Category: Leading through the Church

Welcome to fall! If you’re anything like me, you’re wondering how in the world it’s fall already. We’re nearly three-quarters of the way through 2016, and time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future… Anyway, the first day of fall is a great day to stop and make an assessment of what you’re going to do for the next three months. What is the number one goal you have for your personal leadership and for your corporate leadership? Is there an area in your personal life that needs to be addressed so you can move forward in every area of your life? Yesterday we took the time to reflect on the recent past–summer. Today we’re taking the time to ponder about the immediate future–fall.

While one of the dangers of reflection and pondering is that we fail to live fully in the present, another danger is that we are unable to live fully in the present, because we haven’t learned from the past or planned the future. Drifting through life is not an option for leaders, because drifting isn’t leading. On the other hand, dwelling on the past, focusing on the “if only’s” of our lives keeps us anchored to the past and unable to move forward. When I start to walk down the rabbit trail of “if only”–if only I hadn’t made that decision, if only I had built that relationship, if only… you get the idea, my focus becomes the rear view mirror of my life, and I don’t lead. Make sure the if only’s of your life don’t become the focus of your life.

When I look to the future with a “what if” mindset, in the negative sense of “what if” I can also become paralyzed. For example, if I’m constantly asking: What if the economy turns south? What if that decision I made doesn’t produce the results I’m counting on it to produce? What if…the list goes on and on. When I camp in the what ifs as I think about the future that season is not going to produce the results it could.

So, here we are on September 22, 2016, the first day of fall. Have you already planned this next quarter? Have you reflected effectively on summer and gleaned the information from that reflection that has allowed you to celebrate the wins, debrief the losses and glean the information that will allow you not to make the same mistakes again, and recognize that 90% of the quarter was simply showing up and persevering through the relationships and processes necessary to move your life, family and work place forward? If yes, then learn from the past, live today fully and plan for the future. If no, there’s no better time than today to sit down and do a postmortem on summer, and set forth a few plans for fall based on what you find.

Notice I wrote “…set forth a few plans for fall…” My tendency is always to assume I can accomplish far more in a day than I can, but to underestimate how much I can do in a season or a year. Whatever your tendency remember that failing to plan is planning to fail. That reminder has helped me so many times, because I am not a planner by nature. Today and yesterday’s posts are at least as much for me as they are for any of you. When I challenge you with Socrates’ quote about the unexamined life not being worth living on a regular basis that is as much for my benefit as for yours. I want each of us to be the best leader we can be, and taking the time to look back at the end of a season, and forward at the beginning of a new one will help each of us do just that.

Here’s to leading better, by looking forward–today!

Today’s post is an extension of yesterday’s on the topic of life planning. A big part of life planning is developing a rhythm of work and rest. Whether you’re a follower of Jesus or not, the importance of developing that work–rest or work–Sabbath rhythm can’t be overstated. We all know folks who think that the most productive people are those who work seven days a week and push through for fifteen hours a day. Certainly that approach will accumulate a great many hours in a much shorter time than if we work six days a week or even five, and work only eight to ten hours a day.

The question is: To what end? In other words if you work 105 hours each week and I work only 40-50 will you be more than twice as effective as meet, twice as successful, twice as happy? No one can answer that question definitively, but this much we can say: Working 105 hour weeks for weeks on end will almost surely create a level of stress in your body and your soul that even if sustainable will short-circuit your long-term health and perhaps longevity.

I am in the midst of a two-week span where I will be working many more hours than normal, probably 85-90 hours each week. I am doing that intentionally, because our church is preparing for a major initiative to press forward with a building construction process. While I typically limit the number of meetings beyond the daily staff and planning meetings to two or three each week, during these two weeks I’m leading additional meetings four or five evenings during each of these two weeks, one on Sunday and several one-on-one meetings as well. As I said I’m doing this intentionally. When I did my annual planning, I scheduled a week of vacation following these two weeks, because I knew I would need some rest, some Sabbath to be renewed and refreshed after this time.

You may be thinking: That’s great for you, but I can’t schedule vacation any time I want to schedule it. My company tells me when to take time off. Fair enough. When that’s the case, you can still schedule your work rhythm to include some extra time of rest after a push time by taking a Saturday as a true Sabbath rather than as a day to check items off of your home improvement schedule. When I came back from Cambodia a couple of weeks ago, I had a project waiting for me in my basement. I am finishing my home office, and my list included painting the walls, installing the door, grouting the ceramic tile I installed before I left for the trip, putting on the floor trim and crown moulding, and then moving my furniture into the room. In my mind, I would get all of that done the weekend after I returned.

