Leadership for All Nation

Penilaian Yesus Tentang Pria

2009-10-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

Penilaian Yesus tentang pria
Definisi masyarakat mengenai seorang pria sejati memang tidak tepat, dan persyaratan atau ciri pria sejati begitu berat sehingga banyak yang kesulitan untuk mewujudkannya. Ia tahu dalam hatinya bahwa ia tidak mampu memenuhi semua tuntutan yang berat ini. Karena itu kini saatnya untuk menggali kembali pertanyaan “pria sejati itu seperti apa?”
Yesus memberi jawaban yang tegas dan jelas. “Perhatikan! Jika kamu ingin melihat seorang pria sejati, lihatlah Yohanes Pembaptis. Karena, di antara mereka yang dilahirkan oleh wanita, tidak ada seorang pun yang lebih besar daripada Yohanes”. Yohanes memiliki enam ciri yang menjadikannya seorang pria sejati: ketulusan hati, kesederhanaan, pendirian, keberanian, visi, dan kerentanan. Mari kita lihat ciri-ciri yang mengagumkan ini dari dekat.

Ketulusan hati
Ketulusan hati Yohanes ditunjukkan oleh orang-orang yang datang mendengarkan khotbahnya. Ketika ia berbicara, orang-orang mendengarkannya. Mereka menyadari kata-katanya begitu penting sehingga rela meninggalkan pekerjaan yang sedang mereka lakukan dan pergi untuk mendengarkan khotbahnya. Mereka tertarik dengan suara kebenaran dan ketulusan hatinya.
Raja Herodes, yang bertanggung jawab atas kematian Yohanes, menyuruh memanggil Pembaptis meskipun ia dipenjarakan. Ia suka mendengarkan khotbah Yohanes. Dan, meskipun ia tidak begitu baik dalam menerapkan ajaran Yohanes, ia penasaran untuk mendengarkannya langsung ajarannya. Mengapa? Sebab Herodes mengakui Yohanes sebagai pria yang memiliki integritas.
Murid-murid Yohanes juga menunjukkan bukti ketulusan hati Yohanes. Meskipun saat ia dipenjarakan, mendorong murid-muridnya untuk meninggalkan dia dan mengikut Yesus, kita tahu bahwa murid-murid masih mengunjungi Yohanes secara rutin. Mereka terus dekat dengannya dan tetap menaruh perhatian padanya serta mempedulikannya. Mengapa? Karena ia menunjukkan ketulusan hati yang begitu nyata.

Kesederhanaan
Kita mengetahui kesederhanaan Yohanes melalui gaya hidupnya yang disiplin. Ia memakan belalang dan madu hutan, dan memakai pakaian dari bulu unta dan ikat pinggang dari tali. Dan ia tinggal di padang belantara. Saya tidak menganjurkan anda harus melakukan hal yang sama untuk menjadi seorang pria sejati. Tetapi saya katakan bahwa hidup Yohanes disiplin. Dia adalah seorang pria pendoa; pria yang berpuasa; pria yang sederhana. Dan seperti Yesus, ia tidak menghiraukan pakaian yang indah dan kemewahan hidup. Jalan hidupnya yang sederhana ditunjukkan oleh gaya hidupnya –sesuatu yang perlu dicontoh di jaman yang didominasi kekayaan dan pemborosan.
Kesederhanaan hidup Yohanes juga terlihat melalui pesannya yang terus-terang. Ia menyatakan bahwa Kerajaan Allah sudah dekat dan memperingatkan orang-orang untuk tidak menyia-nyiakan waktu mereka dengan apa pun sehingga mereka siap untuk kedatangan Kerajaan Allah. Bukankah anda suka yang sederhana, yang bicara langsung kepada orang-orang tanpa embel-embel dan omong kosong dan langsung membicarakan isu-isu yang terpenting? Dunia memerlukan pria yang bisa berkata, “Dengarkanlah saudara-saudara, kalian harus bersiap-siap! Kerajaan Allah sudah dekat!”
Kesederhanaan pesan Yohanes ditunjukkan lebih lanjut dengan cara Yohanes menunjuk Yesus sebagai raja. Ia mengatakan terus-terang: “Ia yang datang kemudian dari padaku lebih berkuasa, membuka kasutNyapun aku tidak layak”. Bukan saya yang penting, tetapi Dialah yang terpenting”. Ia memahami bahwa kerajaanNya yang terpenting, dengan tegas menyatakan kemuliaan Sang Raja. Ia mengajarkan kebenaran ini kepada orang-orang dan berseru kepada mereka agar bertobat, mengakui kesalahan, dan tidak melakukan dosa lagi. Orang-orang yang bertobat diharapkan menunjukkan perubahan dalam kehidupan mereka dengan sikap yang benar-benar berbeda terhadap Tuhan dan kehidupannya sendiri. Sikap Yohanes sederhana, dan terus-terang.

