Saturday, August 19, 2006

3 Reasons Why a Lack of Resources is a Blessing


There's an air of iron willed determination about entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Along with hope and a blind optimism which leaves most people just shaking their heads but leaves me fascinated by them.

Ministry development or church planting for me is essentially the same thing. I believe the innovation and creativity born out of not ever having enough resources [be it people, money and or time] leads to some of the most amazing problem-solving skills and breakthrough ideas. Sometimes it may appear to be stuck together with band-aids or duct-taped together, but they'll make it work!

Seth Godin talks a bit about this in a recent post about marketing budgets, but I think it applies to ministry development as well.

First: Great product development and marketing almost always comes from organizations that don't have enough money. Having less money keeps you from trying to buy your way out of trouble.

Second: Learning to live with less money means you will develop skills and resources instead of buying them. And it means that when you have less money (again), you'll be prepared.

Third: It keeps a focus on what needs to be done and cuts out on the extra frills.

Tags: , , ,



Sunday, August 13, 2006

Lack of Leadership and Decay

The term leadership could be used to refer to everything that leaders do, including preaching, managing, coordinating, administration etc. However how vital is leadership in a narrower context? In other words the process of seeking out God's vision and purpose for a church/ministry, and for individuals; sharing that vision, and enabling and encouraging a church/ministry to own and reach that vision for themselves.

George Barna in one of his books (though written from an American perspective, is still valid in other parts of the world): Leaders on Leadership says "After fifteen years of diligent digging into the world around me, I have reached several conclusions about the future of the Christian church in America. The central conclusion is that the American church is dying due to the lack of strong leadership. In this time of unprecedented opportunity and plentiful resources, the church is actually losing influence. The primary reason is the lack of leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership.

Most recently I have discovered that the current exodus from the church is partially attributed to the flight of the laity who posses the leadership abilities, gifts and experience. These individuals, whom the church so desperately needs, are leaving the church because they can no longer stomach being part of an alleged movement that lacks strong visionary leadership.

These are people of capacity, people who can make things happen. I have watched with sorrow as they have tried to penetrate the culture of the Church and offer the benefit of their gifts. They have been unable to contribute because their churches are neither led by leaders nor by those who understand leadership.

I have studied modern history to comprehend the dynamics of revolutions, people movements, societal systems and national fortunes. The result is the conviction that there have not been - and are not likely to be - any significant and successful movements, revolutions or other systems in which strong visionary leaders were not at the forefront of those groups, leading the way for change in thought and word and deed."

Christian Schwarz, in his book "Natural Church Development", based on a study of more than a 1000 churches in 32 countries concluded that empowering leadership was the first of their eight quality characteristics for healthy churches.
"Leaders of growing churches concentrate on empowering other Christians for ministry. They do not use lay workers as helpers in attaining their own goals and fulfilling heir own visions. Rather, they invert the pyramid of authority so that the leader assists Christians to attain the spiritual potential God has for them. These pastors equip, support, motivate and mentor individuals, enabling them to become all that God wants them to be."

Leadership is vital for healthy churches and ministries. Leadership is vital for the church/ministry to positively influence the society we live in. Leadership is vital to encourage growth be it in the church or ministry. Leadership is vital to enable Christians to grow in ministry. Leadership is vital!

Tags:

Unlearn Your Fears

Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it all others depend.” The systematic development of the deep down quality of unflinching courage is one of the fundamental requirements for leadership in any field. Fear, or the lack of courage is more responsible for failure in management, and in life, than any other factor. It is always fear that causes people to hold back, to sell themselves short, to settle for far less than they are capable of!

Eliminate Fear and Doubt
I firmly believe that you can do, have or be far more than you now know if only you could eliminate the fear, doubts and misgivings that consciously and unconsciously interfere with your realizing your full potential.

Unlearn Your Fears
If there is anything positive about fear, it is that all fears are learned, that no one is born with fears, and that having been learned, they can be unlearned. If you want to understand the role of fear in shaping the course of your life, just ask yourself, if you had a magic wand that would absolutely guarantee you success in any one thing you attempted, what goal would you set for yourself.

The Question
“What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?” If you had no fears at all with regard to money or the criticism of others, what would you do differently? Most people can think of all kinds of changes they would, or could, make in their lives if they had no fears to hold them back.

The Origins of Fear
The development of courage begins with understanding the psychological origins of fear. The newborn child has only two fears; the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears that we experience as adults are learned as we are growing up, primarily as the result of well-meaning but destructive criticism from our parents.

