Archives For Leadership

The three things that determine how far your team will go.

samluce —  May 1, 2013 — Leave a comment

train motion blur

One of the things that we are addicted to in our culture is speed. Once we taste LTE speeds on our phones 4G no longer seems speedy. Faster is always  better.

1.  speed of trust -

The first thing every team must have is trust. There are few things that slow down efficiency and create redundancy like a lack of trust. If you team spends the lion share of it’s time covering their own tracks and not watching each others backs you will move slow and ineffectively.

2. speed of decisions - 

You can make faster better decisions when you create a decisive culture and not a bureaucracy of decision making. The more you can allow your team to make poor decisions you enable them to make good ones.

3. speed of focus - 

The more you trust each other and the faster you make decisions what results is more opportunity greater capacity. How fast you focus determines how far you go as a team. If you miss focus you erode trust once trust is eroded your decisions grind to a crawl.

If SPEED determines distance LOVE determines the depth.

At the end of the day the thing that means the most is love. You have to love what you do you have to love the team you are a part of and the team you lead. What helps you do that? Speed. Nope. Sacrifice. The faster you die to yourself the faster your teams will trust, the quicker your decisions will come because of the crispness you focus becomes.

Trust, decisiveness and focus are by products of love. When you understand how much you are loved by Christ you are free to love others with a crisp clarity selfishness lacks.

 

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Next Generation Leadership Conference – KeyNote

samluce —  April 29, 2013 — 4 Comments

imagine_@1x

5 Things every leader has to get right – KeyNote

Intro

I want to bookend my thoughts tonight from Paul’s second letter to Timothy – When we discuss a topic like leadership it’s important that we gain proper footing for that conversation and that we leave with a proper perspective on all that we have discussed.

 

2 Timothy 1:6-14

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to[a] a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,[b] 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.[c] 13 Follow the pattern of the sound[d] words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Ministry is difficult If you were to tell me you have never felt like quitting I would respond by congratulating you on your first week in ministry.

 

I believe there are five areas in our leadership that if we get them wrong we will never last we will never persevere in the calling God has for us.

 

THE FIRST MISTAKE WE SO OFTEN MAKE IS WE DO MINISTRY ALONE. 

1. Delegation

- There are far to many pastors doing ministry alone. We have bought into this lie that we have big enough shoulders for the entirety of the ministry we lead.

1. We don’t delegate because we don’t trust God with the results. (1 Corth 3) God gives the increase.

2. We don’t delegate because our default mode is to do. If I do this my pastor will be pleased with me. If I do that God will be pleased with me.

3. We don’t delegate because we don’t have a half hearted view of what eternal rewards are. What ultimate beauty is. Lewis address our self focused small minded in his book weight of glory.

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

“We are far too easily pleased.”  C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

We see the week to week not the eternal significance of what we are doing.

4. We often don’t delegate because we are building our own kingdom – we are far to concerned with who gets the credit rather than who gets the glory.

5. We don’t delegate because we have an improper view of Ultimate authority. 

 

2. Leading under authority - 

We lead under authority when we understand ultimate authority – When you come on staff at a church you have to submit yourself to the pastor you serve. This can only be done to the degree that you have submitted your life completely to Christ. 

What does submission to authority look like?

- It’s walking and leading in humility
- It’s trusting Jesus more than your circumstance
- It’s not checking your dreams at the door of the church it’s finding your joy in God.
- It’s not blindly following your pastor off a cliff
- Submission to authority starts with you submitting your life to Christ ultimately and as a result of that you walk in humility.  Paul talks about our submission to Christ and uses marriage as an example for us.

EPHESIANS 5:22-25
22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

The power to submit to the authorities God has placed in our life comes from our ability to fully Trust Christ above all else. -

Think how different our churches would be if we lived our lives surrendered to Christ. Think how different our families would be.

 

3. Connecting with families 

*WHEN I STARTED IN STUDENT MINISTRY I THOUGHT PARENTS WERE THE DEVIL I KNOW HAVE KIDS AND REALIZE THAT THE DEVIL IS THE DEVIL AND I NEED HELP

- We have to move from atmosphere of co-dependance to an environment of interdependence. -

There has been a huge push for family ministry the past decade and rightly so. Leading into the future we have to value families not as a stated value but as an actual value. The church and families alike need to admit that this co-dependent relationship is broken and doesn’t honor God. We need to move to a model that creates interdependence where families and church are dependent on each other and where they are both fully dependent on Christ alone.

