimes that may involve changing locations, moving into a new community, uprooting or displacing your family, all kinds of change that might be associated with this. So today on the podcast, let's talk about starting a new job or starting a new ministry position and what are some things that you can do as a leader to get off to such a really good beginning.
Jeff Iorg:There's actually a number of books and resources have been written about this. Most of them focus on the first 90 or a 100 days that are, in your new role and helping you to make a plan for that time frame. And so that's what I wanna talk about today is what do you do in that first 100 days? From the time you get the new position, the first 100 days into the new position, depending on how exactly you define that, what do you hope to get accomplished and why? So let me give you about 5 suggestions on that today.
Jeff Iorg:The first thing I would say is be intentional. Be intentional. Meaning, sit down and think through what you really hope to accomplish during that first 100 days so that you are solving the problems that really need to be solved, focus on the focusing on the issues that are really pertinent to your immediate and even long term success. Be intentional. Give it some thought.
Jeff Iorg:Do some reflection. Talk with some other leaders about your ideas and shape a plan to guide you through that first 100 days. Now, when I say be intentional, I mean, actually write down your plan. Now, I've been doing this for the new position that I'm taking and I'm not really feeling comfortable about sharing the details of that plan today, but I do wanna share the outline with you. When I've made my 100 day plan, I've actually written out 2 page a 2 page list of things that I think I need to do during my first 100 days that would be very intentional and helpful to getting me off to a good start and then sustaining the long term success.
Jeff Iorg:So for example, I have these categories on my plan. I have staff relationships, SBC committees, SBC meeting in Indianapolis, then I have key contacts, then I have a section called general personal area, and then strategic problem areas, and then legal issue areas. Now the final one is called speeches and presentations. And you may wonder, well, why would you need to think about that? Well, we'll get to that in just a moment.
Jeff Iorg:But that's a very important part of most ministry responsibilities is being able to present well in public from the very beginning about your dreams, your visions, your ideas, etcetera. And so that becomes a part of writing out a good 100 day plan. So, again, I'm not going to go into the details on the podcast about what I'm going to do in each one of these categories for several reasons. 1, I don't wanna publicly commit to things that I may not completely fulfill And 2, some of the state is in process and remains flexible as we go through it the time together. So I've written out, an intentional 100 day plan of what I hope to do in these different areas and these are just bullet points for me.
Jeff Iorg:We're under staff, for example, staff relationships. I have a list of 7 or 8 things that I wanna do in that first 100 days to get off to the best, start possible with the new staff. Same thing in the, like strategic problem areas where I have a list of areas where I really need to work on and I know these are some key areas that I need to get off to a good start on in the beginning. And then I also mentioned I have a section called general problem areas and those are just things that are frankly more personal, like find a place to live and establish, residency and get a car and all the things that go with that. And so these are the general problem areas that I've listed that are really more personal in nature.
Jeff Iorg:You might also call these, you know, personal challenges or personal issues to resolve. So the first step in starting a new job or ministry position is to be intentional. Make a 100 day plan and within that, make a written plan where you list out the priority things that you wanna do. Now, this is important. You're not trying to list out everything that you could possibly think of that you're going to do.
Jeff Iorg:No. You're making an intentional plan where you're trying to do the things that are most important to get you off to the best start possible. So in this context of being intentional, I want you to make strategic choices. Again, you're not just listing every possible thing that you could do, you're saying, what are the most strategic things I must do in order to get off to a good start and ensure my long term success? Be strategic.
Jeff Iorg:As I was making my list of the things I wanted to do, there were several things that got put on the original list that ultimately got taken off because I realized, you know, those things might be important, but they're really not that strategic. And I just I'm not sure I have time to devote to things like this at this particular point. So I wanna make sure that I have the things on there that are really strategic. With one addition to that, which is also in the category of strategic, but also while you're being intentional, be, make some symbolic choices as well, strategic choices and symbolic choices. Now, sometimes people think, well, a symbol, that doesn't really make all that much difference.
Jeff Iorg:No, that's not true. Symbols are very significant. In fact, some symbols are very powerful. Consider the American flag, for example. That's it's just a symbol.
