Humility learns. Arrogance knows.

“If you stop learning, you might as well lie down and let them throw the dirt on you.” Ken Blanchard.

Not learning:

1. Controlling people.
2. Closing out people.
3. Justifying decisions.
4. Preventing mistakes.
5. Explaining why you’re right.

In all your learning, learn to be a learner.

15 ways to expand leadership: learning to learn

1. Let others be right.
2. Explore the grey. Black and white has its place, but learning happens in the grey where both/and embrace each other.
3. Listen to people you don’t like. Chances are they’re different from you. Learning is exploring difference.
4. Go “with” before going “against.” Learning includes challenging ideas, but understand before confrontation.
5. Embrace confusion, don’t solve quickly. Thinking shifts to defending, once you think you know.
6. Talk about what hurts. Pain teaches more than comfort.
7. Believe the person you’re talking with knows something you don’t.
8. Try something that feels awkward. Things that feel right align with the past and keep you doing more of the same. Warning: don’t violate your values when embracing awkward behaviors.
9. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t know. Commit to find out.
10. Say your thoughts outloud. Sometimes smart thoughts sound dumb when spoken out loud.
11. Listen to smart people even if they have frailties. Don’t rule someone out because they have weaknesses.
12. Write down your ideas. Writing is thinking.
13. Relax about learning. Stress narrows your thinking. Take a breath. Walk. Laugh.
14. Ask yourself, “What am I learning?” Do you have an answer?
15. Say, “That’s interesting,” when you hear something that seems “wrong.”

Seven Deadly Sins Of Church Leaders

A great post by Pastor Perry Noble of Newsping Church

#1 – Comparison – One of the best ways to feel better about yourself as a church leader is to compare yourself and your church to people who are not doing as good as you are.  (It’s also a sign of extreme insecurity). 

#2 – Piling On – When a church leader falls and people begin to attack, one of the biggest problems in church world is that Christians seem to feel an obligation to “pile on” when they do not know the whole story... and in reality the person who fell probably needs more people praying for them than they need another bullet in their back. 

#3 – Majoring On The Minors – When church leaders refuse to “break bread” with someone else who is a believer but doesn’t line up doctrinally with everything they believe, then they do not represent Christ as He commanded us to in John 13:34-35. 

#4 – Leading By Fear – If God has not given us a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7) then He hasn’t given it to church leaders to lead with. 

#5 – Using Prayer As An Excuse For Passivity – Many times a church leader can see a problem and realize that a difficult decision or either a tough conversation needs to take place… but they will “pray about it” rather than participating with the leadership calling God has placed on their lives. 

#6 – Declaring What We Are Against Way More Than What We Are For – All too often when people hear the word “Christian” they think, “oh, those are the people who hate me and what I do.”  What if we, as church leaders, stopped screaming at people and actually took the time to serve them?  THAT could change the world. 

#7 – Laziness – Ministry is tough work.  Loving people is tough work.  Leadership is tough work.  When the memories of the past are greater than our future hopes and dreams it is most likely because we have settled into a place of predictable comfort and have no desire to “step out of the boat.”