Podcast

045 – 4 Reasons Why Taking Inventory of Yourself Moves the Church Forward

Personal Growth

Posted on August 20, 2020December 4, 2023 by Ryan Sparks

What’s in this Episode?

So often, as pastors, it’s go go go all the time. I mean, we moved from sermon prep, to preaching, to counseling appointment, to conflict management, not to mention all the other things that you do on a weekly basis. Ministry keeps on moving. But are you stopping long enough to take care of yourself? Well, in today’s episode, we’re going to look at four reasons why taking an inventory of yourself moves the church forward, and helps you actually do more and better ministry. Taking inventory moves the church forward!

Read the Transcript

Dick Hardy 0:31
You know, back in the day, I had just graduated from high school and I graduated from Sioux City, Iowa, and I moved down to Des Moines. And so moving to Des Moines, my parents had moved in February of that year, and he had started to work at a place called Sioux City truck sale. So it was a trucking firm. Sold trucks, these tractor trucks and then he serviced them. And so he needed somebody in the middle of summer to do inventory. So this is gonna be a job for some 18 year old kid going to inventory. Now, this is what inventory consisted of, he says, okay, here’s what we do. We go in there and here’s these trays, cabinets of nuts, bolts, screws, washers, you name it that they would use when they’re repairing the trucks. So how in the world… I mean there’s thousands of these things. He said here’s the way you do it. Open the door. That’s 100. Open the door. 50. Open a drawer 362. And he says, that’s the way you’re gonna count inventory. So we’re looking at him like well that’s quite an estimate here. But yeah, that’s close enough. That’s going to get the job done. So I said, why are you doing an inventory? Well, you have to do an inventory because you have to know the way the year started. How many you had of these nuts, bolts and screws and how you ended the year, and one of those were used, in his case, all for service. So it’d be charged off the service company. Companies do this all the time, taking inventory annually to know where they’ve been and where they’re at today. And that’s exactly what we want to talk with you about today is taking inventory of yourself.

Jonathan Hardy 2:01
That’s right, we’re going to share four reasons why taking inventory of yourself will help move the church forward. And it’s a very important thing to do. And in fact, we talked about this a little bit in Episode 44. So if you haven’t listened to that, you might want to go check that one out. That one was specifically on communicating vision to millennials.

Dick Hardy 2:17
We referenced that inventory in the midst of it.

Jonathan Hardy 2:20
Yeah and so that was a very, very helpful thought that you want to check out if you haven’t, Dick, why don’t you give a little bit of a definition when you’re talking about taking personal inventory, you know, as ministry leaders, obviously, it’s way different than the inventory of parts of the shop, so elaborate a little bit.

Dick Hardy 2:35
Well, here’s the deal. Everybody knows us. If you’re watching this, you know, you’re different than him and me. And each of us has our own unique DNA. And so what is inside of you, is really what’s going to dictate what can come out of you. And when we’re talking about leaders, I’m just telling you, as a leader, you have to know what’s inside of you. Strengths, weaknesses, things you could learn, things that you have to offer that others don’t. And when you learn that, I can tell you, the leaders that are most successful to mission, they’re growing their churches, they know themselves. When you don’t know yourself, you are really behind the eight ball in leading the church.

Jonathan Hardy 3:23
So this is a spiritual evaluation. This is emotional. This is, you know, gift set.

Dick Hardy 3:30
Yeah. All of that. And of course, there are all sorts of things when you say gift sets that are all sorts of tests out there and so on that can help you learn about yourself. And when you do, you’re going to be better off.

Jonathan Hardy 3:41
Yeah. And I think to, what I’ve come to realize, is it takes a long time to learn about yourself.

Dick Hardy 3:46
You think you know yourself.

Jonathan Hardy 3:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember being in my early 20s and it was like, oh, I know exactly what I’m doing. And then before long you’re like, wow, you know, I know nothing. And I don’t really know myself. You know, over time you, you know, you get more in that sweet spot where he’s like, okay, well I’m confident in this is what God has given me to do.