What has actually happened is I have painted the walls with primer. I’m behind on the project, but I have needed to get other things accomplished, and I have needed to rest. One of the hardest things for me to do in life planning is to get enough sleep, and to take intentional time for Sabbath for rest, renewal and reflection on a weekly basis. That has been made doubly challenging by the schedule I’m maintaining these two weeks and that my sleep rhythm hasn’t yet returned to normal after returning from Cambodia. I’m still waking up daily at about 3:00am, which makes getting enough rest impossible.

I’m not complaining, simply stating the reality of my life. Your reality is different, but undoubtedly you have times when life is crazy and your sleep is disrupted. What do we do then? The key is to be intentional. Today is my Sabbath. I happen to have both a wedding and a wedding rehearsal this afternoon, which means my Sabbath is going to be interrupted. I have determined to take a little extra time tomorrow to rest and be refreshed. Sabbath means more than just resting. Sabbath is a time to focus on God (for those of us who believe in Him) and His glory and presence in our lives. It’s a time to be renewed and refreshed in bodies, souls and spirits. I will invest some time in reading the Bible as well as a leadership book I’m most of the way through: The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni. I’ll invest some time with Nancy. We’ll catch up with each other. Depending on the whether we may pull some weeds in the flower garden, which is a mindless activity that lets me use my hands, since I work with my mind and heart all week. It also allows us to talk about our lives and what is important in them right now.

The concept of Sabbath has nearly been lost in our culture, but if you are going to be a great leader over the long haul, you must invest time in your life plan to rest, reflect and be renewed. That time is like the lumberjack taking time to sharpen his ax, so it will be ready for the next tree he has to fall. When I was a young man, my Mom used to tell me, “You can’t burn the candle at both ends.” I would respond, “It depends on how long the candle is.” A couple of decades ago, I heard Rick Warren say, “The one who burns the candle at both ends isn’t as bright as he thinks he is.” Amen. That’s a difficult lesson to learn, but a lesson that will enhance our success and our significance over the long haul.

Here’s to leading better, by taking time to plan and live out Sabbath in our lives–today!

[Have a blessed weekend! Be with you on Monday.]

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from mission trips in general, but from the recent Cambodia trip in particular, is: when it’s over, it’s just beginning. For example, during the trip I was reminded of how much I take simple blessings for granted. When I get up and brush my teeth in the morning, I generally take for granted that I can rinse my toothbrush and my mouth with the water from the sink. I couldn’t do that in Cambodia. That gives me an opportunity to thank God every time I brush my teeth. If you aren’t a follower of Jesus, you may be thinking, “That’s silly.”

Whether you follow Jesus or not, it’s still a great reminder that we are so blessed or have life so much better or easier than so many others in the world. I could add to the simple example of brushing one’s teeth with tap water, having a hot shower everyday; having food that doesn’t make me sick at every meal; having a clean, modern toilet; and the list goes on. You may not think any of these things matter, but that’s probably because you take them for granted. Living without any combination of these conveniences for a couple of weeks always helps me remember that I am a blessed person, and starting from that position puts me in a grateful frame of mind. Countless studies have shown that whether one is a follower of Jesus or not, gratitude is an attitude that enhances one’s overall capacity to live and lead.

Another reminder I’ve been given every time I’ve gone on a cross-cultural mission experience is how much I take it for granted that I can communicate effectively, because everyone understands my language, and how much I expect others to speak English. What does that have to do with leadership? It’s impossible to lead without communication. While no one can learn the language of every culture one will visit, as Americans most of us have not sought to learn any other language. I don’t mean that we have taken a couple of years of Spanish, German or French in high school, I mean that we have taken communicating in another language seriously.

Every time I go to Cuba where they speak the language I took in high school and college, I’m reminded that had I continued to practice Spanish over the past year, I would be able to communicate with everyone, and not only the ones who have taken it upon themselves to learn my language. I can communicate well enough to get by in Spanish, but with a little effort on a daily basis from now until this coming February, I will be able to communicate well in Spanish, not just well enough. I make that commitment every time I come back from Cuba, but somehow life has always seemed to get in the way.

I just set out the remainder of my September schedule yesterday and it includes studying Spanish six days each week. My trip to Cambodia reminded me once again me how important communicating in the indigenous language of a people is, since I couldn’t do it at all there. I haven’t added learning Khymer to my schedule, because I don’t have time to learn a whole new language that is nothing like English. I do have time to become truly bilingual, and to be prepared to communicate in dozens of additional countries, and to communicate with visitors to our country whose primary language is Spanish.