Pendirian
Ciri lain yang dimiliki Yohanes adalah pendiriannya yang kokoh mengenai hal-hal yang ia yakini. Ini terutama terbukti dalam empat hal. Pertama, ada realitas. Simbolisme merupakan hal yang umum dalam masyarakat pada masa Yohanes hidup. Namanya menunjukkan simbol dan reputasinya. Ia bukan Yohanes anggota gereja Episkopal atau Yohanes anggota gereja Metod¬is – tetapi Yohanes Pembaptis. Ketika ia menyuruh orang-orang untuk mengakui dosa mereka dan bertobat, ia menuntut mereka menunjukkan bukti pertobatannya. Salah satu caranya dengan dibaptis secara simbolis dalam air. “Tetapi,” Yohanes berkata, “Jangan salah sangka. Aku membaptis kamu dengan air, tetapi Ia yang datang kemudian dari padaku akan membaptiskan kamu dengan api dan dengan Roh Kudus.” Ia menyatakan bahwa tindakan simbolis kita itu bukan yang utama. Pokok pertobatan adalah sikap hati – itulah yang nyata.
Kedua, Yohanes memiliki pendirian yang kokoh tentang kemunafikan. Ia menantang kaum Farisi dan Saduki serta orang-orang munafik lainnya yang datang kepadanya: “Hai kamu keturunan ular beludak, apa yang sedang kamu lakukan di sini?” Itulah pria sejati, menurut Yesus. Ia benar-benar mengatakan secara terang-terangan kepada mereka karena ia mengetahui kemunafikan, kepura-puraan, dan perhatian mereka yang berlebihan tentang hal-hal yang di luar. Karena pendirian yang kuat, ia menegur sikap mereka yang menunjukkan tidak adanya pertobatan, pengakuan atas dosa mereka, dan perubahan yang sungguh-sungguh dalam kehidupan mereka.
Ketiga, Yohanes memiliki pendirian yang kokoh tentang integritas. Yesus sendiri memperhatikan hal ini. Sesungguhnya Ia katakan, “Hai kamu sekalian yang pergi ke Sungai Yordan atau ke padang belantara untuk melihat Yohanes Pembaptis dan mendengarkan khotbahnya, apa yang kamu harapkan? Melihat buluh yang digoyangkan oleh angin pendapat ini dan itu? Seseorang yang tidak akan mengusik air atau mengguncang perahu? atau apakah kamu pergi untuk melihat orang yang berpakaian indah, yang hidup mewah, dan tempatnya di istana raja? Itukah yang ingin kamu lihat? Kamu terkejut, bukan? Karena Yohanes tidak menghiraukan pakaian yang indah, dan ia bukan buluh yang digoyangkan angin ke sana kemari. Sebaliknya, kamu mendapati sikap hidup Yohanes yang berkomitmen terhadap integritas, keadilan, dan kebenaran – kualitas seorang pria sejati.”
Keempat, pendirian Yohanes tentang kesucian. Mungkin cara terbaik untuk menggambarkan hal ini adalah mengingat kembali interaksi Yohanes dengan Raja Herodes dan istrinya, Herodias. Kekuasaan Herodes dibuktikan oleh kejadian yang membuat Yohanes mati karena dipenggal kepalanya. Suatu hari Yohanes berbicara kepada Herodes saat istrinya hadir, dan apa yang harus ia katakan itu tidak berkenan di hati Herodias.
Yohanes berkata, “Raja Herodes, tidak halal engkau menikahi Herodias. Herodias adalah istri saudaramu Filipus, namun engkau dan Herodias pergi ke Roma dan berselingkuh. Engkau menghancurkan rumah tangga saudaramu, bercerai, dan kemudian melakukan pernikahan baru yang tidak patut ini. Hal ini tidak benar, dan sebab itu saya mengatakannya terus terang di hadapanmu.”
Yohanes benar-benar yakin bahwa gaya hidup Herodes dan sensualitas istananya keliru – dan ia mendukung pendiriannya dengan keberanian. Moralitas dan kesucian merupakan hal yang penting bagi Yohanes. Ia tetap teguh dan berani mengatakannya dengan lantang. Ini menunjukkan satu lagi ciri kepribadian Yohanes.

Keberanian
Karena Yohanes memiliki pendirian yang kokoh tentang realitas, kemunafikan, integritas, dan kesucian, ia berbicara dengan tegas menentang tindakan Herodes dan Herodias yang tidak bermoral. Ia membiarkan pendiriannya memandu tindakan-tindakannya, dan ia berani menentang kejahatan dan orang yang berbuat kejahatan. Sikapnya: Ada hal yang baik dan ada hal yang jahat; yang jahat harus disingkapkan dan yang baik ditingkatkan. Martin Luther, Bapak Reformasi juga bertindak dengan sikap yang sama, membiarkan pendiriannya memandu tindakan-tindakannya. Lima belas abad setelah jaman Yohanes Pembaptis, Luther berkata, “Inilah pendirian saya, saya tidak bisa punya pendirian lain”. Keberanian diperlukan untuk melawan kejahatan yang muncul di mana saja, apakah di tempat kerja, dunia bisnis, atau pernikahan – keberanian untuk melawan kejahatan dalam diri anak-anak kita, kalangan sosial kita, dan di antara teman-teman kita. Tetapi itulah yang dilakukan oleh pria sejati, menurut Yesus.
Karena keberanian dan pendiriannya, Yohanes berani melawan kejahatan yang dilakukan oleh orang-orang terpandang. Tetapi ia juga spesifik menyatakan apa yang benar. Kebenaran merupakan satu hal untuk mengalahkan kejahatan. Mengalahkan kejahatan memang penting, tetapi lebih sulit lagi jika harus sekaligus menyatakan apa yang baik. Yohanes benar-benar memiliki komitmen untuk mengajarkan kebenaran. Dan ia bisa mencerna ajaran-ajaran ini dan menerapkannya dalam masyarakat pada jamannya.

Visi
Ciri kelima yang mencirikan Yohanes sebagai seorang pria sejati adalah visinya. Pada waktu berbicara tentang Yohanes, Yesus bertanya, “Waktu kamu pergi menjumpai Yohanes Pembaptis di padang gurun, apa yang kamu harapkan? Melihat buluh yang digoyangkan angin atau orang yang berpakaian indah? Tidak,” kataNya lagi, “yang kamu lihat adalah seorang nabi. Dan itulah yang kamu lihat – seorang nabi.”
Apa artinya nabi? Pada jaman Yesus seorang nabi juga disebut seorang penubuat– seseorang yang bisa melihat kejadian yang akan datang. Orang ini bisa melihat masa lampau, masa kini hingga masa depan. Yohanes menerima perspektif dari Tuhan sendiri dan mampu melihat arti di balik berbagai kejadian. Sayangnya, karena kita begitu terjerat dengan kebiasaan yang selalu ingin mendapatkan segala sesuatu secara instan, budaya masyarakat modern ini sering membuat kita tidak menyadari konsekuensi-konsekuensi dari apa yang kita lakukan. Kita hanya tertarik dengan solusi yang cepat untuk masalah saat ini. Itulah sebabnya bisnis kosmetika selalu laris. Sepanjang kita kelihatan baik, kita kemungkinan merasa senang dengan diri kita sendiri; hal-hal lain tidak menjadi perhatian kita.
Karena itu kita perlu mengembangkan kemampuan untuk melihat berbagai konsekuensi tindakan-tindakan kita – dari perspektif masa lalu, kini dan masa depan. Kita memerlukan hal ini bukan hanya untuk diri kita sendiri, tetapi juga supaya bisa menolong orang lain melihat konsekuensi-konsekuensi tindakan-tindakan mereka dari perspektif kekekalan. Kita perlu melihat segala sesuatu dari mata Dia yang duduk di atas takhta di sorga. Kita bukan hanya memikirkan hal-hal yang terkait dengan “saat ini”; kita juga perlu memikirkan “masa depan”.
Seorang penubuat memiliki visi tentang segala kemungkinan di masa depan. Ia memandang situasi sekarang dan mencoba mengerti bagaimana Tuhan bisa dipermuliakan melaluinya; Ia melihat keadaan lahiriah seseorang di masa lalu untuk menemukan apa sebenarnya yang menggerakkan mereka. Penubuat adalah manusia sungguh-sungguh, orang yang diberi talenta yang kita butuhkan dalam keluarga, rumah, tempat kerja, dan masyarakat kita.
Sayangnya, kita sudah terjerat dalam kebohongan. Yang menjadi masalah sebenarnya bukan apakah saya kelihatan atau merasa baik, tetapi apakah saya baik. Penubuat sejati dapat melihat jauh lebih dalam daripada sekedar penampilan yang baik; ia bisa menembus dan mengetahui apa yang ada di hati; dan ia bisa memusatkan pikiran pada hal-hal yang menentukan apakah kita ini baik atau jahat. Inilah visi Yohanes Pembaptis, dan ini harus menjadi visi semua orang yang menyatakan dirinya sebagai seorang pria sejati.

