Category Archives: Personal Leadership

Leadership, Leadership Axioms, Personal Leadership, Resources

Truth Bombs

Leadership Axioms are short, concise phrases that convey a leadership truth or principle. Over the years I have collected quite a few of these little sayings and tried to incorporate these concepts into my leadership philosophy and practice. Often times I wish that I had come up with some of these myself. After talking with a friend about some of these Leadership Axioms, I’ve decided to write about a few of the ones that I have benefited from the most. It is my hope that these leadership concepts will help you as you lead yourself and the people God has entrusted into your care.

There are 2 great things about Leadership Axioms:

First, they are short and memorable. In his book, Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs, Bill Hybels compares these short statements on leadership to many of the proverbs found within scripture in that they can serve up “a truckload of weighty wisdom in bite-size chunks.” If something is going to make it’s way into my busy schedule it has to be short, sweet, and deliver maximum life-change goodness. Leadership Axioms fit that bill.

Secondly, these truths are transferable. You don’t have to lead 1000 people or work in a mega-church to learn from and incorporate these truths into your leadership. They work because they are true not because you have a huge budget or a giant platform. That’s the great thing about values and principles- everyone can afford them.

To kick off this series, I’ve chosen one of my favorite Leadership Axioms from Pastor Mark Batterson. I’ll be posting these on Tuesdays from now on so please check back tomorrow for the Greatest Leadership Equation Ever. (Math and Leadership rarely overlap so this axiom is extra special.)

What are some of your favorite Leadership sayings or truths? Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter.

Best Practices, Personal Leadership, Planning, Prayer, Preaching

Plan Your Work

I had a fabulous weekend at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. ACL celebrated it’s 1oth Anniversary in style with big name artists like Coldplay, Kanye, Stevie Wonder, My Morning Jacket, and Arcade Fire. I got to see some of my favorites too including Ray Lamontagne, Brandi Carlile, Cee Lo Green, Iron & Wine, and, a new favorite, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses. I had a blast and I hope I can attend this festival again.

The festival gave me an opportunity to relax and rest but it also gave me a chance to get some planning done. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday planning out my preaching calendar. I already have everything laid out through the end of the year but after this weekend I have the next 10 months of my preaching calendar planned out. For me, this is huge and very exciting.

I believe that planning ahead is a great way to trust in the Spirit and allow him to move  through the entire process from prayer to planning to study to execution. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been listening to God, praying, and asking for wisdom in planning this calendar and I feel like God blessed me this weekend as he helped me put it all together.

Here are 4 Reasons I Am Preparing My Preaching Calendar Months in Advance:

1) Planning ahead simply helps give me DEPTH in my preaching through advanced studying and preparation.

2) Planning ahead aids in giving the Spirit room to help me share the message of Jesus more CREATIVELY. (Note: I believe that it is next to impossible to go deep and/or be creative at the last minute.)

3) Planning ahead makes sure that I am being faithful to the WHOLE of SCRIPTURE and not simply preaching on the flavor (issue) of the month.

4) Planning ahead helps me ENLIST HELP in gathering resources, help, buy-in, prayers, and fuels an excitement among the leadership about what God will be saying to us. (I would like to see us move to sermon based small groups in 2012. To do this, you need help from other leaders and those leaders need material and time to pray, plan, and prepare.)

Are all of these series set in stone and immovable? No way! Will some of these series change or be scrapped? Maybe. What if God calls you to speak on something else? I’ll submit willingly and gladly!

I started planning out my teaching series about 4-5 years ago and it has helped make all the difference in the way I pray, plan, study, and prepare my lessons. Less pressure and more reliance on God to help and guide me means more encouragement and focus on what he has called me to do. That is a great place to be!

Best Practices, Bible Study, Faith in Action, Life, My Life, Personal Leadership, Thanksgiving, Wrestling With Scripture

Why We Decided To Sell My Car

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Next month, my wife and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary. In the last decade we have moved from Arkansas to Alabama and then to Texas. We have lived in 1 apartment and 3 houses. I have served as a Campus Minister, a Youth and Family Minister, and now as a Lead Minister. We have a beautiful son and a wonderful life. We have faced challenges and we have met them head on because of the grace afforded us from our Heavenly Father and our love in Jesus Christ. Life is good and we give thanks everyday for the blessings we have received. However, lately we have been feeling a tug, a challenge, from God to step out and risk for His glory.

