leadership

October 2, 2014

10 Inadequate Motives for Leadership

Do you aspire to lead? Terrific! Leaders are wanted. Actually, Godly leaders are desperately needed. “Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.” (1 Timothy 3:1 NIV)

Twenty-first century church leaders are profoundly needed. The world has had too many wash-outs and burn-outs. One of the central reasons for many failures is improper motives driving a person to lead in a sphere of ministry to which God has not called them. Christ’s Body needs faithful leaders that will finish the noble task to which they have been called.

What is your motive behind your desire to be a leader in the church? Carefully evaluate your motives. Why do you want to lead? Motivation is the key. Why are you seeking to be a leader? For yourself? For Christ? Are you seeking after God’s agenda or your own? Jesus told His disciples, “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:30b NIV). Is pleasing God at the root of your desire to lead? Are you living for God’s fame?

Don’t be too quick to excuse your own self-promotion. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah cautions his secretary Baruch, “Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!” (Jeremiah 45:5 NLT) Self-centeredness is a chain that binds you. Paul warns that some preachers actually “proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives” (Philippians 1:17 NASB).

Check yourself today. Is your foundation to lead built on any of the following inadequate motivations?

A desire for respect from your peers?
A desire to be recognized by the public?
A desire to show off your gifts and talents?
A desire for an official title in front of your name?
A desire to prove your worth or earn your acceptance?
A desire for power or to have authority of others?
A desire to be paid?
A desire to be praised on earth for your generosity or good deeds?
A desire to be served by others?
A desire to be more important than your currently are?

What is your motive? What is pushing your desire? Why are you aspiring to lead?

April 21, 2013

10 Routines of Church Leaders

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young [or old, rich, poor, fat, short, talented, hungry, popular, angry, happy, sleepy, married, single, dating, lonely, busy, misunderstood, well-educated, anything else] but SET AN EXAMPLE for the believers in SPEECH, in CONDUCT, in LOVE, in FAITH, and in PURITY.” (1 Timothy 4:12 NIV)

Church leaders in particular should be the living example of the basic philosophies and standards of the congregation of which they are a part. God’s purposes are hindered if even a few leaders ignore or lazily adopt basic values like holiness, loving people, praying, worshiping, witnessing, and reaching out to needy people. Leaders, let me add ten more routines of which you as a leader should set an example.

1. You are a leader – sit near the front center during worship.

2. You are a leader – pray before service.

3. You are a leader – arrive on time for leadership responsibilities.

4. You are a leader – participate in worship, not simply as a spectator, but with fervent prayer and enthusiastic expression.

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6. You are a leader – practice hospitality and be a good host.

7. You are a leader – support those preaching by saying “amen” and taking notes.

8. You are a leader – exhibit a positive attitude as a person of faith.

9. You are a leader – be a part, if possible, of weddings, funerals, or other significant events in the congregation.

10. You are a leader – guard your mouth and help stop conversations chewing up another leader’s performance or reputation. “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:15 NIV)

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? (Galatians 5:13-15 MSG)

April 17, 2013

THINK LIKE A LEADER

I personally benefited from the excellent professors at Oral Roberts University. In a class focused on equipping others for ministry, Dr. Paul King shared eight qualities that make up the mindset of a leader. As you read through the list and the selected Scriptures, examine your own mindset.

#1 Set an Example by your Character, Reputation, and Public image

“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3 NIV)

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12 NIV)

#2 Have Perspective

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)

“Now it’s up to you. Be on your toes—both for yourselves and your congregation of sheep. The Holy Spirit has put you in charge of these people—God’s people they are—to guard and protect them. God himself thought they were worth dying for.” (Acts 20:28 MSG)

#3 Be Organized

“For if a man does not know how to rule his own household, how is he to take care of the church of God? He must not be a new convert, or he may [develop a beclouded and stupid state of mind] as the result of pride [be blinded by conceit, and] fall into the condemnation that the devil [once] did. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation and be well thought of by those outside [the church], lest he become involved in slander and incur reproach and fall into the devil’s trap.” (1 Timothy 3:5-7 AMP)