Kerentanan
Kerentanan Yohanes tampak jelas selama pengalaman nyata hidupnya – ia dipenjarakan setelah berterus terang menegur Herodes dan Herodias. Sambil mendekam di dalam selnya, murid-muridnya tetap mengunjungi dia dan membawa berita tentang apa yang dikatakan dan dilakukan oleh Yesus. Kemudian ia mulai meragukan panggilannya dan apakah yang ia lakukan salah. Sehingga ia meminta muridnya, “Maukah kamu pergi kepada Yesus mengajukan pertanyaanku kepadanya? Maukah kamu menanyakan kepadanya apakah ia benar-benar Mesias? Apakah benar dia yang sedang kita nantikan, atau apakah kita terus menantikan orang lain?”
Kejadian ini sangat menolong kita untuk menyelami pikiran Yohanes Pembaptis. Dalam keraguannya itu, kita bisa melihat kerentanannya.
Menurut hasil penelitian, ada lima pernyataan yang paling sulit dikatakan oleh pria modern adalah: (1) Saya tidak tahu; (2) Saya salah; (3) Saya perlu bantuan; (4) Saya takut; dan (5) Maafkan saya. Dengan kata lain, menurut definisi dunia, pria sejati sulit mengakui kerentanannya. Dan jika mereka mengakuinya, maka maskulinitas mereka dipertanyakan. Tetapi Yohanes tidak takut untuk mengakui kerentanannya.
Mari kita lihat contoh kejadian ini. Seorang wanita sedang naik mobil bersama suaminya dan ia merasa suaminya salah jalan. Jadi ia memberitahu suaminya. Ia tahu suaminya sensitif mengenai hal ini, sehingga ia berusaha menyampaikannya secara diplomatis, dengan mengatakan seperti berikut, “Sayang, kayaknya kamu tahu jalan yang lebih baik, yang rutenya belum dicantumkan di peta.”
Bagaimana sang suami menanggapi hal ini?
“Tidak”, jawab sang suami, “Saya tahu mau ke mana”. “Tiga puluh, empat puluh, atau lima puluh kilometer kemudian, ia melihat sedikit kejanggalan mengapa matahari terbenam di sebelah utara! Sekarang ia yakin istrinya benar, bahwa ia tersesat. Ia mengatakan, “Sayang, saya tidak tahu kita ada di mana. Saya benar-benar salah jalan. Ketika kamu bilang saya salah jalan dan saya bilang “tentu saja tidak”, kamu benar! Sebenarnya, saya perlu bantuanmu.”
Tetapi “pria sejati” kemungkinan besar akan berkata, “Peta ini bodoh. Benar-benar tidak bisa diandalkan lagi.” Atau, “Anak-anak nakal itu mengacau lagi. Mereka menukar semua tanda-tanda jalan di sekitar sini.” Kemudian istrinya berkata, “Kalau begitu, kita harus ke tempat pom bensin dan menanyakan arah yang benar, bagaimana?”
“Pria sejati’ kita kemungkinan akan menjawab: “Kenapa kita harus pergi ke sana dan bertanya? Saya bisa mengatasinya sendiri. Memangnya penjual bensin bodoh itu tahu? Kalau dia pintar, pasti tidak akan jadi penjual bensin!”
Mengapa kejadian seperti ini terjadi? Menurut saya, budaya kita telah membentuk pria dengan cermat untuk tidak menjadi rentan. Kita diajar untuk menyembunyikan perasaan kita, bukannya mengakui siapa kita sebenarnya, dan tidak jujur terhadap diri sendiri. Kita bisa menertawakan kejadian seperti contoh di atas, tetapi saya yakin bahwa faktor yang mempengaruhi banyak penyakit sosial kita adalah konsep yang salah mengenai bagaimana pria sejati itu. Seorang pria sejati menunjukkan ketulusan hati dan kesederhanaan, keberanian dan pendirian, visi dan kerentanan. Ia bisa bertatapan langsung dengan orang lain dan berkata: “Saya tidak tahu.” “Mungkin saya salah.” “Saya takut.” “Saya butuh bantuan.” Itulah sifat yang mau mengakui kerentanannya!
Ada perbedaan yang nyata sikap jujur, rendah hati mengakui kerentanan dengan pandangan modern tentang kerentanan. Saya tidak sedang membicarakan tentang seseorang yang sedang mencari-cari kedalaman jiwanya dan ketagihan dengan metode terapi untuk terus menyelidiki perasaan mereka. Saya juga tidak sedang membahas kerentanan yang menjadikan pria sebagai korban. Tentu banyak pria yang menjadi korban dan juga penyebab timbulnya korban; tetapi sekali pikiran kita telah mendikte bahwa kita adalah korban, hampir mustahil bagi siapa pun, pria atau wanita, untuk melihat diri mereka sendiri secara obyektif sebagai ciptaan yang dikasihi Tuhan, tetapi sebagai orang berdosa yang harus menghadapi siapa mereka sebenarnya dalam pandangan Tuhan.
Kerentanan Yohanes Pembaptis ditunjukkan melalui dua cara – kejujuran dan kerendahan hatinya. Kerendahan hatinya luar biasa. Salah satu pernyataannya yang terkenal mengenai Yesus adalah: “Ia harus makin besar; tetapi aku harus makin kecil” (Yoh. 3:30). Apakah anda ingat situasi saat itu? Yohanes adalah seorang nabi, dan orang banyak sedang berduyun-duyun ingin mendengarkannya. Kemudian ada orang bertanya kepadanya, “Tidakkah engkau sadar bahwa banyak orang berbondong-bondong pergi melihat Yesus?"
