Category: Leading through the Church

Leaders and PED’s

With the Olympics starting in a couple of weeks, and the ongoing emphasis on sports’ stars who use PEDs-Performance Enhancing Drugs, I thought I’d offer a lighter post about leaders and PED’s. To my knowledge the most commonly used PED’s among America’s leaders is caffeine. Perhaps, I’m supersensitive to the substance at the moment, because I’ve decided to rid myself of it yet again. I’m experiencing the massive headache that always comes when I put myself through withdrawal from it. That after a night of not being able to sleep, which is a common side effect of caffeine withdrawal. (Who would’ve figured since many use caffeine to stay awake.)

The reason I’m eliminating caffeine from my system again is ostensibly because I’ll be leaving for Cambodia in about a month for a mission trip and I don’t want to experience the withdrawal while there, if caffeine isn’t available at any of the places we travel. The likelihood of not having caffeine available in Cambodia isn’t high, since caffeine is a worldwide PED. Whether it’s found in the form of coffee, or soft drinks, or tea, or the amazingly popular energy drinks that pack caffeine and sugar in incredibly high doses, caffeine is a nearly universal substance. I’m also withdrawing from caffeine again, because I don’t want to be dependent on any external substance for my energy.

I’m not telling all of you to stop drinking coffee or to get off caffeine. I’m pointing out that when I use caffeine, or more accurately, when I am not able to use caffeine when I’m using it regularly, I feel miserable. So the question becomes: Is the solution to stop drinking caffeine or just make sure that I always have enough of it? When I put the question to myself that way it sounds a lot like I “need” caffeine to function. I don’t want to need anything external in order to function. Thus, the withdrawal from caffeine AGAIN. I don’t know how many times over the years I’ve withdrawn from caffeine before a mission trip, or during one, or because I want to take better care of my body, but I know this: I’ve withdrawn from it for weeks and even months, but then there’s always that moment when someone offers me a cup of coffee, or I’m at a restaurant and they have Dr. Pepper, and I remember how bland water tastes, and I’m back on the PED’S again.

When I told Nancy yesterday that I was withdrawing from caffeine for the LAST time, she just looked at me and laughed. She’s heard that line before. Right now, I just want to have a cup of coffee and end the pain in my neck and head. As I write those words, it sounds an awful lot like the guys I minister to at the halfway house who are seeking to overcome their reliance on alcohol and other drugs that may or may not enhance their performance. So, at least for today, I’m going to remain off the caffeine and if I make through Thursday it’ll be a matter of daily will power.

As our friend Socrates reminded us millennia ago: The unexamined life is not worth living. You may or may not use caffeine or any other PED, but if you do, I simply encourage you to ask yourself why you do, and whether there is anything to gain by not using it? As leaders we ought to set the example in all areas of our lives, and perhaps being PED free is one of those areas.

Here’s to leading better by examining our use of external substances and considering whether to ban them in our lives–today!

Never Do Anything Always!

Way back when I was a first year seminary student at Princeton, I had a preaching professor who said, “Never do anything always!” What he meant by that was as leaders, and particularly as leaders who are communicators we need to make sure that our routines don’t become predictable ruts that allow our listeners and followers to be become bored, distracted, or disinterested. That single statement has held a powerful impact in my leadership for nearly four decades. An example of its power comes from this weekend’s worship services at New Life. While the worship hour in churches across America may be one of the most predictable hours of the week in most settings, at New Life we tend to switch things up from time to time. This weekend our worship pastor, Brad French, pulled out the “acoustic” sound instead of our typical rock band style for the worship singing. Many people noticed and affirmed the difference. While some would like the acoustic sound every week, and others the rock style, because music is a matter of personal preference, the approach of changing from time to time keeps things fresher and that is refreshing!

I had folks come forward at the end of the worship gathering for a time of prayer and recommitment. Some churches do that every week, and others never do it. Many folks told me the experience was powerful for them. I felt the power, too. The majority of the reason for that was God’s work in us. I had sensed in my message preparation that God was calling us to make a tangible sign of our commitment or recommitment to Him. The blessing came in responding to that prompting, rather than say, “We never do it that way, God. I can’t change things up or people will get upset.” I never advocate change merely for the sake of change or for “shock value.” Following the promptings of God, or an intuitive sense that it’s time for a different approach often leads to breakthroughs in our leadership. The key is not to find one, particular approach and assume that because it works, we ought to stick with that forever. Remember: Never do anything always!

