Staff Core Values: Fun
In 2014, Next Level Church was named one of the Best Workplaces by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute. Our culture didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t just happen on its own. Over the years, NLC staff have been guided by 7 Core Values. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to talk about these values.
Fun
We love doing this.
{…for the joy of the Lord is your strength. –Nehemiah 8:10}
It was a stormy Wednesday afternoon at the NLC offices – and not just the typical Florida summer thunderstorm. Southwest Florida was actually getting hit by the outskirts of a tropical storm that was passing through the Gulf. (Side note: To Floridians, tropical storms –and even category 1 hurricanes – are really not that big of a deal. We are actually notorious for throwing “hurricane parties” if it’s anything less than a category 2. But category 2 and higher – that’s another story. You get out your duct tape, plywood, and Styrofoam coolers! Well… maybe that’s just in North Fort Myers.)
Anyway, Fort Myers was officially under a tropical storm warning, and the news reported that a tornado had touched down not too far from the church. (Yikes! When it comes to tornados, we Floridians aren’t as tough as we are with hurricanes.) Considering the circumstances, the safest option was to move everyone from the portable offices to the church building.
So the entire staff, plus a group of summer interns, gathered in the multi-purpose room to kill some time as we waited out the weather. Sounds boring, right? Wrong!!!
In typical NLC staff fashion, what could have been a dull, uneventful 45 minutes turned into an unforgettable experience – full of laughter.
What happened that was so amazing, you ask? Well, let’s just say, they put on some music, and dancing erupted, which led to the creation of an NLC Staff Harlem Shake video. Yep, you read that right… NLC… Staff… Harlem… Shake!!!! The video was filmed, edited, and then posted online the same afternoon for the enjoyment of “Next-Levelites” everywhere. Check out a 45-second video here: bit.ly/nlcstormsurvival.
One word… Fun.
It’s just what we do!
If you are an NLC staff member and you go on vacation for a week, you have a 96% chance of getting pranked!
If you wear a cardigan, we are probably going to make Mr. Rogers jokes.
If it’s your birthday, there will be cake involved.
We can’t help it! We just love having fun!
At NLC, we are so serious about having fun (see what I did there) that beyond spontaneous, unplanned fun stuff, we actually schedule fun, as well!!
We set aside a number of workdays throughout the year as “Mandatory Staff Fun Days,” where we close the offices and dedicate part or all of the work day to having fun together. In the past, we have done things like go to a trampoline park or have a picnic outside at the park.
So apart from jumping on trampolines or making Harlem Shake videos, how do we have “fun” on a day-to-day basis as an NLC staff member? What does that look like?
Here are four ways we define having fun at NLC:
We have a positive attitude.
This is huge! We don’t expect perfection, but we do expect a positive attitude. Nothing squelches fun like negativity. If you’re being negative, you’re not only preventing yourself from having fun; you are also preventing everyone around you from having fun – and it goes beyond what comes out of your mouth. It includes body language and non-verbal communication, as well. Attitude really is everything. Negativity and fun cannot co-exist.
We are friends with other staff members.
We want this idea of fun to be something that continues to happen when we leave the church property. If we are having fun, this will happen naturally.
Spend time with other staff members. Go out to eat. Grab coffee. Go on double dates. Watch each other’s kids. Vacation together. Do life together.
Why? Because as a staff, we are a family, and the more we get to know and love each other, we can experience the joy and blessing of being able to go to work with our best friends every day. Few things are more fun than that.
We view our role as more than just a job.
Your role is not just a job: it’s a calling and a lifestyle. A job is something you do; ministry is part of who you are. We are here because we are called. We are here because we believe that there is nothing more important than investing in the kingdom.
Don’t look at what you do as just a job. Look at it as a lifestyle – an adventure. Because it is. And adventures can be scary at times – but they are also a lot of fun.
We are passionate about NLC and the leadership of the church.
How do you have fun? You get passionate about the vision. You fall in love with the church. You get to know and love the leadership. If you do these things, fun will naturally follow. If you don’t love the vision and trust the leadership, it makes it hard to have fun.
Know that the leadership of the church is for you. They believe in you… Otherwise, you wouldn’t be holding this book. Find joy in that.