Tag: routine

Never Lose Sight of the One

Share this:
Share

Today’s post is going to be ministry specific, but it plays a role in leadership as well.

When I think back to the influential ministers in my life, very few of them became influencers because they stood at the front of the room.

There was my youth pastor who would stay after Wednesday service for an hour or more talking with me and a friend or two about all sorts of random things, until my parents called the church to see if I was okay.

There was the pastor who saw something in me and started spending time with me each week, helping me grow in my faith.

There was my coach/youth pastor who would put in extra time with me on the basketball court, giving me tips for improving my jump shot or baby hook.

Ultimately each of those people spent that time with me away from their “stage”. As a result, when they stood on the stage (or at the front of the room), their words carried so much more weight. They cared about me, and I knew it.

The same is true for us in leadership, especially in ministry. We have to be willing to spend time investing in individuals. When we do, the words we say from the stage carry more weight.

But there’s more to it than just being able to influence someone. Investment makes a difference.

When we invest in someone, we experience compassion for what they’re going through in life. Learn how to ask questions about what is going on in their life, and take a genuine interest.

When we invest in someone, we experience frustration because people are flawed (newsflash–you’re flawed too, and that may be where your frustration comes from).

When we invest in someone, we experience hope. As we get to know someone, we get a peek into what they could become, and then as a leader we get to help them realize that potential!

The bottom line is this: in leadership, never lose sight of the one. Foster relationships that provide a greater opportunity for impact and watch what happens next!

Podcast Week: Church Leadership

Share this:
Share

Confession time: I admire people who are avid readers. One of my goals this year was to read more books, but it has been a battle (one which I am certain will get blogged about before the end of the year).

But what I lack in reading, I make up for in Podcasts. There are weeks where I will listen to close to 20 hours of podcasts (and audio books are slowly creeping their way into my rotation).

Last year I wrote a few blogs I called Podcast Week. (Click here here and here to read them.) This year, I am going to do something similar, just topical.

So, today, here are my top four church leadership podcasts, all linked to iTunes:

  1. The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast: These are long form interviews, usually lasting over an hour, but can be quite fascinating. For a season, this was my running podcast because I knew I wouldn’t have to deal with intros and outros during my run. The bottom line is I usually grow as a leader because of the time investment I’ve made listening to CNLP. My recent favorites are episodes 218 (Francis Chan) and 212 (Erwin McManus).
  2. The Unstuck Church Podcast with Tony Morgan: I can’t remember how I stumbled across this podcast, but I am so glad that I did. These, unlike Carey Nieuwhof, are quick hit podcasts, usually between 15 and 20 minutes. The content is fascinating, and this has become one podcast that I feel the urge to binge listen to every episode. My recent favorites are episode 55 (Thom Rainer) and episode 60 (Andy Stanley).
  3. 5 Leadership Questions Podcast: This is my mowing podcast. The chemistry on the show is pretty solid, and they do a good job covering a range of topics I would not normally explore on my own.
  4. Youth Ministry Booster: I’m going to be honest here: I have a difficult time with youth ministry podcasts. Most of them can’t hold my attention, mostly because I feel they are way too insider (one group takes around 20 minutes to get to their content), but YMB has my attention. When I want a word on youth ministry, I turn to these guys, and I’m rarely disappointed.

That’s it for today. Happy listening!

The Power of the 3 Questions

Share this:
Share

A couple weeks ago we were on the back end of our youth room remodel, and our deadline (Wednesday night) was approaching fast.  I was spending the majority of my time that week trying to rearrange, clean up, and reassemble the room. I had both of my daughters with me to help, but that was not working the way I hoped.

Then, a light bulb came on. As my oldest daughter was asking what she needed to do next, I did something I have not done yet: I asked her to answer the first 2 questions (Click here for the explanation of the 3 questions). I helped her as she looked around the room to see what needed to be done, and then helped her see what she could do.

Now, I have said before that I do not sit my daughters down and make them listen to me lecture on the 3 Questions, but earlier this summer I did let my oldest sit in one of my talks on them. She was excited about the idea of it, so our conversation in the youth room was not out of place.