Unfulfilled expectations are the  seed bed of disappointment

When talking about connecting parents sometimes our creative ideas and the connecting themselves become an end in themselves.

We start with the wrong question. We ask how can we connect to parents. We need to ask that but we first need to ask what are we connecting them to? Do the parents we are partnering with value the same things?

We won’t connect with families and we won’t connect our families to Christ until it becomes a priority. 

 

4. Priorities 

- Our priorities are informed by our loves. We make time for the things we love. Where we spend our times shows what is most valuable to us.

Our priorities are determined by our loves. We spend our time, our money and our energy on the things that matter most.

As a leader you will be pulled on by everyone around you if you don’t put guard rails in your life you will dive off a cliff. – What drives us? Our desire to please everyone. We want to make everyone happy. This is a pipe dream and comes from our desire to have others think well of us rather than God.

Luke 6:26

26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

If you manage your time and priorities right, people will be mad at you.

Get used to it.

Lastly and probably one of most deadly is measurement. 

 

5.  Measurement 

- We measure the wrong things. Measurement is a good thing what measure reveals a lot about us.

The thing that is so dangerous about measurement is it can very quickly become the thing in our life that informs every decision we make.

We can find our identity in something other than Christ. – Our tendency is to move off of the things we can’t see and start to measure ourself by things we can see. We often find our worth in kids ministry by how many kids come, by how big our budget is, by how many staff members we have.

Idol’s are most often good things we have made ultimate things – Tim Keller

A lot of the dissatisfaction we have in ministry comes from us measuring the wrong things.

We spend our time and energy on the things we measure. What you measure you get more of. What scares me is getting more of something that isn’t Jesus.

What is crazy is that we can so easily use Jesus to get what we want.

 

Conclusion - 

God is enough 

- when we recognize that we do what we do because of the strength He supplies it makes a difference. When He is our foundation he is our source. He is enough.

Our confidence is not in ourselves but in the gospel we preach. 

There is a message that must burn within us that will define us that will enable us to fully proclaim the gospel that in our preaching God will be glorified forever and those who need to hear will be able to listen.

When the primary goal of our ministries is to glorify God we measure the right things, we respond with grace to one another, we give away what we have been given and we love the things He loves.

2Timothy 4:17-18

17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

God is standing by you to strengthen you so that the gospel will be preached the enemy of your soul wants to devour you. But we serve a rescuing God. When our satisfaction is found in Christ HE will be glorified.

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Young Leader: Gospel

samluce —  April 15, 2013 — 3 Comments

5 things every leader

Gospel: What you believe about Jesus and His Church will decide who you become

As a young leader what you believe about Jesus and the church will ultimately decide your success in life and ministry. All of the Young Leader posts I have done find their basis in the work that Jesus has done for us. As a leader how you see God and align you life to his word personally is everything…well almost everything. You need to understand and have a personal relationship with Christ but that personal relationship finds it fulfillment in community. Community without a personal relationship is as unfulfilling as a personal relationship without community, both are lacking without the other.

The problem with many young leaders is in lacking experience they tend to fall into two extremes. They either over-estimate their abilities and push on without seeing the need for God’s help or they pull back because they are insecure about the experience they lack. What I love about the Gospel is it produces a much need humility that we all need. To have a proper view of Jesus you have to see beyond your own weakness and strengths. The is no greater tool at the disposal of a leader than humility. 

Augustine of Hippo said that, for those who would learn God’s ways, humility is the first thing, the second thing and the third thing.

Martin Luther, when asked to name the three greatest virtues replied, “First, humility; second, humility and third, humility.” .

C.S. Lewis describes humility in his Screwtape Letters as not as having a low opinion of one’s talents and character but rather as self-forgetfulness. This entails a radical honesty with ourselves about ourselves that begins to free us from the denials, pretences, and false images with which we deceive ourselves.

Only when we see Christ for who he is and us for who we are can we truly understand the gospel. And when we see Christ for who he is we see the love that he has for the church it must consume and compel us to love, serve and act with the same attitude that we see Christ demonstrated to us in Philippians 2. When all is said and done young leader what you believe about Jesus and what you believe about the church will decide how you will minister it determines the way you serve. You don’t have to be fluent in Greek and Hebrew but you do need to settle what you believe about Christ and His church.

How do you do this?

