Today someone asked me what I would talk about if I was given the opportunity to talk about leadership, what would I talk about?
I had to think about it for a moment and then I responded by saying - brokenness.
At first, it was not a popular response to the questioner.
In this world today any of us can go straight to Amazon, a bookstore, a friend's shelf, a business person, a pastor, or anything/anyone else and there will be a multitude of different books on leadership. I love Maxwell but I'm not always sure that we need 21 of these, 17 of those, 5 of these, 479 of this, and 15 of something else. What's the one?
Someone else will say this X is the thing that all leaders must have and need to work on while yet another person will advise that we need something else entirely different. When you put it all together it seems like each write or speaker will give 1/2 of a new thought and use 76 other thoughts. What's the one thing I need?
I answered brokenness a.k.a. humility. My questioner summed it up with a different word - character. I like that one better and I'm gonna stick with it.
Every leader cannot survive without character - strength of spirit, resolve, knowing who he/she really is, know what makes them unique, knowing strengths and weaknesses. Character is defined as "the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual."
The truth is this: we can work on 43 of these and 27 of that. We can pick up tips and tricks on "visioneering" and "habits" and "boundaries." We can listen to our favorite CEOs, leaders, organizations, trainings, books, authors, and whatever else but if we do not have character we will all eventually fail.
What's the most important thing about leadership? Working on one's self and developing true character.
Monday, May 27
Monday, March 4
Who are you really?
One of my favorite questions is this - If everything you love was taken away, who would you be?
It's easy for us to get caught up in life. It's reality right? Aren't we always trying to entertain ourselves, better ourselves, and to enjoy life? But let me ask you this - what defines who you are? Are you a parent? Spouse? Child? Manager? Worker? Leader? Follower? Optimist? Judge? Pastor? Chef? You get the point. What are you? How do you define yourself?
Now, take that title off of you. Who are you now?
Strip yourself of that title. Now who are you?
One of the toughest lessons in life is finding out who you are at the core. When you take (or sometimes forced) to take a hard look at yourself who will you be?
It's a tough question because, in my opinion, it's one of the scariest questions to answer. So often we hide behind our titles, jobs, responsibilities, or fluff.
My encouragement for the week is to dive in and take a look at yourself and see what you may find. Just remember that it might scare you some too.
It's easy for us to get caught up in life. It's reality right? Aren't we always trying to entertain ourselves, better ourselves, and to enjoy life? But let me ask you this - what defines who you are? Are you a parent? Spouse? Child? Manager? Worker? Leader? Follower? Optimist? Judge? Pastor? Chef? You get the point. What are you? How do you define yourself?
Now, take that title off of you. Who are you now?
Strip yourself of that title. Now who are you?
One of the toughest lessons in life is finding out who you are at the core. When you take (or sometimes forced) to take a hard look at yourself who will you be?
It's a tough question because, in my opinion, it's one of the scariest questions to answer. So often we hide behind our titles, jobs, responsibilities, or fluff.
My encouragement for the week is to dive in and take a look at yourself and see what you may find. Just remember that it might scare you some too.
My newest transition begins
My newest transition is upon me. My last few transitions have been
very happy ones. That makes me real happy since so many of my
transitions in the last 5 years seemed to be surrounded by pain. I have written about this pain before - I think it is safe to say the content will not change
Recently, I was married. That’s a lot a lot of transitions there. And now, I also have finally found where I want to be – here in Sioux City, IA working at Riverz Edge Church as Operations Pastor. I honestly could not be happier and cannot wait to start.
This is a new beginning. A new transition. I can’t wait. I will share this journey. My favorite part of this journey will be when I stop writing about pain, transitions, new life and move into other types of thoughts. That will be a good day. But for now – thank you for reading. Check back again.
Recently, I was married. That’s a lot a lot of transitions there. And now, I also have finally found where I want to be – here in Sioux City, IA working at Riverz Edge Church as Operations Pastor. I honestly could not be happier and cannot wait to start.
This is a new beginning. A new transition. I can’t wait. I will share this journey. My favorite part of this journey will be when I stop writing about pain, transitions, new life and move into other types of thoughts. That will be a good day. But for now – thank you for reading. Check back again.
Monday, August 1
Optimism vs Pessimism
Have you ever met one of those people (you know exactly who I'm talking about to) that seem to NEVER have a bad day? In college, my friends and I referred to these people as "River people" and I'll just leave it at that. Some people just have this ability to always look at things optimistically while others struggle with this. And it seems like those optimistic people seem to always have something to be optimistic about.
Is there a secret I'm missing here?
I don't know how these people are able to do it, but I know that my life doesn't always look up. In fact, a lot of the time, my life doesn't look up. How can I change that? I feel like every time I hope and pray for something to happen, it doesn't. Now, I have no problem being optimistic that this transition of my life will end and things will be better and I can continue on with the rest of my life, but that doesn't change today does it?
Feel free to add some advice for me and others like me to help us to change the way we think, if that's what needs to happen that is.
Is there a secret I'm missing here?
I don't know how these people are able to do it, but I know that my life doesn't always look up. In fact, a lot of the time, my life doesn't look up. How can I change that? I feel like every time I hope and pray for something to happen, it doesn't. Now, I have no problem being optimistic that this transition of my life will end and things will be better and I can continue on with the rest of my life, but that doesn't change today does it?
Feel free to add some advice for me and others like me to help us to change the way we think, if that's what needs to happen that is.
Thursday, July 21
Saturday is Coming...
As I mentioned yesterday, I just got back speaking from a camp last week. Dream come true and I hope it doesn't stop with one experience at Covenant Heights.