While schedule and routine are valuable for all of us, and the vast majority of us would do well to be more intentional with planning and carrying our our plans, even when it comes to our daily “regimen,” it’s helpful to switch it up every now and then. Exercising the freedom to do something a little different refreshes and renews us. I know that vanilla is the most popular flavor of ice cream worldwide, but every now and then it’s a good idea to try out a new flavor. The analogy holds in so many areas of our lives. I know folks who have followed exactly the same routine day in and day out for decades. For the most part they are quite successful. The challenge comes when something disrupts their routine, and let’s be honest something ALWAYS disrupts our routines. Making certain that we are intentional about changing things up every now and then prepares us for the moments when life changes our routines for us.

While your personality will have a lot to do with whether you like the rigid routine of a marine, or the happy go lucky whatever comes approach of the free spirit, each of us will lead more effectively if we are open to the idea of making adjustments from time to time so those we are charged to lead don’t find our approach so predictable that they stop listening for anything fresh or new in our leadership. As you go about the day think of one thing that you have been doing exactly the same way for a long time, and consider changing it up a bit for your benefit and the benefit of those around you. Please understand I’m not talking about any of the habits you have developed to keep you living with integrity, truth and love! I’m talking about habits such as the way you give a speech, or present a new idea to your work group, or exercise, or any area where a routine has become a rut. As one of my first mentors always said, “A rut differs from a grave only in its depth and length.” We want our leadership and our lives to be alive.

Here’s to leading better by doing something in a new or different way to enhance our ability to impact others–today!

Ch-Ch-Changes!

One of the most important qualities of effective leaders, is the ability to address change. Change is a given in life, and the only things that don’t change are dead. While some personalities are more open to change than others, even those of us who like change, generally are more open to changes we consider positive and under our control.

I’ve decided to make a format change to my blog effective today, to see how you all do with change! It’s a minor change, but one I’ve realized is necessary if I’m going to live by my own leadership advice in the area of margin, and also provide you with quality posts over time. Not too many folks post to their blogs seven days a week, 365 days a year. I thought I was going to be one of them. The challenge is my weekends are the fullest time of the week, and Friday is supposed to be my Sabbath. That means if I’m going to have something of value to offer you in every post, I need to stop writing on the weekends, and focus on making Monday-Friday as helpful as possible for you.

I know my readership isn’t high at this moment, but believe the content will help you be and become better leaders over time. That means you’ll be receiving 25o posts per year: 5 posts each week for 50 weeks each year. We’ll rest on the weekends, and two weeks each year. I’m considering getting guest bloggers for the two weeks off each year, so you won’t come here and find nothing. Maybe some of you would consider writing a guest post once or twice a year?

Back to the importance of being able to change in order to be a great leader. Adaptability is one of the most important assets of a leader. While planning is vital, the challenge is that life tends to change our plans and change them often. I’ve been reading a great book Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals LEAD and WIN. The authors make it clear than planning and execution are keys in leading and winning. They also point out that part of planning for them was to anticipate the changes that could happen to their plans. Anticipating change is the best way to lead through change. We can’t always anticipate a particular change, but we can certainly anticipate that there WILL be change.

As noted above, sometimes we see change as positive and at other times as negative. The truth is in a particular moment we can’t always know whether a change is positive or negative. I’ve noticed that many of the changes I would have called negative at the time, have actually defined me as a person. For example, one day many years ago when Kenn, my younger brother and I were at basketball practice at school, he was poked in the eye. The poke resulted in a torn cornea for Kenn. That was certainly a negative and unwelcome change at the moment. Kenn was taken to the hospital and scheduled for surgery the next day.

That night, our pastor and I visited Kenn at the hospital. Before we left, the pastor asked Kenn, “Do you mind if I pray and ask God to heal your eye?” How could you turn down a request like that?

