This week’s devotion came out of a moment that we are all faced with. You sit down to eat and without thinking you say “grace.” You have always prayed before meals (or at least pray when other Christians are around) and it’s usually the same prayer. “Lord, thank you for this meal, bless it to our body as nourishment in Jesus name.” Or something like that, but the point remains- somewhere down the line this act has become so normal that we have forgotten the root of thankfulness from which it derived.  God isn’t interested in our religious activity! In fact, it seems to really bother Him when we do things that seem “holy” , but our heart is not in the right place.

I think if you really consider what is being said here, you will discover that saying grace before a meal can really be the tip of the iceberg. Why do you tithe? Why do you go to worship services on Sunday? Why do you volunteer at your favorite charity? You see, all these things are amazing things and God loves when we do them, but He is not interested in the action itself, He is interested in the heart behind the action! The Bible time and time again points us back to being “thankful.” And sometimes over the course of one’s journey, we pick up religious habits that have no heart behind them what so ever. I know I had mine, but I wonder if you have considered what could be yours. Giving thanks at meal time has become a genuine time of appreciation in my home, but not just for the food- It’s one time of many in the day where we can say “Thank you” to God for who He is, and all that He’s done.  Where is your heart rooted today?

In the name of Jesus may it be so!

Download this week’s episode of Friend or Follower HERE or in the archive section to the right.

Think about someone who is an example of a visionary leader. Describe his or her personality. What is an example of a vision that he or she has cast that comes to your mind? 

Most of us are familiar with the biblical verse, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV) or as it is translated in the NIV, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.” 

A leader’s vision comes from “one part foresight, one part insight, plenty of imagination and judgment, and often, a healthy dose of chutzpah” (Burt Nanus quoted in Kindle locations 1261-68). Kouzes and Posner say that visions “flow from the reservoir of our knowledge and experience” (locations 1268-75). 

The authors make the point that Christian leaders cast visions but also that they function more by revelation than by vision. Or, that the visions that they cast are grounded in revelation. When they use the word vision they are revering “to what God has revealed and promised about the future. The visions that drive spiritual leaders must be derived from God” (locations 1337-43). Christian leaders move their groups forward in ways that are intentionally grounded in biblical foundations. 

There are two methods by which leaders communicate vision: by using symbols and by telling stories.Examples of leaders who used symbols are Mahatma Ghandi who used the spinning wheel as a symbol of how people became economically self-sufficient and Winston Churchill who used and upraised hand making the sign of a V for victory. The Bible is an entire book of stories about and for God’s people. Good public speakers also, always captivate us with their stories. 

“The role of spiritual leaders is not to dream up dreams for God, but to be the vanguard for their people in understanding God’s revelation” (locations 1599-1607). 

What kinds of dreams or visions have been on your mind lately? How might these visions be understood to be expressions of God’s revelation for you and others? 

The purpose of this blog is to review excerpts from books that I view as making an impact for improving leadership in church ministry. The link below is to encourage readers to Buy the Book: Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby. Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda (Broadman & Holman, 2001). Quotes are referenced to Kindle locations rather than page numbers. The blog format begins and ends with questions that are suitable for use by accountability and discussion groups. You can buy this book by clicking on the following link.     http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Leadership-Moving-People-Agenda/dp/0805418458 

I wonder how most people in your church define leadership. What do they think of when you hear the word leadership? What do you think of when you hear the word leadership?

Blackaby and Blackaby are interested in describing leadership from God’s perspective. They say, “This book will look at contemporary leadership principles in light of scriptural truth (Kindle locations 323-30). According to the authors, “Leadership is moving people on to God’s agenda.” (496-502). They give other definitions as well. I like those of Barna, Clinton, and Drucker.