Last week, we decided to take a giant leap of faith based on something we felt God was calling us to do.

We sold my car.

We really want to be in a position where we can GIVE more and SAVE more. It was a tough decision (I loved that car!!!) but we know it was the right one. If you compared the average debt that each American family carries to being dipped in honey and thrown into a pit of quicksand, our debt would be more like having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. We don’t have a lot but we are tired of feeling stuck.

On Thursday night, we gathered together with some of the people from our church body and watched Dave Ramsey deliver a challenging message on the people of God turning the economy around by getting their personal economies in order. The part that stuck with me was when Dave asked us to imagine what life would look like if God’s people handled money according to God’s ways. My blood began pumping as he said, “the Debt Rate would plummet, Savings would grow, Employees would work hard as if working for the Lord, Employers would be shepherds of their people, and marriages would be saved.”

That’s not even the best part! If God’s people began handling money in a way that glorifies God- The Gospel will spread! People will want to know why we live differently. They will wonder why we give gladly. They will see how we bless others and want to know why.

When we got home from that night. My wife looked at me and I looked at her. I knew what she was going to say because I had felt it too. We knew that in order to really begin handling our money in the way God wanted us to that we would have to make a few sacrifices. My car had to be the first to go.

It is a bold step for sure. We are still in the process of working out our driving schedule and that is also sure to change when school starts back. We have taken a step of faith and we are trusting God to carry us through.

This fall I am teaching another  Financial Peace University for our church. I’m the first to admit that I R Stupid when it come to handling my money. My wife is the Nerd and I am most definitely the free spirit. The last time we participated in FPU we had a blast. The class really allowed us to open up and talk freely about a subject that typically breeds fighting in most marriages. I can’t wait to take another group of men and women through this life changing course.

My encouragement for you is that you too begin to see out God’s desires for your finances. Most of us are in our current financial situations because some one in our families failed to handle money properly. Change your family tree and get your financial house in order. Not so you can get that new 100″ flat screen.

Get your finances in order so you can GIVE more and SAVE more so you can BLESS more. That’s the story I want to tell my grandkids. What about you?

Leadership, Personal Leadership

Join Me @ #CatOneDay HOU

Catalyst One Day Preview Video from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Catalyst is bringing their One Day event to Houston, TX on August 25. Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel will be teaching on Creating a Healthy Organizational Culture. Having made the transition to my new leadership role I can’t think of a better topic or more talented teachers to spend the day with.

Catalyst events are in a league all their own so if you are on the fence about attending you can have confidence that the return on investment is incalculable. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Check out the video, look at the Catalyst One Day website, and then register for this awesome opportunity to raise your leadership capacity.

Bible Study, Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry, Mission, Personal Leadership, Questions, The Word

Leadership Tuesday

Each Tuesday, I’ll be posting thoughts, resources, and challenges to help develop our Leadership muscles. Today I wanted to share with you some of the questions I began wrestling with after reading Philippians yesterday.

As I read, I noticed that Paul is pleading with the church in Philippi to live in unity, have one mind, and to be singular in focus. As leaders, Paul is speaking directly to us. If you have some time today, please read Philippians before you read the rest of this post.

Here are 9 Leadership Questions that we each need to think about and pray through if we are going to be all that God desires us to be:

1) Am I praying with joy for those I lead? Philippians 1:3-5 – Paul prays with joy for those he considered partners in the gospel. You and I have to do the same if we want to be a true spiritual leaders of the people God has entrusted us with.

2) Am I praying for an increase of love and knowledge and depth in my own life and in the lives of those I lead? Philippians 1:9-11

3) Am I living in such a way that those closest to me will know that whatever happens to me- good or bad- Jesus Christ will be praised? Philippians 1:12-26

4) Am I looking to Jesus as my model of service and unity or am I simply trying to keep everyone around me happy and cordial? Philippians 2:1-4 – Jesus shows us what love looks like in public.

5) What am I complaining about? Philippians 2:14-16 – If we want to be different than the world around us, let’s start by putting the KIBOSH on complaining. In Inception, Leo DiCaprio’s character has a great line where he tells his team that he believes “positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time.” As a leader I have the responsibility to serve as an ANTIBODY within my sphere of influence to STOP INFECTION and DECAY (complaining, divisiveness) IMMEDIATELY. This starts with stopping the infection in myself.