Kenn said, “It couldn’t hurt, right?” More than right! the next morning when the doctor came in and removed the patch from Kenn’s eye to examine it before the operation, the eye was completely healed. The doctor was amazed. Kenn was happy. I was overwhelmed. I didn’t thing God was still in the healing “business.” I thought that was for long ago and far away. I went to our pastor and asked him to explain. After a couple of hours of working our way through the Book of Acts, I was convinced that my perspective of God’s activity through the Holy Spirit being a thing of the past was mistaken. I would soon find how mistaken, as God called me to ministry as an outgrowth of that new-found understanding!

Everyone would agree that Kenn having his cornea torn was a negative experience, and yet as a result of it I ended up discerning God’s call for my entire adult life. That’s amazing. Change is inevitable, and while we may think we know which changes are good for us, being prepared for them when they come, and turning to God in the midst of each one is the best way to discover how He can use any change we experience to advance His work among us.

The next time you experience change whether small or great, consider that God can use it in ways that you may not have considered. Lean into Him and let Him use the change to His glory and your blessing. As you do you will undoubtedly come to see change not only as the inevitable reality it is, but often the door to new opportunities to learn, love and lead in Jesus’ name.

Here’s to leading better by leaning into change–today!

(See you Monday!)

Life Management–Prayer

If you are a follower of Jesus and you’re thinking of Life Management, you would most likely think of prayer as the first in a list of seven areas to manage. No argument from me. As I mentioned yesterday, the only reason rest came first in my list, is because unless we rest we won’t do the rest.

I’m coming off a two-day vacation I took in Ohio to celebrate my older brother Tom’s birthday. The time gave me a much needed rest after an extremely full time at New Life with the preparation for and execution of the fifteenth anniversary celebrations. On the second morning I woke up early feeling rested. That’s a great sign. As I noted yesterday when we need an alarm clock to wake up it’s a sign that we’re sleep deprived. As I was lying in bed, knowing that I was the only one in the house who was awake, my natural response was to pray.

I schedule most of my days to start in prayer, but it was good to know that when I had a “day off,” a day without a schedule my natural response was to wake up early and pray. That only happened because I was rested, and because my relationship with God has grown to the point that prayer has become my “default” mode when I have free time, or face challenges, or when I am feeling blessed and want to say, “Thank You” to God for those blessings. The point here, though, is because I started with rest, I was ready to pray.

Prayer ought to become more and more a natural part of leaders’ lives as we grow older, and as we mature. Since God created us, redeemed us and sustains us, the more aware of those realities we become, the more natural it becomes for us to pause and relate with Him. I have found over the years, that the more intentional I am about prayer, the more likely it is that even my unintentional moments will include prayer. By that I mean when I schedule prayer into my daily routine, starting the day with prayer, asking God for guidance before I start to write a weekend message, and taking time to thank Him intentionally before meals and to pray with Nancy before we go to sleep, the rest of the day is filled with natural moments–and sometimes nearly sub-conscious moments–of prayer as well.

The Apostle Paul reminded the believers in the Thessalonian church to pray without ceasing. That becomes more and more a reality as we grow in our relationship with God, in and through Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. After all, every healthy relationship grows when meaningful communication is central to it.

Just a brief word about the process of prayer. One of the keys for me in growing in the area of prayer in my life has been to remember that prayer is both talking to God–which is more natural for most of us–and LISTENING to and for His responses. That part of prayer is much less likely to be natural for most of us. My tendency in a time of need, for example, is to ask God for His input, help, or power, but then to start immediately to attempt to solve the problem or overcome the obstacle myself. There’s nothing wrong with doing our part when it comes to solving the problems and overcoming the obstacles in life. God expects that. We find a clear statement of that truth in Philippians 2:12-13.

But the second half of those verses reminds us that God works within us to will and to work for His good pleasure. That’s God’s part, the part we can’t do. When we pray we must wait and listen. If we get an immediate response that’s great. When we don’t, it’s important to continue to keep ourselves open to God’s response throughout the day, week, or whatever period of time we’re going through the problem or obstacle.