While in Cambodia, I was reminded once again how important it is to start my day with time in prayer and reflection, and to rely on God throughout the day. The biggest reason for that is the pace of life is so much “slower” there. I put slower in quotes, because I’m not sure that’s the right word to describe the difference. What I mean is the technology I’m used to having doesn’t work as well there, because I didn’t pay for all the upgrades to make it work. I didn’t have the routine of life I have here to follow, and in a number of the areas we visited life was slower. Now that I’m home, I’ve been making efforts to wake up early (not hard with the adjustment from the eleven hour time difference) and invest the first part of my day, whether a half an hour or an hour with God. I’ve sought to check my technology less often. I’ve sought to “take a breath” and simply let life come at me at a slower pace. This is hard. It also makes life much more effective.

I could name many other aspects of my life that are being impacted since coming back from Cambodia, from the way I am relating to those around me, to the people in Cambodia for whom I’m praying more fervently. The point is simple: leaving my everyday life and routine for a couple of weeks and living in a vastly different culture helps me to consider, which of the aspects of my everyday life and routine add value to me and those I lead, and which do not. Then the challenge is to determine what to do about that. Do I adjust what I do? Do I adjust how I do what I do? Do I eliminate some of the things I do? Those questions cause me to examine my life, and as our friend Socrates reminded us so long ago, that is a major key to a life worth living. I would add it is a major key to becoming ever more effective leaders.

Here’s to leading better by examining what we do and why–today!

Thanks for rejoining me after my time away in Cambodia. I learned a number of leadership lessons during the trip, and that will be the content of my posts this week. The first lesson I learned is that a team is better than an individual. I already knew that from my prior life experience, but I haven’t been to Cambodia with a team from New Life before, and the experience was incredible. We had an eight member team including me. I was “wearing two hats” on the trip, because I’m the lead pastor of New Life, and also a member of the Southeast Asia Prayer Center (SEAPC), the organization that sponsored the trip. I had some official duties in my SEAPC board member capacity, which kept me away from the team for several days, so it would have been easy for them to be upset, especially because none of them had been to Cambodia before, and several had never been on a mission trip before. Instead, each of the team members put the mission’s purpose first, and worked together effectively whatever the task set before them.

The biggest reason the team was better than me going by myself is because now eight people at New Life have a first hand understanding of what’s happening through our mission in Cambodia. They will be great ambassadors for the mission, and their experiences shared with others at New Life will help everyone to have both a better understanding and deeper commitment to the work.

In addition, the team accomplished so much more than I would have been able to do myself. We had two primary “tasks” for this particular trip: 1) Help lead a “Kids’ Kamp” for 400 Cambodia orphans; and 2) Do repair work on one of the orphanages where the children live. Obviously, having eight team members gave us the ability to accomplish so much more than one person could have done. It also freed me to participate in several important meetings in my capacity as an SEAPC board member, including a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia. Without the team, it would have been an either/or opportunity rather than a both/and.

As you reflect on these differences, think how they may apply in your workplace, church or other organization. It’s tempting to be “Lone Rangers” in our efforts, because everyone knows if you want something done right it’s best to do it yourself. That may well be true if you are the best person at the task, for that particular task, but if the goal is to multiply our impact, then a Lone Ranger approach is only minimally effective. After all, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto, and even they could only address one situation at a time. Having a team gives us the ability to multiply both our skills and our efforts.

Let me make one final point today regarding the benefits of team, and that is a distinction between a team and a committee or a collection of individuals. A collection of individuals may all have great gifts, skills and abilities, but they won’t multiply the impact of the group, because they’re working for themselves. A committee is a group of people with a common purpose, but often that purpose is more the maintenance of a particular effort rather than the effective completion of a vision or task. In a team, the individuals submit their gifts, skills and abilities to one another in order to accomplish the vision or task at hand. Cooperation and communication are key components of accomplishing the vision and task and the group is committed to one another.

I had that experience in Cambodia in so many ways. The team went to serve Jesus and submitted itself to Him. In practical terms that meant the team accepted leadership from those who were in charge of the projects they undertook. Whether that was Pastor Sinai, the SEAPC Cambodia director, or one of the area directors for the area of Kid’s Kamp to which each team member was assigned, or to the project director at the orphanage where repairs were done, the team members submitted themselves to the appropriate authority and much was accomplished as a result.

As you go about your work today, I hope you will consider the multiplying impact of teamwork, and then implement it into areas where it will make an impact.

Here’s to leading better, by working together–today!

Hi Everyone! As I mentioned last week, New Life’s Mission is to share, grow and live the new life of Jesus Christ with the world–one person at a time. I’ll be out of the country this week as I complete two weeks serving on a mission in Cambodia as a way of setting a leadership example in fulfilling that mission. As Bill Hybels always says: speed of the leader, speed of the team, so I make it a point to take at least one of the country mission trip each year, where I can share, grow, and live the new life of Jesus with folks of another land.

Please, pray for God to use me to encourage the orphans with whom I’ll be investing time the first several days, and for wisdom when I have the opportunity to lead as a guest in that beautiful nation.

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