#4 Rearrange and Set Priorities

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV)
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#5 Think Collectively

“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” (Philippians 2:1-4 MSG)

#6 Communicate with People

“Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.” (1 Timothy 3:2-3 NIV)

“And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” (2 Timothy 2:24 NIV)

#7 Have a Sense of Ministry

“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11 NIV)

#8 Be a Disciple and a Disciple Maker

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19 NIV)

Evaluate your mindset. Are you thinking like the leader God called you to be?

March 25, 2013

How to Exercise Authority Without Being Authoritarian

Authority can be found but not the way most of the world goes after it. You don’t push others down for the Lord to lift you up. Jesus Christ models servant leadership; He turns worldly power systems and values upside-down. Christ-followers are not to adopt the “king-of-the-mountain” mentality of worldly leadership.

You have witnessed a boss, a coach, a politician, a policeman, or a parent “throw their weight around” and you understand the reality “when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads” (Mark 10:42 MSG). Perhaps, your heart cried out like the writer of Ecclesiastes 4:1 (NIRV), “I looked and saw how much people were suffering on this earth. I saw the tears of those who are suffering . . . Power is on the side of those who beat them down. Those who are suffering don’t have anyone to comfort them.”

But Christ’s call to leadership is counter-cultural. You ARE to be a leader – one who exercises authority without becoming authoritarian.

You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:42-45 NLT)

God’s Word warns, “Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds.” (Proverbs 28:16a MSG) God expects His delegated authority to be exercised with wisdom, not abuse. In 10 Choices: A Proven Plan to Change Your Life Forever, Chicago pastor James MacDonald offers tips for evaluating how we are handling the authority entrusted to us:

I know I’m abusing my authority when I keep reminding people of my title and my position.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I expect or demand privilege.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I become comfortable with personal praise.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I resent, react, or am threatened by challenges to my authority.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I’m unmoved by an individual. (p. 227-230)

Cherish the nature of the authority entrusted to you. As you esteem God’s leadership and respect your co-laborers in God’s House, a dimension of authority is entrusted to you. You must exercise this empowerment with Godly wisdom. With recognition of God’s call, you seriously and humbly undertake service with appreciation of Christ as the head of the body.

How do you exercise authority without becoming authoritarian?

#1 Serve – Don’t Decree.

You aren’t called to dominate and dictate.“If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35 NIV)

Leadership is not getting above others in prestige and power. It is servantship – getting down under the load of human need to bear it sacrificially and redemptively. According to this standard, the measure of greatness is not prominence but humility, not excellence but faithfulness, not authority but obedience, not being served but service… leadership is servantship. (Gaines S. Dobbins, Learning to Lead, 1968, p. 31)

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Don’t look down on others.“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3 NIV)

Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. (1 Thessalonians 2:6-7 MSG)

#3 Model – Don’t Dominate.

“Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.” (1 Peter 5:3 NLT) Great leadership is not lording-over or striving for superiority, for leadership involves sacrifice and service. Paul lived this, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” (Philippians 3:17 NIV)

#4 Associate – Don’t Strut.

Don’t be stuck-up or toffee-nosed. “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (Romans 12:10 NLT) We are equal in Christ. One is not superior to another. Male, female, young, old, whatever race or background – we share communion and fellowship in ONE Body.

#5 Mutually Submit – Don’t Intimidate.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21 NIV) Coercive bullying is not a spiritual gift, even if at times it looks as if something is accomplished. Strong-arming does not pay heavenly dividends and intimidation will not yield lasting results.

Living under authority necessitates accountability to those who have placed you in your position – your leaders and your Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord! Respect the distinction between Lordship and leadership!

Are you leading and influencing others in a direction which furthers God’s Kingdom purposes?

