Tag: leadership

Book Review – From Weakness To Strength: Eight Vulnerabilities That Will Bring Out the Best in Your Leadership by Scott Sauls

I came across this little gem by way of recommendation from Tim Challies’ blog. While written with the Christian ministry context in mind, the principles could apply to almost any area of leadership. Through this book Sauls breaks down the vulnerabilities of ambition, isolation, criticism, envy, insecurity, anticlimax, opposition, and suffering. Spend enough time in a position of leadership and you are going to face several, if not all of these issues at some point. Fortunately, the author addresses from his personal experience how he has walked through each area and gives some helpful instruction on how to recognize and overcome them. This is the book that I wish they had handed out in seminary, or at the very least about 10 years in.

*disclaimer: this is not a paid review, but if you click through the amazon affiliate link and purchase this book you will help support this site.

Leading Through Encouragement

The sky is falling! In the past few days the President sent out a tweet threatening increased tariffs on products coming from China that would either directly or indirectly affect thousands of dollars on the bottom line by the end of the week. Amazon announces they are entering your business on top of the increased competition you are already facing. Even with what seems to be an endless string of positive economic news you notice your customers are more and more financially strapped and leveraged. While you strive for a harmonious workplace another office conflict has flared up again. All of this is happening on top of the normal day-to-day operations of your life.

Sound familiar? That was just Monday.

All of us face struggles wherever we lead. It is easy to focus on the negatives or the challenges and lead against them. As leaders, while it is necessary sometimes to rightly call things out, we are called to rise above. We are called not to tear people down, but to build them up. We are called, not to dismiss reality, but to frame it-to paint the vision of a positive future and then lead our teams toward that future. If we can’t lead by encouragement, we will be faced with the downward spiral of negativity which only secures our pessimistic future.

The Bible speaks to this truth when one of the early church leaders, the Apostle Paul writes, “But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them” 1 Corinthians 14:3 (NLT). To prophesy means to proclaim the truth. If you are proclaiming the truth in love, then you are strengthening, encouraging, and comforting your team. You are building them up.

If you are leading a team, leading your family, or leading yourself, how are you going to proclaim truth and lead through encouragement this week? Even if the sky is falling.

The Importance of Time Planning

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About ten years ago I was living the dream: dream job, dream wife, 2 dream kids, and a dream dog. In spite of living the dream, I was still functioning off the same financial plan I had in my twenties, which meant if there was money in the account it was spent and then some. I grew frustrated because I knew there had to be a better way until I was introduced to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. Now I am not a paid consultant, I don’t get any royalties, but learning those simple principles and putting them into practice in my life turned things around in the right direction. You have to go through the whole course but a few principles stood out. First, most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, and it doesn’t matter the size of the paycheck. My take was and has been that simply making more money somehow was not going to solve my financial situation. The second principle he teaches is that a budget is simply a plan to tell your money where to go instead of your money telling you where to go.

Fast-forward ten years later. I’m working in a very demanding high responsibility job, with my dream wife, and dream kids, we’ve buried the dream dog and are raising the dream puppy. My struggle lately has not been financial it has been about time. The nature of my work now has become physically demanding and it is challenging to get it all done. I find myself struggling because I don’t “have enough time.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard the response to that challenge… “but that’s not true because everyone has the same amount of time in a day.” Well that’s true, but it sure seems sometimes as if my tasks, meetings, emails, phone calls, etc., can quickly mount up and take over. Enter Carey Nieuwhof. I’ve been following his leadership blog and podcast for about a year now. The “one thing” I picked up recently from Carey is when he shared the principle of planning our time in advance. I immediately made the connection back to having a financial budget, but now having to develop a time budget. It means that we know what we want to accomplish and spend time on in a given week, though very often we fail to take care of our priorities because we get interrupted or side tracked. I’m still seeing how this works out in my current work/life context, but when we take the discipline to plan ahead it gives us an opportunity to say yes to the things that are most important and no to those things that seek to get us off track.

What are your most important tasks, dreams, or goals? They could be spiritual, family, work, educational goal. How are you planning your time this week to make those things a reality?

The Next Step in Leadership

“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. – Joshua 1:2

Joshua had pretty much spent his entire life in service to Moses. He had been there from the very beginning of the Exodus from Egypt, through spying out the Promised Land, and for forty years in the wilderness. He had seen miracles, he had seen plagues, he had seen victories, he had seen defeat. Moses wasn’t a democratically elected leader of the Israelites, he was a prophet ordained by God to lead His people.

In light of all of this, Joshua 1:2 recounts God’s first words to Joshua the new leader. “Moses my servant is dead.” Words which are heavy and final. Moses is gone and He’s not coming back. It would be tempting to doubt the future of the nation. For the United States it would have been as if President George Washington had died in office. Would the country continue as we have known it? Joshua, no doubt, must have wrestled with the future and his ability to lead. The good news is that God had plans for Joshua. God doesn’t stop calling and leading His people. He gives Joshua the charge to pick up the mantle and lead the people to the Promised Land.

God is not done raising up new leaders to carry out his mission. For many in my generation we looked to Dr. Billy Graham as a leader among born again Christians. This past year we saw this man who was a spiritual giant transition to glory. God will raise up another to give leadership. Many churches go through cycles of leadership as pastors leave or retire, but God is still at work and He will continue to call and equip those to lead.

