Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership, Prayer, Small Groups, Training

Matching Our Theology with Our Experience

Which is correct: Do we match our theology to our life experience or do we match our life experience to our theology? What do I mean? Let’s say you believe in miraculous healing.  As well, your theology backs up your belief in miraculous healing.  Then you go on to act upon that belief and theology by praying for the sick. You pray with all the gusto and faith you can possibly muster.  You do this repeatedly for a period of several years.  Over that same period no one is healed, not even a headache disappears miraculously.  You are left with disappointment after disappointment and not one single testimony of healing.  Now what do you do?

You have options. You can change your theology to one that says God no longer heals the sick.  You can get angry with God and declare He no longer hears your prayers and you refuse to be embarrassed by such prayers any longer. You can believe that you simply do not have the “gift of healing.”  Or you can back off, be discouraged and give up praying for those who need a miracle. In my lifetime, I have found myself somewhere within this list – mainly discouragement.  Today, because of the lack of experiencing miraculous healing, whole denominations are built on the belief that God no longer heals. It is how they justify their experience or lack thereof.  It’s dangerous to match your theology with your experience because God may have a different answer.  We’ll look at some of those answers next week.

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Encouragement, Leadership, Small Groups

Failure, the Pathway to Success

Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM once said, “The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”  It is said that Thomas Edison worked on 10,000 different experiments to find the right filament for the light bulb.  He started in early 1878 and on October 21, 1879, almost two years later the first incandescent light bulb was born.  Edison understood that failure was the pathway to success. Edison believed that he needed to discover what did not work in order to get closer to what did work.  His theory believed in failure as a part of the process to success. For some reason we tend to see failure as a failing – I do not believe we should – mainly because I do not believe God does.  (Why do I believe this?  Because nowhere in His word did He hide the failures of His children.)

I like what Winston Churchill once said, “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”  And Solomon said it this way, “…for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.”  (Proverbs 24:16a)  How does this apply to you and me as leaders today?  We can project ourselves as a leader, one who is the ideal.  Without always realizing it, we can become polished versions of the super Christian, the super pastor, or the super marketplace leader.  We then need to project always being happy, always being well-adjusted, always being in faith, always overcoming every temptation or failure.  We must feverishly protect our fragile esteem and our image of leader at all cost.  Whether trying it or not, owning up to it or not we are saying, “be perfect like me, have my faith – and if I am doing it, certainly I can expect you to.”  Take a deep breath and enjoy today along with the mistakes made by yourself and those around you.  Allow them to be lessons learned toward success.

 

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Encouragement, Leadership, Marriage, Singles

Doing a One Eighty at Thirty Seven Thousand Feet

Last week I was in the middle of flying out of the country to spend time with several churches that I have the privilege of serving.  We were at 37,000 feet over the Atlantic and almost half way to our destination, having left Charlotte, NC two hours earlier, when the pilot came on the intercom and announced that we would be returning to the states – Miami, in fact.  None of the passengers, including myself, had realized that the plane had already completed its 180-degree turn around and was headed northwest rather than southeast.  This huge plane, a Boeing 757, with every available seat filled to capacity with mostly tourists completely changed directions and no one knew any different.

I got to thinking about that…  Could we be experiencing a 180-degree turn in our marriage and never have a clue?  Could we as believers experience a 180-degree turn in our devotional life or even our faith and not realize it?  Could our nation be experiencing a 180-degree turn away from a biblical truth and we do not know the Word of God well enough to realize what’s happening right before our eyes?  The scriptures tell us that the enemy of our souls…”masquerades as an angel of light.”  He can make something look good or enticing when in fact it is 180 degrees the opposite of the will of God.  Are you headed in the godly direction that you thought you were in every area of life?  “Lord, reveal to each of us the direction of our heart and soul.”

