Tim Casteel

Thoughts on Leadership and College Ministry

We’re all Professional Speakers

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My #1 skill I need to grow in as a leader – How to explain myself.

Yesterday a writer for the University newspaper (a muslim girl) called and interviewed me about our Cru ministry.  Her simple question= explain our ministry.  Really simple right?  Should have a canned talk in my back pocket.  But I froze up.  How do you explain a compelling vision to a complete (antagonistic) outsider?

I can plan ministry.  Do ministry.  Just don’t ask me to talk about ministry.

“Just about anyone in the professional world is, in effect, a professional speaker. Every single idea in the history of the business world had to be explained to at least one other person before it got approved, funded or purchased by anyone else.”       Scott Berkun – “The Myths of Innovation”



I’d rather do than talk about doing.  Plan well, work hard, and let people read between the lines and figure out how well things are going and want to jump in.  If we’re doing a good job in ministry, students/volunteers/supporters will want to join with us.

But it doesn’t work like that.  As a leader, speaking about what you’re doing is just as important as what you’re doing.

“Despite dreams of a world in which the best ideas win simply because they should, we live in a world where the fate of ideas hinges on how well you talk about what you’ve made, or what you want to make.  I see too many inventors and executives who see speaking about their work as the least important thing they do. And it shows.” – Scott Berkun



A painful example in my life –

When it comes to support raising, it’s not enough to be working hard and doing a great job in ministry.  We have to communicate well to the outside world about our ministry.

Matt Perman has a great post on this with more quotes from Scott Berkun on his blog (one of my top 3 favorites) What’s Best Next.


This is a major reason why I’m blogging.  To get better at communicating.   Two Giants on Leadership: Seth Godin and Tom Peters sum it up perfectly.

Seth Godin: Blogging is free.  It doesn’t matter if anyone reads it.  What matters is the humility that comes from writing it and the metacognition of thinking about what you are going to say.  How do you explain yourself.

Tom Peters: No single thing in the last 15 years professionally has been more important to my life than blogging.

Watch the 1 minute video here:

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photo courtesy of Lorraine Elder via Flickr