Defining Leadership Quotes

I picked up and am reading John Maxwell's "Be a People Person: Effective Leadership Through Effective Relationships." I got it of all places at the grocery store for $4.99. You can't beat that!!

Anyway, he's got some quotes from some great leaders on how they define leadership. Here they are:

Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.
British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery

A leader is a person who has the ability to get others to do what they don't want to do and like it.
Harry Truman

Leadership is influence.
Fred Smith

Leadership comes from serving others. Matthew 5:14 "If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
The Bible

He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.
Leadership Proverb

Maximizing Easter Resource

Nelson Searcy from Church Leader Insights has done it again and produced a great resource for Easter called "Maximizing Easter." You can get it here. You will have to provide some info to get your report. However, as you seek to impact your community and reach people for Christ this Easter you will see it is well worth it. While there check out the other resources from Church Leader Insights.

Lost Watch II

A couple of days ago I wrote about how it stinks to lose your watch and how the feeling of losing your watch parallels the spiritually dry times of life. Today I want to write about how I believe we come out of those spiritually dry times. And the two words that come to mind are dependence and obedience.

As I think about losing our watch spiritually I cannot help but think of Peter and Jesus' other disciples during those last days and after the resurrection. Peter of course went through a tough time spiritually as he denied Jesus three times and wept bitterly about it. And after Jesus was crucified the disciples certainly felt like they had lost their watch spiritually. The Bible tells us they were locked way behind closed doors for fear of the religious and political authorities.

Both Peter and the disciples were in a place of dependence. They were utterly dependent on Jesus to come and revive them by breathing on them his Holy Spirit both before he ascended and then again in a big way at Pentecost. I think the same is true for us. While there are things we can do to move out of spiritually dry places such as commit to regular prayer and scripture reading and Sabbath taking it is ultimately God's grace we cooperate with that renews us.

And this is where obedience plays a role. Before Jesus ascended he told his disciples to go and wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. It is in being obedient to this command and while in a state of dependence that God pours out the Holy Spirit and these cowering and denying disciples are released for ministry that turns the world upside down! So too for us. As we are obedient to the commands to pray to rest to wait to persevere and more we are renewed. We find the watch again and get back on track so we can turn the world upside down and storm the gates of hell with a water pistol!

How Do I Leave a Legacy?

Here is the last message in the series Work Matters.

You can listen to it here.

Most every person will ask the question at some point in their lives "What legacy will I leave?" While often asked in the last years of life this is a question followers of Jesus should deal with now as what we do now effects our legacy. Why not work on our legacy now while we still have time! Legacy though is not left through the things the world values but by building a legacy of faith in Christ and leaving a legacy based in faith, hope and love.

Lost Watch

Recently I lost my watch. Actually I think Nolan took it and hid it. He is a "clepto" like that these days at 18 months. Anywho, I hate losing my watch. I hate going through the day looking down at my wrist and then remembering "oh yeah I lost it." It is kind of frustrating. Most of us rely on our watch to keep us on track, to make sure we are not late, to remind us where we have spent too much time or too little time. I know for me, without my watch I am lost and wandering.

The same is true for me in a spiritual way. While I do not think we can lose Jesus (though we can certainly move away from him) there are times in the spiritual life when it seems like I am lost or wandering aimless. I lose my watch (not my lunch) when I do not spend time with God in prayer, scripture and devotion. I wander around when I rely on my own strength instead of his. I find myself frustrated when I trust in the things of this life for wisdom, satisfaction and help instead of trusting in God's grace. These things make me feel off track. I feel during these times lost and wandering. I feel in my walk with Christ like I do when I walk around three days without my watch because my son has become fascinated with it and hid it somewhere and can't tell me where.

I found my watch, just like I rediscover the vital relationship with Christ again for the 1,001st time. Tomorrow I want to share some ways I revitalize and reconnect and spiritually find my watch again. Maybe they will help you. Thus, stay tuned for more deep thought from "Jack Handy."

Are You Feeling Insignificant?

Sometimes it is easy to forget how mind-boggling the presence and love of God is. We are reminded by verses in the Bible of God's great love. One verse is Luke 12:7 "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

What! God knows the very number hairs on my head?!? This must make counting hard for God for those that go bald. Here is the thing. God created the whole friggin universe with just a few words, he spins the earth on its axis and creates seasons, he has disease and wars to worry about, yet he has numbered the hairs on my head and your head. He has his eye on us all the time. What!

