Do you feel strong today?

This simple thought could change the way you approach your week.

I was taught (like many of us) to work on my areas of weakness. Now, I’m not talking about character flaws, I’m talking areas where I’m really not that good. It’s almost second nature to look at areas of weakness and want to improve. After all, nobody likes to feel like a failure… Right?

Marcus Buckingham said something that changed my whole perspective on strengths and weaknesses. He said that a strength, essentially, is any area that when you’re done doing it, it makes you feel strong. (Paraphrased)

The truth is that your greatest area of improvement lies not in your greatest areas of weakness but in your greatest area of strength.

Think about this… Tom Brady (quarterback for the New England Patriots) is not a great scrambler. Now he could really work on becoming more mobile and he will probably see some improvement in his scrambling ability - but he’ll never be Michael Vick. What makes Tom Brady great is his accuracy and decision-making ability (especially under pressure). That’s why he gets paid millions upon millions of dollars. His greatest areas of strength are what make him an asset to his team.

Question for the week: What percentage of your time is spent in areas of your greatest strength? What is one thing you can do, starting this week, to make sure you spend more of your time in the areas of your greatest strengths?

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Want To Be a Better Leader?

Leaders are ____________.

What comes to mind? Influencers, world-changers, innovators, egocentric, power-hungry… Many times our association with leaders has more to do with personality quirks or individual leaders rather than really what it means to be a leader.

Being a leader can mean many different things to many different people. But when it comes down to becoming a better leader it comes down to only one thing:

To become a better leader you must crave the humility found in learning from any source.

Leaders are readers. Too bad not all readers are leaders…

I started to think about all the books I have read (or reread*) in the last year and a half… (not in any particular order and just because it’s listed does not necessarily mean that I enjoyed the read)

  • Communicating for Change* - Stanley
  • Six Thinking Hats - De Bono
  • Sticky Church - Osborne
  • Boundaries in Marriage - Cloud & Townsend
  • God’s Timing For Your Life - Sheets
  • Lean Ministry - Duffert
  • Breakout Churches - Rainer
  • The Disciple-Making Church - Hull
  • Doctrine - Driscoll
  • Prodigal God - Keller
  • Blessed Life - Morris
  • Tale of Three Kings* - Edwards
  • 7 Practices of Effective Ministry* - Stanley
  • Quitter - Acuff
  • Strengths Based Leadership - Rath
  • Strengths Finder 2.0* - Rath
  • Steve Jobs - Issacson
  • Addicted to Love - Berrios
  • Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts - Griffith & Easum
  • Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century - Malphurs
  • Everyday Absurdities - Stanton
  • Bringing Up Girls - Dobson
  • Jolt - Cooke
  • Weird - Groeschel
  • Reverse Mentoring* - Creps
  • Tales of the Revolution - Godin
  • Think Orange - Joiner
  • Untitled - Hogan
  • Church Planter - Patrick
  • The King Jesus Gospel - McKnight
  • We Are All Weird - Godin
  • Go Big - Easum
  • Leadership is Dead - Kubicek
  • The Me I Want to Be - Ortberg
  • The Dirty Little Secret - Gross
  • Love Wins - Bell 
  • Graceful - Godin
  • Poke the Box - Godin
  • Practicing Greatness - McNeal
  • The Volunteer Revolution - Hybels
  • Sun Stand Still - Furtick
  • The Land Between - Manion
  • First Impressions - Waltz
  • It* - Groeschel
  • Choosing to Cheat* - Stanley
  • Linchpin - Godin
  • Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting - Malphurs
  • 11 - Sweet
  • The Coming Economic Armageddon - Jeremiah
  • Growing True Disciples - Barna

I’m sure I’m missing some, I mean, it has been a year and a half… However, I just feel I need to clarify something. I was never a big reader. I started by committing to read 1 book a month many years ago. Now, I have read in less than 18 months what used to take me almost 5 years to read. Again readers are not necessarily all leaders. But all leaders are readers.