Jeff Iorg:Well, it's more than just a symbol. Think of everything that it stands for. It's a powerful symbol. And when you're thinking about your first 100 days in any kind of ministry or any kind of position, there are some things you may choose to do that are symbolic, if you will, that may not be the most strategic thing that you could do that would get the most done in the least amount of time or anything like that, but may have go a long way to establishing, the relationships you need and the credibility you need or even the climate or culture or the attitude that you are trying to portray that will facilitate your work over the long haul. I remember when I became the executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention, because I was very young, only 35 years old, and a lot of the older leaders in the convention were very concerned about this young executive director.
Jeff Iorg:I made the symbolic decision in my very first few days to make sure that I set up lunch appointments with some key leaders in that, demographic group just to say to them, I wanna know you. I wanna know the contribution you've made to the northwest, and I want you to say anything to me that that you think would be helpful as I get started as a young leader in our convention. These were mostly symbolic gestures. These men said kind things to me and gave me some ideas, but I really wasn't looking to these men to lay out the strategic plan for the future of the convention, but I was looking to them to give me relational connection and relational, credibility with people that they influenced who had influence across our convention. So while these were, in some ways, symbolic gestures, they were powerfully symbolic in the sense that they connected me with a generation of leaders that had some concern about me.
Jeff Iorg:They showed honor and respect and even deference to them so that I might have relationship with them going forward. And you know exactly what happened. Every time I had lunch with one of them, he told a number of people about that experience and the word spread, Jeff really values the older generation. Jeff really values the founding generation. Jeff really listens to those of us who've been here a while and wants our input.
Jeff Iorg:That was all true. It was symbolic though when I met with them, but the power of the symbol carried on far beyond that. That's just one example that I'm talking about. That in the early days in a new ministry role, you pick out some things that you think might be strategic but might appear to be symbolic, but you know that those symbols will be powerful and will have a powerful impact on the whole organization and give you the credibility you need going forward. So when you're starting a new job or ministry role, the first thing I want you to do is to be intentional.
Jeff Iorg:Sit down and write out a plan. Here's what I wanna do in my first 100 days. Again, not making a list of every single thing you could possibly do, but making a list and then weeding it out and shortening it to the point that you know that you have a list of things that if you actually do these things, you will get off to a really strong start in your new role. And some of those things that you're going to do would be strategic and some would be more symbolic, but do have strategic impact, and you wanna make sure that you do things in both categories that make a difference. Be intentional.
Jeff Iorg:The second suggestion I have for you in starting a new job or ministry assignment is to make relational connections. Go out of your way to connect with people relationally. You know, I learned this, in my very first pastorate. When I arrived at my very first church, one of our senior deacons, Ralph Kearns, said to me, I wanna take you out. I want you to, meet the members.
Jeff Iorg:I thought, well, that sounds like a good idea for a pastor. So he said, I'll come by your house every evening about 6 o'clock, 6:30, and we'll just spend a couple of hours just going around and meeting people at their homes and letting you get introduced to them. Now you may say, well, I'm not sure that would work today. Well, let's don't talk about today. Let's talk about what worked 40 years ago.
Jeff Iorg:In the community I was in back in those days, dropping in at someone's home was a normal part of life and a welcomed part of life as people had that kind of hospitality and hospitability, if you will, with people who came to see them. So my friend Ralph, this older deacon, picked me up every night 6, 6:30. And for the next couple of hours, we'd just make 4 or 5 stops and spend about 15 minutes at each house, and he would say, this is our new pastor, and I want to bring him by and have him meet you. And I would introduce myself to every one of the family and start the process of getting acquainted with them as their new pastor. And during that first few months, I made a significant relational connection with a lot of people.
Jeff Iorg:That's what I'm talking about. When I became the, executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention, I had about 30 employees and I said to them, I want to meet with every one of you 1 on 1 for an hour sometime in the next couple of months. So start scheduling those appointments. And we started scheduling them in fact, frank frankly, I had my first of those appointments on the first afternoon I was working for the convention. Now the convention staff with only 30 people was small enough that I could meet with every single one of them 1 on 1, and so I did that.
Jeff Iorg:I met with every single person and had a chance to get to know them, let them get to know me, hear something about their work and their passions and their dreams and any concerns they wanted to raise with me. This established an incredible relational connection with those employees early in my tenure. I did a very similar thing when I moved to Gateway. When I moved to Gateway, of course, I was coming from outside the seminary and outside of the of academic life. There was all obviously some concern about that from the faculty who wondered, what this, denominational executive and former church planter was going to do as a seminary president.
