I had lunch yesterday with the senior pastor of the largest church in our community. After lunch and a great conversation, he walked me to the door of their sprawling new facility, looked me in the eye, and as he has done in the past said to me “If you ever see me changing, or compromising or crossing a line, would you please come to my office, or have me come to yours, and call me out on it?”
This pastor is 35 years old, with the wisdom of someone who has been in the pulpit for 35 years.
Self-awareness is a tricky thing. It’s probably easier to deceive yourself than it is to deceive other people. Especially those who work with you every day.
Being aware that you are flawed, and open to the possibility that you may not be fully cognizant of all of your flaws, is the first step. I sometimes ask people “what are my blind spots?” Having an environment where they can answer honestly, and not fear being condemned or even fired, is vital to your wellbeing, and to the wellbeing of your organization.
Self-awareness doesn’t mean you are perfect and you don’t make mistakes. It just helps you learn from them and make corrections.
I’m colorblind.
When I was in the first grade, my parents suspected something was going on and gave me a colorblind test. If you’ve never seen a colorblind test, it is a circle with a series of dots of various colors. Some of the colors spell out a word or a number. People with normal color vision can see the image. People who are color deficient cannot.
I remember being so frustrated that everybody could see the number 12 in the circle of dots, except me. I could look at that circle all day, and I would never see the number. But it was there.
Odds are you have some of your own blindspots.
They could be affecting your marriage, your friendships, and your ministry.
If you’ve read this far and concluded this article is not useful for you, the odds are huge that this article is especially for you.
If you are always right, resist accountability, don’t have a mentor or confidant, are experiencing high turnover and gossip and tension in your hallways, you respond to criticism with anger and hostility, you blame others for every mistake, and you are increasing isolated and alone, then there’s a good chance you have a self-awareness problem.
God can, and does, still bless and use ministries led by leaders with the traits I listed above. But at what cost? And is He truly honored?
I could rattle off the names of a dozen high-profile ministry leaders who have recently seen everything come crashing down because they lacked self-awareness. They believed their own press. Trust me, you are not as good as your Mom thinks you are, and you probably aren’t as bad as your worst detractors say. You’re likely somewhere in the middle, because both of them speak some truth, if you will listen.
Sometimes people surrounding prominent ministry leaders are too caught up in believing they have to protect the ministry that they ignore, or even cover up, the flaws and sins of the leader. Sorry, but that is wrong-headed. It never ends well and it isn’t fair to the people or the organization.
God doesn’t need us to cover up our sins and flaws. He tells us to confess them, and He promises redemption if we acknowledge them and repent. For those who continue to ignore wise counsel, accountability, and truth, the news isn’t so good: Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
I told my pastor friend that I would help hold him accountable, and I asked him to do the same for me. And I told him that because he was willing to ask me for this accountability that the odds of him failing morally or ethically were greatly reduced.
It’s the people who don’t want to hear the truth that we have to be concerned with.
I write this in a spirit of honest reflection and a prayer that you will join me in searching your own heart. Ask God to reveal your blindspots to you. Then ask your spouse, your management team, and anyone else who you are close to if you have any blindspots.
Ask yourself, “What is it like to be on the other side of me?”
Then be honest and fix it.
Psalm 139:23-24 – Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Bill Sammons
The team at 94.9 KLTY has served the Dallas/Fort Worth community for over 35 years. In 2020, the need was never greater. Through their local campaigns, Christmas Wish and Speak Love, they were able to assist many families who were impacted by not only the pandemic, but by hard times in general. The Speak Lovecampaign helped first responders, teachers, servers, food service staff, and many more within the community throughout the year. In 2020 94.9 KLTY’s Christmas Wish campaign brought Christmas joy to hundreds of families in the DFW area. They provided vehicles, food, toys, and other forms of relief to families in their community. They could not have reached any of these needs if not for their listeners and their generous donations to 94.9 KLTY’s nonprofit programs. In total, Speak Love and Christmas Wish raised more than $160,000 for those in need in Dallas/Fort Worth. They also recognized those sacrificial front-line workers and first responders who keep our community safe. Each week, 94.9 KLTY honored them, raised funds throughout the summer, and then presented each first responder with a check as a token of their gratitude. With countless families in need because of the pandemic, 94.9 KLTY also helped the Tarrant Area Food Bank distribute food essentials on multiple occasions in September, October, November. It is 94.9 KLTY’s sincere honor to serve our listeners in Dallas/Fort Worth.