Henry Blackaby made a powerful observation about the way God communicates with us in his book Experiencing God. Blackaby wrote that God communicates with us through four primary means: The Bible (His written word); through prayer as the Holy Spirit responds to our prayers; through circumstances, when we pray for a specific situation and the ensuing circumstance or circumstances in our lives lines up as a response to it; and through other believers, when someone comes to us and offers us wise advice as we’re going through a problem, or even comes to us and tells us that God has told them something that is for us.

Blackaby pointed out that each of the four means God uses to speak to us is in a descending order of probability. After all, when we read the Bible we know it’s God’s word, but sometimes when we “hear” God’s voice in prayer, it may be God, or it may be our desires speaking to us. In the same way a circumstance may simply be a circumstance and not God’s word to us. Finally, people will occasionally play the “God told me” card to get us to do what they want us to do. This can be particularly true for those of us who serve as pastors. What better way to get the pastor to agree with my position than to tell him or her that God told me my position was what He wants to have done in the church?

Making time in our lives for intentional prayer is vital to developing this area of our lives, as is the increasing process of including God in our daily conversations whether self-talk or conversations we have with others. Indeed, prayer isn’t just one area of Life Management out of seven, but rather a vital part of every growing leader’s life.

As we reminded ourselves in a recent post, the unexamined life is not worth living, so take some time right now to ask yourself what part, if any, prayer plays in your schedule and in your day? Whatever the response, remember that a life well-managed will include an increasing awareness of God’s guidance and leadership, which means an increasing intentionality and participation in prayer.

Here’s to leading better by talking and listening to God–today!

The First Hour Of The Day

What do you do with the first waking hour of your day? Do you just try to get awake? Do you pray? Study (God’s word or anything else)? Exercise? Plan? If you study the lives of folks who have lead or are leading well in any area of life: business, politics, faith, or relationships, you find a common thread among most of them: they start the day strong. That start includes planning, prayer, and physical care. (I’m not generally an alliteration person, but it seemed to fit in this case.)

Planning first gives us the opportunity to consider what is most important in the short term: today and this week, and in the long term: this month and beyond. Steven Covey referred to it as “sharpening the saw.” I like this image, because I saw it put into action literally during my years working as a carpenter. Frank Fairman, my immediate boss during that time, always sat down at the start of each day and sharpened the blades on the circular saws we would be using that day. It would take about fifteen minutes, and he would always say that we would save much more than that during the day as we cut boards, because the saws would cut cleaner, faster and straighter. Without a doubt, when we start the day with planning, our days will be more effective. Even when those unexpected interruptions come, and perhaps particularly when they come, having taken the time to plan–and include margin–will make a major difference in our ability to handle and overcome them, and in living days that seem “cleaner, faster and straighter.”

Whether we plan then pray or pray then plan, the two actions go together for those of us who lead by following Jesus first. Prayer either guides our planning, or it takes what we’ve planned and filters it through the lens of God’s perspective. Either way it confirms or modifies what is truly important in our lives, and reminds us that if what we are planning to do is going to have ultimate significance it needs to flow from God’s guidance in our lives, rather than simply our own wisdom. When my life seems to be frazzled or disorganized, or just not as effective as I know it can be, I always pause and ask, “Am I praying and planning?” Generally, either one or both of those aspects of my life is out of alignment at those moments, and I need to put them back into the first hour of my days.

Physical care is one of those aspects of life that many consider a “luxury,” for which they don’t have time.  We say, “I’d exercise if I had time, but who has time for that?” Or “I know I need to eat better, but I don’t have time to PLAN what I eat.” Most of us have heard the saying, “Why is there never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over?” The question applies both to the matter of what we do with the first hour of the day, and with whether we exercise physical care in our lives or we don’t. Planning and prayer ensure not only that we will be more likely to do things right, but that we do the right things in the first place. The aspects of physical care I mentioned: exercise and eating well, are things we either do right, or we will eventually “do over” in the sense of needing to lose weight, take medication, etc… In my experience, when I invest time at the start of the day to exercise (either before or after I plan and pray), and at the start of the week to plan what I’m going to eat (and do this with Nancy) my overall life is much healthier.