Jeff Iorg:And so I told the faculty that I wanted to meet with every one of them for a 90 minute meeting to have a conversation with them about the seminary, about their dreams, their passions, their hopes, and about any concerns they wanted to raise with me, as president. And I had those meetings, in my 1st couple of months with every single faculty member. And we simply worked through 2 or 3 questions. What do you love about the seminary? What would you like to see improved about the seminary?
Jeff Iorg:And then the last question, which was often one that's prompted the most conversation, I would say, if you if I could wave my, magic wand as president and I could fix something today, I mean, fix it today, what would be the urgent thing you'd tell me to give to my attention to, today? And those answers to that question were very revealing and very helpful. But what I'm saying at this point is not to get often to the answers to those questions, but to think about the relational connections that you need to make in the early tenure in a new job or a new position. You wanna connect with your key constituents, like in a pastor's case, the members of his church and the families that make up those that membership. And you wanna connect with employees.
Jeff Iorg:You wanna connect with faculty. You wanna connect with the people who really are going to make a difference in the success you're going to have as a ministry leader. You wanna really get connected with those people as quickly as possible. And this is gonna be draining. Man, it takes a lot of time to meet with this many people 1 on 1.
Jeff Iorg:But I learned, long time ago that the only way to get this done is just start scheduling. Just start putting people on your calendar and following through. And I also learned when I'm doing this that usually meeting with about 2 people a day is about all I can do because it's just too intense. These conversations are sometimes, you know, quite quite pointed and and personal. And so you really need to be at your best to listen and to note and to take in what's being said to you.
Jeff Iorg:So, be relational, make relational connections with employees, with members, with key constituents. And then there's one other group that you may wanna reach out to and that is former executives or pastors or people who've had your job in the past. Now this all depends, of course, on the kind of transition that's been accomplished or how, you know, emotionally healthy the organization is in terms of its former leaders and how they separated and all of that stuff that goes on with that. But in a good situation where the people who've left left on good terms, there is a wealth of resource and information to be gained from talking to the person who had the job before you or to talk to someone who's been in the position or been with the convention, or been with the association, or been with your church, for a long period of time to gain that sort of insider information that only they can give you. So as we start a new ministry or a new job, we're gonna be intentional.
Jeff Iorg:And second, we're gonna make relational connections. Now, 3rd. The third thing I wanna challenge you to do is listen wisely and intently to what people are telling you in those 1st weeks months in a new position. There are 2 groups of people, however, that I wanna warn you about as you're listening so wisely and intently. 1st, watch out for the manipulators who are going to see an opportunity to seize your influence from the very beginning of the relationship and try to bend you toward their agenda.
Jeff Iorg:Watch out for the manipulators. These are people who communicate that they love you, they want the best for you, they're excited about you, but they just got this one thing that they really wanna get you on board to support or to do or to be a part of. It's interesting. I've had this happen to me both here at the seminary and now, frankly, here going to the executive committee. Many, many, many people are reaching out to me, with all kinds of ideas and asking for my endorsement or my signature on, on a on something or my influence to make something happen.
Jeff Iorg:And over the years, I've learned to be careful about making commitments in these ways too quickly. So, for example, I check out different requests with my team or with people who may know the persons who are talking with me. And what I've discovered recently is that most of the people reaching out to me are good hearted, pure motives, and I'm not being manipulated. I'm simply being asked to be a part of something. But there've been a few that people have said, well, I'm not sure about that one because sometimes they have other agendas.
Jeff Iorg:Now that doesn't mean I don't work with them or help them or relate to them. It just means I pay close attention because I'm listening wisely and intently to people who are trying to get my attention and gain my early, allegiance or support or commitment to something that matters a great deal to them. Also, not only watch out for manipulators, but watch out for what I call the quiet influencers. These are people that unless you're paying close attention, you won't realize how powerful they are and how important they are to you going forward. These are oftentimes your best people, your most supportive people, but also the people who are content to stand in the shadows, stand on the sideline.
Jeff Iorg:They're not clamoring for your attention. In fact, they're the kind of people who will say, he or she is so busy. I don't want to bother them right now. They're they've got so many demands and so many people coming at them and so much happening that I just really don't want to intrude right now. These are people you may have to go, to and ask for them to quote, intrude into your life.