6) Am I committed to the mission of following Jesus? Philippians 3:7-11 – As I read this passage I was reminded of Dallas Willard’s quote about THE COST OF NON-DISCIPLESHIP, He says, “Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly the abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10)” Failing to commit to Jesus is a bigger risk than following Him.

7) What am I holding on to in my past that is keeping me from experiencing NEW LIFE in Jesus? Philippians 3:12-14 – What ever this is, I must lay it down and move on toward who Jesus is call me to be.

8. What is something I can rejoice in today, right now? Philippians 4:4-6 – One thing that you can rejoice in is that what ever you are worried about- that thing that kept you up all night- you can take that to the Father in prayer. Let this truth give you peace and guard your hearts and minds. Praise Jesus!

9) Do I spend more time thinking about these things or do I spend more time focused on the junk that the world sends my way? Philippians 4:8-9 – Last week, the world spent too much time praising, laughing with/at, and deconstructing Charlie Sheen. Admit it, you gawked at the train wreck. Your neck got sore from staring at the flaming wreckage. Mine did too. This week, let’s do the opposite. Let’s spend time meditating on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.

Thanks to Perry Noble for inspiring today’s post with his 21 Questions Leaders MUST Wrestle With from the Book of James.
Personal Leadership, Resources

YMB: Fall Planning Pt. 4 – Weekly Planning

What does your average week look like? Do you know?

There is no such thing as a typical Monday-Friday for a youth minister. Some days it seems as though I’m trying to do anything to avoid twiddling my thumbs and other days have me working like a madman to complete projects and organize the ministry. Learning to manage my week- creating weekly touchstones- has made a tremendous difference in my sanity and my capacity to lead. Each day of my week has a theme that helps me manage my time effectively.

Mondays are for Foundations. I spend Mondays laying out everything I need to do for the week. I map out my assault and then I rush in ready for the fight. On Monday, I begin lay a foundation for every teaching time I have scheduled. For my small group Bible study and Wednesday night classes I’m actually laying a foundation for the following week. Each day I build onto the lesson through study and prayer until it’s time to ship.

Tuesdays are for Development. It is important for me to connect with my vision and the scope of the ministry each week. On Tuesdays I spend great deal of time scheduling events, planning, building, and dreaming about the things currently happening within the ministry.

Wednesdays are for Relationships. On Wednesdays you can find me in schools eating lunch with the students or developing relationships in some way or another.

Thursdays are for Wrapping Up. Thursdays are critical for me to finish the week strong. I want to make sure that I have Sunday prepared for, planned for, and wrapped up before I power down. There is always a temptation to put things of or to just say, “i’ll do it tomorrow.” I have to fight against this urge in order to protect my Sabbath.

Friday are for Sabbath. Ahhhhhh.

Sundays are for Influencing. Each week I get to stand before a group of people that God has entrusted me with and I get 52 Sundays to point them to the Way, the Truth, and the Life through dedicated teaching times. The way I have prepared through the week- studying, learning, connecting with God personally, connect with these people relationally- makes a huge impact on whether or not I can influence them for Jesus.

What does your week look like?

In the One Year Personal Growth Plan, Searcy encourages you to Withdraw Weekly. He suggests that you must do two things each week in order to grow and lead.

First, you need to schedule your Sabbath. Not a day off, a sabbath. Sabbath isn’t just vegging out in front of the idiot box for a full day. A Sabbath is is day dedicated to rest and connecting to God. A Sabbath is a weekly recharge and reflection time on your relationship with God, your family, and yourself. My Sabbath is scheduled for Fridays this year. What day will you schedule yours?

Secondly, Searcy challenges you to read a book a week. This is slightly more than my typical reading schedule. I am on track to read 40 or so books in 2010 and this pace works for me. I have tried reading a book a week and what I find is that I am more concerned with the deadline than the content. The point isn’t that reading 52 books (or 40 or 20 or…) this year will magically transform you into a leader who has everything together. The point is that you are intentionally filling your time with resources that will develop your capacity to lead. I have little tolerance for youth ministers who tell me that they just don’t have time to read. That’s false. You just don’t make time to read. Leaders are readers!

Personal Leadership, Planning, Resources

YMB: Fall Planning Pt. 3

Before we continue talking about my fall planning sessions please, please, please understand this:

I am NO ORGANIZATIONAL GURU. No way, no how.