How Fears Develop
When the curious child gets into things and makes a mess, the parent scolds and punishes the child, eventually building up a pattern of fear connected with trying or getting into anything new or different. As adults, we experience this as the fear of failure, the fear of risking, of making a mistake, of losing.

Action Exercises
Here are two steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

1. Imagine that you had no fears at all. What would you set as a goal for yourself if you were guaranteed of success?

2. Decide exactly what you want and then act as if it were impossible to fail. You may be surprised at how successful you are.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

4 Tips on Leadership Development for You and Your Staff

Warren Allan Johnson in a recent post on his blog provides 3 tips from Bill Hybels who spoke at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit (August 10-12, 2006):

1. To develop your own leadership skills:


  • Read everything you can get your hands on about improving your leadership skills. You should always have two books that you’re working on.

  • Go where leadership is taught. Take the initiative to do this early in your life and career.

  • Get around leaders who are better than you and ask good questions. Take them to lunch to ask your questions, if needed.

  • Be involved in leading something

2. When hiring people, or looking for people to move into leadership positions, look for:


  • Character

  • Competence

  • Chemistry

3. Leaders will eventually reach a point where it is wise to develop a “constellation of colleagues” to work beside them in senior leadership. The additional grid he uses to select who should be leaders at the senior level includes:

  • Intelligence

  • Energetic people

  • Relational IQ – someone who doesn’t hurt people as they get things done

  • Commitment - a “win or die” spirit

It’s important for the leader to develop other leaders because you eventually become the growth-limiting factor for your department, division or organization. If you don’t develop leaders, the good people in your organization will eventually leave for other positions where they can make an impact.

4. Keep Leading Something
It's important to keep your skills honed and to apply yourself whenever possible.

Tags: , , ,

Friday, August 11, 2006

3 Key Lessons from a Master Storyteller


Jesus knew that sometimes truth can't be explained, outlined, analyzed, and summarized. He knew that sometimes the only way to tell the truth is to wrap it up in a story.

In a recent article on pastors.com, Steven James quotes novelist Flannery O’Connor: “When you can state the theme of a story, when you can separate it from the story itself, then you can be sure the story is not a very good one. The meaning of a story has to be embodied in it, has to be made concrete in it. A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.”


Steven goes on to sure 3 key lessons learnt during his story telling sojourn thus far:


1. Work with images rather than propositions Faith cannot exist without imagination. And you do not grow in faith by just hearing facts. Often the best told stories, and sermons, need no explanation because they embody the truth. They say what cannot be said any other way.


2. Trust the story to do its work Jesus rarely explained his stories, in fact only once in Scripture are we told specifically why Jesus told a story (Luke 18:1), and only a couple of his story explanations appear. Jesus trusted his stories to do their work in the hearts of the people listening.


3. Never tell the same story twice Effective communicators combine careful and thoughtful preparation with a warm sense of spontaneity. In short, they respond to their audiences. They prepare their messages with their listeners in mind. Their stories and jokes aren’t canned. People feel like the message is directed right at them.


Steven James has a master’s degree in storytelling, speaks weekly at churches and conferences nationwide, and is the author of the highly acclaimed book Story: Recapture the Mystery


Tags: , , , Tags:

Manager or Leader Which Are You?


There’s a difference between being a boss and a leader. Which one are you?

Webster’s definitions of a boss include: A person who exercises control over others and makes decisions, usually the person of highest rank or authority, a supervisor, a person who commands in a domineering manner.

In contrast the definitions for a leader include: A person who rules, guides, inspires, escorts, directs, influences, persuades, and is out and ahead of or at the head of others. They have influence, power, and commanding authority over those they lead. They tend toward a certain goal or result, are in the foremost position, and usually “pull” people toward what becomes a common vision. People usually follow a leader because they want to rather than have to.

Influential leaders, who lead with great ethics, whether they are Prime Ministers, Kings, corporate CEOs, Girl Guide or Scout leaders, bare some traits in common. They are passionate about what they do and what they believe in; they are visionaries, can see the “big picture”, and are driven inside to draw people into what they believe – to jump on the train with them.

A manager in a restaurant sees tables and chairs that need to be filled, customers that need to be fed, employees that need to be scheduled, doors that need fixed, floors that need to be cleaned, the end of the day/week accounting that needs to be done and marketing that needs to be planned. They work toward these ends, seeing them to fulfillment, sometimes in very creative ways.