January 20, 2013

Teamwork Blessings

Teamwork is a big deal – image what happens to a car if one wheel comes off. Few burdens are really heavy when everybody lifts. A few years ago, the Valley Fellowship Guatemala mission team experienced the power of teamwork as we carried the welded-metal structure that would serve as the rafters for a new house at the Casa Angelina Orphanage. One person just wasn’t enough to get the job done.

“We live in an individualistic culture, but we are called to be people in relationship . . . we are not called to be the persons of God, but the people of God.” (Kenneth Boa, The Perfect Leader, p. 158) As the people of God, we are to work at keeping the unity of the Spirit. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3 NIV84) Have you ever noticed we aren’t told to CREATE unity? We are told to keep it – to preserve unity.

“You must give up something in the immediate present, comfort, ease, recognition, quick rewards to attract something even better in the future: a full heart and sense that you did something which counted. Without that sacrifice, you’ll never know your team’s potential, or your own.” (Coach Pat Riley, The Winner Within)

Good Reasons for Teams (compiled from Gene Wilkes’ Jesus on Leadership and Elaine Biech’s Successful Team Building Tools):

Teams provide increased input that helps the group develop better ideas and make better decisions.
Teams provide higher quality output.
Teams involve everyone in the process.
Teams encourage a sense of community by sharing credit for both victories and defeats.
Teams are more likely to implement plans because leader and group members consider themselves accountable to each other.
Teams demonstrate the synergism principal whereby two can do more than twice what one can do.
Teams are how Jesus did ministry.
Teams increase opportunities to draw on an individual’s strengths and to compensate for his weaknesses.
Teams develop a sense of togetherness, a feeling of belonging, so it is easier for members to build strong personal relationships.

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT

Teamwork Benefits (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10) = Success, Encouragement, Defense, & Strength

January 11, 2013

Ambition gets nowhere until it forms a partnership with effort.

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:9 NASB)

Is my life characterized by ambition? Righteous ambition is God-centered, not self-centered. Are my goals and aspirations pleasing to my Lord Jesus Christ and worthy of His call upon my life? The Apostle Paul reminds:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1 NIV)
live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:10 NIV)
live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:12 NIV)

Ambition gets nowhere until it forms a partnership with effort. Authentic ambition will get you into a lot of hard work. The ambition of “pleasing Him” spurs us toward excellence.

Healthy ambition generates:

energized behavior,
balanced emotions,
channeled focus,
passionate pursuit, and
God-expectant success.

God deserves nothing less than our best effort! Oswald Sanders writes, “It is the responsibility of the disciple to be the best he or she can be for God. To please Him is a most worthy aim. He wants us to realize the full purpose of our creation; He does not want us to be content with bland mediocrity.” (Spiritual Discipleship, p. 67) We cannot settle for mediocrity.

When we get tired of working or waiting, we too easily accept far less than God’s best. We don’t need to follow the example of the lonely lady who stuck up a conversation in a checkout lane, asking the man behind her, “Where do you work?”

“I haven’t found a job yet,” the man replied. “I just finished a twenty-year prison sentence for banked robbery.”

“So,” the woman paused hopefully, “you’re single?”

Leaders need to be especially careful, evaluating their own motives. Sometimes, we too quickly excuse self-promotion. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah cautions his secretary Baruch, “Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!” (Jeremiah 45:5 NLT) Paul alerts that some “proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives” (Philippians 1:17 NASB). In a book targeted for pastors, Gary Fenton warns, “the smoke produced by unbridled ambition can cloud our vision for ministry. We need to admit and channel our ambitions rather than allow them to direct our work.” (Your Ministry’s Next Chapter, p.47)

Motivation is the key. Why am I seeking to be a leader? For me? For Christ? Am I after God’s agenda or mine? Jesus told His disciples, “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:30b NIV). Christ is our role-model. As we mature in Christlikeness, the reason for righteous living moves from:

“I have to” (legalism) to
“I like this” (satisfaction) to
“It’s important” (value) to
“God is pleased” (worship).