So I guess when we are facing a problem or difficulty and we think it is too small for the God of the universe to think about this verse tells us otherwise. I guess when we think everybody else has abandoned us and we are lonely this verse says otherwise. I guess when we feel small and significant this verse says otherwise. Yes, it says, he loves us so much that he does have concern for all that we face in this life. He does know us intimately (which is both reassuring and scary!). He is both way beyond our comprehension and yet ever so near. That is a comfort.

Of course the it is easy to know this in the head, it a whole different thing to know it in your heart and live your life in response to this truth. May it be so for all of us. You and I are are loved with an everlasting love. He is good and his love endures forever.

The Real St. Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Don't forget to wear your green lest you get pinched, or eat your corn beef and cabbage, or raise a glass of green bear to the patron Saint of Ireland. On this day it is said we are all Irish.

As we have fun with all the festivities of St. Patrick's day we can easily forget the awesome life of the man of God- Patrick and the great work he did for God in Ireland. I found this little history of St. Patrick that I thought was real interesting and gives us a glimpse of who this man of God was and the influence he had. He was a true leader (plus he got rid of all the snakes in Ireland and anybody who can do that is good in my book).

What Should I Do With My Life Message Audio

Here is the message from last week's message "What Should I Do with My Life?" from the message series Work Matters. You can download it here.

Whether you are a soon to be high school or college graduate, a person under thirty trying to find your way, a person in midlife whose job stinks, or a recently retired person wondering what you are going to do with the rest of your life then this message has something for you. If you are none of those things but know or one day anticipate knowing someone who is searching for what to do with their lives then this message is for you.

We ask four questions to get at the larger question "What Should I Do with My Life?"
1. What does God want?
2. What am I good at?
3. What is in front of me?
4. What will be my life's ministry?

Don't miss this week's message "How Do I Balance Life and Work."

God's Sense of Humor

From time to time I am privileged to catch a glimpse of God's sense of humor. For example, when I tell God my plans and God laughs or when I see some of the animals God has created and think what a good time God must have had creating them.

Such was the case this Sunday as I presided at communion. We receive communion every Sunday at New Season and so there are some great and worthy helpers who bring bread, set the communion table and most of the time pour the grape juice into the chalice. So you can imagine my surprise when I got to the words of institution and lifted the cup as I always do and said "After the supper was over he over he took the cup..." and there was nothing in the cup!

I thank God for the genius of the human brain because I had a couple of parallel thought processes going on. One was I knew I had to continue with the liturgy (which I usually flub up anyways even when there are no Eucharistic catastrophes) and second I was thinking "what the hell am I going to do?" I mean should we do the Quaker thing and receive spiritually! Should we pretend like we are dipping the bread into the chalice (we always receive by intinction, we don't use the little shot glasses). I don't remember exactly what I said or whether it was the smirk on my face but when I was giving instructions about receiving I said something like "if there were any grape juice in this cup" you would take the bread you have received and dip it here. At that point I think four people jumped up to look for grape juice which we thankfully store and had on hand in one of the bins we load and unload from our truck every Sunday. So, after a good laugh we had grape juice.

I was thinking about this whole situation and was thinking if it was real wine instead of grape juice then I would have immediately had a few suspects from the church who would have come to mind who may have drank the wine before the service started (so they wouldn't have to drink it with the nasty bread crumbs in the bottom after the service was over). But alas, it was grape juice. Some have said they were waiting for me to call for a miracle and make the grape juice appear. I mean come on, Jesus didn't even do that. He started with water at least. And, if I could ask God to perform a miracle such as that and God did then I would be working for Welch's or Boones Farm (sorry I am showing my utter lack of bad tastes and cheap self from my college days when it comes to wine).

Thanks Lord for your sense of humor!

What Should I Do with My Life?

Don't miss tomorrow's message at New Season Church as we talk about finding meaning, purpose, and significance in life as we continue to explore the connection between faith and work. If you are a young person trying to figure it out, a middle aged person stuck in a rut, or soon to be newly retired, or know any of these people in these situations (that about covers everybody I think!) then you won't want to miss the second message in the Work Matters series.

See you tomorrow and don't forget to "Spring Ahead!"