Jawabnya, “Tentu, saya mengetahuinya. Saya sendiri menyuruh beberapa orang pergi kepadaNya, karena saya harus semakin berkurang dan dia harus semakin bertambah.”
Sama sekali tidak ada kepalsuan tentang kerendahan hati Yohanes – benar-benar tulus. Ia mengerti siapa dia sebenarnya dibandingkan dengan Yesus. Seorang pria yang rendah hati tidak takut untuk mengakui siapa dirinya. Pria seperti ini secara terus-terang mengakui, “saya harus semakin berkurang. Dia harus semakin bertambah.”
Ada beberapa simbol yang menggambarkan hubungan antara Yesus dan Yohanes Pembaptis. Yesus adalah Terang; Yohanes Pembaptis adalah lampunya. Yohanes adalah perantara yang melaluinya Yesus melakukan pekerjaannya. Pada suatu ketika, Yohanes berkata kepada murid-muridnya ketika Yesus sedang lewat, “Lihatlah Anak domba Allah, yang menghapus dosa dunia!” (Yoh. 1:29). Yesus adalah Jalan; Yohanes Pembaptis adalah rambu-rambu jalannya. Yesus adalah Pesan; Yohanes adalah pembawa pesan. Yesus adalah Firman; Yohanes adalah suaranya.
Yohanes tidak suka membicarakan tentang dirinya sendiri. Perhatiannya lebih pada memahami dirinya sendiri dari sudut pandang siapa Yesus Kristus itu. Ketika kita sampai pada pemahaman tentang siapa kita dibandingkan dengan Yesus Kristus, tidak terlalu sulit bagi kita untuk bersikap rendah hati.
Clement Atlee, salah seorang musuh terbesar Winston Churchill (perdana menteri Inggris dalam Perang Dunia II), jarang mendengar pujian dari Churchill. Tetapi pada suatu ketika, membuat semua orang kagum, Churchill berkata: “Atlee adalah seorang pria yang sangat rendah hati.” Dan ia menambahkan, “Tentu saja, banyak hal yang membuatnya harus rendah hati.”
Ketika kita membandingkan diri kita sendiri dengan Yesus, banyak hal dalam hidup kita yang seharusnya membuat kita rendah hati. Dan kerendahan hati ini seharusnya tidak tidak mengejutkan kita. Sayangnya, kerendahan hati kita umumnya hanya ada di permukaan saja, karena untuk menjadi rendah hati, kita harus mengakui kerentanan kita.
Kerentanan Yohanes juga tercermin dalam kejujurannya. Ia jujur dengan keraguannya ketika ia mendekam dalam selnya di penjara. Mengapa ia ingin tahu apakah Yesus benar-benar Mesias? Ia pasti berpikir, Jika Yesus adalah Mesias, kenapa Yesus tidak mengeluarkannya dari penjara? Bukankah Mesias seharusnya melepaskan mereka yang dipenjarakan? Yohanes jujur dengan keraguan dan kekhawatirannya.
Pria yang tidak memiliki hubungan pribadi dengan siapa pun – jenis hubungan memberi kesempatan baginya untuk jujur dan tulus dengan orang lain. Mengapa ini terjadi? Karena untuk membangun hubungan pribadi seperti itu diperlukan tingkat kejujuran dan kerentanan tertentu yang tidak dimiliki banyak pria.
Saat ini kita mengikuti idola, seperti Lee Iacocca, pemenang penghargaan Heisman yang terakhir, atau aktor-aktor atau penyanyi rock. Mereka mungkin memiliki kualitas hidup yang membuat kita kagum. Namun, kita tidak salah jika kita memilih suatu teladan yang disetujui oleh Yesus: Yohanes Pembaptis. Yesus berkata di antara manusia lainnya, tidak ada seorang pun yang lebih besar daripada Yohanes.
Suatu ungkapan yang mengandung teka-teki menyimpulkan pernyataan Yesus tentang Yohanes. “Di antara mereka yang dilahirkan oleh wanita tidak ada seorang pun yang lebih besar daripada Yohanes; namun yang terkecil dalam Kerajaan Allah lebih besar dari padanya” (Luk. 7:28). Bahkan “yang terkecil dalam Kerajaan Allah” masih lebih besar dari padanya? Apa maksud perkataan Yesus ini? Di sini tampaknya Yesus ingin mengatakan “Lihat semua kualitas tentang pria dan ingat bahwa semuanya ini bukan yang utama. Sasaran utamanya adalah untuk memastikan anda merupakan bagian dari kerajaan”. Seseorang bisa saja menunjukkan semua ciri-ciri kejantanan yang paling hebat di dunia tetapi kehilangan kerajaan. Seorang pria sejati adalah bagian dari kerajaan dan mengakui Rajanya. Ia datang untuk bertobat, mau mengakui dosanya, dan membuktikan realitas pertobatannya melalui perubahan gaya hidupnya. Selain itu, ia mulai menunjukkan ciri-ciri pria sejati. Orang seperti itulah yang sedang kita cari.
Jika kita harus mengidentifikasi seorang pria sejati yang dijadikan teladan, siapakah pria itu? dan ciri-ciri dari orang yang menjadi teladan ini kita apa? Apakah kita melihat kualitas-kualitas ini bertumbuh dalam kehidupan kita sendiri? Akhirnya, jika definisi kita tentang pria sejati bukan seperti yang dikatakan oleh Yesus dan yang ditunjukkan oleh Yohanes Pembaptis, dari mana kita ciri-ciri pria sejati itu asalnya? dan sejauh mana ide-ide tersebut benar? Apa makna pria sejati? Jawabannya bisa kita lihat dalam kehidupan Yohanes Pembaptis.

