LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Leadership Audit Analysis 2

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO

DR. DANN AUSTIN OF THE LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

CLED 510

BY

PAUL J LIMATO 111

NORFOLK, VA

MARCH 2013

CONTENTS

Introduction.....................................................................................................................3

Relational Skills Audit .....................................................................................................4

Task Skills Audit ...............................................................................................................5

Leadership Style Audit ....................................................................................................6

Structural Audit.................................................................................................................7

Leader’s Core Values Audit.............................................................................................8

Ideal Circumstances Audit...............................................................................................8

Pastor-Organization Fit Audit.........................................................................................9

Bibliography..................................................................................................................10

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Introduction

Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing

another. This particular set of audits will focus on particular skills and competencies needed to

be a successful leader. Skills move past knowledge and into the implementation of that

knowledge and the skills associated with that. In this second analysis, Aubrey Malphurs in his

book Being Leaders gives the reader seven audits to determine if they have the skills necessary

for Christian leader to be effective in the ministry.

“Psalm 78:72 says that David led his people not only with ‘integrity of heart’ but also

with ‘skillful hands.’”1 Malphurs separates the skill audit into relational and task skills.

“Relational skills are based on the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:36-39).”2 If leaders cannot

effectively get along with people then they will severely hinder their ability to reach those in

need. Malphurs says “task skills are based on the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).”3 These

are the abilities used in conveying the message the leader is trying to communicate. For a leader

to succeed they must effectively learn to communicate to people in the proper manner.

This set of audits also deals with the importance of knowing one’s leadership style and

core values. A leader must be able to determine their own mindset as well as abilities to

determine whether or not they will be a good fit in a leadership position at a certain locale.

Although it is God who places leaders in a position, the prepared leader is the one with the

potential to be most successful, even though preparation doesn’t guarantee success.

Relational Skills Audit

1 Psalm 78:72 (ESV) 2 Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003), 83.

3 Ibid., 83.

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Relational skills are of utmost importance for anyone in a leadership position but

particular for a pastor because he is pastoring people. Leadership is all about working with,

through, and on behalf of people. Because ministry is for God and his glory and for the purpose

of spreading the fame of God, a leader would be foolish to believe he could handle it alone or for

himself. It has been said by some that they “love the ministry but not the people they are

ministering to.” This writer would say that ministry is too important because the glory of God is

at stake and the lives of People are at stake which is way too serious a task to not love people and

seek to improve one’s relational skills.

While no one likes to discipline another person it is a necessary task a leader must take

on. To be an effective disciplinarian a person needs at least two qualities. The first is a love for

the truth and for what is right. If a person does not have a genuine love for what is right, they

will be more apt to allow bad behavior to slide. As a leader I am passionate that there is a correct

way and an incorrect way to live and lead and that the word of God shows us what that is.

Secondly, there must be an authentic love for people. If a leader loves the people he is going to

want what is best for their lives even if it involves confronting them about their problems. God

has given me a love for both of these aspects as I deal with the staff of the church that I planted

and lead every day in the position God has placed me in. Loving confrontation is something that

I do very well with.

The biggest weakness in this particular audit would probably be conducting meetings. I

am a person who likes to get things done and meeting sometimes feels counter productive. This

often leads to lack of clarity by staff and team members, which led to more meetings trying clear

up miscommunications or lack of understanding. Much of this could be avoided if in my

relational skills I would grow in this particular area.

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Task Skills Audit

It is vitally important for a leader to be able to competently fulfill a task if one desires any

type of longevity in a leadership position. While God is not looking for ability but availability, he

does expect the people he calls to be good stewards and develop the talents that He has given

them. This very point is clear in the scriptures when Jesus taught the Parable of the Talents in the

book of Matthew. Leaders are learners who are constantly seeking to improve and steward their

specific gifts for the glory of God.

Preaching/Teaching is a particular task in my schedule that I am constantly striving to

become better at and is something that I work hard on. This is not something that immediately

came naturally to me but is something that I greatly enjoy and that I believe it a gift that God has

given me. Passion, humor, and the ability to communicate deep truths in a relevant and

understandable way are some of the things that have been said of my preaching/teaching. This is

not something that happened overnight but is something that I have made time to cultivate in my

life as a leader.

Time management is another one of my strong points. I have learned to reject the good in

order to pursue the great. I am a husband, father, church planter, take two college courses, and

preach on Sundays twice, lead a community group, lead the staff of our church, and various other

ministry duties; therefore, I have had to learn to prioritize my time to be as effective as I can in

all areas. I am far from perfect and I am constantly adjusting my schedule to be more effective. I

always say that this particular area is not something that will ever be fixed for good but to be

effective adjustments will constantly be in need to be made.

Budgeting is one of my weaker areas. I am not the particular person who is in charge of

this on our team, so I have a hard time keeping this at the forefront of what we do at the church I

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lead. Budgeting is extremely important because without resources one can’t successfully

complete the vision that has been set forth, which is my primary job as a lead pastor and planter

and that is to cast vision and lead. Resources are necessary. This is an area that I seek to become

stronger in.

Leadership Style Audit

Leaders are often leading in front and are influencing the direction through this. Malphurs

rightly says the fact is “that leaders are doers and what they do is influence.”4 “Every leader has a

style of influence that has an impact on people, so it’s important that leaders correctly perceive

how they influence their followers.”5 When I took this audit I found that I have an Analytical-

Inspirational leadership style.