You may be thinking: That all sounds like a lot of work! Yes, it is. But as we’ve been saying all along leading is work. It’s hard to be effective leaders and will cost us making great efforts to be get there. But the cost of being ineffective leaders is far great for our families, our businesses, our churches, or whatever area of life we lead. Self-leadership is the beginning of all effective leadership. That’s why the first hour of the day is so important!

Here’s to leading better, starting with the first hour of the day–today!

The Unexamined Life…

Thousands of years ago Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” His words related to his decision to end his life rather than remain in prison where he would not be able to reflect and consider all the facets of life. I have used his quotes many times in my life simply to remind myself that if I don’t stop to reflect on what is happening in and around my life, I will miss out on many times to grow as a person and leader.

This past weekend was a tremendous time of celebration at New Life Christian Ministries. As I noted in a post last week, I have never been good at pausing to celebrate the goodness of God, the “wins” of life, and the milestones reached along life’s way. This past weekend was a major step forward in that area for me, as we stopped on Friday evening–ALL evening–to celebrate God, each other, and what God has done in our fifteen years together as New Life. It was great to pause and remember the amazing sequence of events that brought New Life to existence, how God used a couple of people to increase my faith so Nancy, the girls and I would take the step of starting New Life. It was great to remember how many people came along side us from day one, and to see the hundreds of different people God has used to see that New Life has continued to not only exist, but thrive.

I am writing this post on the evening of July 4th. Nancy and I have taken most of the day since Abby left this morning to pause and celebrate what God has done in our lives and particularly what He did through the weekend. The community fireworks display we provided as the “cap” on the celebration weekend proved to surpass all of our expectations. People from the community gathered in large numbers to watch the display. Our parking lot and property were full for the event as more than 1,000 people joined us. I’m told the parking lot of the local primary center was full and that people lined Knoch road and another small business’ parking lot for the event. Everyone I saw was enthusiastic about the opportunity to pause and celebrate together.

I must remember this moment of examination on taking the time to celebrate, because it has helped me to see that celebrating is a great gift and blessing in life. Thanks to all who served in anyway at New Life’s 15th anniversary celebration. Thanks to all who participated in any way. Thank for helping me to realize once again that pausing to celebrate is one of the ways life is made richer and more meaningful. As I pause on a regular basis to examine my life, I’m going to remember to ask, “When was the last time I stopped to celebrate what God is doing in my life and in the lives of those around me?

Here’s to leading better, by pausing to examine our lives and learning from that examination–today!

Do For The One…

Over the past several years the church I serve as lead pastor has grown significantly. We now have more than a 1,000 people who call New Life their church home. While our staff has also grown significantly, which is a great blessing, one of the biggest challenges I face as a leader is that I can no longer interact with every person on a personal level. Some in my situation would suggest that you just have to settle for leading through others and recognize that at this point being a leader of leaders is my calling.

I agree with that assessment for the most part–for the most part. Several years ago, I heard Andy Stanley say that the time comes when an organization grows larger that leaders say, “Since I can’t do a particular thing for everyone, I won’t do it for anyone.” That seems “fair.” But Stanley contends there is a better approach. He stated that in such situations remember to “do for the one, what you cannot do for everyone.” That is incredibly helpful advice. I have applied it over the past year or so more than ever, and it has been a great blessing, not only to those with whom I have ministered, but also to me.

If you’re thinking, “That sounds good, but won’t the many people you aren’t interacting with one-on-one get upset?” Some will. Some people will get upset no matter what we do as leaders. Our goal is not to make people happy, but to make Jesus happy. It’s so important for us to remember that. I still make a hospital visit now and then, or sit down with someone who is struggling with their faith, or an important relationship to listen and share with them. The vast majority of the folks at New Life understand that I can’t give each of them that kind of attention. Those who don’t will probably be more comfortable in a small church, where the pastor serves more in a chaplain role than as a lead pastor. In my experience the people who get upset are people who have already been in church, since unchurched people don’t have many expectations of church leaders!

I learned a long time ago from John Maxwell that we are going to lose people. Maxwell contends we get to choose who we lose. In my experience he is right. I do my best not to lose folks who don’t yet know Jesus. After all, if a lost person leaves New Life without coming to know Jesus as Savior and Lord, they may never come to know Him. I also make time to meet with staff or other leaders in the church who serve in one of our ministries when they have important issues. Beyond that, I seek to listen to the Holy Spirit in every situation, and to say, “Yes,” to folks who request my help when there is a valid need and my schedule permits.