Makna Pria Sejati

2009-10-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Makna Pria Sejati

Charles Haddon Spurgeon pernah berkata, “Seorang Kristen adalah manusia yang paling lemah lembut di antara para pria, tetapi ia tetaplah pria.” Kalimat ini kedengarannya sombong sekali. Tetapi untuk memahaminya, kita perlu menjawab pertanyaan “Apa sih pria sejati itu?” dan tempat yang paling baik untuk mencari jawabannya adalah di antara orang-orang yang menerima pujian dari Yesus. Menurut pendapat Yesus, Yohanes Pembaptis adalah yang “terbesar”: “Aku berkata kepadamu, di antara mereka yang dilahirkan oleh wanita tidak ada seorang pun yang lebih besar daripada Yohanes” (Lukas 7:28). Pertama kita akan mencari tahu bagaimana masyarakat menilai seorang pria, kemudian melihat secara detail penilaian Yesus terhadap Yohanes.

I. Penilaian masyarakat terhadap seorang pria
Dalam masyarakat kita masih tidak jelas apa saja kriteria pria sejati. Beberapa tahun yang lalu, buku berjudul The 49% Majority: The Male Sex Role diterbitkan. Judul buku ini merujuk pada kenyataan bahwa meskipun jumlah penduduk yang berjenis kelamin pria sekitar 49%, kelihatannya mereka jauh lebih banyak karena masyarakat kita didominasi oleh pria. Dua orang penulis, Deborah S. David dan Robert Brannon, menjelaskan empat tema yang tampaknya dijadikan dasar konsep umum tentang kejantanan. Mari kita lihat satu persatu “nilai-nilai seorang pria” yang dimaksudkan kedua penulis itu.

Tidak banci
Jika anda ingin jadi seorang pria sejati, anda tidak makan makanan yang dimakan wanita atau melakukan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan wanita, seperti menyulam. Seorang pria sejati tidak tertarik dengan topik perbincangan wanita atau menikmati hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan wanita. Banyak ahli sosiologi berpendapat bahwa sikap ini berkaitan dengan kekhawatiran yang tidak terungkap terhadap homoseksual. Sehingga yang dinilai sebagai pria sejati adalah mereka yang tidak pernah tertarik dengan tingkah laku yang dipandang sebagai banci.

Sindrom roda besar
Ciri kedua pria sejati adalah kemampuannya untuk memegang kendali. Mereka menolak bantuan apa pun, dan tidak menghiraukan nasihat orang lain. Ia memandang dirinya sendiri sebagai orang yang berhasil, dan buktinya terlihat di mana-mana. Pria ini berharap setiap orang mengakui dirinya sebagai sebuah roda besar.

Sindrom pohon yang kokoh
Ciri yang ketiga ini berkaitan erat dengan sindrom roda besar. Sindrom ini menyatakan bahwa pria sejati setiap saat tangguh, percaya diri, bisa melakukan segala sesuatu sendiri dan mampu berdiri teguh. Dia membiarkan setiap orang lain bersandar padanya karena dialah satu-satunya yang tidak akan goyah dalam situasi apa pun.

Selalu bersaing
Ciri yang keempat menyatakan bahwa seorang pria sejati harus bersikap agresif, berani, dan bahkan kadang keras. Ia benar-benar penuh rasa persaingan dan mampu membuat sesuatu terjadi.

Jadi, jika kita ingin menjelaskan penilaian masyarakat kita mengenai seorang pria sejati, kita mungkin akan memperoleh kesimpulan yang sama seperti David dan Brannon dalam buku mereka. Namun, ada masalah dengan ciri-ciri atau kriteria tersebut. Walaupun pria sejati dinilai dari sindrom roda besar dan pohon yang kokoh, ternyata kaum pria meninggal tetap pada usia yang lebih muda daripada kaum wanita. Kaum pria melakukan 90% semua kejahatan besar dan 99,9% bertanggung jawab atas semua peristiwa perkosaan dan 95% peristiwa pencurian. Sembilan puluh empat persen sopir yang mabuk adalah pria. Mereka juga melakukan 70% tindakan bunuh diri dan 91% kekerasan dalam keluarga. Kesimpulan apa yang bisa kita peroleh dari bukti ini? Jelas bahwa, pria tidak memegang kendali seperti yang dikatakan. Tidak semuanya berjalan mulus dengan “pria sejati” ini.” Saya ingin tahu, apa sebabnya?

Memang terjadi perubahan dalam setengah dekade terakhir ini. Selama tahun 1980-an pria, kadang sebagai tanggapan atas kritik terang-terangan dari wanita umumnya dan kaum feminis khususnya, berupaya untuk berhubungan dengan “sisi feminin” mereka, sementara pada tahun 1990-an Iron John memimpin beberapa pria memasuki hutan untuk menguji keberanian dalam upaya menemukan kejantanan mereka. Bahkan belakangan ini, fenomena yang luar biasa dari kelompok Promise Keeper - Pemegang Janji - menunjukkan bahwa banyak pria modern sedang mencari arti yang lebih dalam dari maskulinitas dalam hal hubungan dengan orang lain. Hanya waktu saja yang akan menunjukkan sejauh mana kejiwaan pria tersentuh diraih dan diubah, tetapi satu hal yang pasti: Perubahan ke arah yang benar, yang akan segera kita bahas, seharusnya sudah lama berlangsung.

PENGANTAR KE DALAM ETIKA KRISTEN - Part I

2009-10-05T00:24:00.000-07:00

PENGANTAR KE DALAM
ETIKA KRISTEN

1. Tentang Nama Etika
Kata Etika asalnya dari beberapa kata Yunani yang hampir sama bunyinya, yaitu ethos dan e’thos atau ta ethika dan ta e’thika. Kata ethos artinya kebiasaan, adapt. Kata e’thos dan e’thikos lebih berarti kesusilaan, perasaan batin, atau kecenderungan hati dengan mana seseorang melaksanakan sesuatu perbuatan.
Dalam bahasa Lat itu disebutkan dengan kata “mos”, dan “moralitas”. Oleh sebab itu, kata ”etika” sering pula diterangkan dengan kata ”moral”.
Apa yang dimaaksudkan deangan Etika dinyatakan dalam bahasa Indonesia oleh dengan tepat kata kesusilaan. Kaata ”sila” yang terdapat dalam bahasa sansekerta dan kesusteraan Pali dalam kebudayaan Buddha, mempunyai banyak arti. Pertama Sila berarti: norma (kaidah), peraturan hidup, perintah. Kedua, kata itu menyatakan pula keadaan batin terhadap peraturan hidup, hingga dapat berati juga: sikap, keadaan, siasat batin, perilakuan, sopan-santun dan sebagainya. Kata Su berarti: baik, bagus.