Right now I’m in the process of reading…

  • Platform - Hyatt
  • Exponential - Ferguson
  • Put Your Dream to the Test - Maxwell
  • Necessary Endings - Cloud
  • How to Change Your Church (Without Killing It) - Mellado
  • Rediscovering Church - Hybels
  • Launch - Searcy

What have you read lately? What do you want to read? What should I read next?

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Strategy

Change has a tendency to sneak up on you even when you’re expecting it. We can plan and plan and plan but ultimately all we can do many times is roll with the punches. Lately I’ve been focusing a lot on how I can help people move from where they are (spiritually) to where they want to be (spiritually). I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about and creating systems. Systems are good things, they are helpful - after all if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, right?

But what happens when people don’t fit into your systems? Can you adjust? Can you adapt? Or are you rigid, immoveable? Systematic spiritual growth must have a plan but that plan must be fluid. I definitely don’t have all the answers on how to make that happen. I’m moving toward this HUGE idea of helping others connect to God and move from where they are to where they want to be… 

Church leaders… are you having success in this area? Is your system working?? Love to hear your thoughts :)

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One Small Act

Here’s a message I did from John Maxwell’s “Running with the Giants”:

I want to talk to you about one of the greatest events in the OT. It happens in the life of Naaman… He was the Commander of the Syrian army. The Bible says that he earned the love and respect of his king. But there was a problem, he had leprosy. Think about this, he was commander of the army of one of the most powerful nations in the world at that time AND HE HAD LEPROSY! This dude was bad!!!

2 Kings 5:1-3 [NKJV]

1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”

The story continues… Naaman asks the king of Syria (his master) if he can go to Israel and see this prophet that his little servant girl told his wife about. He left with A LOT of money and gifts, and a letter from the King of Syria to the King of Israel.

2 Kings 5:6 [NKJV]

6 Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.

Have you ever had one of those days? You know, the kind of day where the news just can’t get any worse?? The King of Israel was having one of those days. He tore his clothes thinking this was some ploy so Syria could attack Israel. LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT FOR A SECOND… What if [hypothetical] some of the seemingly impossible situations in our lives were sent by God so that we can be used in a mighty way?? We pray, “God use me!”…but are we really ok when the opportunity presents itself?? Elisha hears what happened and steps in. Naaman goes to Elisha’s door and Elisha doesn’t even see him. Elisha sends a messenger to him. Doesn’t the man of God understand what is on the line here??

2 Kings 5:10-12 [NKJV]

10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ 12 Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

Naaman’s Class of Leadership 101:

  1. Get angry when things don’t go the way you wanted them to. (But Naaman became furious – v.11)
  2. Expect everyone else to cater to you and your desires. (Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me… – v.11)
  3. Always have a microwave mentality. Go for the quick fix. (…wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ – v.11)
  4. Hold onto your own assumptions and misconceptions at all costs. (Are not the Abanah and the Phapar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? - v.12)
  5. Reject what you don’t understand. (So he turned and went away in a rage –v.12)

2 Kings 5:13-14 [NKJV]

13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

What does Naaman speak to us today? Surround yourself with people who can disagree with you (and give you wise counsel.) Who has permission to disagree with you? When you get wise counsel follow it! Does your system of accountability have action? (Many times we set up accountability in our lives not to change but to appease our conscience. Remain teachable. What if we miss out on God’s blessings because we thought we had everything figured out? 

But this is not the great story I was talking about… How was Naaman healed? Maybe through obedience or by the prophet?? OR was there another catalyst to the healing process? Let’s look back at the story.

2 Kings 5: 2-3 [NKJV]

2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”

LESSONS WE CAN LEARN OF GREATNESS:

IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACT, class, race, age or gender cannot hinder your impact.

Many times we discount what we can do because we think that we are too small or powerless to make a difference. She was a slave, the lowest anyone could be in social standing. She was an outsider, a Jew living in Syria. She was young, why would a powerful leader listen to her? She was a female in a male dominated culture. She had nothing going for her—no power, no position, no possessions. I think the Apostle Paul would say it like this… “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

NO ACT is too small.