Questions for thought:

What is God calling you to do with your life as part of His mission?

How are helping or hindering raising up the next generation of leaders in your home, in your community, in your church?

Leading a Life Group Tip: Building Community

In his work on small group ministry, Jeffrey Arnold points out two essential elements to building community: commitment and communication.

There are two essential elements to community building. The first is that people make a commitment to be in relationship together, almost like a husband and wife do when they are married (“for better or worse”). Knowing that a commitment of love has been made enables the various people in a group to experience the freedom of testing, growing, disagreeing and challenging within a safe framework.

The other element in a healthy community is communication. By this is meant a two-way interactive sharing of ideas so that mutual growth occurs. Talking does not necessarily produce growth–only communication does. And healthy communication brings together man (“comm” means “with, together”) into one (“uni” means “one”) by breaking down the barriers between people.

Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups

How is your life group doing? Have you talked about commitment? More than just signing your name on a sheet or simply showing up if you are leading a life group you are making a commitment. You should spell out to your group what you as a leader are committing. You might commit to be prepared, to lead, to facilitate or teach, to pray for each member of your group, to hold into confidence what may be shared. It is always helpful to share these up front, so that participants may know what to expect (and not expect!). You should also be up-front about the commitments participants will make-to attend, to participate, and to hold in confidence what may be shared, to For some good examples of life group covenants see this resource.

How is communication going in your group? As a life group leader are you clear in your communication? Are you checking in on the members of your group between scheduled meeting times? Are you clearly communicating schedules or any schedule changes? During your group time are you doing all of the talking? Likewise, is there anyone who is monopolizing or hijacking discussion? Is the discussing veering toward negativity or criticism? While there is a place for healthy discussion, life groups are not the place to pick apart the pastor’s sermon or the worship leader’s set list!

Let’s work on building community by setting forth a clear commitment and fostering healthy communication within our life groups this semester and see where God takes us!

Conference Notes: Four Keys To Effectively Listen

At Restoration Church’s marriage conference this past weekend we were led through a session on effective listening. While these are great application points for a healthy marriage, the principles work for any relationship.

1.Remember You Are On The Same Team – this was shared as not just an internal reminder but something that was expressed to be verbalized. Especially when faced with a situation where you are communicating in conflict try looking at your spouse and say, “We are on the same team!” There are so many forces at work that want to divide and conquer the marriage relationship, we must remind ourselves and our spouses that we are on the same team, no matter what. Within an hour after leaving the conference, Amy and I found ourselves in conflict and tested on this principle. One of the ways we worked through the conflict was taking a step back and saying “We are on the same team!”

2.Seek First to Understand and Then Be Understood – oftentimes we are so busy formulating our response, we fail to adequately understand what our spouse is trying to communicate. When we don’t give time and space to understand each other we can often jump to conclusions that aren’t based in reality. I know I can come up with all kinds of solutions to Amy’s problems when I think I know what they are-except many times I try to fix things that aren’t broken, or miss what the problem really is about.

3.Ask Clarifying Questions – asking good questions helps slow things down and also helps us to really understand the need. On getting through this point I need to admit a personal growth area. I can sometimes (ok, so a lot of the time!) get defensive when Amy asks clarifying questions. For whatever reason inside of me, I see the questions as not just a quest for understanding, but as a kind of attack. As a growth point for me, I have to be reminded of #1 (we are on the same team!), and use clarifying questions to bring us together.

4.Come up with a win-win – If you are truly a team there is a way you can work together to find a best path forward together. We live in a fallen world, so sometimes it may not be that at the end of a “discussion” everyone is shooting off confetti cannons in celebration. We should be able to follow Scriptures teaching, not letting the sun go down on our anger (Ephesians 4:26) and getting to an acceptable resolution.

Again, I felt this session was immensely helpful. Amy and I literally put this into practice upon getting home, and guess what-it worked!

Questions for Discussion:

How can you put these listening skills to good use in your relationship?

How might these skills help you in other situations at work, school, etc.?

Finishing Well

“…So Moses finished the work.” Exodus 40:33b (ESV)

What project are you working on? What project do you need to start? What project do you need to finish? I’m constantly asking these types of questions in my own head, all at the same time running the seemingly perpetual project of the busyness of life! We all have projects we need to start and some we need to finish. I have plenty of little projects around the house that I definitely need to finish! Some projects feel as if they are never going to get completed.

For the last three weeks I have been reading through the book of Exodus. It’s amazing to read through this book and watch the transformation of Moses and his leadership. He is no perfect leader and he makes mistakes along the way, but when you boil it down Moses accomplishes a supernatural task. While on Mount Sinai God gives him the instructions for building a tabernacle which will serve as the spiritual hub of the newly constituted nation of Israel. God gives him the physical and relational resources to carry out the task, and one year after the first Passover, Moses completes the Tabernacle, consecrates it, and God’s glory comes down and fills it. This verse near the end of the book brings me great comfort – “So Moses finished the work” (Exodus 40:33b). Not to skip ahead, Moses has more projects ahead, and one major project he is personally not going to be able to complete. This time, however, we can see the beauty of a leader who receives a vision for a project and completes that project.

May this be an encouragement for whatever project you may be facing down at work, at your church or ministry, at home, or personally-with God’s help and God’s assistance, you can complete it. Let’s get it done and move on with the next project the Lord has for us!