Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts

“No one” is the most influential Christian leader in America these days, according to a recent Barna survey. Of those named, Billy Graham was top on the list with 19%. But an overwhelming 41% answered “no one” when asked to name the most influential Christian in America today. Is it just me, or do you see this as a sign of progress?

(HT/ Jeff Dunn over at iMonk)

Image via Wikipedia
"When I went to school, it was right after the '60s and before this general wave of practical purposefulness had set in... The idealistic wind of the '60s was still at our backs, though, and most of the people I know who are my age have that engrained in them forever."

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough -- it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing, and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices."

"There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love: 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very, very beginning. And we always will."

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers."

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

"My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that's what I try to do."

"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."

"Be a yardstick of quality, some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

"I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... It's very character-building."

"I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do."

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful… that's what matters to me." via

I like to see myself more along the impressionist side of the chart.  I like to dream, to hope, to see "big picture."  I also like to think I can make the bean counters in our midst see a little impressionist-icly as well.  I think this is how I cast vision at the church and also how I try to interpret Scripture. 

Details...we need them.  Sometimes our beans need counted.  Without that, the big picture may get visualized but living into it never gets materialized.  I am thankful for the bean counters I've had in my life and ministry.

This is another nice drawing from INDEXT.   Haven't drawn attention to one in a while.

Image by echiner1 via Flickr

(Italics Mine)

via

"Everyone wants better.  No one wants change."

"Everyone wants better.  No one wants change."

I love that quote.

I love the picture.

And I resonated with this as soon as I read it HERE and followed to the article on leadership HERE.  Because I want better and I don't want change.  I started off the year saying I was trying to read a book a month...but life happened and my time's gotten away from me.  I say I want to save up for a vacation for our 20th anniversary this year, but I don't put in the effort to squirrel the money away.  After all, I want my lattes.  I want to keep losing weight, but here I sit, still pondering the calories from my HUGE hamburger and fries from Red Robin restaurant last night.  Yes, I want better but I don't want change.

What's scary though is the fact that no one wants change.  Most everyone can visualize something better for themselves...or their family...or their church.  But we don't want to put in the effort to get to that better place or we don't want to suffer the change of location or the change of routine or the change of job or the change of habit that will get us to that goal.

But isn't that part of the role of Christian discipleship?  Getting persons to that better place, a more faithful place?

And here I am, change-resistant myself, called to lead persons in becoming new creations in Christ.

How's that supposed to work?

Image via WikipediaThis is from over at his blog, Reclaiming the Mission:

We need a different kind of leadership from you.

1.) We need a leader who puts forth ideas, vision by I saying “This is where/how I see God working. This is where I hear God calling us” and then ALWAYS submits that to the other person(s) asking – what are you seeing? Where are you going? Is this the way you are being called as well? NOT SOMEONE WHO SAYS “OK THIS IS THE VISION GOD HAS GIVEN ME FOR THIS CHURCH – CAN YOU FOLLOW ME? OR DO YOU NEED TO GO TO ANOTHER CHURCH?

2.) We need a leader who leads by listening and then knows when to ask (out of relationship) “can I speak truth into your life?” NOT SOMEONE WHO TELLS PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO HEAR/DO BEFORE HE/SHE EVEN LISTENS

3.) We need a leader who never presumes authority but whose very presence and life makes people want to trust him/her and follow him/her. NOT SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO ALWAYS BE ACTING OUT OF HIS/HER KNOWLEDGE, EXPERTISE OR PERCEIVED OFFICE.

4.) We need a leader who serves first by example, who embodies the disposition of being in everyday ministry/service to the hurting and then asks someone “can you join me on this?” NOT SOMEONE WHO RUNS THE CHURCH AS IF HE/SHE IS A CEO

5.) We need a leader who can unfurl the reality of the Lordship of Christ in the world and in each one’s life via Scripture, and then invite/challenge people to live there. NOT SOMEONE WHO USES SCRIPTURE TO PREACH A PRE-SCRIBED PRE-DETERMINED AGENDA FOR THE FUTURE ORGANIZATION OF THIS CHURCH.

