A New Year…

A New Year…A New Me….

Today is January 11^th, and chances are you haven’t kept your new year’s resolutions.  Not even two weeks into the new year, and perhaps you’ve stopped going to the gym already, or maybe you’ve interrupted your “clean” eating.  Regardless of the resolution, it is estimated that only 8% of those who make resolutions follow through over the long haul. 

As I was taking some time during the Christmas break to ponder the New Year, a passage of Scripture came to my mind and it reminded me how easy it is to forget what we want to be about or more importantly who we want to pursue.  The passage can be found in Judges 2:1-5. In these five short verses we have an incredible recap of Israel’s history, a sobering indictment of their behavior, and what looks like a people resolute to make a change. 

The passage starts of describing an angel of the Lord visiting Israel and declaring how God had been faithful to them in the past.  His faithfulness had been displayed numerous times from all of the Exodus events and continuing into the conquest of Canaan.  In God’s faithfulness, Israel simply had to obey.  Joshua even charged Israel before his death that if they would be faithful to the Lord, God would provide for them and bring them into incredible blessing.  However, as the reader continues in Judges 2, we see that the angel lays out the indictment that Israel had not obeyed.  There is almost a sarcastic assessment of their situation when the angel poses the question, “What is this you have done?”  It comes across almost as ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

What follows is a description of consequences and the people’s response.  The people cried out, wept, and made an altar with an appropriate name.  At this point it looks like the people get it.  I mean they have to get it, right?  Unfortunately, only a few verses later we see the people turning from their contriteness and again disobeyed and sinning against the faithful God.

So why do I connect this with New Year’s resolutions?  Simple – many times at the end of the year we see a picture of what the past year has been.  Sure there are times when we rejoice in what has been accomplished, the joys we’ve experiences, and what God has provided.  However, in most of our hearts there also exists a knowledge - a desire – to be better in the next year.  For the Christian, this “better” is Christlikeness.   Sure there are “things” I want to accomplish in 2016, but more importantly that anything else, I want to grow in maturity with Christ.  I want my life to more closely point to Jesus for those around me.   If this is going to be the case in my resolutions, I cannot be like the people in Judges, and forget the faithfulness of God and pursue the things of this world.   I must instead walk closely with God, pursue Him daily, and be transformed by the power of the Spirit.   Maybe this year your simple resolution should be: a closely walk with thee, Jesus.

DO YOU SEE?

When you look, do you see?

The question should strike us immediately.  “Of course I see David – to look and not see doesn’t make sense.”  However, in life and leadership, oftentimes we look, and we fail to see.  All day long this world tries to capture our attention with image after image.  Marketers and advertisers are consistently trying to deflect our attention to their product.  We are constantly looking around, but what do we see? Do we see?  This question applied to people and leadership is even more paramount.

When we look at people, do we see potential?  In Scripture, we see this picture portrayed very clearly.  Most of the disciples were unschooled, untrained, and unusable in the eyes of the world.  Yet, Christ saw in them potential to be used as preachers, prophets, and leaders to change the course of history. 

If we want to lead, we must SEE – see optimism and a hope for the future, especially in the life of those we lead.   As we look to a new year, I pray that I begin seeing more.

Who controls you? Do you practice SELF-Control?

Self-Control:  Two simple words – yet two words which, in application, have the power to build or the power to tear down – the power to harm or the power to heal – the power to lead or the power to fail in leadership.

When facing the question, “How well do you maintain self-control when things go wrong?,” I am immediately reminded of Paul’s words to the Galatians, when he writes about the fruit of the Spirit.  If the Spirit of God indwells us, then we will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit’s work.  Self-Control is one demonstration of His working in our lives, and according to James, one application of such work is through our use of our tongue.  To tame the tongue is show self-control. In leadership, this is absolutely CRUCIAL. 

According to Oswald Sanders, “The leader who loses control under adversity forfeits respect and influence.  A leader must be calm in crisis and resilient in disappointment.”  In leadership, there will be times when things go wrong, when the best laid plans simply blow up, and when the leader is prime to be shown a failure.  It is those moments where true leadership is exhibited.  I want to be a leader who excels in those moments – I want to be a leader who leads his people calmly, confidently, and resiliently in those opportunities.

During my first summer directing FUGE camps, I had the opportunity to lead a staff of 21 young adults.  Our staff ranged in age from 21-30, and many were in different life stages, had different personalities, and quite frankly had different goals that summer.  However, God had given me the great privilege of leading and directing them.    Like any summer, I hold on to so many precious memories of what God did.  I also have many memories of where I failed at being a good leader for my staff.  One evening, we as a staff had simply dropped the ball.  We did not execute how we said we were going to execute, and I was not happy.  I was disappointed.  However, what disappointed me more then and now was how I responded to my staff.  I was supposed to lead my staff – I was supposed to pull them through that disappointment.  However, what I said probably cost me more respect and influence.

