Friday Five - What I appreciate about Walter

Today's Friday Five: five things I appreciate about my pastor and boss, Walter Mueller:

1. His openness to God. If there is one thing that can be said about God, it's that he's open to God. What God says always trumps what anyone else says, and more often than not in staff meeting, Walter will say that we've gotta be about "God's thing", not "our thing" and there's always lots of talk about being about God's Kingdom. I love that about Walter.

2. His willingness to risk. Walter definitely has a backbone. He's not afraid to risk for the Gospel, especially if it's a risk that will honor God, reach outsiders to Christianity, and grow His Kingdom.

3. His heart for the lost. I've mentioned it before in this post, but one of the things that really drives Walter is his passion for the lost, and that's something that drives him and that also drives us as other leaders at Del Sol Church. I love that Walter readily admits that we believe the church exists more for those who aren't in it than for those that are. In other words, our priority is connecting outsiders to God through Jesus Christ first of all, and discipling and growing believers second.

4. His willingness to let his staff lead. Walter is not a micro manager; he lets leaders lead, but he doesn't just let us loose to do whatever we please. He gives us authority, responsibility, and accountability. If things go good, he passes the win onto us and if things go bad, he takes the blame. He's very protective and supportive of his leaders, and I'm sure glad to be under his leadership.

5. His humility. Walter is a good leader, a brave leader, a wise leader - but he's also a humble leader. I've never seen a time where I could say he was being arrogant, but I have seen times where he was willing to apologize for something when he unintentionally said or did something that hurt or offended someone else. And he always passes the glory on to God and doesn't accept it for himself or for the church.



Those of you who are part of the Del Sol Church family - let's brag on our pastor a bit. What do you appreciate about Pastor Walter?