Dick Hardy 4:07
But because there’s this you who you think you are or the you who you want to be. And then there’s the you that you really are. So we want to talk a little bit about that here today.

Jonathan Hardy 4:20
Yeah. So let’s talk about four reasons why taking an inventory of yourself will move the church forward. So kick us off with the first one.

Reason #1: It Helps Person Make Adjustments

Dick Hardy 4:25
Well, you know I think one of the first things I think of is it helps, it helps a person make adjustments quickly. When you know what’s inside you, and you need to make adjustments, knowing it helps you. You know if if you’re going down the road, I hope this is a decent illustration and you’ve got low air in the right front tire. Knowing that helps you make the adjustment to get to the gas station, get the air in the tire versus not knowing and you just keep going on on life and before you know it, you’ve got a flat tire in your hands. And knowing this gives you pause or says, okay, I’m going slow on some piece of the development of me. So I got to hit the gas, or I’m going too fast I need to ease up. These are the kinds of things that help you adjust quickly when you know what’s inside.

Jonathan Hardy 5:10
So are you talking about like adjusting the way you are leading? Or what? Are we talking about making adjustments in the church? Or both/and?

Dick Hardy 5:30
Could be both/and, you know, the fact is, if you maybe I’m saying it in reverse. Or try this. If you don’t know what’s inside you, you don’t know to make the adjustments slow or quick. But when you know what’s inside, you say, oh, wait, I can lead better if I do this. And you can make that turn. That’s what I’m trying to encourage you with is make your adjustments quickly when you know yourself.

Reason #2: It Makes you a Lifelong Learner

Jonathan Hardy 6:00
Yeah, that’s good. Now the second thing that I know you’re a big proponent of is the fact that this makes you a lifelong learner. So why? Why do, you know, why do you feel that way? What’s your thought?

Dick Hardy 6:11
Well, I remember when the term lifelong learner, I don’t know if you even had picked this up, really became kind of a trendy term back in the 90s. And I was during those years serving, you’ll remember, I served on a school board.

Jonathan Hardy 6:24
So you’re talking about like the 1900s.

Dick Hardy 6:25
No, no. Smart aleck. So, but the term lifelong learner came on the scene in public education. And then before you know it, everybody was taking off on the term lifelong learner. But the fact is, as a pastor and leader, you need to be a lifelong learner. If you think, like Jonathan referenced when he was in his early 20s, if he had really believed and continued with that belief that as a 22 year old, he knew it all, he’d be he’d be, he’d be toast. There’s no way you can do that. You need to be learning all the time. I’ll tell you what, one of the one of the great guys that I love loved listening to him was about a 75 year old guy. He was on staff over at Woodlake over in Tulsa, and this guy was continually saying, I want to get better. And I want to tell you something. I want to be like him. When I’m 75 years old, I want to be learning all the time. All the time. When you know yourself. When you’ve taken inventory, you’ll be a better lifelong learner. The evaluation of yourself really sets you up and the team up for growth, because we’re going to reference that along the way. You take an inventory, then spills out onto your team of staff or volunteers.

Jonathan Hardy 7:38
Well, and we actually talk about that in the masterclass that I put together, where we break that down a little bit more. So that might be something to check out if you’re looking for additional resources.

Dick Hardy 7:47
I would tell you, I know he’s my son, but that’s an outstanding class. It’s about just shy of an hour.

Jonathan Hardy 7:52
Just under an hour and really, it really is a great way. Here’s what you do, just go to leaders.church/secrets. Yeah, and you can jump into the master class today. Yeah, it was free to you. Yeah.