Work Matters

Here is the first message from the series Work Matters appropriately titled "Work Matters- Moving from Making a Living to Making a Life"

5 Practices Website

One of the resources that is all the rage these days in United Methodist circles is Bishop Robert Schnase's Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.

I have read the book and have found it helpful and have used it in some leadership development exercises with our Servant Leadership Team. There is a really great website that complements the book that you can access here. On the website you will not only find a description of each of the five practices but you will also find Bishop Schnase's blog, stories of how churches are practicing the five practices, sermons, resources and a blog roll to boot.

Head on over there and check it out. It is worth the visit.

Lenten Resource

I found this lenten resource which is a short daily devotional that will take you through Lent. It is the project of a couple of different denominations. From their website here is what it says:

d365.org, a daily online devotional series, was created and is produced by Passport, Inc. Passport is a student ministry organization focused on creating meaningful experiences and resources for students. From youth and children’s camps to mission trips to online devotional sites to Faith in 3D, Passport, Inc. gives students a chance to see their world in new ways.

d365.org is sponsored by three denominational partners: the Congregational Life office of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Youth Ministries of the Episcopal Church in America.

Mind Your Own Business

Here is the final message from the Mind Your Own Business series we have been doing at New Season. It is called The Buck Starts Here.

Lent

Lent began yesterday with the imposition of ashes called Ash Wednesday. The ashes remind us that we are human and we will one day die but that in life, in death, and in life beyond death we are dependent on Jesus Christ.

Lent, along with Advent, is one of the two seasons of spiritual preparation in the life of the church. During Advent we prepare for Christmas, during Lent we prepare for Easter.

Lent, and Advent to a lesser degree, is a season of denial. This has led to the often popular "giving something up" for Lent. As we journey to the cross where Jesus gave his life up for us we too remove those things in our lives that prevent us from being obedient to God's will for our lives.

For many the problem comes with what many people give up. Some people give up chocolate, others coffee, still others television. You can think of many of things to give up. It has been said that giving up such things as these trivializes the great sacrifice of Christ. I guess that is true to some extent- me giving up chocolate or coffee really does not hold any weight when compared to Christ's sacrifice! Others have suggested that instead of giving up something for Lent we would "take something else on" to prepare for Easter. Perhaps reading a new devotional, serving once a week at the soup kitchen, spending a daily quiet time with God, etc. This practice has its critics as well who question if we in our fast paced and hurried world really need one more thing to crowd our days when Lent should be about de-cluttering that which is not essential to our lives. That is a good point too I guess.

I think we need to give up those things that separate us from a deeper relationship with Christ. If you can say that is chocolate for you- then that is great. I think one of the main ideas of Lent is to take some time to examine oneself and what are the roadblocks in one's life to a deeper relationship with Christ. I think it is valid as well to take on something else if it will move us closer to Christ. When we do this we may need to get rid of something else in our hurried life. Here we get at what is truly important.

I hope whether you give something up or take something on for Lent, or do both, that you will draw closer to Christ as you move toward the cross this Lenten season and as you prepare for the good news of Easter.

Here is a previous post I did about what Lent is.

Free Wi-fi, or Lack Thereof

My family and I recently visited a nice resort that had an indoor water park. As with most of these places, it was not cheap to stay or to play. And yet, I couldn't help but notice that in order to connect to the wi-fi available in the hotel it cost $5.95 a day. I have noticed this at some other places.

I question this practice. It is not that I feel I have any right to wi-fi, though I am sure some loose constructionist can find it in the constitution, I just think it is nickel and dimeing to charge for wi-fi when you are already paying a higher price to begin with. I certainly understand that there is a cost associated with providing wi-fi that is borne by the hotel, but come on, it is minimal. In fact, I have no problem really paying for it but add it to the cost of the room so I never see it. When I don't see it, it is less irritating. It is kind of like when taxes are taken out of your paycheck. If it is taken out before you see it, it is less irritating.

So, note to hotel operators, if I have a choice, and here I did not, I will not choose your hotel if you are going to charge me with an additional fee. Either give it to me for free or hide it in the cost of the room- which might be one in the same.

The Church and Money Part 6

This is the last post for this series. I wanted to end this series of posts with sharing some practical ways to create a culture of generosity in your church. As a matter of self-disclosure, I want to say that we do not practice all these ways at New Season yet. However, we are working to getting there. The list is not exhaustive.