LIFE 96.5 seeks to empower and serve the Sioux Falls area by reaching out in faith to help make it a better place to live and work. They want to lead their listeners to Jesus and help them grow in their faith through opportunities to love and serve others. In January 2020, LIFE 96.5 listeners donated over 950 brand new baby items during the Sioux Empire’s Largest Baby Shower. The Baby Shower grows every year, demonstrating their community’s love and support of the couples who are choosing life for their unborn children. LIFE 96.5 listeners, in partnership with Dacotah Bank, provided gift cards and cash donations to the Sioux Falls School District social workers to meet the needs of 1,000 homeless students. LIFE 96.5 also invited listeners to participate in a city-wide prayer parade, where they prayed for health care and government officials while driving past hospitals, schools, and city government offices. During the months of September and October 2020, LIFE 96.5 listeners provided over 250 twin sheet sets and 100 mattresses to the Sioux Falls Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization for children who are sleeping on floors. Through LIFE 96.5, listeners also made a difference in the lives of patients spending Christmas at Avera Behavioral Health Hospital. Each patient received a Christmas stocking filled with gifts and a note of encouragement. In addition, each Saturday morning LIFE 96.5 staff host Life Connection, a program featuring community leaders and discussing the needs and concerns of the Sioux Falls Community.
89.5 KVNE exists to glorify God by encouraging people, connecting their community, and pointing people to Jesus Christ. When their community was turned upside down by COVID, they knew they had to jump into action and mobilize their listeners to make a difference for Christ. To best serve their local community, KVNE held multiple drives to support local ministry partners and those most impacted by the pandemic. They collected 1,500 gift cards (totaling more than $15,000) to benefit those in need because of shutdowns, gathered over 12,000 diapers for foster families, and collected 150 care packages for senior citizens. They also collected 1,032 fans for the Salvation Army and over 1,000 pairs of shoes for kids heading back to school. Additionally, listeners donated 1,512 care packages for the homeless in East Texas, and KVNE hosted two blood drives to help those fighting the coronavirus. People across East Texas needed connection during the pandemic, so they organized a social media outreach, called Praise Defeats, a coordinated time where listeners shot videos of themselves singing “Raise A Hallelujah.” The videos were shared thousands of times, as they deepened their community’s connection. In addition, KVNE launched a Hispanic Christian music station (Fuzión), started a worship station (Lift Worship), and began a Bible Teaching Station (The Well) – all to help people grow in their faith. God allowed them to impact His Kingdom in profound ways and serve their local community powerfully during an unprecedented time when people needed hope like never before.
Since 1986, The JOY FM has made community service a hallmark of its ministry to listeners – first in Sarasota, and then expanding to Tampa, other Florida markets, and most recently to Atlanta and Middle Georgia. Even with this growth, community outreach remains hands-on, with legacy events like T-Shirts for Turkeys, which helped feed more than 28,700 families in all markets served last year. 2020 created new challenges for serving, so The JOY FM innovated several service projects to accommodate contactless delivery and social distancing. JOY Drop and Restock, a brand-new outreach, collected 30 tons of food to restock local food banks hit hard by the pandemic. Partnering with Natalie Grant and Hope for Justice, Team Freedom approached a grand total of $1,000,000 in 2020 to fight human trafficking. As listeners faced political rhetoric and serious questions about race and justice, as well as practical challenges like hybrid classrooms, The JOY FM programming (on terrestrial signals, as well as its LF Radio and JOY Worship platforms) responded with a recommitment to our mission of “Helping You Find JOY.” Resources for listeners, such as the Off Air with Carmen podcast, was provided to help listeners wrestle with big questions like Christian citizenship. Possibly The JOY FM’s most relevant community service effort for 2020 was prayer. The JOY FM’s Prayer and Crisis Referral service interacted with 620,936 listeners in need of prayer or help. Of those calls and texts, 4,949 listeners reported praying to place their faith in Jesus Christ.
“Hope Starts Here” is more than The Light FM’s tagline. It’s their mission. In 2020, they were intentional in regularly offering community-needed resources and hope-filled encouragement. They hosted their 5th annual Make a Difference training to encourage listeners to share God’s hope and saw 14 people begin a personal relationship with Jesus. The Light FM also visited eight local Law Enforcement agencies to share words of encouragement and care baskets. They partnered with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and artists of Winter Jam for a private concert and time of prayer with families battling pediatric cancer. The Light FM listeners from five different cities donated 258 wheelchairs, 262 crutches, 259 walkers, 71 transport chairs, and 66 canes to Wheels for the World, which brings mobility and the hope of Christ around the world. During stay-at-home orders, The Light FM began offering free monthly virtual events, including: a graduation ceremony, featuring artists and Bible teachers; a conference with Crown Financial on how to manage finances during the pandemic; Girl Talk LIVE, a women’s event with worship and Bible study; God’s Hope in Crisis training with chaplains of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team; a pastor appreciation event for local churches, featuring Chip Ingram and Matthew West; and a Family Christmas Night with live music, games, and a devotion from The Light FM staff. Even throughout the pandemic, The Light FM also found ways to be out in the public, safely, with six drive-in events featuring movies and live music.