Jeff Iorg:Seek out what they have to say. Listen to them and learn from them and ask them carefully to make to give you input. I remember when I, went into a new ministry setting once, I was little concerned about some issues I was hearing and some concerns I was having, and and I wasn't quite sure what to make of a particular person and group that was talking with me. And I noticed that there was one person on our staff team that was pretty quiet, that had been there a while, that seemed to have a good bit of respect from everyone. And so I went to her and I said, I'm hearing this and this and this from these sources, and they're asking me for this and this and this.
Jeff Iorg:And I have some concerns. I'm not quite sure how to put my finger on them. I I just have some concerns. Do you have any input you could give me on this? She said, well, I'm reluctant to speak out of turn.
Jeff Iorg:I don't wanna say anything negative. So let me just simply say you're wise to be paying attention. I'm not sure that the request that you're receiving are all that beneficial for you for the long haul to agree to participate and to support. Well, what I heard her saying was flee as fast as possible from this situation, and I did. That's what I mean by the quiet influencer.
Jeff Iorg:The person that you can tell is wise and insightful and has something to offer, who isn't going to be a gossip or intrude or try to tell you how to do your business or say something bad or evil or cutting about some other person, but you have to seek them out, draw them out, and gain from them the wisdom you need as you move forward in your new role. So be intentional, make relational connections, and listen wisely. Number 4, as you start a new ministry job or a new ministry role, make changes at the right pace. Now this can be really challenging to discern, but I can generally say, if you're younger, go slower. And if you're coming into a stable or even healthy ministry organization, make changes incrementally and with a steady pace.
Jeff Iorg:However, if you're older and you've been called into a ministry context that's perhaps in crisis or facing some difficulty, then you may wanna move faster because people are expecting you to make good decisions. They trust you because of your past ministry experiences. You're older, perceived to be wiser, more experienced, better judgment. And so people will say, go faster in the changes you wanna make. Now, these are general statements, very general statements.
Jeff Iorg:But the overarching principle is make changes at the right pace. And you have to discern what that might be. Many leaders can tell stories of coming into new opportunities and making too many changes too quickly and disrupting organizations and creating backlash and conflict. However, on the other extreme, there are those who come into new organizations who are fearful of backlash and conflict and so they're reticent to make any change. So while the organization may be clamoring for change or maybe needing change, while there may be this pent up desire to let's get on with it, they don't see it and they make changes far too slowly.
Jeff Iorg:So you have to get, the right changes at the right pace during that first 100 days. This, as I said, can be really challenging to discern. It is so hard to know. But if you will pray, ask God for his help, be discerning about what needs to be done to fulfill the mission of your organization, and reflect back on the previous things we've said about intentionality, particularly about strategic and symbolic choices, making relational connections, and listening wisely, you will improve your capacity to know what pace to introduce change into your organization. Now, if you're going into, again, an organization that's relatively stable, then as soon as you get there, you may want to start adjusting things to take it forward, but I would advise you against disruptive change.
Jeff Iorg:But if you're moving into a crisis situation where things are, much more, there's been much more upheaval or difficulty, maybe even a leadership, a little crisis of some kind that's even made it possible for the position to be offered to you. You get the idea. If all that's going on, you may need to come in with more aggressive change because people are actually clamoring for it or desperate for it or really wanna see it happen soon. Get the right pace of change during that first 100 days. And then finally, pace yourself, especially pace yourself personally.
Jeff Iorg:When you start a new ministry job or a new ministry position, it's usually so exciting. There's so many new things coming at you. There's dozens, if not hundreds of people that wanna meet you. You're getting a lot of social requests for lunches and dinners and coffees and other kinds of, meet and greet opportunities. You are, inundated with people who want a few minutes of your time to talk with you about this project or that problem or this issue.
Jeff Iorg:It can be a lot. You've heard the phrase, and all of us have used it, that you feel like you're drinking from a fire hose, And that is certainly what it often feels like in the early days of a new job or a new ministry. So much coming at you so fast. When that's happening, you have to pace yourself, recognizing that no one else is going to control your schedule or your calendar unless you take control of it. So you have to pace yourself.