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Leadership, Marriage, Postmarital

Finding Our Co-mission as a Couple

This past weekend, Mary and I had the privilege of installing a godly couple into the position of lead pastors at a church in Massachusetts.  As little as a year ago, they might not have seen themselves in this position, but that’s the “amazing race” our Father can have us on if we are listening to Him.  They are so excited to see what God will bring about through their leadership together.  Up to this point, they have served in numerous roles within this same local church for many years in whatever area of service they could.  Imagine if they would have refused serving in a co-mission capacity along the way.  Would they have been given the greater responsibility now before them?  As we are faithful in little…

Marriage is a oneness that trumps personal selfishness.  Agreement in our mission together is vital to a long-term, successful and fulfilling marriage.  While I am not called to everything my wife is, we have found specific areas where we serve together in our co-mission.  We have written those areas down in our “marriage mission statement.”  And for 2014, this past weekend was a part of fulfilling our mission together.  How about you and your spouse?  Do you have a written marriage mission statement?  It may help you to discover the reason(s) you are married.  Next week we will look at how to build your very own personal marriage mission statement.  Until then, begin making a list of all the things you are presently involved in as a couple.

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Encouragement, Leadership

Finishing the Year with Vision for 2014

The year 2013 is about to come to a close.  What were your highlights from this past year?  Do they out number the lows?  It’s easy to be thankful for the highlights, but a bit tougher to “give thanks in all things” for the lows.  Someone said if you get your eyes on what you feel God hasn’t done, you’ll lose your thankfulness, but if you keep your eyes and heart on what God has done you’ll maintain a heart of praise and a spirit of joy.

Before we enter 2014, I want to encourage you to take some time to evaluate 2013 and consider what you have learned, how you have grown as a person, what did you needlessly worry about, what financial decisions were right and which ones were wrong, how did you do with dating your spouse and children, and perhaps consider what you would have done differently now that you have the hindsight?  Then turn the corner and ask God for the vision He has for you in 2014.  What three or four goals would you like to see accomplished spiritually, emotionally, educationally, financially and physically?  Consider writing down the vision along with steps to take in order to reach your vision.  When you come to the end of 2014, you’ll have more to rejoice about as you discover many of the goals written twelve months earlier are accomplished.

Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets…  (Habakkuk 2:2)

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Encouragement, Leadership

A Listening Challenge

I was talking to a young man recently, maybe 27 or 28 years old.  He had multiple piercings and quite a few visible tattoos that did not represent positive themes.  His cloths were a bit too large, which I did not perceive to be a fashion statement.  Further, he was in need of deodorant.  I went up to him and asked him about his life story and what his dream is.  This young man took off with a plethora of words about a successful music career in Hollywood, CA with many “rock stars,” one of them being him.  He, further into the conversation, said he lived in Nashville, TN where he was a “country music sensation” dropping some well-known names.  At another time in the conversation, he told me he spent two and a half years incarcerated in Florida, on “false charges” of course.

As I was listening, I found myself thinking about what might be truth and what might not be.  I was wondering about his reality.  I was captivated by his incessant desire to be someone of worth and value, someone famous.  When we are attentive in our listening, we are making a statement that the one speaking is important.  It could have been easy to be distracted or simply want to move away from this person, but Jesus would have listened intently.  Jesus would have cared about his personal story even if it were fabricated.  Jesus would have given him every minute he needed without judgment.  And then He would have posed a pointed question like, “Do you know how much I love you with or without worldly success?”  Or, He might have said, “The kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy.”  How can I be more like Jesus today and who needs my listening ear without my judgement?

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Encouragement, Leadership

Being Human and Temptation (Part II)

In part one we said that a temptation is an appeal made upon a weakness within you.  Temptation is not wrong; we all have them.  Temptation is satan’s way of pulling you away from God thoughts, an unhealthy distraction from the focus of obeying your heavenly Father.  Even if it lasts only seconds, you still need to face it scripturally and not simply avoid it or wait until it seems to have passed because you know it will return with a vengeance.  I Corinthians 10: 13 tells us that God makes a way of escape from temptations.  What are those ways?

First, identify the weak area(s).  Acknowledge them, be accountable with them, pray over them and seek healing through the work of the Holy Spirit.  If you take the weakness out of the dark and bring it into the light, you give the enemy less to work with.  Be honest before God about them, confessing to Him your weak areas.  Next, study yourself, listen to your self-talk and discover when you are most susceptible to listening to the enemy’s voice.  For me, I have learned that it is when I am physically and emotionally spent.  Then ask yourself if any life changes are necessary in order to be less susceptible.  I had to discover just how much sleep I actually needed on a daily basis.  Further, I had to recognize and acknowledge personal stress areas rather than be in denial of them.  Lastly, keep inviting Holy Spirit into the process to show you areas of healing still needed within your soul.

