Pursuit

Yesterday I came home from work and Joshua, my son, saw me immediately squealed, smile, started waiving his arms over his head and then started crawling as fast as he could towards me. While he was crawling toward me his head was looking up at me smiling and he had no regard for whatever lay in his path. He just bulldozed over toys, clothes, and our dog. It was an awesome feeling to have Joshua do that just to be with me. I immediately dropped everything to pick him up, hug him, and just hang out with him.

My son always gets me thinking about how God is. I really think that God is standing there much in the same way waiting for us to come running to him. And once we start running towards him he will drop everything to run towards you. Do you pursue God with reckless abandoned? Do you pursue him joyfully? Do you let things distract you from God? I often wonder what our worship services would be like if we pursued God with the kind of abandoned that my son pursued me with.

Rescue Mission

I think many of us have forgotten what the mission is all about. In today's Lent reading in John 3 Jesus started his conversation with Nicodemus. As I was reading the story it reminded me of the fact that we should be having those kinds of conversations everyday. I was under conviction as I read because it has been a little while since I shared with someone.

The last person I had a conversation like this with was about a month ago. I was in the San Diego area and my car broke down. We had to get the car towed back to the rental place and get a new rental car. After I found a ride for Kelly and Joshua back to our hotel I got in the tow truck for the hour drive back to the rental place. The driver was Michael. He was from Iran. He was open to the Gospel. I shared with him the story of Jesus, Jesus' story in my life, and how Jesus could change his life. Michael shared stories of his life of alcohol and drug abuse. To me it was evident God had a hand in his life. To me I feel like God used me to help Michael take a step closer to Jesus. By the end of our conversation he said he believed in Jesus but he also said he still believed in Islam. I believe he was genuine based on stories he told and other people God had in his life. It is my prayer that those Christians in his life God uses to help him realize that Jesus is THE WAY.

How many of us have a story like Michael in the past month? I am convicted that I have not had one. I have heard people say that isn't my gifting or I am not called to that. That is redonkulous because we all have the same mission in Matthew 28 of Going and making disciples. We as Christians are called to be like Christ and Christ shared the Gospel all the time. It is our job to rescue as many as we can from eternal destruction. Yesterday we took a group of young adults down to the homeless shelter Rescue Mission. We sorted clothes and helped in their thrift store. All of this is to help the homeless and less fortunate. This was an opportunity to live the mission of God in a practical way. You never know what might happen in a setting like that. We had a good turnout relative to previous weeks but the number of people showing up was poor. It made me ask the question are many of us even on a Rescue Mission or are we on the coast mission?

When we get to the throne of God we are going to be asked to give an account.

What will your story be?

Church Leadership

In my opinion leading people in the church is a lot harder than leading in the corporate world or coaching world. I came from an environment where I was leading a group of players and I could lead like a dictator or kick them off the team and they lose their scholarship. In my opinion same with corporate America. In many ways as a leader in the secular world you can lead with extrinsic motivation and get the job done. I do think that if you want to go above and beyond where anyone thought possible you have to lead your people intrinsically as well. But in the church world there really isn't anything extrinsic you have to motivate people. So, if you are leader in the secular world join a church and lead a ministry full of volunteers. You will have to learn real fast how to lead intrinsically.

5 Reasons the church fosters intrinsic leadership:

1. In the church you are leading all volunteers.
2. There is no paycheck coming for most of them.
3. They don't need your ministry because they could just go down the street.
4. You are fighting to get your volunteers time.
5. Most of ministry is a praiseless job. (you might get praise from a few but most people in ministry are not famous)


Here are some lessons I have learned on leading intrinsically.

1. Find out what inspires those you are leading.
2. Give the people you are leading a clear and compelling vision that inspires them.
3. Be transparent with those you are leading. People don't want to follow someone who is fake.
4. Have Moral Authority. Do what you say you are going to do and be willing to do what you ask those you are leading to do.
5. Spend time with the people you are leading. Laugh with them, Cry with them, and be there friend. If they know that you are there for them they will be there for you.
6. Empower them in their gifting. Find out what their gifts, talents, and dreams are and help them utilize those things.
7. Give those you are leading ownership. You do this by letting your vision come from them. Sit down with them over coffee, food, in their home, and anywhere outside your office. This doesn't mean they set the vision. You influence them and let your vision come from them. This will only happen when you share your heart and spend time with the ones you are leading.
8. Give those you are leading your time. Those that directly work for you should be your priority.
9. Communicate stories of success relating to your vision.
10. Empower those you lead to find someone who they can multiply themselves into.