1. Preach the gospel to yourself. You need Jesus everyday just as much as the people you are reaching.
2. Model to those you lead the same attitude of service Jesus modeled to his disciples. Nothing should be below you.
3. You should be more concerned about who you are following than how many are following you.
4. You should have a passion not just to move people to a personal relationship with Jesus but into a life-giving community of believers
5. Ask yourself who is the community that models their faith in your life.
6. Continually ask yourself if you have ever been more passionate about Jesus than you are today.

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Young Leader: Ego

samluce —  March 7, 2013 — 7 Comments

5 things every leader

Ego: The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus

Genuine authority knows, however, that all immediacy is disastrous, particularly in matters of authority. Genuine authority knows that it can only exist in the service of the one who alone has authority. Genuine authority knows that it is bound in the strictest sense by the words of Jesus, “you have one teacher, and you are all brothers” (Matt. 23: 8). The community of faith does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and of one another. It does not lack the former, but the latter. The community of faith will place its confidence only in the simple servant of the word of Jesus, because it knows that it will then be guided not by human wisdom and human conceit, but by the word of the good shepherd.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Keeping our egos in check is so important because it is counter cultural to everything we see and hear. We live in a day where self promotion is rampant. The church sadly is no different. What worries me is kids who are digital natives are growing up and they don’t remember what it was like before the age of the minor Christian celebrity. You have ministers who start a blog and buy followers on twitter before long they are wearing swag and hitting the conference circuit speaking about things they have heard and seen others do but have never done themselves.

This may seem harmless enough but the greatest damage it does is it creates a misunderstanding of where authority comes from and what we as Christians are supposed to do to leverage the authority we have been given. The purpose of our God-given authority is to build the community and serve as faithful servants of Jesus Christ.

(Soap Box: You know what drives me nuts? That God calls people to plant churches in the fastest growing communities in America. Where people are leaving their churches moving into a new community and are looking for a church and we call that church growth.)

Am I anti-twitter, instagram, Facebook? No. Well maybe anti Facebook, I honestly don’t like Facebook. There is the problem when you can be in ministry for 2 years open up a twitter account and not know a thing, you have never built anything and you start to think that you have something to say because few people come to your blog everyday. It’s just far to easy to build a platform before you have payed the price for a message. The reason our message can be so shallow is we do everything we can to protect our ego’s and avoid pain. Pain in ministry refines the call and focuses us on what is eternal.

Our world is in massive need of genuine authority. We have enough egos in Christian ministry we need more servants.

Questions we need to ask ourselves often to keep our ego in check:
1. Do I love people who can do NOTHING for me?
2. If I lost my influence would I be ok with that?
3. Do I use my position to get people to do things for me?
4. Do I say and do things that will get Retweeted or Do I say and do what the Holy Spirit is asking me to say and do. Even if that is unpopular.
5. Do my actions reflect my stated priories.
6. Do the people walk away thinking I am great or did I in my conversation make them feel great.

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Young Leader: Experience

samluce —  March 4, 2013 — 1 Comment

5 things every leader

Experience: Lack of experience is actually a good thing.

One of the things that young leaders have to wrestle with is a lack of experience. It can be very easy as a young leader to push through a lack of experience and lead from a place of insecure confidence. Which sounds like a contradiction of terms but nothing could be further from the truth. I have seen many young leaders make many mistakes because they lack experience and rather than leaning into Christ they act as if they have led for years. The problem occurs when young leaders experience a bit of success and attribute it to the wrong things. It in turn produces a skewed view of leadership. They think that their success has more to do with them than it really does. This is where arrogant insecure leaders are born.

The reason many leaders in church ministry are so insecure is because they never learn the lesson their lack of experience was meant to teach them. They build their own kingdom based on what they have done and then spend their life protecting it from anyone destroying what they built. What insecure, selfish, egocentric leaders never learn is that lacking experience is a blessing and if leveraged properly will create a lifelong dependence on Christ alone. As leaders “We are” as Aristotle says “What we repeatedly do”. If you are a young leader repeatedly place your present, your past and your future in the hands of Christ so that he can form you and shape you into what he has for you.

If you are a young leader the best thing you can do is leverage your lack of experience and build into yourself a life long dependence on Christ.

Here are some practical ways to leverage your inexperience:

1. Listen (I blogged about that here)
2. Seek to build up those around you
3. Be about team
4. Give away the credit take all the blame
5. Remind yourself daily that if you lose everything you still get Jesus
6. Read
7. Continually ask yourself am I building God##Q##s Kingdom or my résumé

 

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