While it is hard to say, “No,” for many of us, as our church, business or organization grows we will have to do it, or risk not being of great use, when those moments come when we really could have made a difference. Remember, you can’t do everything for everyone, but you can do for one what you can’t do for all!

Here’s to leading better by leading one person in an area where you can’t lead everyone–today! (or soon!)

Taking Time To Celebrate…

This weekend we’ll be celebrating the 15th anniversary of New Life Christian Ministries, the church Nancy and I planted in April of 2001. While the anniversary was officially a couple of months ago, I suggested to our leadership team that we wait until summer to celebrate, because I have been notoriously bad at taking time to celebrate the wins over the years and I knew we needed to make a big deal about what God has done among us. In the past it’s always been, “Wow! Look at what God has been doing among us. Okay, let’s keep going!” Over the years, we’ve taken a moment to mention that it was the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th anniversary as the moments came and went. We said thanks to God for all He’s done, but we haven’t taken the time for an appropriate celebration of much of anything along the way.

We did have a grand opening when we moved into our “stage one” building at 139 Knoch Road, Saxonburg, PA back in 2013, but even as we were celebrating my mind was thinking about “stage two,” and “stage three.” This time it’s going to be different. We’re having a pig roast on Friday evening, July 1, and more than 500 people have signed up to join in the celebration. We’ll play games together, eat together, and then we’re going to take some time to watch a video collage of many of the moments and events from our first fifteen years. After that I’m going to share a number of memories and a few hopes for the future. Then we’ll close with a time of prayer during which we’ll praise God for who He is, and thank Him for all He has done.

We’re following Friday, with a weekend of “regular” worship gatherings on Saturday at 6:30 pm, and Sunday at 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30 am, but we’re holding them outside as we used to do in the summer months when our normal worship space was the local school and we could only gather at the church property during the warmer months. Then on Sunday night we’ve invited the community to join us for a professional fireworks display, honoring our country and celebrating the many blessings we have as Jesus’ followers.

I share this with you for two reasons: 1) If you live in the Saxonburg area, we’d love to have you join us for any or all of these celebrations! and 2) If you are a leader, I exhort you to take time on a regular basis to celebrate the wins, both small and large, because it’s far too easy to just keep the pedal to the metal and keep barreling forward. Not that we don’t all want to make progress as leaders–we do. It’s just that sometimes we need to stop, take a breath and say, “Thank you!” to God, to those who have joined us on the journey and who have helped make the wins happen. It also helps us remember why we exist and that a major part of our life together is celebrating the journey. The people you lead will thank you for making the commitment to celebrate. Your team’s morale will increase, and life will just be better. I wish I knew this from more consistent experience of celebrating myself, but in those relatively few times when we have paused to celebrate, I’ve always been reminded how important it is to make celebrating a priority. Starting this Friday, I’m going to do it more often.

Let’s lead better by taking time to pause and celebrate–today!

“SHAPEd” for Leadership!

One of the most important truths I have learned from Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church is the concept that each of us has a unique God-given “SHAPE” or design. The word SHAPE is in all caps because it is an acronym. The letters in shape stand for:  S-spiritual gift(s); H-heart (or passion); A-abilities; P-personality; and E-experiences. As leaders we need to know our SHAPE in order to lead effectively. Let’s take a brief look at each component of the SHAPE acronym.

S-spiritual gift(s). In order to have a spiritual gift or gifts one must be a follower of Jesus Christ. Once we have trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord and been “born again” to use Jesus’ terminology, His Spirit lives in us. The rebirth of which Jesus spoke is a spiritual birth, and it comes with spiritual gifts. The Apostle Paul lists a number of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. The key for this brief summary is to recognize that each of us has one or more spiritual gifts that we may use to increase our effectiveness as leaders. One of the spiritual gifts is the gift of leadership. While leadership skills may be learned, a person with the spiritual gift of leadership will have God’s ability to lead in his or her life, which will raise the leadership capacity and potential greatly. In the same way, the spiritual gift of compassion will cause a leader to be able to empathize with those she is leading, and that is boon to leadership.