One of the things that we talked about was passion and how to keep it coming. Since I knew ahead of time that this would be around a campfire I decided to use the fire as my prop. So I talked about how passion is more than an emotion and we can decide what our passion looks like. Often, at camp, we can use emotions to fuel our passion, but this does not last long. After saying this I poured some lighter fluid on the fire and said this was camp. Then I said, Saturday is coming and it looks like this - and that's when the flame died down quickly.
All week long I said Saturday was coming and unless we started putting logs in our fire, (i.e. Bible reading, prayer, consistency in church/youth group/missions/sharing the Gospel with others/etc) then our flame would die out. I talked about this all week in fact - that Saturday was coming.
Well, my Saturday hit me on Friday night. I experienced a very quick letdown and I even faced what seemed to be this rapid depression over the weekend. Saturday always comes...
Be ready for Saturday. Prepare for Saturday. It always sneaks up on us when we aren't ready...
One of the things that we talked about was passion and how to keep it coming. Since I knew ahead of time that this would be around a campfire I decided to use the fire as my prop. So I talked about how passion is more than an emotion and we can decide what our passion looks like. Often, at camp, we can use emotions to fuel our passion, but this does not last long. After saying this I poured some lighter fluid on the fire and said this was camp. Then I said, Saturday is coming and it looks like this - and that's when the flame died down quickly.
All week long I said Saturday was coming and unless we started putting logs in our fire, (i.e. Bible reading, prayer, consistency in church/youth group/missions/sharing the Gospel with others/etc) then our flame would die out. I talked about this all week in fact - that Saturday was coming.
Well, my Saturday hit me on Friday night. I experienced a very quick letdown and I even faced what seemed to be this rapid depression over the weekend. Saturday always comes...
Be ready for Saturday. Prepare for Saturday. It always sneaks up on us when we aren't ready...
Wednesday, July 20
Camp
Last week I had the privilege to speak at Covenant Heights Camp in Estes Park, CO. I have always, since age 13 or so, wanted to speak at a camp but never thought I would have the opportunity. Those speakers were so polished and good, well some not so good, that I didn't think I would ever be in that class. I still don't know that I am but I never thought I'd get the chance at 28 to do a camp. It was amazing!!
If you have never had the opportunity to go to camp as a speaker then you are missing out! Open and flexible schedule every day! Hang out with the campers...when you want to! And then lead campers (7-10th grade in my case) to connect with God in a real and powerful way!
When asked to speak, as random as it was, I knew that a huge part of the camp experience is the music/band. So I asked some friends of mine, the worship band Sanctified, if they wanted to join the adventure and they graciously said yes. They were PHENOMENAL!! Like me it was their first camp as well. We saw God do some amazing things. We saw some campers do some amazing things! And we saw a counselor live out the gospel in the most real and relevant way imaginable!
If nothing else, this experience has renewed my desire for youth ministry, really ministry in general. It reminded me of God's call on my life. It also gave me the opportunity to speak, for real, for the first time in over two years! This experience even made me start thinking about doing more camps and how I might need to let that be known - so it's now written on a blog for the world to see, even though I am fairly confident that no one will read it.
If you have never had the opportunity to go to camp as a speaker then you are missing out! Open and flexible schedule every day! Hang out with the campers...when you want to! And then lead campers (7-10th grade in my case) to connect with God in a real and powerful way!
When asked to speak, as random as it was, I knew that a huge part of the camp experience is the music/band. So I asked some friends of mine, the worship band Sanctified, if they wanted to join the adventure and they graciously said yes. They were PHENOMENAL!! Like me it was their first camp as well. We saw God do some amazing things. We saw some campers do some amazing things! And we saw a counselor live out the gospel in the most real and relevant way imaginable!
If nothing else, this experience has renewed my desire for youth ministry, really ministry in general. It reminded me of God's call on my life. It also gave me the opportunity to speak, for real, for the first time in over two years! This experience even made me start thinking about doing more camps and how I might need to let that be known - so it's now written on a blog for the world to see, even though I am fairly confident that no one will read it.
Wow. Over a year. Wow. In any of my past posts did I mention anything about struggling with consistency?
Anyway, I have some great reasons for not blogging for over a year, but now feel that it is time to start it up again.
I've learned a lot in the past year. I learned more about my struggles in life. I've also learned, as much as I wish it wasn't true, that coffee = inspiration for me. I have learned that I know what I love and I love what God has called me to do. And also, that depression comes when I sit around and watch a lot of TV and play a lot of video games (a.k.a. NCAA Football 12 - such a wonderful game)
I have some great things to talk about and so I will do my best to start with those. None of the least would be lessons learned/ing from the Bible, life, coaching, mentorship, and God. If you happen to stumble across this blogsite I hope you are encouraged and continue to read. In fact, give it to a few friends. I definitely write these things for myself, but it so encouraging to know that others are reading as well.
Anyway, I have some great reasons for not blogging for over a year, but now feel that it is time to start it up again.
I've learned a lot in the past year. I learned more about my struggles in life. I've also learned, as much as I wish it wasn't true, that coffee = inspiration for me. I have learned that I know what I love and I love what God has called me to do. And also, that depression comes when I sit around and watch a lot of TV and play a lot of video games (a.k.a. NCAA Football 12 - such a wonderful game)
I have some great things to talk about and so I will do my best to start with those. None of the least would be lessons learned/ing from the Bible, life, coaching, mentorship, and God. If you happen to stumble across this blogsite I hope you are encouraged and continue to read. In fact, give it to a few friends. I definitely write these things for myself, but it so encouraging to know that others are reading as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)