Offer Hope in tough times

Absolutely brilliant teaching buy Pastor Mark Driscoll.

Spiritual Habits of Effective People: Quiet Time

I was challenged again today by Pastor Rick Warren's simple encouragement to ensure we spend some time in our EVERYDAY lives to focus on God and his direction for us.

Check it out!

“Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk” (Psalm 25:4 LB).

Getting time with God each day is one of the spiritual habits of effective people. We develop spiritual fitness by having a quiet time each day for Bible reading and prayer.

What’s the reason for that? To get direction from God: “Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk” (Psalm 25:4 LB).

Sometimes we can get so busy in life that we can forget the direction we’re going. Like the pilot in World War II flying over the Pacific, he radioed back, “I have absolutely no idea where I’m going. I’m lost. But I’m making record time.”

Many times we get very busy. We need to slow down and get direction from God. This means we spend time with God on a daily basis; we talk to God in prayer; we let him talk to us from his Word; and we listen for his direction.

I can honestly say that every major decision in my life has been made in a quiet time.

Jesus is our model; he “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16 NIV). You can’t get to know God if you’re always in a crowd. You get to know God in a one-on-one encounter.

Notice the Bible says Jesus withdrew often; his quiet time was his source of strength.

And Jesus teaches that we are strengthened as we develop a deep and intimate relationship with him: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7 NIV).

You are an Amazing God

THE LAW OF SOLID GROUND:

GOD, ESTHER, AND HAMAN

Taken from the John Maxwell Bible

God, Esther, and Haman each play a leading role in the Book of Esther. God is the Leader in control; Esther is the leader under control; and Haman is the leader out of control. Consider each one.

GOD: The Leader in Control

1/. He took Queen Vashti off the throne.

2/. He gave Esther the throne.

3/. He used Mordecai to supply information,

4/. He put everyone in place before the crisis.

ESTHER: the Leader under Control

1/. Her position didn’t steal her compassion.

2/. She felt limited in what she could do.

3/. She knew her place in the organization.

4/. She felt the need to fast and pray.

5/. She depended on the prayers of others.

6/. She was willing to take a risk and obey.

7/. She didn’t take advantage of generosity.

8/. She recognised the importance of timing.

HAMAN: The team Leader out of Control

1/. He misunderstood the times.

2/. He lost joy over little problems.

3/. He needed friends to build his self-image.

4/. His greed and ambition made him unhappy.

5/. He listened to the wrong people.

6/. He thought too highly of himself.

7/. He set himself up for a fall.

8/. He reaped what he sowed.

This made me cry today...wow!!

This was grace - short film from Andrew Laparra on Vimeo.

An Overnight Success

A great blog from Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church

Certain people are sometimes called overnight successes. Usually they’re people who seem to just spring onto the scene. One day you’ve never heard of them. The next day they’re everywhere.

Sometimes it’s a band. An athlete. Or a movie star. Some people would even call our church an overnight success.

I would agree with the term, with this one caveat:
If by overnight success you mean that night after night after night after night after night, they have become successful.

Do we really think U2’s second gig was Cowboy’s Stadium?
Do we really think Spielberg’s second movie was Jaws?
Do we really think a life is built overnight?
Or a church for that matter?

Yes, some people’s road to success – whatever ‘success’ even means – is shorter than others. But that doesn’t mean they took a shortcut. There are no shortcuts to success. Only hard work. Consistency. And above all, God’s favor.

If you want to be an overnight success, I really don’t know how to help you. The only thing that’s overnight about success is recognition. The rest is about showing up with your best.

Night after night after night after night after night after night…

4 Stages of Leadership by Tony Morgan - Awesome!

Yesterday while I was at Christ Fellowship in Miami, I did a leadership talk for their staff team. At the end of my talk, we took some time for Q&A. One of the questions that was asked was about leadership growth. Having worked in churches of various sizes between 1,400 and over 10,000, they wanted to know how leaders change to grow with organizations. Here’s what I summarized with a little bit more detail. Some of this reflects my own experiences in the churches I’ve served. Some of it reflects the conversations with leaders in other churches.

Lead by example. This is the type of leadership that is required when a new ministry launches. During this season, the leader has to do most of the work themselves. That happens out of necessity because no one else is around. It also happens to establish a foundation for the future. “Leading by doing” gives the leader the opportunity to shape the mission, vision, values and strategy of the church. These folks may not necessarily be gifted as leaders but they are in a positional leadership role. They are the “leaders of tens.” Ministries with this style of leadership can grow to about 100 people.

Lead other people. During this season, the leader recruits other people to join the ministry team. Rather than doing all the work on their own, the leader begins to delegate tasks and responsibilities to other people. The leader still owns the responsibility for making things happen, they’re just including other people in the effort. These are the “leaders of fifties.” Ministries can grow to several hundred people with this style of leadership.

Lead other leaders. This is when a transition happens where leaders begin to empower other leaders. Instead of a hands-on role where they’re on top of all the tasks, they shift to a role where they’re really more concerned about leading, caring for and raising up other leaders. They don’t give up responsibility for the outcome, but they begin to release team building and decisions of execution to other people. These are the “leaders of hundreds.” Ministries can grow to several thousand people with this style of leadership.

Lead by vision. At some point, there are leaders who may continue to embrace functional leadership of specific areas of ministry, but their focus is really on the overall health of the church. Rather than a ministry-specific focus, they have a global perspective that encompasses every aspect of the organization. These folks are leading other leaders, but they also have influence that reaches beyond their direct reports. They are coming alongside the senior leader to champion the vision that God has given the church. These are the “leaders of thousands.” Ministries can grow to tens of thousands of people with this style of leadership.

First of all, do you agree with my summary of these different stages of leadership growth? What would you add or delete from my descriptions?

Secondly, where are you? Would would you need to do today to prepare for a step into a new leadership role tomorrow?