Reason #3: It Can Help You Build Your Confidence

Jonathan Hardy 8:04
So, yeah, but that’s just part of the evaluation process. Now another thing that, for me, comes to mind when it comes to the idea of why we need to be doing this inventory of ourselves regularly is just because I think it can help build your confidence. You know, when you are, regularly inventorying in yourself. I don’t even know if that’s the proper way to say it, but taking inventory of yourself, you’re learning yourself, and then you say, okay, what are my strengths? And so then that gives you the confidence to say, no. God has given me this gift or God has given me the strength or God has given me the experience that’s allowed me to be able to do whatever it is that I’m supposed to do, or that I’m doing in this season of my life. And so you have that confidence that you know, you are where you should be. And I think that’s very, very important. Because I know a lot of times in ministry, we’ve seen tons and tons of pastors there’s that insecurity, there’s that lack of confidence. And it I think part of it could be just, you know…

Dick Hardy 9:07
It stems from not knowing themselves.

Jonathan Hardy 9:09
Well, yeah.

Dick Hardy 9:10
If they’d known themselves,, then you’re confident. That’s that’s the point.

Reason #4: It Gives You Direction

Jonathan Hardy 9:13
And then the other thing too is that I feel like when you do the inventory, it gives you direction, because then even for me, you know, using me as the illustration, but you know, once I entered my 30s now, nearing 40 here.

Dick Hardy 9:26
Oh, coming on!

Jonathan Hardy 9:28
How’s that made you feel?

Dick Hardy 9:30
I just stay at a certain age.

Jonathan Hardy 9:33
You have a 40 year old son here, before you know it, but the point is, you know, I have a lot more direction now than I did say, a decade ago or more. And because I’ve inventoried myself, I’ve looked at my gift set. I’ve looked at the experiences I’ve had, and all the different opportunities and you know, then you see how God steers, God leads, and you know, as a result, you’re able to move forward with the direction that you feel God, leading you to. On the flip side, you know, when you don’t do the inventory, then it’s almost like you don’t have that vision, you don’t have that clarity.

Dick Hardy 10:06
Yeah. And then that spills over to the team, you know because there’s lack of vision, it’s not clear or your mission is muddy. So doing this really helps not only you, but helps your team feel that there’s real direction in store.

Jonathan Hardy 10:23
That reminds me of this friend of mine who, he’s my age, his mom was serving as one of the pastors in a church. And she observed how there was a lack of vision from the lead pastor that she was working for. And it was very frustrating. And it was just like, it was like pulling teeth and it’s like she felt like she was the one who had all these ideas and vision and things that they wanted to do as a church. And but getting those things to be implemented was really hard. And so that’s why it’s very important for us to know who we are to have that solid inventory of ourselves so that we do have the direction.

Dick Hardy 10:59
I would predict in that situation, that pastor lacked an understanding of what he was inside. Had he taken inventory, but she was ready to go. And the rest of the team, were ready to go. But it’s not taking inventory, you lose direction, taking the inventory, you gain a lot of direction.

Recap:

Dick Hardy 11:18
Let me give you a little recap of what we just talked about here. I think these four points really drive home, why it’s important to take inventory of yourself. First, it helps make adjustments quickly. Second, you become a lifelong learner. The third one is builds confidence. And the fourth one, it gives you better direction if you’ll really pay attention to those four things you’re going to see and keep that in mind. The reasons for you to take inventory. These are really going to help you move forward.

Jonathan Hardy 11:55
That’s right.

Dick Hardy 11:57
You know, we mentioned the masterclass. Again, I’d encourage you to go to leaders.church/secrets, certainly follow us on social media. And leave us comments. We’ll be glad to interact with you that way. And we’d be honored to have you subscribe to whatever podcast platform you’re listening to, and certainly YouTube channel. And we’ve got to leave us a review, if you’d want to leave us a five star review, we’d love it. We’ve got a review here from Dr. John, “whatever your leadership needs maybe the topics are relevant here and insightful. I’m so glad this team is providing this resource. It’s such a critical time for our ministries sincere and inspiring. Well, thank you, Dr. John. We’re very grateful for that. And again, if you’ll leave a comment, maybe yours will be read here on the Church Tips podcast in the days to come Anything else?

Jonathan Hardy 12:43
That’s it!

Dick Hardy 12:43
I think we’re good to go. Thanks for watching and listening today. We’ll see you next time!

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