2. Pengertian Etika Teologis
Etika bergerak pada lapangan kesusilaan, artinya ia bertalian dengan norma-norma yang seharusnya berlaku disitu dan dengan ketaatan batiniah pada norma-norma itu.
Etika, bukanlah ilmu pengetahuan alam. Karena itu Etika bukanlah ilmu pengetahuan yang bersifat deskriptif, yang hanya menerangkan dan menguraikan tindakan dan kelakuan manusia, seperti halnya dengan ilmu bangsa-bangsa (antropologi cultural), yang menguraikan dan membahas adapt-istiadat dan keadaan bangsa-bangsa.

3. Kedudukan Etika dalam Ilmu Teologia
Etika di uraikan dalam pelajaran teologi, setelah pengajaran tentang iman, yang di jelaskan dalam dogmatika. Dogmatika adalah suatu teologi yang memikirkan tentang isi iman, kasih allah bapa, anugrah Allah Anak daan persekutuan dengan Roh kudus. Demikian pula dengan etika kristen sebab etika kristenpun memikirkan tentang kehendak Allah yang sudah di nyatakan, hukum-hukum taurot Allah, pendamai, pembebas, hukum-hukum Allah bapa, Allah Anak, dan roh kudus, dan etika kristen memikirkan tentang ketaatan yang di bangkitkan oleh roh kudus.
Dogmatika menguraikan penyataan Allah di dalam Yesus Kristus dengan kesadaran iman, sedangkan etika menguraikan bagaiman penyataan Allah dalam kristus itu di nyatakan di dalam anak-anak Allah di segenap lapangan hidup, sebagaiman di selenggarakan oleh Roh kudus. Ethika teologis dapat di jadikan sebagai mata pelajaran khusus, melihat begitu sulit, rumit dan kompleksnya susunan masyarakat yang ada. karena itu pentingnya etika kristen dalam kehidupan ini.

4. Dapat Etika Teologis dipelajari sebagai mata pelajaran khusus?
Ada beberapa alasan praktis mengapa Etka lebih baik dipelajari sebagai ilmu yang khusus. Di dalam abad-abad yang terakhir ini susunan masyarakat makin kompleks, rumit dam sulit. Jika kita meninjau berbagai lapangan pekerjaan, lapangan kebudayaan, masyarakat, negara, dunia international dan sebagainya, maka di dalam lapangan-lapangan ini kita menemukan suatu timbunan masalah-maslah yang rumit, yg perlu kita sadari secara etis.

5. Mungkinkah diusahakan suatu Etika Teologis yang sistematis?
Etika sistematis dapat dan boleh bertindak sebagai penunjuk jalan di dalam keseluruhan dan bagian-bagian yang dinyatakan oleh alkitab kepada kita mengenai allah. Hal itu diperlukan oleh gereja Kristen. Sebagaimana gereja Kristen memerlukan suatu bimbingan dogmatis untuk membantunya di dalam menjawab firman tuhan dengan kepercayaan, demikian pula gereja memerlukan suatu etika sistematis untuk membantu orang-orang beriman dalam mengambil keputusan di hadirat Tuhan. Bahkan dapat dikatakan bahwa di dalam, hal itu perlu sekali. Dimana tidak terdapat Etika sistematis yang berdasarkan alkitab, di situlah orang beriman di dalam praktik kerap kali menjadi korban pikiran-pikiran yang tidak tetap dan pendapat-pendapat perseorangan.

6. Sumber pengetahuan tentang Etika Teologis
Sumber yang mutlak dari pengetahuan tentang Etika Teologis hanyalah satu, yakni Alkitab. Masalah mengenai apa yang baik, demikin dituliskan oleh Boenhoefer dengan tepat, adalah masalah mengenai Yesus Kristus. Dan masalah mengenai Yesus Kristus ialah masalah mengenai Alkitab. Allah menyatakan janji dan tuntutan-tuntutan-Nya di dalam Jesus Kristus.

7. Hubungan antara Etika Kristen teologis dan Etika di dalam agama-agama lainnya
Di dalam masyaralkat Indonesia, di mana gereja Kristen hidup dan bekerja, adanya pengaruh-pengaruh moral Hindu dan Budha tidak dapat disangkal lagi. Walaupun Indonesia tidak banyak terdapat pengaut-penganut agama hindudan Budha yang sadar, namun pengaruh-pengaruh Hindu dan Budha itu masih ada bekas-bekasnya, justru di dalam sikap, hidup dan perilakuan.
Disamping itu juga ada pengaruh dari moral islam sebagaimana terdapat dalam tasawuf Islam dan Fiqh Akhlak Islam.

8. Hubungan antara Etika Teologis dan Etika falsafi
Di dalam sejarah Etika teologis kerapkali terdapat titik-titik pertemuan antara Etika Falsafi dan Etika Teologis. Pernah terjadi bahwa etika teologis dikalahkan sama sekali atau sebagian oleh Etika Falsafi. Hal ini terjadi, misalnya ketika filsafat Aristoteles dipergunakan segbagai titik pangkal di dalam teologi dan filsafat Thomas Aquino. Demikian juga, ketika teologi Jerman sebagian besar berada dibawah pengaruh filsafat Kant.
Kedua kejadian itu merugikan Etika teologis. Memang tidak mudah menerangkan dengan singkat beberapa pokok mengenai hubungan antara Etika Falsafi dan Etika Teologis. Sebab lapangan Etika falsafi sangat luas dan penuh dengan aliran-aliran yang bertentangan.
Prof Dr. W Banning dalam bukunya Typen van zedeleer, telah menjelaskan dengan terang macam-macam Etika Falsafi itu. Diterangkannya:
1. Etika Metafisika
2. Etika yang didarkan pada individu
3. Etika yang didsarkan pada masyarakat.
4. Etika Nilai-nilai
Antara Etika falsafi dan etika Teologi selalu ada ketegangan. Sifat-sifat theonom dan heterenom. Sumber pengetahuan tentang baik-buruk tidak boleh lain daripada apa yang dianugerahkan Allah kepada kita di dalam Alkitab. Tujuan hidup tidak boleh dicari di luar tujuan yang sudah ditetapkan oleh Allah untuk kita, seperti firmanNya: ”Haruslah kamu sempurna, sama seperti Bapamu yang di sorga sempurna” (Mat. 5:48).

