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The Day I Started AA

February 23, 2012 in Influence, Leadership with 2 Comments

I began AA in 1999 the day I became the Executive Pastor of the church we were serving in Texas. The move from being the Student Pastor to leading a staff team was filled with excitement and tension. It was a new role with an existing team and I wanted to honor the needs of the pastor and still seek to be friends with the people I was serving with side by side with on staff.

I began to live out the leadership principles of advocacy and accountability.

This was the beginning of a philosophy I have utilized since with the teams of people I have led. I want to seek to be their biggest advocate to the Senior leader and to the groups of people we were accountable to as staff.  I made a promise to each staff person I would seek to advocate on their behalf and get everything they needed to accomplish the task(s) they were called toward. My door would be open to them to laugh, cry and moan about problems or anything else they needed to talk through or had questions that needed answered.

I also made them the promise that I would also be their biggest accountability.  I was willing to “fight” for what they needed, but they must be willing to answer questions that needed to be addressed. Sometimes the questions that were asked were clarifying the need, the purpose or the vision. Sometimes the questions were more direct as to why something had or had not happened as we agreed. There were times the questions were easy and other times they were extremely hard to answer. When the questions got hard to answer I could guarantee they were hard to ask from my point of view. The accountability part of the job was not always easy and sometimes not very fun, but was always necessary.

I believe the AA philosophy  is a good way to lead people and build a great team.

What is the driving leadership philosophy you work from each day? 

Get Out of Your House

December 22, 2011 in Influence, Leadership, missional with 4 Comments

I enjoy my family and my personal space.

I really like relaxing at home and just closing the door to the world. I like to turn on the television, have a nice glass of iced tea and let the evening go by without thinking. This type of relaxing works for me after having conversations, solving problems and dealing with the work-a-day stuff we all face.

But, in the realm of developing relationships with those who we live near it STINKS.

How can we get to know others when we close our curtains, shut the doors and absorb the television or computer for hours at a time? There are relationships that need to be built all around us. Each of us have been given a level of influence in our workplace and the places we live that can only be enhanced or grown by spending time with people outside of “expected” or “programmed” time together.

Inviting people into our personal lives is time-consuming, it can be energy draining for some people and it’s risky to be vulnerable in relationship.

But, developing relationships is also life-giving, exciting and worth while to our life. We were created to have relationships and influence with others. If we hide from these opportunities we are the ones who lose out on what we were created for in this life.

What new relationships are you building?

Who are the people you are investing time with each week a way from work?

Risk It

December 21, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

I am inspired by people who take risks.

Risk doesn’t have to mean reckless though.

When I think of risk I think of assessing obstacles, counting the costs, knowing as much information as possible about the intended goal and making a knowledgable decision. Some might say “Where is the risk if you have walked through all of those steps?”

To take a risk so small that everything can be accounted for or to eliminate any chance of failure is no risk at all. Risk will always have failure as a possibility. There is a chance we won’t obtain the desired outcome.

To see a challenge that needs to be overcome, knowing there is a possibility of  failure and still risking it all for the perceived better way is inspiring to me. Doing what others think is impossible, unattainable or don’t desire to do is where I want to be in life.

What risks are you taking to accomplish the desired outcome?

F.I.D.O. Ain’t A Dog

December 20, 2011 in Leadership with 0 Comments

I like dogs, just not in my house. We used to have a dog named Katie that went the way of other sick and ill pets. Se was a good companion and a playful little terrier when she wasn’t convulsing. But I digress…

F.I.D.O. is one of the mottos or sayings I have lived by for the past 20-something years. I wish I could remember exactly who said it to me or where I read it so I could give proper credit to those who deserve the accolades. The unique saying has helped me greatly in days of trouble also in days of basking in success.

F.I.D.O. has kept me pointed in a forward motion and thinking about what is coming down the road at me with full steam. After a failure or disappointment I have to prepare myself to move forward since life still happens in increments of seconds, minutes, hours and…you get the picture. I can’t sit and wallow too long in self-pity or despair. There is more to life and it is about to happen with me fully engaged or not.