Here are some practical ideas in no particular order:

• Send out quarterly giving statements letting folks know how much they gave and thanking them for their generosity. Be sure to tie their giving to how the church has been engaged in ministry to fulfill its mission and vision. Include in this mailing opportunities to give for specific items beyond general giving as some folks would like to give in this way as well. You might also consider doing a video update of how the church's giving has helped to live out the mission and vision of the church. This video can be posted on you tube and/or shown on a Sunday.

• When you have a sign up sheet- always have a place where persons can mark that they would like to support the event financially.

• Preach and teach about stewardship with a message series every year and in other ways throughout the year.

• Have some type of challenge once a year for folks to increase their generosity whether that is a traditional pledge card or some other more innovative way.

• Give persons the opportunity to impact the community by listing agencies and organizations in your community who need funds.

• Do a bless back program where you return the offering from the previous week to your church and ask them to bless others with it and tell the stories of what they did.

• Regularly have video testimonies as you take the offering of how persons giving has been used.

The Church and Money Part 5

Talking about how we handle the resources God has blessed us with in preaching and teaching cause some in the church to become upset. They might say that they are going to leave if the church keeps talking about money? They might say it is none of your business what I/we do with our money or how we handle our possessions? They might say stewardship is more than money hoping the church will only talk about stewardship in vague and ambiguous terms (btw, stewardship does of course include more than money and possessions and encompasses our whole lives but not to the exclusion of money and possessions!).

What I have found is that the people who object most vehemently to the church talking about money and possessions are not young believers or persons who are still trying to figure out their faith, it is more often than not the people who have been there forever who don't give and quite apart from anything the church does feel guilty about it. Those who are new to faith understand that how we use what we have is an issue of faith and that ministry takes resources. It is an interesting phenomena.

The Church and Money Part 4

There have been times in the history of the church when the only time the topic of money and possessions was ever preached on was in the fall for the annual stewardship campaign. Usually for one of these messages the preacher would rightly talk about the biblical call for followers of Jesus to tithe and invite persons to fill out pledge cards. However, often it was a cal to tithe not to become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus, but so the church can pay the bills. Vision and ministry was rarely tied to calls for increased giving. Giving was more often than not tied to keeping the status quo and maintaining.

This was better than some though who were afraid to talk about money and possessions at all during preaching. These were afraid the church would be tagged with always being interested in money. So they abdicated teaching biblical principles about stewardship.

In my opinion, the best way to talk about money and possessions in the church is in a holistic way. What I mean is that the Bible has a lot to say about how we handle all that God has given us. Money, especially in our day, is a huge issue for followers of Jesus and those that are not. The Bible has a lot to say about how we would manage our resources- about budgeting, debt, saving and investing. The Bible has stuff to say about not being in bondage to debt (credit cards anybody!), about putting our trust in treasures where neither moth or rust destroy (accumulating possessions), or using God's resources to bless God's people. The Bible deals with every day issues about money that people are dealing with. This is true in all places but especially true in suburbia. Should we talk about tithing as part of a larger holistic approach to how we handle our resources? Absolutely! However, tithing and all else that we talk about should be connected to ministry within the church and God's vision for our lives and our church.

I would advocate for a yearly preaching emphasis about handling God's resources as well as teaching throughout the year that can be done in a variety of ways. I will share some ways to do that in a later post.

Money and the Church Part 3

One of the life changing perspectives when it comes to how we view our money and possessions is to realize who is the owner of all that we have. The Bible is clear that God is the owner of all things. Psalm 22:1 says "The earth and all that is in it belongs to the Lord." He is the creator and owner of all things.

This has helped me and countless others recognize all that we have is from God. Our money, our homes, our clothes, our health, our children- all of it is God's. God has given us the privilege of managing these resources God has so graciously bestowed upon us. We are not owners as much as we are caretakers or stewards. Thus, when we "give" to God we are really not giving anything. We are returning what is God's in the first place. When we realize this it makes tithing a lot easier. Think about what a deal that is. God gives us all this stuff and we get to keep 90% of it. No store can match that!

When we realize that we came into the world with nothing and will leave with nothing and all that we have is God's, we can come to appreciate how we can use what we have to love God and love others.