Think for a second about how crucial it is for basketball team to work together as a team. Who calls the play? Who sets the pick? Who makes the assist? Who takes the shot?  Every member must know his part. And every member knows the team’s success depends on rightly playing that part.

The same goes for tennis doubles, and army platoons, and political campaigns, and business partners, and on and on we could multiply the examples. Success depends on every part rightly relating to the other parts.

The same lesson applies to church staffs. For the sake of the church and the kingdom, we hope to help church leaders take a few moments to think through staff dynamics. In fact we’re devoting this eJournal and the next one to the pastor and his staff.

Mark Dever, Jeramie Rinne, Mark Mullery, and Vince Hinders get the ball rolling by helping senior pastors think about managing the staff, serving the staff, and discipling the staff.  Andy Johnson, Michael Lawrence, and, again, Jeramie Rinne then offer some wise counsel for every member of the staff.

In the next issue, we’ll get into more of the nuts and bolts of everything from hiring and firing to setting salaries. For now, let me personally commend the wisdom that each of these brothers have to offer. Reading though each of the articles, I find myself asking God to grow me in such wisdom. I pray the same for all of us.