In today’s episode of the Leader Fluent Podcast, I’ll address a topic that is often overlooked: 7 shifts you have to make when becoming a lead pastor. Maybe you’re a staff pastor right now, and one day you desire to become a lead pastor. Or, maybe you’re a lead pastor now, but you want to train and equip a new generation of lead pastors. Or, maybe you’re not in pastoral leadership at all, but you dream of one day being a CEO or serving in an executive leadership role. If that’s you…this episode is for you. 

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Several years ago, I moved into the role of lead pastor when we planted 7 City Church near downtown Fort Worth. Up until that point, I had served in a variety of roles including executive pastor, associate pastor, youth pastor, as well as a leader in a non-profit organization.

But when I moved into the lead pastor role, I simultaneously had to make a series of shifts in my leadership. Here are seven shifts you have to make when becoming a lead pastor, and what you can do now to prepare for those shifts. 

1. The Shift from Serving a Vision to Creating a Vision

When you serve on the staff of a local church, you are ultimately responsible for serving the vision set for the church by the lead pastor. But if you’re going to move into a lead role, you have to start creating a vision. 

How do you make that shift? First, create a vision for whatever area of ministry you are leading right now (just make sure it’s aligned with your lead pastor’s vision). And second, start asking God to give you a vision for the church you will one day lead. That vision is often formed at the intersection of the three P’s: Problems, Passion, and Prayer. In other words, vision is formed when you understand what PROBLEM you want to solve, what you are most PASSIONATE about, and what you sense God saying to you in PRAYER. 

2. The Shift from Being on Staff to Leading a Staff

It’s great to have a staff, but leading a staff is not always easy and it’s not always fun. In the lead role, you have to learn how to hire staff, coach staff, review staff, and make difficult staffing decisions. There will be times when you have to correct staff, deal with conflict, address performance issues, and navigate staff transitions. On top of that, you get to manage the ever-increasing costs of salaries, raises, and benefits. When you’re on a staff, you don’t think about any of these things, but when you shift to leading a staff, these issues become front and center. 

So, what can you do now to prepare for this shift? Start applying many of the same principles for building a staff to building your team of volunteers. Draft job descriptions, conduct volunteer interviews, create new volunteer on-ramping systems, provide regular volunteer training, and conduct one-on-one coaching. 

3. The Shift from Spending Money to Raising Money

It’s nice to have a budget that you can spend to do ministry, but when you move into the lead pastor role, your focus immediately shifts. Yes, you’ll spend money on ministry, but first you have to raise it (and not just for your department). Now you get to raise money for staff, buildings, multiple ministries, missions, expansion efforts…everything. 

What can you do now to prepare for this shift? First, make a list of every question you can think of about church finances. Second, meet with a CFO or business administrator to ask your questions. Third, study the preaching of pastors who communicate on stewardship and generosity in a healthy, respectful, and biblical manner. And fourth, interview a handful of pastors to discuss how they do financial vision casting, how they appreciate donors,