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Children, Leadership, Training

The Law of Attribution

I was helping a middle-aged man with a fear of suspended bridges a number of years ago.  His fear was that he literally could not drive his car across them.  He had to plan all of his travel in such a manner that he did not cross a bridge that spanned a river or a mountain valley.  Imagine how limiting that would make life.  After some digging around, he told me that when he was a young boy he and his grandfather were stopped in construction traffic at the peak of one of those bridges.  When you are just sitting on the amazing expanse of such a structure, you can actually feel the bridge sway.  It literally moves underneath your vehicle.  His grandfather began saying, “Do you feel that?”  Further, he teased his young heart and mind with, “The bridge is collapsing, THE BRIDGE IS COLLAPSING and we’re going to end up in the river.”

A spirit of fear came over the young man that day and it still gripped him as he sat before me shaking with the memory exposed.  To this man, bridges were something to fear.  A lie was spoken to him through innocent teasing and his soul and spirit received the lie.  The Law of Attribution, defined, says, “That which you attribute to be fearful and stress producing will be.”   When approaching a bridge, a warning light and alarm went off within him and told him to avoid it, pull over and back up.  There was no truth in the lie, but still fresh and deep within his memory bank.  What do you attribute to be fearful, anxiety or depression producing?  How has the law of attribution been put into effect within your life?  Stay tuned for more on the subject next week.

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Encouragement, Leadership

The Gift of Repentance

God knew I needed refreshing while on a two month sabbatical from work/ministry responsibilities.  I knew I needed refreshment.  Little did I know, however, that it would begin with repentance.  To repent means to do an about-face, to turn away from and to pursue a different direction.  Was there some major sin in my life, no, but any shortcoming, any missing the mark should be major to us.  The Father was gently nudging and I was determined to listen, to hear, to believe Him and to respond.  I was acting upon a verse of scripture that He was highlighting to me.  Acts chapter three verse 19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…”

I have been a Christ follower for 42 years and I sense there are seasons of my life where I simply forget about the gift of repentance.  It’s a gift because following true repentance I am then in right standing with God, not due to my own effort.  I know I am forgiven through one act of grace on the cross.  I love what Paul wrote to us in Colossians chapter one about this gift.  He said that at one time we were alienated from God, we were enemies, due to our behavior, but then came reconciliation through Christ’s death to, …”present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”  Wow, you and I are holy in His sight, without blemish and free from the accusations of the evil one.  Repentance, what a gift.

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Encouragement, Leadership, Prayer

Back From a Sabbath Rest

Two months of being totally out of the loop from those whom you serve in ministry or your work place can be a long time.  Eight weeks ago my last blog was that I would disappear from the blogosphere and engage in a healthy Sabbath rest.  It has been an excellent God time, rest time, journal time, training time, reading time, prayer time, centering time and listening time.  I do not regret one single day other than a few unexpected distractions.  Thank you for your patience and allowing me to take this time away.  The following are some of the things I learned or rediscovered on this sabbatical:

 

  • Sabbaths are vital and spoken into our lives here on earth by our heavenly Father.  They are God’s answer to self-depletion.
  • I rediscovered and was forced to face how much of my life is connected to my work, how much I think about it, worry about personal situations and pray for those I serve.
  • I am not the answer.
  • It was refreshing for my Father to gently work me through areas of repentance.
  • It became necessary to push through areas of distraction.
  • How easy and natural abandonment, rejection and un-forgiveness are while how supernatural is the cross, forgiveness and the depth of God’s love and acceptance.
  • How natural fathering/mothering impedes or enhances spiritual fathering/mothering.

There were more areas of a personal nature vital to my own self-discovery, personal wholeness and deepening faith.  Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath.  And I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath.”  (Mark 2:27, 28 NLT)  Thank you, Jesus, for being Lord of my Sabbath.

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