9. Hubungan antara Etika dan ilmu pengetahuan lainnya
Etika kristen mempunyai segi-segi yang menyinggung bermacam-macam ilmu pengetahuan lainnya. Pertama dengan etnologi atau antropologi kultural dan sosiologi.
Etika menyelidiki perbuatan-perbuatan manusia dan norma-norma perbuatan-perbuatan itu.
Etika kristen juga banyak mengalami persinggungan dengan dua ilmu pengetahuan lainnya, yakni Ilmu jiwa dan Ilmu Mendidik 9Psikologi dan pedagogik).

10. Pembagian Etika
Pembagian bahan-bahan Etika dilakukan menurut berbagai cara. Werner Elert dan Karl Barth membagi-bagi bahan ini secara Trinitas, dan diuraikannya tentang perintah-perintah Pencipta, Pendamai dan pembebas, Bapa, Anak dan Roh Kudus. Keberatan terhadap pembagian ini ialah bahwa kerapkali timbul pengulangan-pengulangan.
Kebanyakan buku-buku etika mengadaka pembagian seperti berikut: ajaran tentang nilai-nilai kesusilaan, ajaran tentang kaebajikan Kristen dan ajaran tentang kewajiban-kewajiban kristen. Keberatannya disini, ialah karena pembagian ini bercorak falsafi dan bukan teologis.
Buku-buku lain membagi-bagi bahannya bahannya diatas; etika individual dan Etika Sosial. Keberatan-keberatan terhadap pembagian besar ini sekali : Semua Etika bercorak sosial. Manusia selalu hidup menurut cara yang tertentu dalam suatu ’hubungan segitiga”, dimana terdapat ”ko-eksistensi” antara allah, manusia dan sesama manusia. Etika Individual dalam arti yang khusus tidak ada.
Penulis lain membagi bahan-bahan etika dalam suatu ”Bagian Umum dan ” Suatu bagian Khusus”.

How Leaders Make Big Issues Personal (and Possible)

2009-09-04T01:19:00.000-07:00

September 9 looms as President Barack Obama's next big moment. That evening he will address a joint session of Congress to lay out his argument for health care reform. A recent CBS News poll showed that some 67% of Americans surveyed are confused about what reform means and what it will entail. Hence a mixture of fact and fiction, rumor and innuendo, have filled the air.

So as the President huddles with his speechwriter to determine exactly what to say and how to say it, he would do well to recall the example of Winston Churchill. As Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote in Mr. Churchill in 1940, "The Prime Minister was able to impose his imagination and his will upon his countrymen. . .and lifted them to an abnormal height."

Furthermore, and here's the key point, Churchill made the British people feel as if they were part of the action and vital to the cause of victory. Churchill gave voice to personal involvement, or what we might today call "engagement." That is the challenge that every leader faces when pushing a significant change initiative.

1. Inform. Explain the situation in terms that are both general and specific. Generality provides context; specifics provide expectations. For example, make the case for your initiative, ask people to support it, and tell them why.

2. Involve. Once people understand the facts as well as what is expected of them, they decide to participate or not. Critical to gaining commitment is communicating "what's in it for me" (WIFM). You must make the specifics clear, and show what people will gain by supporting your initiatives.

3. Invite. Once people understand what is expected of them, ask for their support. Never assume people will follow you until you ask them. Be specific and persistent as in, "Can I count on your support for this initiative?"

4. Ignite. This final step is not always possible but it's one that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary. It is when you invoke, as Churchill did, the commitment of individuals to pull together for a cause greater than themselves. Excite the imagination by talking about what will happen when your initiative is a success.

Keep in mind that these steps are dynamic. That is, a leader can move from one to another and back again to inform, understand, and push for commitment. It is a fluid process that requires a combination of will, patience, and fortitude to execute.

One further point: never assume that once people buy into the process, and understand the WIFM, that you can stop communicating. That was the genius of Churchill. His speeches throughout the war years were designed to rally the British and they did that through his use of a brilliant combination of rhetoric and storytelling. Churchill made his followers feel vital to the cause.

That is the challenge facing any leader pushing through a significant change initiative. Make people feel as if they have a role to play and know why their participation matters. Asking people to become involved was how the Obama campaign built its network of supporters. What happens on September 9 will determine if he and his team can turn that support into action.

sources:
blogs.harvardbusiness.org

Leadership Development

2009-09-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

Leadership Development is any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization. That’s a wide ranging definition to suit an extremely wide ranging subject.I’m not an organisation. I’m an individual. How can I improve my leadership skills?

Like many things in life – if you look in the right places, you’ll always be able to find a great resource for a bargain. Leadership development is completely intertwined with the idea of self-investment. All excellent leaders regularly invest in themselves – sometimes to great expense. But if you follow our guidance, you’ll be able to build your skills for the minimum cost.

Leaders have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days – book shops are filled to the brim with self help and personal development books. Unfortunately, leadership and management books are usually the most expensive breed of personal development book.

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Why Dad's Parenting Technique Can Be Better

2009-09-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Why Dad's Parenting Technique Can Be Better
By Emily Bloch,

Remind him that he's Mr. Efficient at work; this might ramp up his enthusiasm for household management.

