Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Recently God has been pushing me to get out of my comfort zone. I'm a really "hands-on" guy. I grew up with the these words being drilled into my head: "If you want something done right, do it yourself." As a result, I want to do everything myself. So God has been working to reprogram my thinking for leadership. Leadership is not doing everything yourself. Leadership is empowering others to do what God has gifted and called them to do.

I've been studying Simple Church, and one of the keys to a successful church is leadership development. In the Scriptures it says that God gives leadership to the church so that the members are equipped to do the ministry (Eph. 4:11-13). God always begins with leadership - people who are called to influence others for Christ.

You may be the leader God wants to develop to do something great for His glory. Most of the great leaders we read about in the Bible didn't think of themselves as great leaders: Moses made all kinds of excuses; some of the first words God said to Joshua were "Be strong and courageous" (He said it three times in one conversation); Gideon was hiding out in the threshing room when God called him; Paul was working to destroy the church. None of these guys seemed like candidates for "Leader of the Year." But when they surrendered themselves completely to God, He used them to move His people to victory and for His glory.

You may not see yourself as a leader, but God sees something in you that is greater than you can ever imagine. Would you be willing to let God have a shot at doing something great through you? The first step is to say "Yes, Lord", and then get ready for a great adventure.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Transitions

Recently our Leadership Team (staff and Deacons) met for breakfast and to discuss making some changes to our church and ministry. We're reading together the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger. The crux of the book is that every church needs a simple process (key word) which enables disciple-making. (Maybe that's not the intended crux, but it's what I've gotten from it.) The simple process evolves around four concepts: clarity - movement - alignment - focus. We're in the very beginning stages, so we're focusing on clarity. The title for Chapter 5 of the book is "Clarity: Starting with a Ministry Blueprint."

During our Saturday meeting we talked about the importance of developing a simple process that can be (and will be) easily communicated to the rest of the Body. Again, we're in the very beginning stages of this process, but it was abundantly clear that clarity in communication can be difficult sometimes, and that not everyone understands everything the same way. Even among our Leadership Team there was discussion about what was meant by certain words or statements. There was some great discussion, and in the end a common agreement that we are moving in the right direction.

In an effort to help communicate clearly, I'll be posting some things here about Simple Church, about our discussions and the process we are going through. You'll be hearing about it in sermons and small group discussions as well. I'm excited about what the Lord is doing.