Things I've learned about being a pastor this year...

Things I've learned about being a pastor this year:

1. Things look easier than they really are.

2. Sleeping with decisions makes sleeping really hard.

3. Failure is not only an option, it is inevitable.

4. Vision is easy, strategy is another story.

5. People will get mad at you even if you mean no harm.

6. You can't get anything done when you're fearful.

7. Integrity is more important than creativity.

8. You can wow without a team, but you can't win.

9. Losing the right people is as important as attracting the right people.

10. There is a tact and a timing to how and where things are to be shared.

11. The tight rope of family and ministry is a delicate balancing act.

12. Being a good speaker doesn't make you a good leader.

13. There are a thousand small invisibles behind each visible.

14. People's opinions are influenced deeply by perceived quality.

15. It doesn't take much for people to move from defenders to defectors.

16. Just because the Bible is powerful doesn't mean you can slack on presentation.

17. The key to keeping good people is affirmation, and lots of it.

18. At some point you just have to trust your instincts and let it go.

19. The bats in your head are worse than the critics in your church.

20. It's harder to replace good people than you would initially think.

21. For every idea that works, ten do not, but you don't know that until they don't.

22. People think they want certainty, but what they really want is something dangerous.

23. The challenges only make the accomplishments all the sweeter.

24. You can't be afraid of difficult people. There is no cult like the difficult.

25. Being a shepherd is not only being skilled with the staff, but the rod.

26. There is a direct correlation between success and seduction, triumph and temptation.

27. Financial stress in the church is paralyzing. There can't be vision without provision.

28. Ultimately only God can change the human heart.

29. Very few things get easier with time, you simply adjust your pain tolerance.

30. There is no higher honor than pastoring a flock of "sheeple".

As I conclude my first year of being the lead pastor at Impact, I can't believe the workshops and woodsheds God has taken me through. It has been humbling, sometimes humiliating. Nothing could have prepared me for this role. No class. No counseling. No conference. This has been altogether new and surprising at every turn, but I'm grateful for the great people around me who are supportive and patient with my growth curve. I'm the luckiest man alive to be blessed with the Impact leadership and followership along my side.

I look forward to more learnings in the year to come. If leaders are learners, then I want to be the most voracious student in the class.