Creating a climate to train leaders not followers. Part 1

Every Tuesday at 12noon Pacific Time I do a Six Minute (or more) seminar on various topics on life and leadership. This past week we had a conversation about creating a climate in your church or business that attracts, trains, and releases leaders in your organization not just adds followers. 

Here is part one of the seminar. My hope is that you would watch it, apply it, and share the link with a friend. 

Comment below, I'd love to continue the conversation and hear tips that you have on raising up leaders. 

Read to Lead. Here's what I've read and going to read in 2018.

Books I've had the pleasure of reading so far this year:

Breakout Churches                     Thom Rainer 

Spiritual Leadership                    Henry Blackaby 

The Mentoring Church                 Phil Newton 

Platform                                       Michael Hyatt 

The Art of the Deal                      Donald Trump 

Autopsy of a Deceased Church   Thom Rainer 

Discipling                                      Mark Dever 

The Money Challenge                   Art Rainer 

Selling 101                                     Zig Ziglar 

Relationships 101                         John Maxwell 

How Successful People Lead      John Maxwell 

Books that I will read throughout the rest of 2018:

Principle Centered Leadership           Stephen Covey 

The Magic of Thinking Big                  David Schwartz 

The Explicit Gospel                                       Matt Chandler 

The Winning Attitude                                   John Maxwell 

Developing Leaders Around You                 John Maxwell 

Becoming a Person of Influence                  John Maxwell 

17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork               John Maxwell 

Execution                                                       Larry Bossidy 

What Got You Here Won't Get You There    Marshal Goldsmith 

Growing Up                                                    Robby Gallaty 

What is on your reading list? 

Please comment below. I would love to pick them up and add to my  reading plan

Brick or Rock? Lessons from the Tower of Babel.

This morning I was reading in Genesis Chapter 11 about the Tower of Babel. I’ve always found this story very interesting! 

The story starts off saying, “While men were migrating eastward”. 

In the Bible going “East” many times signifies a moving away from the things of God. Here are a few examples - Adam and Eve were sent “East of Eden” - Lot went “East and pitched his tent toward Sodam - The Israelites were moved to the “East” when Babylonian Empire took them into captivity. - and the people in Genesis 11 migrated "East" to build a man man society based on selfish motives rather than Godly principles. 

When the people that were migrating eastward discovered a valley in the land of Sennaar and decided to settle there.  They said to one each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them.”  They used bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar.  They then said, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered all over the earth.” 

The tower of Babel is possibly our first look into a truly secular society. By secular I mean a society (group of people) that sets itself up out of the will of God and in complete opposition to his standards. 

One of the first things that I notice is that the tower of Babel was made out of bricks. I am not a brick layer by any means, but in some of the studies that I’ve done, here are a few characteristics of bricks. 

1 - They are man made, artificial rocks. You will not find a brick occurring in nature. 

2 -  They are identical and uniform. It is very hard to distinguish one brick from another. 

3 - They are functionally interchangeable. A brick can serve equally well anywhere in a wall. 

However, when you look at rocks or stones they are completely different then bricks. 

1 - They were created by God not man. 

2 - They are unique in shape, size, strength, and purpose.

3 - They are not interchangeable. When building roads or walls, you need to find the unique stone and/ or style of rock for the job. 

Lets look at a passage of scripture found in, 1 Peter 2:4-5

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

I love this passage! 

God is inviting us to come to Him! He doesn't want us to be like the people in Genesis 11 who migrated “east” away from God and His ways. He wants us to migrate toward Him and into His hands. 

When we place ourselves in Gods hands, He forms us and creates us into living stones, uniquely gifted, uniquely placed in His house, to set apart for His unique purpose for our life! 

However, when we don't come to God, we place ourselves in the hands of culture. We will be made in the image of those around us. We will think like them, act like them, and be just another brick in a man made wall that will soon crumble. 

So what do we do with this?

1 - Go toward God ... not away from Him. 

2 - Put ourself in His hands by accepting Jesus grace through salvation. 

3 - Let God create us by obeying Him daily. 

4 - Find our fulfillment in living out Gods unique plan for our life, not our selfish motives. 