What happened next was great. We were able to accomplish more because she was not interrupting me every time she finished a task. She was learning to trust herself and ask the questions, and I was encouraging her along the way.

The 3 Questions are simple. Some people take to them naturally. Others, it takes a little more effort, but it can happen. The key is in the repetition, the redundancy.

If you are trying to learn to ask the 3 questions personally, hang in there. It takes time, but it can make all the difference in the world.

If you are trying to teach the 3 questions, stick with it. When someone embraces the possibilities, the results are amazing. It will take time, but push through and see what happens.

I’m cheering for you and your leadership today.

Accomplish a Little Today

Share this:
Share

Earlier this month I ran across an Evernote file I made in January titled “2018 Goals”. In the note, I set out a few goals I wanted to accomplish this year. For example, I wanted to read 24 books this year.

The problem was that I had forgotten about the goals. I failed to keep them in front of me, so I made the goals in January and stumbled onto the file in August.

So, those 24 books I want to read? I have completed 4 (with 2 being finished on vacation, after finding the note). So, yeah, I still have a ways to go.

Then I started thinking: I don’t have to read 20 books in the next week. All I really need to do is to pick up one book and read a little bit today. If I can establish a routine and work reading into one of my habits, then the end result will be something entirely different than the first 7 months of the year.

Accomplishing my goal does not mean reading a bunch tomorrow, it starts with reading a little today.

The same is true for you and your leadership. Whatever goal you are staring in the face is not as large as it may seem.

Maybe you want to grow your organization (or ministry), but it seems like such a daunting task. Accomplishing your goal does not mean growing a bunch tomorrow, it means growing a little today. Start making relational investments now.

Maybe you want to make family a higher priority in your life. Accomplishing your goal doesn’t mean binging time with your family tomorrow, it means making the most of the time you have today.

Maybe you want to a leading voice in your field. Accomplishing your goal does not mean getting a bunch of recognition tomorrow, it means doing the little things right today.

Then, in all these things, as you make the commitment to accomplish little by little every day, the goal quickly shrinks.

The Refresh of Time Away

Share this:
Share

Last week, as you likely read, I flew home from vacation. As I have been diving in with both feet this week (short week last week, and starting the new school year this week), I have done a little post-vacation reflection. Here are a few thoughts I have had as I think about my time off:

  1. Unplug, hard. I love listening to podcasts. The topics of said podcasts vary greatly–business/entrepreneurship, leadership, ministry, and sports are my main topics of listening. On vacation, however, I made a point to limit my podcast intake. Whereas in a normal week I will listen to 15-20 hours of podcasts, on vacation, I limited myself to maybe 3. I wanted a shift in my routine, which brings me to my next point.
  2. Shift in routine. During the middle of June I had a conversation with one of my girls. She was said that either she was leaving or I was leaving, and I told her I knew our summer was crazy, but if we could make it to vacation, we were going to have a blast. While I’m not winning any Father of the Year awards for my summer scheduling (something I’ll definitely tweak before next year), we got on vacation and shifted our routine. We spent an incredible amount of time together, and honestly it didn’t matter to me what we did as long as we did it together. Unless it was a manicure/pedicure, I ducked out for that one.
  3. Relax. Midway through our time away, I realized we were running pretty fast, even in vacation mode. We were, after all, in a very sight-seeing rich part of Virginia. So, the next day, we hit the brakes and hit them hard. We slept in, swam, read, snacked, watched a movie, and just enjoyed time together without an agenda for the day.

I’m very grateful for the leaders in my life who respected my time away and with my family. It means the world to me that the key people above me value my time with my family.

Finally, let me say this: I handled frustrations at the beginning and end of vacation in two very different ways. The end is what I posted about last week. The beginning? Well, let’s just say I am not proud of the things I did, and upon reflecting, I was in dire need of vacation.

When was the last time you got away? What were you able to successfully do to unplug and refresh on your vacation?

 

WP to LinkedIn Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com