Leading Yourself Preceeds Leading Others

Leadership is Influence.  And each of of us is a leader to someone – even the most introverted person will influence at least 7,500 people in their lifetime.  Knowing this fact, I have made the commitment to be a life-long learner.  One of my core life values is to continue to sharpen myself and better myself to better lead myself, to in-turn lead/influence others to the best of my ability.  The exact moment that I think I’ve got it figured out, that is the moment my leadership will begin to faulter.

Since I’ve started in pastoral ministry, I’ve made it a point to set aside some time in my schedule to look after and improve upon my leadership development.  Since that time, I’ve taken one full day a month to shadow or follow a leader that I respect and admire.  In the years past, it may vary from going through a leadership book or taking time to meet a leader over lunch and talk about leadership principles.  It has been a worthwhile plan for me that has been more beneficial to me than I can put into words.

One of the best events for me and my personal leadership development has been Catalyst:

I would highly recommend Catalyst to anyone who is looking to learn from from some of the bestleaders in the country - Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, Reggie Joiner, John Maxwell, Gabe Lyons, Jim Collins, Steven Furtick, Francis Chan, Dave Ramsey and many many more.  This event will change your life and perspective on the importance of self-leadership.

May you be a life long learner and learn to better lead yourself as you influence others throughout your life.

Can’t Live With ‘Em, Can’t Live Without ‘Em

One of the most recent discussions we keep coming back to in our creative meetings at WCH is the use of announcements in our worship services.  We have found that it is very difficult to communicate “large chunks” of important information and upcoming events to our church family without having an abrupt stop to the flow of the service itself – let alone making it engaging enough to not have the same “talking head… time to mentally checkout” sequence to ensue.

A lot of churches are now going to a video format to communciate their announcements – which is enables the appropriate information to be both seen and heard by the congregation in a way that is time sensitive yet multi-sensory.  

Take a look at a few examples:

It is important enough to take the time to make sure your church family “is in the know” – and short, simple, well done video announcements are one of the new ways of making that happen.  What are your thoughts?

Glow-in-the-Light and Dark

If you are someone who leads or influences others in a church context you need to write this sentence down. “Personal influence for God comes only from personal experience with God.”

It does not come from knowledge about God and it does not come from having the most relevant and engaging worship environment in town.  Unless you know God personally, share Him from your own personal experiences, then you don’t have much to offer the lost broken world we live in.

Let me put it this way… It’s like the glow-in-the-dark plastic stars that you had as a kid.  If the lights haven’t been on them recently, they are just like every other piece of plastic in the room.  But if the light’s been on, they will shine for hours.

“You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 14, 16

Do You Desire Adventure?

So, why start a blog?  Well… I love to collaborate and connect people who have a passion for Christ and untamed desire to see the church flurish as God intends. That’s one of the reasons I have and always will love creative ministry conferences.  It is an opportunity to hear and see what God is doing in and through His church all around the world.  Some of my favorite conferences are: Catalyst, Creative Church Conference (C3), Echo Conference and Innovate Conference.

Check out the opening keynote address given by Mark Batterson at this years ECHO conference   

I agree with Mark in that we as a church do a great job of removing the risk, the danger, the struggle of the Christian journey and tame people.  As a leader in the church, it is so easy to teach people what to say and how to do the right things.  To make life seem safe, predictable and make people feel comfortable.

But I believe that the life that God intends for us is so much more than that.  I desire to experience and see others experience the full adventure and full excitement that comes with being a follower of Christ …and that is the reason why I started this blog. To share with everyone I can what I’m learning, reading and hearing as I continue on my faith journey of adventure. It is not my desire or intent to brag or boast… but my sole purpose is to “spur you on” your own faith journey of adventure.

May our life adventures be all that God (the master planner and creator) intends, as He directs every detail that we are to experience ahead.