Passion Burns Within » leadership

Opened with Expectation and Closed in Profit

Passionburnswithin — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:18:36 +0000

That is a good book which is opened with
expectation and closed in profit.
~ Amos Bronson Alcott ~

To really get your leaders on board with the vision that God has given you you are going to have to shape not only their thoughts but how they form them. Through the years countless books have been written on the church and what is going on inside and out. Most ministers/pastors devote a great deal of time to reading these books along with their normal Bible Study routine. Through these avenues we find inspiration and God begins birthing visions based on what hHe is revealing to us through these combinations of Scripture and teachings.

Here is the problem

Most church lay leaders are not deep in their Word much less reading other books about the church and culture so when we go to those leaders with a completed vision it is like we are talking an alien language. So in the process once the vision is developed we will go back from the beginning

1. Take your leadership into a deep study of the Scriptural foundations of what the church is and what the church should be doing. It has to all start in Scripture. As your leaderships sees you delving into Scripture and see the fundamental components of what you are leading them into their minds, eyes and hearts will be opened and they will be ready for the next step

2. Assign your leadership to read what you have read. As they read what inspired you they will start to glean terminology and methodology and see what roads you are going down this will prepare them to go even farther.

3. Discuss the readings with your team. These discussions will help you direct the ideas that are forming in your team’s minds and it will plant concepts that God has already birthed in you but in smaller form than the completed vision.

In this way once you have laid the groundwork then the vision casting will unfold with more acceptance and excitement. As you talk they will understand and identify and they will feel connected enough to support the vision. Ultimately setting up a more successful task and satisfied leadership.

Tomorrow I will identify another way we can build our leadership.

They Don’t Think Like You

Passionburnswithin — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:27:30 +0000

One of the biggest mistakes that I have seen church leaders make is to walk into a situation and assume that the people who they are leading are on the same page. This tends to lead to conflict and confusion down the road when the leader starts moving in a direction that no one understands at best and no one supports at worst. The resulting domino effect is both heart wrenching and head pounding. This can be avoided, to some extent, with the proper preparation and cultivation. I want to cover some principles in the next couple of posts.

1. Understand that while you may be God’s called leader don’t assume that everyone will follow you solely or recognize your leadership. The church is complex and while you may be in a leadership position it takes many people leading to get a congregation moving in the same direction. Your church may be elder led or deacon led or staff led but the key is that whoever is in your circle is leading other people. If they support you they will lead others to support you. But to be able to support you they must understand and buy into what you are doing. Remember they do not think like you. They are not inside your head. You bear the responsibility of communicating not only your vision but the building blocks of your vision.

It is awesome to have a idea burdening your heart develop the vision and then cast it. It is quite discouraging, however, to see a bunch of blank faces staring back at you after you are finished. What is possibly a more effective approach is to take the idea develop it and then go back to what sparked the idea. And walk your leaders through it slowly. If they can see each step along the way they will not feel lost, in fact they will feel included and invested int he idea and they will in turn sell it to the people that look to them for leadership.

Tomorrow I will discuss some ways that you can cultivate the thoughts in your leadership.

UNleash Mind Dump (Part 2)

Passionburnswithin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:18:27 +0000

I was supposed to do this yesterday but I took the day off and spent some quality time with my wife which was much needed. I probably have never said this here but my wife ROCKS (and is hot to boot)

Ok here it goes

God can give you a sloppy wet kiss or a big fat kick….it’s his prerogative
If you are a pastor every week the rocks are coming…people will want to stone you
Acts 14:8-10 Paul heals a man—- that is a Great day in ministry
Be careful listening to the crowd. Those that deify will crucify
Acts 14:11-19 Paul is stoned— Yeah pretty much a bad day in ministry
Acts 14:20 Paul continues on—-Call to every pastor
They stoned Paul…..the pastor…not any of the support staff….the Pastor

3 Rocks that are thrown

Deception
- Pastors you do NOT have to do everything
- The Bible says those that will not work are LAZY but those who will not rest are DISOBEDIENT
- The second most abused person in the church is the Pastor’s wife
- Pastor Jesus doesn’t need you to love HIS bride he needs you to love YOURS
- Pastor you will never impress your wife with your job performance…
Distraction
- Churches have a lot of agendas other than Jesus
- God is not green….. Kermit is
- Pastors, your people can believe in you and go to hell or believe in Jesus and be saved
- God can use us because we were barren and worthless and He could receive the most glory from us
- Pastor you will never impress your wife with your job performance…
Discouragement

3 words to remember

Awareness
- We make mistakes because we are unaware
Unity
- We have too many HUGE Understandings in the church
- Lead with integrity be who God called you to be not some stereotype
- Get big vision from God stop trying to push yours
- Listen to your staff they are called to do their jobs not to have you do it for them
- Keep short accounts do not hold on to bitterness
- Make expectations clear and realistic
- Honor your staff’s time they have families too
Passion
- If you can’t support the vision of your church get off the team
- If your pastor is disobedient then let God cut him down (that is HIS job)
- When a pastor has staff and leadership that gather around him he will be able to get up no matter what stones have hit him

The Difference Maker

Passionburnswithin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:43:33 +0000

I saw a commercial for a new Kenmore washing machine the other night and it brought back memories of some early days working the floor in the Hardware and Tools Dept at SEARS. In those days SEARS was beginning a downhill slide and I left right before a major shake up of management and corporate structure occurred. Working there taught me an appreciation for retail and coupled with other various jobs I held I can no longer enter any retail establishment without critiquing everything from store layout to cleanliness to customer service. One thing that I have noticed that sets stores that I love to stores that I hate is what I term as “the difference maker”. ”The difference maker” is loosely defined as the ingenuity and motivation and innovation to do something that no one else is doing and to do it better than anyone else can. Which brings me back to the Kenmore commercial. It has only been recently that I have seen commercials for this brand that have been for products that seem innovative. I remember when I worked for SEARS Kenmore products had the reputation of being good but they were non-descript or bland. They were simply a copy cat. The other brands were more expensive but were offering new technology and were beating out the Kenmore products. That is, at least in my store. I don’t know facts and figures for that time or now so don’t come back at me with them I am giving testimony from where I was at. The point is now they are making it known that they are innovating new products and are trying to position themselves as a leader int he market.

I said all of that to make this point. How many churches simply blend into the background and are nothing special. They simply get by as a cheap imitation of someone else and because of that they are often passed over by the people who want the best. Let’s not fool ourselves, there is one body of Christ but there are enough choices for a person to make in where to worship and co-labor with that someone can be picky. If the church up the road is really reaching out and really making a difference why would I go over here to the inward focused do-it-the-same-as-always church. As church leaders we should be finding our “difference maker” the thing that sets us apart and makes us unique and valuable to the Kingdom and its work. When we find it we should pursue it and never look back only look ahead.