In the midst of addressing the situation and circumstances, I said, “You guys are making me look bad.”  I immediately knew that I had dropped the equivalent of a F-bomb.  The looks back on their faces said everything I needed to know.  I shouldn’t have said that.  More importantly, I shouldn’t have THOUGHT that.  Leadership is not about the leader.  True and honest leadership is about taking a people to a place not getting the leader somewhere.  The fact that I thought that at all, the fact that it was in my heart said way more about my crummy heart than it did about their performance. 

What I’ve learned through the process and what I am still learning is that self-control is not something we can manufacture.  Self-control is truly a fruit of the Spirit of God working in us.  As the Gospel becomes more real in our lives, the Spirit of God continually transforms us through the Gospel, and our lives begin to reflect that truth.  As a leader, if I am going to be calm in crisis, resilient in disappointment, and self-controlled in adversity, I need to believe the Gospel, love the Gospel, and apply the Gospel with the help of the Holy Spirit.

To Eat Or Not To Eat....

Those who know me know that I like food.  I like to eat.  As a kid one summer at our lake house I went as far as declaring, “Food is my quest.”  Since then I’ve been on that quest of finding God’s creative flavors in almost anything put before me.  The thing about eating though is that if you eat more calories than you burn, weight gains is actually the quest you are on.  In the winter of 2012 I had ballooned to a weight that I, nor my wife, was happy with.  So, I had to make a change and make some hard decisions.  How does one with an epic quest for food suddenly curb his appetite and begin shedding the pounds? 

Needless to say it was a process, but one totally worth it.  I still long for the scintillating feeling of food causing my taste buds to explode.  I still have urges that drive me to eat.  Sometimes I give into those urges and make poor food choices.  However, knowing is half the battle.  In “Spiritual Leadership,” Oswald Sanders asks a series of questions to investigate leadership potential, and the first one he lists reminds me of my food lessons.  He asks, “How do you identify and deal with bad habits?”  He then says, “To lead others, you must master your appetites.”  I doubt Sanders was thinking about my quest for food, but the parallels are uncanny.  What Sanders is speaking to is the desires each person has. 

In our lives, we all have habits and lifestyles.  We all have urges that pull our attention, shift our focus, and perhaps cause to step off course.  If we are going to be effective leaders, we must identify these potential pitfalls and overcome the bad habits that prevent us from leading others well.  In the words of Sanders, we must master our appetites so that God can use us for His plan.  This world bombards us with advertisements, promotions, and other nonsense to try to draw our appetites to its offerings.  We must be diligent and discipline to keep focused on God and what He offers, especially if God has entrusted us to lead others on a daily basis.

Move

Leadership is all about moving people forward.  True leaders are in the business of moving others.  The test of leadership is how well one moves people forward; a lot of it depends on how far along the road the leader himself is.  It is insufficient to simply point the way - a leader must walk before and lead others - otherwise no one is following and he is not a leader.

President Truman once said, "A leader is a person who has the ability to get others to do what they don't want to do, and like it." Simply put, a leader moves people who otherwise would rather not move.  In our world, there are many people who like the idea of movement, who think movement is good if not critical.  However, there are few people willing to move.   Our world is in desperate need of strong leaders, strong SPIRITUAL leaders who have the gift to move people toward God and toward making disciples.  We all have an immense potential to move those around us toward God or away from Him.  May the impact we leave be one of leading the way toward Christ.

To Lead, One Must Serve

Where have all the good leaders gone? Why does a leadership void exist?  How do I develop new leaders on the college campus?

Such questions continually weigh on my mind.  As a college minister, I am very interested in learning more about leadership and developing future spiritual leaders.  As I look to this world, there is clearly a lack of good leadership.  Poor choices abound; chaos rules; our country is divided – these are themes prevalent in the news on a nightly basis.  I see the same thing on the college campus.  We need spiritual leaders to be raised up and make a difference. 

The next several writings will come from a book I have been reading lately called, “Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer” by J. Oswald Sanders.  Hopefully, as I chew on some of Sanders’ words, we will both benefit and grow in the area of leadership.

In Scripture, one of the clearest signs or prerequisites for spiritual leadership is servanthood.  The world bristles at such a notion, but Jesus continually demonstrated and taught that true leadership is exemplified in giving yourself in service to others rather than trying to find a crowd to serve you.  In Mark 10:43-44, Scripture says, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all.”  This stands diametrically opposed to the world, which screams self-promotion, dictator leadership, and build “your kingdom.”

Even in the Old Testament, we see God identify Moses as God’s “servant,” not His leader.  If you want to be a spiritual leader in God’s economy, being a “servant” is the requirement.  A servant of God is dependent on the Spirit of God to be used by God.  A servant of God is concerned with the approval of God, not man.  A servant of God is content being not noticed rather than being arrogant and self-advertising.  A servant of God is empathetic to the needy and seeks to meets needs where he can. 

Leadership is about serving – serving the great I am and making much of Him rather than trying to make much of yourself.