• “A Christian leader is someone who is called by God to lead; leads with and through Christlike character; and demonstrates functional competencies that permit effective leadership to take place.” (Barna quote, 434-42)
• “The central task of leadership is influencing God’s people toward God’s purpose.” (Clinton quote, 442-49)
• “Popularity is not leadership. Results are.” (Drucker quote, 471-78)

Which definition or definitions of leadership do you like prefer? What are the key words or phrases that you are willing to commit yourself to as a basis for a personal working definition of leadership? The purpose of this blog is to review excerpts from books that I view as making an impact for improving leadership in church ministry. The link below is to encourage readers to Buy the Book: Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby. Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda (Broadman & Holman, 2001). Quotes are referenced to Kindle locations rather than page numbers. The blog format begins and ends with questions that are suitable for use by accountability and discussion groups. You can buy this book by clicking on the following link.     http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Leadership-Moving-People-Agenda/dp/0805418458

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9 (NIV)

What is a good concept, idea, fact that you cling to or have learned recently? What factors have contributed to it sticking with you?

 The book Made to Stick is about helping to make ideas stick. It is about traits that can help make our ideas be understood, remembered and make a lasting impact… ideas that change an audience’s opinions or behaviors. (133-40)

There are six principles of sticky ideas (229-95). They make that acronym SUCCESs.

• Simple (core)
• Unexpectedness
• Concreteness
• Credibility
• Emotions
• Stories

 The six principles help us deal with “The curse of knowledge… once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it.” (325-32)

 Which of the principles seem most helpful to you for making your ideas stick?

Are there any ideas that you want to communicate for which this book may be helpful? Which ones?

The purpose of this blog is to review excerpts from books that I view as making an impact for improving leadership in church ministry. The link below is to encourage readers to Buy the Book: Chip and Dan Heath Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Random House, 2007). Quotes are referenced to Kindle locations rather than page numbers.

The blog format begins and ends with questions that are suitable for use by accountability and discussion groups. You can buy this book by clicking on the following link. http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287

 

 

"Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (Romans 121-2, The Message)

We need to have perspective on learning that extends beyond an individual's knowledge of facts. Learning involves life change (transformation) and it typically takes place in a context of community. There is a cycle or process to learning. Looking at it in the life of Jesus, we see evidence of at least three steps. (The Leader's Journey. Herrington, Creech, Taylor, p. 145).

• Information: knowledge and mastery of facts and concepts. Jesus taught by means sermons and parables (Matthew 5-7)
• Practice: activities and engaging in new behaviors. Jesus sent his followers to practice what they were learning (Luke 10:1-16)
• Reflection: thinking about information, concepts, activities and behaviors and their implications. Jesus asked questions of his followers that caused them to reflect and respond. (Luke 10:17-24)

In addition to information, practice, and reflection, learning that is described in Scripture, most normally is in the context of community or a learning communities. By "a learning community," we mean a significant set of relationships among people who are mutually and interactively on a transformation journey and who provide a source of objectivity , accountability, and wisdom for one another (p. 170). So where are you in your own understanding of what learning is?

 Viewing learning and learning communities in the above terms causes us to ask the following kinds of questions.

• What is an example of something that you have learned that has involved information, practice, and reflection?
• Who have been the people in your life who have made an impact on your learning? How did they do this?
• What do you think about learning and learning communities?

Groups, just like individuals, have personalities of their own. And, in ways that are similar to the need for all body parts to support the health and functioning of the whole body, groups are dynamic, living systems made up of a variety of components, each of which is instrumental in helping or hurting, healing or hindering the character, purpose and functioning of the whole (1 Cor. 12:12-31, see also 6:15, 10:16, Rom. 12:4-8, Eph. 1:22-23, 4:4, 12-16, 5:23, Col 1:18, 24). The book (A Leader's Journey. Herrington, Creech, and Taylor) illustrates living systems with the way birds fly in formation and are able to change path in unison. Another example is to think of a group as a mobile, pulling on one part causes movement of all the individual parts and the whole. The point is that the church is a group and consequently, it is a living system.