6.) We need a leader who can cultivate the Kingdom in people, who can sit down with people over a cup of coffee, ask questions, and help each person see that God is “breaking in” through Jesus Christ working for the salvation of this person’s entire life and the people around him/her. And then ask, “how do you respond, how can you be faithful, how will you join in?” NOT SOMEONE WHO HAS A SET OF PRE DETERMINED PROGRAMS THAT HE/SHE WANTS EVERY PERSON TO VOLUNTEER FOR.

7.) We need a leader who can teach many more leaders how to be this kind of leader. NOT THE KIND OF LEADER THAT RECRUITS MORE LEADERS UNDER HIM/HER TO CARRY OUT HIS ORDERS.

This is a good video as we look at Stewardship, which confronts consumerism in our culture...and, indeed, in our church.  This short video is also about how we get the church to avoid idolatry.


Confronting Idols & Making Disciples from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.


(HT to The Blind Beggar for the Video)

photo © 2007 hobvias sudoneighm | more info (via: Wylio)



Stephen Brewster, of Cross Pointe Community Church, asks "What If..."

Beautiful.

Simple.

Challenging.

• What If we asked "What If" more
• What If we feared not creating instead of feared failing
• What if connecting mattered more than staying in our circle
• What if the next thing we create changes someones life
• What if we toned it down
• What if we turned it up
• What if we invested in other peoples dreams more than our own
• What if we actually lived what we believe
• What if we realized how scary safe really is
• What if we started to live with audacious faith
• What if we loved people more
• What if we stopped and listened
• What if we changed how we do this
• What if we stopped accepting excuses

Image via WikipediaGot this great quote from over at DashHouse.com.   It's from William Still's book, The Work of the Pastor:

It is to feed sheep…that men are called to churches and congregations, whatever they may think they are called to do. If you think that you are called to keep a largely worldly organization, miscalled a church, going, with infinitesimal doses of innocuous sub-Christian drugs or stimulants, then the only help I can give you is to advise you to give up the hope of the ministry and go and be a street scavenger; a far healthier and more godly job, keeping the streets tidy, than cluttering the church with a lot of worldly claptrap in the delusion that you are doing a job for God. The pastor is called to feed the sheep, even if the sheep do not want to be fed. He is certainly not to become an entertainer of goats. Let goats entertain goats, and let them do it in goatland. You will certainly not turn goats into sheep by pandering to their goatishness. Do we really believe that the Word of God, by His Spirit, changes, as well as maddens men? If we do, to be evangelists and pastors, feeders of sheep, we must be men of the Word of God. 

So, how much of what I do on a Sunday...or on a daily basis...is feeding sheep?

Am I a slave to worship as entertainment?

How immersed in the Word of God am I?

“Fall in love with the work God has called you to not the results.”

Image by Aditya Grandhi via Flickr“Part of leadership is having to face your fears and loneliness.”  


This is a quote from Jenni Catron, Executive Director of multi-site CrossPoint Church at The Nines conference.


While I think this must resonate with anyone who is "a boss" and they see their employees having fun or making plans as they sit in their office with the barrier of the "boss" label, I think it has great ramifications for pastoral leadership.  I  do not lift myself up as a great leader.  I often feel like I'm merely muddling through in my roles; oftentimes much more content to "coast" or "tread water" than actually lead anything or anyone to anyplace at anytime.  Let's get that straight.  But, at times, I'm acutely aware that my designation of "pastor" limits my ability to be a friend.  I heard this when starting out in ministry and it's true 17 years later. 


There is nothing in my life right now that has made me feel this way any more than any other time.  I have not looked out the window at a loud party and wished I was invited and I have not heard voices hush from their laughter as I walked in the room.  Both of these have happened at other times, but not recently.

But the quote resonated with me.


I love the pastoral role.  I really do.

Just, sometimes, it's kind of lonely.


And I've been OK with that.

So...if you're reading this and you have a pastor or priest, why not drop him or her a note, letting them know that they are appreciated.  Make sure they have time to immerse themselves in their family...whatever that may be for them.  Invite them out to coffee for non-work purposes.  Invite them to a movie.  Strike up a conversation about sports or books or TV or a hobby.  Encourage them to find the company of other pastors where they don't have to be defined by their clerical hat that they wear.  And, if you really want to help...help lead.