I am merely a guy who has lived for so long without planning, without organizing, and without thinking ahead that something had to give. If I didn’t get a handle on my calendar, appointments, projects, and ideas I would run the risk of living an ineffective life. For me, ineffectiveness is a fate worse than death. So, I offer these tips and I publish the resources that have help me because I want you to be as effective as possible. Everyday is the Lord’s and I want you to be a major force for the kingdom- each and every day!

Last week, we looked at your calendar in a big 365 day chunk. Today we’ll break it into 12 parts as we seek to Measure Monthly.

As we set goals and make grand organizational plans we need to set aside some time to regularly reevaluate and stay on point. Searcy suggests two important habits to start each month to help you measure your life.

First, ask yourself this question: “Who will I be mentored by?” The answer to this question will be personal to you and your context. Will you meet with other local ministers? What about a network or even local conferences? Will you seek out a mentor in person or utilize technology to meet? How much time do you have to be mentored?

These are a lot of questions to consider but wrestle with them. For me I am planning on meeting with a handful of local ministers each month. I also will be sending out a few letters/emails seeking to have lunch with some ministers I hold in high regard around our area. Searcy challenged me with this thought- “You are the average of the 5 people you hang with most often?” Very sobering to think about.

The second part of Measuring Monthly is to set aside time to reevaluate and review your progress. Schedule some time away by yourself each month to reflect, make adjustments, and recommit to your personal growth. Go ahead and schedule this time for the end of August.

So, you’ve planned for the entire year through Abandoning Annually and now you’ve begun to find time to Measure Monthly. Next we will Withdraw Weekly as we continue to plan for personal growth.

Experience, Ministry, My Life, Personal Leadership, Resources

YMB: Fall Planning Pt. 2

Last week I began telling you about how I am going about planning for the 2010-2011 school year. I suggested checking out Nelson Searcy’s Planning a One Year Personal Growth Plan and set out to give you some of the highlights of my planning sessions. Today, let’s talk about how to Abandon Annually.

When it comes to planning your Fall calendar, what does it mean to Abandon Annually? Often our planning starts on the microlevel- What must I do today or this week? The tyranny of the urgent has us staring at the handful of trees in our vicinity. When we fail to see the entire forrest we miss so many things and often, we over schedule and double book ourselves.

When you begin your planning by looking over the course of an entire year you can schedule your non-negotibles and then plan accordingly. You also can intentionally lay out the next 365 days and dedicate them to God. There is a calming freedom in looking at a blank calendar and saying to Father, “Everyone of these days are dedicated to you.” My Personal Growth calendar will begin on August 1, 2010 and will end on July 31, 2011.

Searcy suggests that you plan your vacations first (abandon, get it?). He says that while this may seem self-serving, planning your vacation time gives you time to rest and a rested leader is a leader who is free to serve, lead, cast vision, spend time with family, and connect with Jesus more fully. He also suggests putting down your conferences or specific learning opportunities. Finally, Searcy suggests that you schedule a day or two one year from now to planning next year’s calendar.

What does this- Abandoning Annually- look like for me?

Vacations- Beyond traveling to see family during the holidays we have a big plan for our 2011 vacation. Next summer, we will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. It is our hope and plan to travel overseas for a week of vacation at the end of the summer. I know that we must begin planning today in order to make this plan a reality.

Conferences- Since 2003 I have traveled to Atlanta, GA for the Catalyst Conference. This is, hands down, my favorite leadership event and I can’t wait for October. For Catalyst, I have to schedule the better part of the week away. There are other leadership opportunities that may be online (The Nines) or local (Echo) and that do not require must preparation but I still need to put them on the calendar.

Youth Ministry- For the ministry, I would encourage you to find out and schedule in your calendar the following:

  • School Holidays
  • Sporting Events
  • Next Year’s Summer Camp dates
  • Super Bowl
  • Inservice days for teachers
  • The day school begins and ends

Review- July 25, 2011 has been designated as the day I will sit down and do this all over again.

Now you- take a look over the next year, Dedicate the next 365 days to growing closer to God each and everyday. Ask him to give you guidance, wisdom, and discernment over the next 12 months. Then set about marking in the most important an non-negotiable dates for this next year.

Remember: Control your calendar or it will control you. Next, we’ll look at how to Measure Monthly.