 A living system involves a group of individuals who are emotionally connected with one another in long-term, intense, and significant relationships. The interaction, anxiety, and behaviors of each person affects the others and the group as a whole.

The way in which living systems relate to leadership is that "leadership always takes place in the context of a living system, and the system plays by a set of observable rules." (p. 30) Following are a few of the factors related to leadership of living systems.

Emotional maturity is largely seen in differentiation of self, the capacity to offer a thoughtful response rather than reacting emotionally, the ability to remain connected to important people in our lives without having our behavior and reactions determined by them. (34)

Anxiety is our response to threat, whether real or perceived. The response is physiological; it it chemical. It occurs as a result of brain activity that is outside our awareness. We never even have to think about it. (35) Acute anxiety is our reaction to a threat that is real and time-limited. Chronic anxiety is the threat being imagined or distorted, rather than real. Therefore, chronic anxiety, is not time-limited and does not go away easily. (35)

Individuality involves the leader needing to express her or his God-given uniqueness and for making his or her own choices. It comes from the inside out.

Togetherness involves the leader's need of others and being sensitive to the needs of others, choosing to serve them. It reflects our calling to community and looks at groups from the outside in.

Viewing church leadership from the living systems perspectives involves staying connected with others and influencing them in positive directions without being manipulated by them. Leaders look for ways to disengage and guide the system in ways that foster their own emotional growth and stability as well as that of the group and its members. Emotional maturity, self differentiation, and calming behaviors are all powerful factors in leading others, especially in the church.

 As leaders, we want to ask ourselves questions like the following.

• What is my level of emotional maturity?
• What role does anxiety play in my life and how to I deal with it?
• What are the living systems in my life (family, previous groups, the church), how have they impacted me, and how do I tend to function as a result of them?
• What is the importance of individuality and togetherness in my life and relationships as a leader?
• How have I chosen to minister within the living systems of which I am a part?

 

 

 

 

The daily challenge is not only to know and do what is right. It is also to know and do what he or she must, not because someone else tells him or her or in response to an emotional situation, but because of an inner knowledge that it is right and should be done. The challenge is for the decision to come from within leaders... from their values, principles, or convictions; rather than to please others or be overly influenced by emotional reactions. It is the capacity to take a stand based on emotional and psychological maturity and is referred to as self differentiation. (The Leader's Journey. Herrington, Creech, Taylor, pp. 18-25)

 Self differentiation is the ability to define ourselves and control our behaviors on the basis of internalized principles while respecting the ways in which others define themselves as well. Self differentiation may include the ability to

• steer one's own course in the turbulent waters of a living system
• allow the life and teaching of Jesus to serve as one's compass rather than emotional responses of others
• be a less anxious presence in the midst of other's anxieties
• take responsibility for one's own emotions and feelings, rather than expecting others to deal with them
• know the difference between thinking and feeling

For me, the concept of self differentiation as it relates to the life of Jesus is first evident in Luke 2:49 when his response to his parents was, "didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house?"

The kinds of questions that I ask myself about self differentiation (from the list on page 25) are

• How well do I take responsibility for my own emotions?
• How well am I doing at growing a belief system that is truly my own? Do I have clear life goals?
• How well am I able to express my own beliefs to others without demanding that they accept them, defining my self nonreactive, taking an "I" position?

 

 

The Leader's Journey(Herrington, Creech, Taylor) describes three beliefs about personal transformation: It happens best... 

• as an inside-out process of committing to obey Christ.
• in the context of a loving community that extends grace and truth.
• when we develop a reflective lifestyle. (pp.6-12)

The authors then ask self-assessment questions. (p. 13) What has changed about you in the past year? the past five years? the past ten years? What are your personal beliefs about how transformation takes place in a person's life? How would you describe the kind of changes you'd like to see take place in your life? In what way would you like things to be different?

I'm thinking about these questions. For one thing, I need to be more involved in implementing my plans for a nonformal approach to developing ministry leaders. How about you?

 

 

Welcome to this Elgg installation.