I have a desire for the ministry to be done in a quality way. My Father always told me

that if something is worth being done then it should be done well. When God created the world

he stepped back and looked at it, and saw that it was very good (Gen. 1:31). This, for me, is most

clearly seen in the quality of materials and presentation of what we are promoting which is the

Message of Jesus. We have a saying around Aletheia: “The Greatest message deserves the

greatest marketing.”

My other strength is being a Inspirational Leader. I desire people to be inspired to serve

Jesus. We are serving King Jesus. How can we not get motivated when we understand that we

have the privilege of working for, serving, and pointing people to the One that died, rose, and

lives for them. In this I can come off strong and sometimes a bit over the top.

Structural Audit

4 Malphurs, p. 92. 5 Ibid. p.93.

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Structure is necessary in leadership settings. Leaders must sense the need of when to take

on responsibility to set up structure. I am a person who likes to have a plan to see that tasks are

finished. This is much of what church planting comes down to, chaos to “organized-chaos.” That

plan will include a way to get the job done with plenty of time to spare. I do not enjoy work

piling up and trying to complete a responsibility at the last moment. I know how to put a plan in

place and delegate it out so that it is accomplished.

In this section, I have learned that I understand when an organization has a combination

of a centralized and a decentralized ministry structure it is functioning the best. I believe in

having the best and brightest leaders at the top of the ministry organization, but they aren’t

simply doing the tasks but setting up the structures to accomplish the tasks and equipping others

to do them. Leaders should not always do the task but should rather be the one others are

reporting to with major problems and what they feel is the best solution on key tasks. There

should not be a lot of “red tape.” I believe they should work together to see that the task is

accomplished in the best way with the leader on top making the final decision but others are

empowered to make smaller decisions.

I feel that power is best served when it is shared. If a leader has the right people around

them then their span of control does not have to be as great. Shared responsibility and power is

something that I am constantly pressing as the leader of the team. Team always goes farther and

faster than individual leaders. There should be teamwork on the top tiers of leadership where

everyone is responsible for a certain portion of the work. This keeps individuals from being

overwhelmed in ministry. I do believe that there needs to be a strong sense of stewardship,

accountability, and responsibility before God for his work.

Leader’s Core Values Audit

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The Leader’s Core Value Audit is important. I always said to our team in church planting

that our church will be only as strong as our foundation. The deeper and stronger the foundation,

the more robust and strong the church can be. It is my desire that the foundation of our church be

strong so that God can do what He sees fit.

As a Christian leader I feel it is extremely important to know the Bible. It is the only

book that is living and powerful and that can effectively change our lives. It is the sword that

God has given us to take the battle to the enemy and to defend the faith that has been delivered to

the saints (Eph. 6; Jude 1). God’s word instruct the leader to study His word so that we may not

be ashamed and ready to defend the word of God effectively (II Tim. 2:15). Preaching and

teaching the Word goes alongside this particular area.

As a leader, I am constantly concerned with people knowing Jesus and for those who

know him to live their lives to make Jesus known. This is why a personal/corporate core values

for me is passionate evangelism, which goes along with preaching and teaching.

A well kept facility is an area I can improve upon. I am effective in ministering in the

area of preaching and teaching and honestly facilities is something that I need to turn my

attention more to. I need to spend more time building plans and systems to ensure that this is

taken care of.

Ideal Circumstances Audit

God appoints leaders not only for groups of people but the places of those people. This is

why spiritual gifting as well as temperament/ personality play into where leaders are going to be

most effective. God has made each person with different preferences and the Ideal

Circumstances Audit can help a person narrow their focus to a position where they can fit in

more easily.6

6 Malphurs, p. 219.

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Personally, through this audit, I discovered my ideal setting would be in a church that is growing.

Things that are growing are intriguing to me and energize me. I do not enjoy being around

ministries that are declining. I am passionate about seeing churches come alive in their vision as

well see that health spread through the planting of more healthy churches. Growth is most clearly

seen in the starting of new churches not just in the existing church get larger.

I would like to pastor a medium to large size church that is young and vibrant and is

constantly birthing new churches and other locations. A church of this magnitude is big enough

to make a noticeable impact on a community. It however isn’t small enough to where everybody

knows everybody.

I currently pastor the church that I desire to pastor. It is a church that is a good mixture of

ages but is primarily college students and young professionals but also has older folks to make

for a healthy church. Young people add life and energy to the services and outreach of a church.

The middle-aged group provides the majority of the workers in the church. The older adults

provide the stability and maturity that a church needs. Currently it is smaller but is growing

toward our goals. I also prefer the urban context and our church is in a urban area.

Pastor-Organization Fit Audit

The Pastor-Organization Audit helps a pastor determine how close their views match the

views of a congregation. The work of the ministry can be difficult under the best situations;

therefore, it is important that a perspective leader know what they are getting themselves into

before they commit to a position.7 While it is God who sends leaders to fulfill positions this audit

serves to help the leader prepare a plan for success.

In my current position the church and I are on the same page. Much of this is probably

due to the fact that I planted and started the church and I have been the only pastor. Simplicity

7 Ibid. p. 222.

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has lead to much of this success. If I don’t feel as though I don’t fit I would simply have myself

to blame. I am thankful for this process and these audits have all been incredibly insightful and

encouraging.

Bibliography

Aubrey Malphurs, Being Leaders:The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership, Grand Rapids,

Michigan, Baker Books:2003

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