This saying, F.I.D.O., has also served to focus my attention when I wanted to stop for too long and exalt in a great success or happening in my life or the organizations I have been a part of leading. We can’t live on the success of the past alone, we must be watching and walking because the sun rises tomorrow and we have to be ready to face the new challenges that are waiting for us.

What is F.I.D.O?

Forget

It

Drive

On!

Yes, I need to feel the pain of the setback, but not for too long.

Yes, I need to revel in the joy of the accomplishment, but not for too long.

Everyday is a new day and we must keep moving.

Have you face a F.I.D.O. moment recently?  

What is one of your mottos or philosophies?

The Power of Influence and Your Voice

June 3, 2011 in Influence, Leadership, Uncategorized with 5 Comments

In a recent Skype conversation with Pat Hood, my pastor and friend, we were discussing the power of influence.  We talked about how voices and messages reach the world we live in today.  The subject of social media came up and how through the avenue of blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Skype and other platforms available to us today, each person has the opportunity to influence hundreds and in many cases thousands of people each day.

As a pastor and leader I have spent a great amount of time studying leadership, influence and principles of communication in the Bible and through popular business books.  We live in a great day  for influencing when we think about all the different ways we have for communicating. Whether it is keeping up with family, selling a product, communicating to company employees or spreading a message of life change we have great potential for influencing others.

The Skype conversation reminded me of another talk Pat and I had several years ago before the rise of the social media frenzy. We were in his office talking about how God had uniquely positioned us to have influence and we were challenged with how we would steward the influence God had given. We talked about how we desired to have wide-spread influence around the world for the glory of God. He and I talked about what would it look like to have an influence on how people walk with Christ daily? How could we, as individuals and as a church, influence others toward living lives sold out for the cause of Christ? What would it look like to have influence around the globe, not just in one local area?

Who would have thought that several years later people from our church would be sent “to the ends of the Earth.” How were any of us able to realize the overwhelming potential of social websites such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter? We can be connected around the world and in a moments notice we can know what is happening 12 timezones away. We are be able to communicate in real time to people living in Western Europe and West Africa at the same time through video-conferencing. Stuff like this only happened in movies just a few years ago and now it is an everyday occurrence.

This type of influence is available to all of us right now and at your fingertips as you read this post. The question is how are you stewarding and managing the influence you have been given. I ask each of you to scan your email contacts, your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers and the other social media portals you use each day.  Take notice of where people live that you communicate with through these avenues and think about how what you write and tweet influences those who are reading. Now, look at how many people potentially view your status updates and your tweets. As someone who has spent time studying influence I can assure you if you are talking (posting) you are influencing someone.

On a quick scan of my email contacts, my Facebook friends and Twitter followers I noticed people who reside in Thailand, Brazil, China, Germany, USA, Lithuania, Turkey, India, West Africa and Australia. I am influencing people positively and negatively toward someone or something by what I write and tweet each day and so are you.

What type of influence are you spreading?

Who or what are you influencing people toward?

So how far and wide is your influence reaching?

I promise it is more far reaching than you realize.

 

What I’m Thinking About

April 8, 2011 in Influence, Leadership with 0 Comments

Over the past several months our church, LifePoint, has been reading through the Bible in our personal devotion times. Our pastor, Pat Hood, has also been teaching weekly through the books and passages we are reading together. As I was reading through Proverbs I began to see phrase patterns that caught my attention and made me want to track these throughout the book. The first phrase that caught my attention was “fear of the Lord.”  There is a lot of meaning wrapped up in the little word “fear.”  That I am not going to try and unpack. I just began reading and let the Lord speak as He desired.  After tracking each of these in my Bible study I thought I would post them here for you to see and read through also.

Howard Hendricks writes in Living By The Book, ” One of the great killers in Bible study is the statement, “I  already know that.” I struggle with this in my personal walk at times. I hope you will not gloss over these in the vain of “I already no this stuff.”

I pray He uses these verses in your life as He is in mine.

Prov. 1:7-The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Prov. 1:29 -Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord

Prov. 2:5 – then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Prov. 8:13 – The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Prov. 9:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Prov. 10:27 – The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

Prov. 14:26-27 – In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Prov.   15:16 -Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.

Prov. 15:33 – The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Prov. 16:6 – By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

Prov. 19:23 – The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

Prov. 22:4 – The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

Prov. 23:17 – Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.