H-heart (or passion). God gives each of us a heart or passion for certain types of people, or certain realities. For example, I have a heart for people who don’t yet know Jesus as Savior and Lord. One of the greatest opportunities in life to me, is the opportunity to speak with someone who has not heard of Jesus, or who has not trusted Him as Savior and Lord. Some folks have a heart for orphans, others for the elderly, others for pursuing justice for the poor. Whatever your God-given passion, when you exercise it in your life, you will have more commitment and persistence to lead in that area.

A-abilities. God has given each of us natural abilities. Some of us are good with spatial relationships. Others are good with mechanical processes, while still others are good with math, or grammar, or other academic endeavors. Some of us have natural physical abilities such as good hand-eye coordination, or the ability to run or jump. While many may discount these natural abilities, God uses them in our lives to enhance our leadership. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to use my carpentry skills on many occasions, both for my family, and in the various churches I have served. During construction projects at the various churches I’ve served, my knowledge and skill in construction processes has allowed me to interact with contractors and sub-contractors in meaningful ways that have allowed for better outcomes in those projects. Your natural skills and abilities will give you a richer capacity to lead as you use them effectively

P-personality. No two people have identical personalities. While each of us is primarily an extrovert or an introvert, the level of our extroversion or introversion lies on a spectrum from extreme extroversion at the one end, to extreme introversion at the other. Many other facets of personality have been identified and studied. Knowing our basic personality “type,” can help us lead more effectively in many ways. For example, I am an outgoing extrovert who tends to process the world around me intuitively and I respond best in non-structured environments. What that means is I’m a great idea person, but not such a great follow-through person. Therefore, in calling staff at New Life, particularly when we called an Executive Pastor, we called a person with a much more concrete view of life, who excels in process and follow through. Pastor Barry has been a great blessing to us in the relatively brief time he has been with us, because his personality compliments mine, and several other of our staff members who are helped by his more structured approach to life.

E-experiences. We all have countless experiences in life that can help us to become better leaders if we let them. Some of those experiences were quite painful. Others filled us with joy. Training experiences have enhanced our skills in various areas. Even the leadership experiences we’ve already been through inform how we lead today. It’s been said that God never wastes an experience in our lives, so we must not. What that means is sometimes things happen in life that hurt us deeply. We may not understand why we must endure such things in the moment, but down the road we find that the experience strengthened us to face another difficult situation, or prepared us to come alongside another person who is facing a similar difficulty.

In order for our SHAPE to help us be more effective leaders, we must first study ourselves to understand our shape. Once we know who we are, we need to let our strengths “lead.” In other words, if I worked really hard for the rest of my life to become better organized and to develop better follow through, I might one day become adequate in those areas. Far better for me to exercise my spiritual gift of leadership in casting vision for New Life, in training leaders and complementing my gifts with those of others who have strengths in areas of my weakness. At the end of the day, each of us must be willing to do whatever it takes to lead in our lives, but the more time we spend in leading in areas outside of our SHAPE, the less effective we will be. Our goal ought to be to surround ourselves with teams of folks who complement us and whom we complement with our SHAPE. In that way we will move the organization, company or church forward far more effectively than by seeking to do everything well.

Here’s to leading better by living out our SHAPE–today!

Leaders Worship!

I have a bias, which you have probably discovered by this point: I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. On my best days that reality colors everything I think, say and do. 2,000 years ago Jesus said that no one can serve two masters. He didn’t say it was difficult to serve two masters. He didn’t say it would be extremely difficult to serve two masters. He said it’s impossible. That means we must choose our master. In doing that we also choose who or what we worship. I chose to worship Jesus when I was twelve years old. (Some would say He chose me, and I have no argument with that.) I haven’t followed Him perfectly, or anything close to perfectly over the years. For a brief time in my teen years I even attempted to abandon following and worshiping Him.

It didn’t work out for me.