A leader in a restaurant sees those things too, but he or she also feels excitement about being in business, or about making profit from people’s need for food and associate atmosphere and how that profit can be poured back into the restaurant to give it a competitive edge over other restaurants. They care about, and inspire, their staff, realizing that they are the front line ambassadors of the restaurant. They not only see where the restaurant is at now, but they also envision what it will look like or how it will impact their community ten years from now. Whether they actually own the restaurant or not, they make the restaurant their own.

With good leaders, people usually feel drawn, or “pulled”, into the same vision. Have you ever gone into a restaurant and been treated so well by the staff there that you just knew that you would return again? Not only did you just receive knock your socks off customer service, but you also met employees empowered by the vision of a true leader.

A leader usually develops and motivates leaders under them. People who get “fired-up” and captivated by the vision and rise to the occasion.

For leaders, leadership is a way of life. If there's leadership spontaneously required at a gathering, leaders will step up to bat, even if it's just to open a door as people arrive.

Can a manager be a leader? Definitely.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Updates & News from the ITA


This past year has been one of seeing the Lord bring a new level of maturity to Leadership Matters. Over 900 leaders have now taken the training. That is a real praise item.

During this past July, our newly formed Council, representative of eight agencies, met for its second meeting. Several organizations are asking for this specialized training and others are asking to be part of the alliance. This confirms to us that there is a huge need for leadership training around the globe. And while there are many Bodies of Believers springing up around the world, there is a desperate need for the training of leaders to help them to be effective.

The Apostle Paul, during his missionary journeys, was intent on ensuring that the believers had follow up. He provided thorough instruction and good training for the deacons and elders so that they could effectively lead the new congregations.

This is exactly what the Lord is letting us do. There is a lot of emphasis on church planting around the world, and we praise God for every church that is planted, but the reality is that there is a dearth of training available for the leaders of those churches.

Following is a quote from an LMC graduate from Spain. He eloquently expresses what the training has meant to him and the outreach there.”I want to thank you for your investment in equipping and empowering others to be the most effective leaders they can be. I have attended many conferences and read many books, but the training I have received at Leadership Matters Course has been the most practical hands-on training I have ever received.
1. The range of leadership skills covered,
2. the way they are broken down into bite sized modules,
3. plus the effective modeling , and
4. opportunity to immediately put into practice the skills, make it such an impacting course.
The way you come alongside each participant, coaching and affirming them, instills confidence and builds enthusiasm.
When I think of the impact that this program can have on the 93 team members I work with, my heart rejoices. This type of training will equip us to more than double the effectiveness of our efforts in building up leaders in ministry in the areas of the world where we serve.”

Equipping the Saints,

John King
Editor for A Matter of Course and engage!
LMC Trainer

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Swagger - Does it Fit?

The word “swagger” conjures up images of John Wayne starring in a classic Western movie or Mohammed Ali brashly proclaiming “I am the greatest.” Does such swagger fit within the skill set of a leader?

In his article “Confidence: Putting Grace in Your Swagger” John Baldoni describes swagger as “a healthy dose of confidence without overconfidence,” and “the subtle display of confidence and capability.”

Leaders with swagger display pride in their work and reflect their ability to get things done correctly and achieve consistently. When displayed appropriately it can help a team or organization feel better about itself and its people.

A leaders confidence can be contagious, but arrogance alienates followers. So how can a leader be sure to show swagger appropriately?

Baldoni's suggestions -

Know Yourself
Know yourself and operate in the areas in which you naturally excel. Find teammates who can complement areas where you are weak. Being in your sweet spot will spark your swagger.

Know Your Team
Your ability to delegate tasks based upon the collection of talent you have surrounding you is vital. Understanding relational dynamics within your team and promote unity. Like a Sherpa make sure each member has the tools to succeed and is positioned in their area of enjoyment and expertise. A well equipped, positioned and harmonious team that is set up for success will have swagger.

Share the Glory
Swagger is a team product and requires to be spread around. Accept the blame and pass along the glory. Praise and encourage those you lead and affirm their hard work. Make it a habit to shine the spotlight on the achievements of team members to promote swagger.

Know Your Limits
According to Baldoni too much swagger is a real danger - "Swagger can dull a leader’s strategic thinking or obscure an obligation to the people for whom he or she is responsible". Suitable swagger must be infused with humility, otherwise your leadership is prone to the blinders and confines of self-importance. An attitude of superiority will separate you from their team, and egotism will rob your appeal and influence with those you lead.

If the "LMC Buzz" is anything to go by it would appear that swagger is very much a by product for LMC graduates.