Naaman had access to the best doctors in the country. Most likely everyone in his household had watched him go through every conceivable treatment—ALL OF WHICH FAILED! On top of that… she couldn’t even heal Naaman! All she could do is make a suggestion to her mistress, Naaman’s wife. Rather than being discouraged by what she couldn’t do, she did what she could do.

HER ACT took guts.

She took a huge risk by stating that her God could heal Naaman. Imagine what would have happened to her if he didn’t come back healed?? In fact the stakes weren’t just high on her but on all of Israel. Not only was Naaman healed but his faith changed.

2 Kings 5:15 [NKJV]

“Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel

ONE SMALL ACT!!

This little, insignificant slave girl was able to change the course of history and we don’t even know her name.

This hits me…

I started to ask myself questions:

Do I only look for opportunities that will get people to know my name?

Do I pass over God moments because they are too small or too insignificant? 

Am I confident that God will come through?

Will I risk my reputation for what I know is right?? 

If a situation arose would people around me even listen to me? Does my character make way for my counsel??

…because one small act really can make a difference.


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The Decade That Changed the World

Here are my notes from the Alliance Leadership Retreat, enjoy…

I want to ask you a question, Do you know anyone that is easily offended? When we get offended we either call someone to vent, talk to facebook, twitter or our blog to vent, or in extreme cases sue. Just for fun I wanted to talk about a few dumb lawsuits.

1. Allen Heckard sued Michael Jordan and Phil Knight, the founder of Nike because he said that MJ looks like him. The lawyer that took the case, Allen Heckard himself.

2. Anna Ayala sued Wendy’s because she claimed there was a finger in her chili - she would know, she put it there and was then sentenced to 9 years in prison.

3. Kenneth Parker sued the state of Nebraska because he ordered to jars of chunky peanut butter and received one jar of chunky and one jar of creamy. Did I mention that he ordered the peanut butter from the prison kitchen?

4. Stella Liebeck sued McDonald’s because she spilled coffee on her lap and got three degree burns. I know what you’re thinking and no, the Hamburgler did not dump it on her lap.

5. A man sued Anheuser Busch for $10,000 for false advertising. He claimed that drinking their beer did not cause bikini girls to suddenly break into a game of volleyball and invite him back to their hotel rooms. Yes this was filed in a court of law. Can you imagine doing this? “Your honor, I am suing Toyota because despite my best efforts I could not drive my new Tundra up a skyscraper like in the commercials.

Our world has changed… as the history books close on the last decade we’re going to take a look back and see how this affects our future.

VIDEO 1

For the first time in history we are faced with a parade of major stories that made us stop and wonder, at regular intervals, What is going on in this world? We thought that yesterdays news made us immune to further shock - WE WERE WRONG. Our planet has drastically changed since December 31, 1999.

It was the decade of the Y2K bug, bank accounts would be frozen, planes would fall out of the sky, whole industries would collapse, the internet became king, a young boy is saved out of the Gulf of Mexico and later deported back to Cuba, the USS Cole was attacked by a suicide bomber by the militant group that called themselves Al-Qaeda. We saw our first election decided by a court and we now know what a dimpled chad is. The ipod came on the scene. The .com boom hits hard.

It was the decade 9-11 which changed everything as we were attacked for the first time, on our own soil, and 4 passenger jets were hijacked and inconceivably slammed into buildings. We soon learned what a terrorist really was and that heros were born out of adversity. We saw operation freedom search for the only face we could pin down from a faceless foe, the Taliban in Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden became the most hunted man in the world. Queen Elizabeth celebrated 50 years on the British throne and scandals shocked the nation with Enron and Bernie Madoff. Lord of the Rings became a trilogy and Harry Potter came on the scene.

War in Iraq - again. The Shuttle Columbia tragically burst apart in midair while preparing for landing. Baghdad fell in 2 weeks but like Bin Laden, Sadaam was nohwere to be found, just like the WMD’s. We saw the largest electrical blackout affecting 55 million people. Eventually Sadaam was finally captured. We Abu Ghraib, the Red Sox breaking the curse. Ronald Regan, a legendary leader, left this world, and the second largest quake in history lasting 10 minutes long 19 miles below the surface of the ocean created a devastating tsunami moving at 670 mph and 30,000 feet deep killed between 200,000 and 240,000 people total.