I hope you are blessed and challenged today.

Global Engagement

February 6, 2011 in Leadership, Mission, missional with 0 Comments

Desiring God had a really good post recently entitled 30 Ways to Awaken Your Congregation for the Cause of Global Engagement.

Points #7, #8, #9 of the blogpost ring true with me these days so I wanted to see them.

Incorporate world-aware prayers into your worship services, and encourage the formation of an accessible, missions-focused prayer group in the church (perhaps based on the book Operation World).

Visit your missionaries. Have people help them move, and regularly send teams to minister to your missionaries and potentially aid in the work. Missionaries are usually more inclined to share needs with a visiting church member than their field supervisor.

Commission individuals and teams when they go, and set up an avenue for them to report on their work to the rest of the church.

Check out the entire post here.

Be a Trader

December 9, 2010 in Influence, Leadership, missional with 2 Comments

The video below tells a great story of a new movement that is beginning. Thanks to RightNow.org for creating and posting this video.

Be a Trader!

On Any Given Sunday

August 9, 2010 in Influence, Leadership, LifePoint Church, Sending Church with 4 Comments

Five or six years ago we made an intentional decision as a staff team to move our high school students (9-12 grade) to a serving role on Sunday morning. We had read about the nationwide trend among new college freshman who were leaving their home church’s youth ministries to attend college and not getting involved in a local church near their universities. We wanted to change this trend and see LifePoint students committed and plugged in to the local church during their college days. We believed  serving in a local church ministry was key to keeping students and families plugged in and committed.We spent time studying and learning from other churches who had made the move we were embarking on with our  students. We saw the difference it was making in their churches and in the lives of the students who were involved. As a staff team we decided the risk of upsetting the “apple cart” was worth it.  This new ministry would be called Max Impact.

The move was not fully accepted at first, probably due to our team not communicating effectively. Some people didn’t want their high schooler involved in serving and there were students who didn’t want to serve so we provided one (1) Bible study class for those who needed a place to be on Sunday mornings. This class revolved around God’s call to serve, sacrifice and understand how we were S.H.A.P.E.d to serve.

Fast forward to today, the difficulties of the early days are gone and people are settled into the new normal of Max Impact. Yesterday, I watched as kids lead out in our stage crew. In fact, there were 4-5 students whose parents are vitally involved the Production and Worship Arts area currently. Students were leading in worship in Student Ministry and now students are training other students to lead also. It is a blast to see the culture of raising leaders firmly being passed on to another generation of Christ Followers.

Thank you LifePoint Church for being willing to take the risk and for creating a culture were serving is valued. If your High School student is not serving on Sundays please see David McCaman and he will help them get plugged in to ministry.

What Did Jesus Do On Earth?

August 3, 2010 in Leadership, missional, Sending Church with 0 Comments

Jesus was dedicated to the mission of God, His heavenly father. Jesus told those who were seeking to kill Him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). On yet another occasion, Jesus stated that His purpose was “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus spent His ministry demonstrating to His disciples how to be about His father’s activity. He told parables about seeking after lost sheep, lost coins, and lost sons (Luke 15). Jesus even sent His disciples on a trip to seek out people who were lost spiritually to tell them about His purpose in coming to earth (Luke 10:1-12). Jesus was the perfect example of being about the mission of God.

Before Jesus ascended back to heaven to be with His father, He commissioned the disciples to take on the activity of God. He commanded them to be on mission with God to reestablish the spiritual kingdom of God on the earth. The mission was and is God’s plan. The disciples would now take up the mantle of missions on the earth. Missions, as defined by Avery Willis and Henry Blackaby, “is the activity of God’s people—the church—to proclaim and to demonstrate the kingdom of God cross-culturally to the world.”

The disciples spent the rest of their lives living out God’s purpose for His followers and training others to be committed to the mission of God. God commissioned His one and only son, Jesus, to seek after His purpose in an active manner. Jesus, in turn, called each of His present and future disciples to be about the same activity and purpose He was about while He walked the earth. The commissioning recorded in Matthew 28:18- 20 gave the disciples their ultimate purpose for reestablishing the kingdom of God in the world, and that commission stands today as the clarion call for all of Jesus’ present-day followers
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