Jeff Iorg:And I want you to do that in several key areas. First of all, pace yourself in relationship to family needs. Your family, your wife, your husband, your children, you may all be experiencing a lot of these things that I'm describing today in terms of moving into this new adventure together. And so there's a need to make sure that you give your family room to breathe in the situation, that they have time with each other and time to decompress from all the public pressure that they may be feeling or all the public change they may be experiencing family needs. For example, in moving into my new role, there are, dozens and dozens of invitations coming right now for me to do things all over the United States in all kinds of Baptist causes and conventions and churches and opportunities.
Jeff Iorg:And I'm trying to say yes to as many as possible and do as much as possible. But I've also carved out some time in 2024 and in 2025, blocked some days, and said, these days belong to my family. They belong to my wife. They belong to my children. They belong to my grandchildren.
Jeff Iorg:And having to say no to protect those days, and I'm having to do that in the first 100 days, is a very significant commitment because I'm trying to pace myself. Because I realized that while we're starting rapidly and we're getting into this new role and we're doing all these things that are coming at us, during this first 100 days, I've gotta set out here some some times I'm gonna save just for my family and block that out in the future so that I don't neglect their needs as we go forward together. Pacing yourself also means making healthy choices, particularly about what you eat. I am amazed at how much food gets pushed in front of me, as a ministry leader. You know, there's a snack here, a treat there, a a cup of something to drink here, a meal there.
Jeff Iorg:Nothing wrong with all of this, but I know I have to really work hard at making healthy choices. I don't always do a good job with this, but I always have it in my mind that I've gotta pace myself in this area as well. And even during that first 100 days, when you're trying to say yes to everyone and you're trying to make sure you can have coffee with this person and a Coke with this person and pie with this person and a meal with this person, that even in the context of that, you're you're you're pacing yourself so that you're making healthy choices. And that also relates to sleep and exercise. I have already been struggling with this in my first 100 days.
Jeff Iorg:There's so much work to be done. I find myself going to bed late and getting up early. And every few days, I've had to remind myself to stop and make sure I get a good night sleep so that I can sustain my health and my stamina and my focus, but also exercise. It's so easy to say, oh, I just don't have time to walk. I don't have time to do the stretching.
Jeff Iorg:I don't have time to do the exercising. There's just no time to get in the pool. Well, you gotta block it out even during that first 100 days and say, I have to take care of myself even physically so that when I get to the end of this stretch and I settle into work patterns, I won't have burned myself out too quickly on these things. So pace yourself personally. Recognize that the first 100 days are gonna be really intense.
Jeff Iorg:And after that, it'll be a little less, but you're still gonna have the newness of a job that's gonna go on to that 1st year or 2, and you have to pace yourself. You have to block time for your family. You have to give your your family space to decompress and understand what's happening to them. You have to have that emotional support that's needed as your family unit pulls together to get through this time of newness and change in their lives. And pacing yourself not only means protecting and caring for and spending time with family, but also making sure that you're making healthy choices in what you eat, how much you sleep, and when you exercise.
Jeff Iorg:Well, today, on the podcast, we've been talking about getting started well in a new ministry position. And I've advocated that you do this intentionally, focusing on relational connections, listening wisely and intently to people around you that are involved in this change, and then making changes at the right pace while pacing yourself personally and taking care of yourself and your family. The first 100 days in any new position is an opportunity, a significant opportunity to launch in a healthy way to get off on the right foot and to set yourself up for long term success. It's also an opportunity, if you don't make an intentional plan and work that plan, for significant frustration. We wanna avoid that and make a good beginning.
Jeff Iorg:Now let me also say that when I look at this list of things that I laid out for me to do in my 1st 100 days in my new job, I am not going to get all of them done. I understand that. No plan is ever executed perfectly. There's gonna be things that come up that detract distract me from this plan. I'm okay with that.
Jeff Iorg:There's gonna be some things come up that are on the plan that I'm gonna need to add to it. I'm okay with that. There's some things on this plan that I'm just gonna decide, you know what? That was a bad idea. I'm just not doing that.
Jeff Iorg:But about 80 to 85 percent of this plan, I'm going to accomplish. And that 80 to 85 percent will help me to understand that I have a strategic core that I've committed to that really is going to make a difference for me in the short run, and even more so in the long run. You may not be starting a new ministry this week, this month, maybe not even this year, but you'll start one at some point. And when you do, you need a 100 day plan that's intentional, focused on relational Put this into practice when you start a new ministry role as you lead on.