More devastation with Hurricane Arlene in the Florida panhandle and Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, decimating New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the worst natural disaster in American history. It was the decade of Terry Schiavo, a new pope, Watergate’s Deep Throat was outed, surgeons in France performed the first human face transplant and Lance Armstrong wins his record 7th Tour de France. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter come out of nowhere.

The decade came with Inconvenient Truths, Pluto is demoted as Al Gore makes a polar bear famous. We saw border protection and a crackdown on illegal immigration. Al Gore is given a Nobel prize for what we don’t quite know. We saw school shooting after school shooting, bombings in Mardrid and London. We saw mass murders of children in Russia, terrorism, terrorism, terrorism. Bridges fell in Minnesota and so did the status of the Windy City with the new building in Dubai.

It was the decade of the first African American President and rising gas prices. Michael Phelps single handedly made us watch swimming. We saw hockey moms become vice presidential candidates and the potential of Bill Clinton becoming the first husband slip away from our fingertips. We saw foreclosures and the fall of the market. AIG, Lehman Brothers, and who could forget, the Big 3, riding in private jets. It was the decade of bailouts and stimulus packages. The king of pop dies. And yet another Nobel Prize is given and for what we still don’t quite know. 

What a decade it was. Termed by Life Magazine, “The Decade that CHANGED the World”. And change the world it did - forever.

Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives and his disciples came to him privately and started asking some questions… Jesus had been telling them some pretty crazy things and so they said:

Matthew 24:3-13 [NKJV]

3 …“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

THE SIGNS OF CHANGE:

MANY WILL BE OFFENDED, WILL BETRAY ONE ANOTHER, AND WILL HATE ONE ANOTHER…

Earlier we talked about people that are easily offended. Let me ask you a question Leader: Are you one of them? When someone does or says something you don’t like what is your reaction? Do you run to facebook and tell the world how you hate what just happened? Do you quit your team, quit your church, or leave your family when things don’t go the way you don’t want them too?

Revelation 3:1-3 [NKJV]

1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 

Is your reputation bigger than your heart? “You have a name that you are alive…” But you have a heart… But you have a facebook that says otherwise… What tantrums do you throw when you’re offended? We live in an easily offended society. But the last time I check we only live in the world, not of the world.

LAWLESSNESS WILL ABOUND…

VIDEO 2

Revelation 3:14-19 [NKJV]

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 

You may run the best small group. Maybe you can preach better than the pastor. Maybe you have all the talent in the world… Maybe you’re the Tiger Woods of your church… I have to ask you: What areas in your personal convictions have you let slip? Do you have more standards in your life this year than you did last year? OR do you look back at another point in your life and say, THAT was when I was the strongest for God!

THE LOVE OF MANY WILL GROW COLD…

Revelation 2:1-4 [NKJV]

1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 

Leader in the room, if you were honest with yourself where would you say that you stand in your relationship with God? I don’t doubt that you’re saved, I don’t doubt that you’re a Christian but between you and the Lord is just being saved enough? “I have this against you, you have left your first love.”

Matthew 24:10-14 [NKJV]

10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Lawlessness abounds and love grows cold… Have you forgotten what is really important? Let’s take one last look back at this decade that changed the world.

VIDEO 3

Revelation 3:14-19 [NKJV]

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 

You may say… I am rich. But God says… Buy from me that, you may be rich.

1. rich - (in Christian virtues and external possessions.)

2. rich - (richly supplied and affluent in resources so that you can give blessings of salvation to all.)

This was the decade that changed the world. But it’s our response to that decade that will change eternity.

Maybe you let lawlessness abound…

Maybe you let your love grow cold…

Maybe you didn’t focus on what is really important…

Maybe you were rich in God, but were not a blessing of salvation…

Let me ask you a closing question… Leader, where do you need to refocus your life?

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