During the month of January, we have been participating in a daily prayer emphasis at New Life Christian Ministries, the church I serve as lead pastor. I bring that up here, because all leaders have a “center” from which we lead. While not all leaders are men or women of faith, you know I come from that perspective and I wanted to talk about the impact this emphasis has had on my leadership, because I believe it is a transferable experience, and I want to commend it to you.
The process for the daily prayer has been simple. Each weekend our messages have focused on prayer, and each day Monday-Saturday we have opened the church building from 6:30-7:30 and invited folks to join us for a time of prayer. The response has been encouraging. Anywhere from 15-30 people have gathered each morning for the past three weeks, and after a brief time of welcome, reading a short Scripture and singing a song of praise, we have broken into small groups of three or four people and prayed together using prompts from a prayer guide I developed.
The results for me personally as a leader have been powerful. One of the most obvious impacts on me is the overall sense of well-being I’ve experienced throughout each day of the month. I start my days with my own time of prayer, and then go to the church and join with others for more prayer. After that, whatever I face my attitude is more positive and my commitment to work through each situation deeper. My tendency when challenges come up is to stop and turn to prayer, and those times of pause to gain insights from God have resulted in better decisions, and better follow through.
The benefit of joining with others from the church to prayer has also been deepened interpersonal relationships, and a greater sense of esprit de corps among us. The focused prayer guide has also helped us to literally be on the same page when it comes to New Life’s mission, and to focus our heads, hearts and hands in the same direction to fulfilling it. While some of this may not be directly transferable to a business setting, even a personal time of prayer, meditation, and reflection each day would result in some of these benefits, which is why I commend it to you.
Could you gather two or three others from your leadership team, or from the factory floor on a daily basis for that time of prayer, meditation and reflection, and would that impact your team’s overall attitude and commitment to the mission of the organization? Only you can answer that question, but I know it has had tremendous impact in ours.
While it is difficult to determine the exact correlation between the daily prayer times and the metrics of the organization, we have had the highest attended weekend worship services in the church’s history during January, which isn’t typically a time to see that kind of response. So far all indicators are more positive than at this time last year, and many by a great deal. In addition, when I have had the opportunity to speak on the weekends, I have had a more powerful sense of God’s presence in me than ever. Again, this may not be part of your worldview, but it has definitely been part of my experience, and I commend the principle of emphasizing the core or driving reality reality behind your organization in a concerted way as a means of leading more effectively.
Here’s to leading better by investing time to pray, meditate and reflect individually and together–today!