When I say it didn’t work out for me, I mean that I couldn’t NOT worship Jesus. I would say to myself, “I don’t believe there’s a God,” and then “shout” back, “Yes! I do believe there’s a God and He has revealed Himself to me in Jesus Christ.” I know many people have difficulty letting Jesus be their master, their owner, their Lord. So do I! It’s far easier to worship myself than Jesus. When Jesus said that no one could serve or worship two masters, He made it clear that the chief rival god would be “mammon,” which many modern translations render “money.” It’s a fairly good translation, since what Jesus was going for was the overall concept of material wealth and provision. For us the best representation of that pursuit, and therefore of that “god” is money.

Jesus told us that money would be the chief rival god, because it is so tangible, so measurable and we have been led to believe that it will purchase us everything we need: security, position, friends, and whatever else we value.  The truth of the matter when it comes to money is it’s a “dissatisfier.” What I mean by that is if we don’t have enough money to meet our needs, we will be dissatisfied, but we can never have enough money to be satisfied. Satisfaction doesn’t come from material things. It comes from relationships, and ultimately it comes from being in relationship with the one, true and living God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That’s why leaders worship–God.

We all worship something, whether we’re adherents of one of the world’s major or minor religions, or we claim to be atheists, in which case we will worship ourselves, or science, or some other invention of our minds. Everyone worships. The reason I contend that leaders worship God is because in order to be the best, most effective leaders we can be, we need to have as much wisdom as we can. God’s wisdom as found in the Bible has been demonstrated to be true over thousands of years and across cultures. We need authority to be leaders, and all authority is delegated. When we worship God, we are worshiping THE delegator of all authority. Jesus told His disciples that “all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Him.” From where? From His heavenly Father. That’s the kind of authority I want in my life, so I worship the source, and He shares it with me.

I don’t worship God solely, or even primarily, in order to get things: wisdom, authority, blessing, and every other good gift God gives. I worship God, because I have come to see that Jesus’ statement about masters is true: I CANNOT worship or serve more than one master. God is the best master. He does give wisdom, authority, blessing and every other good gift to those who love, worship and serve Him. From my experiences in places such as Cuba, Cambodia and Haiti I have seen first hand that people with virtually no worldly wealth can be far “wealthier” than Americans who have dedicated themselves to the worship and service of money. I have seen from a handful of Americans who lived their lives wholeheartedly for themselves, and then turned their lives over to God that there is no substitute for worshiping the living God in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

All this ties into leadership, because at the end of the day every leader has a “source” of his or her authority as a leader. It may be a title. It may be wealth. It may be tenure. It may be experience. The best source of authority for any leader is Jesus. Jesus demonstrated and initiated the model of “servant leadership,” which has been popularized sporadically in American business culture over the past several decades. Those who serve in churches and service industries may find servant leadership more appealing than those who work in businesses that are more geared to the “bottom line,” but the funny thing is all arenas of life work best when servant leadership is exercised, and then coupled with worship of the God from whom it derived. One day every knee will bow one day, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord either voluntarily or involuntarily, so why not do it NOW?

I know that’s a bold statement. It’s a statement of worship. I told you up front I have a bias. In every era of history, but the one in which we’re living now, thinking men and women have been able to hold a thought without agreeing with it, and still be civil toward one another. That is basically true in America today except when the thought being held is that Jesus Christ is the exclusive God of the universe who invites everyone to worship Him, and become part of His eternal family.

This is my twentieth post in twenty days. I have been clear that I am a follower of Jesus in a number of those posts. In the ones where I haven’t mentioned it explicitly, I haven’t hidden it. My goal is to help leaders lead better. Therefore, I cannot do otherwise than bring my faith in Jesus into the discussion, because He is the lens through which I view everything, including leadership. I will never bludgeon you with my faith, but neither will I hide it. I invite you to investigate it if you haven’t done so, and to do so without the commonly held preconceived biases about what is and isn’t possible in the natural world. After all if the God in whom I believe is the one true God then He created the natural world, and “invented” the natural laws that hold it together. Thus, by definition He comes from beyond the natural and isn’t bound by it.

Although I am a preacher, I don’t want to preach, so I’ll stop for today. I do urge you to be clear about who or what you worship and why. This will deepen your clarity as a leader, and as I said yesterday clarity always leads to greater effectiveness as a leader.

Here’s to becoming a better leader by worshiping the one true God–today!