Where were you Adam when she needed you the most? And other questions we need to be asking ourselves as men.

This morning in my devotional time I read a familiar story from the book of Genesis. 

Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths

One of the things in this passage that I find very interesting is that the serpent spoke up and gave his opinion, Eve spoke up and gave her thoughts, however,  Adam remained completely silent during the entire event.  What if Adam, who God had originally spoken to about what would happen if they ate of the tree, had spoken up? What if Adam would have been a leader instead of an observer. 

I guess I could talk about the state of men today and how common place it is for men to sit back, put their head down, and let life happen to them and their family rather then stand up and and protect their family. However, I think it would be best for me to look in the mirror and ask myself a few question first before pointing fingers at others? 

While the Bible clearly affirms the equality of men and women (Galatians 3:28), it also tells us plainly that God has assigned the responsibility of spiritual leadership in the home to husbands: "Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them" (Colossians 3:18-19).

As the Christ Like Servant Leader of the home, what kinds of qualities are required in a husband who desires to fulfill this high and holy calling? 

A man must have strong connection with his Heavenly Father, find his happiness first and foremost in Christ. 

A man must be balanced in his commitments and nurturing in his concern for the mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of his wife and family. 

A man must be proactive, spotting potential challenges to his family and come up with workable solutions to the problem. 

A man must have integrity at all times, seeking to be the safest, wisest, and most respected man his wife and children know. 

These four qualities drive me to ask myself a few things:

Do I lead my family spiritually?

Do I stay in tune with God so that I can see physical, financial, and family battles as they are coming? Or do I get so caught up  in the day to day routine that I let life hit me and simply role with the punches like Adam did? 

Do I take the lead when battles come or do I let my wife carry all the weight of figuring out what to do and which direction we should go?

What am I doing to serve, love, protect, and support my wife in her daily life as a woman and mother?

What am I doing to serve, love, protect, and lead my children? Am I involved or simply observing?

Have I led with enough integrity that when I do speak up my wife, and children know I have their best interest in mind. 

My prayer as a man:

God from the Garden of Eden up till now, nothing much has really changed. The enemy crawls up as close to my family as he can trying to deceive us daily. Help me as a husband and father to be like Christ and not Adam. Help me to be a servant leader. Help me to be a proactive leader. Help me to be balanced in my lifestyle. Help me to have Godly character in all I do so that my wife and children are able to fulfill their God given destinies in life. 

Is your church dying or healthy? Here are seven ways you can know for sure.

I'm a Pastor. The church that I shepherd is not a mega church, however, we are a growing church. We are a body of believers that takes the great commission very seriously. As we strive to make even more of an impact in our community and the world, I want to make sure that we stay on the right path. I want us to put our energy in the right places, so that we can be healthy enough to continue to bring people to Jesus and help them live like Him for decades to come! 

Over the past 25 years, of serving in pastoral leadership as well as coaching youth pastors and church leaders across America, I've noticed a few things that differentiate a church that is healthy from a church that is on its last breath. 

Here are seven differences between a dying church and healthy church. 

1. Dying churches, remember the good old days.  Healthy churches, change in order to make tomorrow even better. 

2. Dying churches, refuse to look like their community. Healthy churches, serve the needs of the people around them. 

3. Dying churches, have an inward financial focus. Healthy churches, budget in order to make an impact outside of their four walls. 

4. Dying churches, maintain current ministries. Healthy churches, release people to fulfill the great commission. 

5. Dying churches, keep current members happy.  Healthy churches, empower members to serve the lost and hurting around them. 

6. Dying churches, rarely pray together. Healthy churches, get on their knees regularly to ask God to shine His light through them. 

7. Dying churches, don't have a clear purpose. Healthy churches, know who they are, why there are here, and where they are going. 

Just like in our physical bodies, staying healthy as a church does not happen on its own. May we as church leaders continue to lead ourselves and our churches in ways that God commands us to in His word. 

Here are a few questions. 

How many of these seven are you on the wrong side of?

Which one or two of these have been your achilles heel in times past? 

Which one of these are you going to start working on right away?

Who do you have on your team that can help you help breath life into the church body again?