Ambition without determination never reaches its destination. We have got to stick it through to the end, giving our very best to the King of Kings. Let’s make it our ambition to please Christ!

January 4, 2013

5 Tips for When People Leave a Church

No matter the reason – job relocation, offense, retirement, God-call, bored – people leave churches, AND EVERY pastor knows the awkward feeling that accompanies the realization that a part of a local congregation is exiting to somewhere else. Here are five tips to help you handle that awkward moment. I hope I remember them the next time I have to face it!

#1 – Don’t beg them to stay.

If you have to beg them to stay today, you’ll be begging again, but in the end, they won’t be staying. Years ago, I asked my dad what I should say when someone tells me they feel like leaving the church. Dad said, “Tell them, ‘If God called you to leave, don’t let the church door hit your backside on the way out!'” There is some wisdom in that quip. Delaying the move usually brings irritation, not harmony.

#2 – Avoid the urge to defend yourself.

Don’t attack their reasons. Do your very best to listen and to hold your tongue. Resist the desire to deliver a good comeback line. You’ll want to take it personally, but your emotions don’t need to rule you in that moment. You will have time later to process the validity of what they say – true or not.

#3 – Release with a blessing.

Bless their journey! You want God’s best for them. Don’t sabotage their entrance into another local congregation. Never curse them. Speak the truth, but don’t condemn them. That moment isn’t easy for them either, and if they have the integrity to talk to you, thank them, bless them, pray for them (if they allow).

#4 – Keep an open door – of your church and of your heart.

Don’t hold on to offense. This won’t be the last time you walk through a moment like this, but don’t allow yourself to become jaded or unfeeling. It hurts! Yes, it HURTS! Sheep bite, but you are still a shepherd. Leading people includes accepting them even if they reject your leadership. And, sometimes, people do come back.

#5 – After the face-to-face goodbye, make sure you get face-to-face with God.

Close, intimate relationship with the Chief Shepherd Jesus Christ is necessary to be an effective under-shepherd. Cast all your anxiety upon Him for He cares for you. Pray. Receive fresh grace and peace! You’ll need it as you evaluate what just happened. And for this type of awkward moment, success is first received before it is achieved.

WOAH! I was just about to post this, got interrupted by a phone call, and then walked right into a short meeting with close friends when – you guessed it! – they said, “We are leaving.” Ouch. It’s time for me to do #5. Lord, help me!

January 2, 2013

10 Good Things to Remember in 2013

God is a good God! Are you expecting God’s goodness in 2013? We have to remind ourselves because we human beings are quick to forget. We even joke about it – have you heard any of these?

Funny thing, I don’t remember being absent-minded.
My memory is a wonderful treasure chest, but I lost the map.
My memory is the faculty that enables me to give someone most of my zip code.
I can frequently remember that I have forgotten something, if I could only remember what it is.
Two indicators I am getting older: first, loss of memory, and I can’t remember the second.
To err is human; to forget, routine.

Oral Roberts rightly proclaimed, “Something good is going to happen to you!” Stop today and consider the goodness of God. Remind yourself. Here are ten good things to remember in 2013:

#1 – God wants to bless you and bless you and bless you.

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:9-11 NLT

#2 – God sets you up for good and has planned success for you !

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT

#3 – God’s voice will direct you and God will get you where you need to go.

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.” John 10:3-2 NLT

#4 – God finishes what He starts.

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 NIV

#5 – God’s purpose is worth the effort.

“Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'” Luke 9:23 NIV

#6 – God rewards those who seek Him.

“And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 NLT

#7 – God’s timing is perfect – not early, not late, but always right on time.

“Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30:18 NIV84

#8 – God’s forgiveness is awesome.

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 NLT

#9 – God’s power is great in us. God is greater than _______(fill in the blank with your life).

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 NIV

#10 – God’s plans are bigger than you alone. Mature believers are vitally connected to a local church.

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25 NLT