"My husband has a 6-year-old from a previous marriage. I gave birth to our son last month. He thinks he knows everything about babies. How do I get him to quit comparing?" - Parenting.com
When my husbands home, my 8-month-old wants nothing to do with me. It breaks my heart that he prefers his dad to me. Am I doing something wrong? - Parenting.com
It's right before bedtime and Sylvia is about to flip out about something - that a page of her picture book is "broken" (read: torn, by her, days before) and that she can't have three more handfuls of popcorn after we said "one more." Before I have a chance to ask, "What's wrong, Syl?" my husband walks up behind her, lifts her up into his arms, and carries her over his shoulder.
"MAMA! NO! Mom-me-ee-ee!!!" she yells, upside down.
My eyes are shooting darts at Aron's back. By surprising her from behind, he's made it worse. He just barrels on in, not giving her a chance to calm down. Now she's never going to go to sleep. It's just so -
And then, from upstairs, giggling. And then, the low murmur of story reading. And then, silence. And then a triumphant husband, breezing down the stairs, as if it were all a bunch of nothing. "What a sweetie she is," he says.
I learn this lesson at least once a week: I confuse Aron's parenting style with being "wrong." I apparently think, especially in my weaker moments, that he should do exactly as I do. But his way often works just as well as mine - if not better.
And then I'm stuck in a brutal twist: If I thought he was wrong and his approach worked, does that mean he's right? And that would make me...
Of course, this train of thought is likely to take me nowhere fast. "It's not about copying your partner's style or his copying yours," says Rona Renner, host of the radio show Childhood Matters and a mom of four kids. "It's about appreciating the way he's different from you."
So while we're not advising you to become clones of your partners, we do think dads often have some good tricks up their sleeves. Why not celebrate what they do right - and maybe even try one of these tips yourself.
Lets kids take risks
"Our girls' adventures are incomprehensible to my wife," says Will Craig of New York City, dad of 4-year-old Radia and 2-year-old Lela. "She'll ask, 'Why did you climb the fence?' The answer is 'Because it's there.' I've always felt the girls need to try things. That doesn't mean I let them burn themselves on the stove, but if Lela is trying to stand up on her toddler chair to reach something and it's about to topple, I might let her feel that balance start to go before I pull her off."
Why moms are different: Renner has a theory about why many mothers tend to flinch when their kids are on the monkey bars: "Moms form a protective attachment to their babies during pregnancy, when we're so focused on having a healthy and safe child that we give up all sorts of risky behavior ourselves. I think some of the instinctive protectiveness comes from this."
"If kids don't experience somewhat risky physical fun, it might make them more cautious and less willing to try things they haven't quite mastered yet," says Kyle Pruett, Ph.D., a clinical professor of child psychiatry at Yale University and author of Fatherneed: Why Father Care Is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child. "You have to fall down in order to learn to ice-skate. If you're afraid of falling down, you won't learn."
Dealing with the difference: Tolerate only what you're comfortable with. But when I see Sylvia playing with Aron or running around outside, I try to ask myself: Is she really in danger, or is it just hard for me to watch? Would a stumble from where she is truly harm her, or just hurt a little bit?
Or do as my friend Laurie does and remove yourself from the situation. For instance, when she and her family are at the beach, she literally turns her chair around to face away from the water because although she knows her kids are safe with their dad, it makes her nervous to watch them play in the waves.

Baffling Kid Behavior

2009-09-03T18:37:00.002-07:00

Behavior
Baffling Kid Behavior -- Explained
Why they say one thing and then do another -- and how to know what they really want
By Alix Finkelstein, Baby Name Tool Data Set

Eliot Peitso of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was desperate to get outside. Or so he said. "Out! Out!" he yelled. His mom, Jennifer Johnson, rushed to get ready. Diaper bag packed, house keys located, toys and snacks stuffed into the stroller, she opened the door and had just stepped out when, suddenly, 20-month-old Eliot burst into tears and demanded to stay inside. Did he change his mind? Not exactly. Crossing the threshold again, Eliot wailed louder: "Out! Out!"
"So there I was," Johnson says, "bringing him back in, taking him out again -- which drove us both crazy!" Surely Eliot didn't want to spend the morning stuck in a doorway. In fact, after his mom finally got him out of the house, with tears streaming down his face, he began bouncing up and down in excitement only a block later.
Kids are a bundle of contradictory impulses. Adults are, too, sometimes: "I am so not hungry for dessert," we may say, even as our fork is poised to spear a generous bite of cherry pie. But why do children so often say the exact opposite not only of what they mean but of what they want or need? A little boy, his legs twisted more tightly than a braided loaf of challah bread, insists "I don't need to go!'"
A little girl who could talk of nothing else but her best friend's birthday party awakens that morning and announces: "Parties are dumb. I'm staying home!"
"Our kids aren't out to get us," says Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, author of Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles: Winning for a Lifetime. "Paradoxical behavior like this often happens because a child's feelings are in conflict with his needs, but he hasn't learned how to express either yet. Our job is to figure out what those feelings and needs really are and to help our kids voice them." The most common ways children sabotage themselves, and how we can help:

2009-09-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

Developing a Vision When You're Not a VisionarySix methods for catching a vision.
Kevin Miller

My wife, Karen, and I are both in leadership at our church. So dinner-table discussions often come back to how to help other Christians step into leadership. Volunteers tell us, "I might be willing to facilitate, but I'm not sure I'm a leader." People don't consider themselves leaders, because when they say leader, they think of only one type: a strong, visionary leader. And they know they're not that.
But you don't have to be a visionary to lead well. We've found we can help people move forward as leaders when we say to them, "You can develop a vision even if you're not a visionary." Here are six ways that mortals like us can see where a group needs to go:
1. Tie in to a bigger vision that's already in place. First, ask, "Do I even need to come up with a complete vision from scratch?" Chances are, you don't need to. In most situations, a leader earlier on or higher up has already set a vision, and you can tie what you're doing into that.
Barb is taking on the women's ministry at our church. Does she need to create a vision? Not really. First, her ministry is part of a church, and churches have been going on for 2,000 years and already have a vision: to make disciples through worship, fellowship, teaching, prayer, missions, etc. Second, her ministry is part of our local church, which already has a vision to "Build a sanctuary of transformation" (read: "Become a place where people's lives change for the better because of God"). And finally, Barb's inheriting a women's ministry that already has a vision to encourage women and help them draw closer to God.
So Barb doesn't need to ask, "How do I come up with a vision?" Instead, she can ask, "What part of this vision do I want to build on? How can I improve our fulfillment of that?"
If you aren't starting with a vision, though, here are five ways you can work toward one.
2. Pray and wait on God. This is what most Christians think of when they think of "getting a vision." What does it look like? That varies.
Maybe you'll be reading Scripture, and the particular section captivates you. That's what happened to a guy named Francis: He wandered into a church and heard being read Jesus' words to the rich young ruler, "Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and come follow me." He actually did what he heard, and that's why he's now known as St. Francis.
Or you may be inspired by someone else's ministry. When you see what he or she is doing, you realize, "Oh, that's what I could be!" For example, hearing preachers like John Ortberg and Tim Keller moved me; I saw that preaching in a way that touches both mind and heart would be a great way to invest my life.
Or maybe you'll literally have a middle-of-the-night experience. Billy Graham founded Christianity Today because "About two o'clock one night in 1953, an idea raced through my mind, freshly connecting all the things I had said and pondered about reaching a broader audience. Trying not to disturb Ruth, I slipped out of bed and into my study upstairs to write. A couple of hours later, the concept of a new magazine was complete." (from The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham)
3. Gather a group and jointly develop a vision. When I used to take on a new role at work or church, I would (a) gather a group, (b) cast my vision for this area, (c) see who got on board with the vision.
Then I noticed that my wife did things differently. She would (a) gather a group, (b) talk and pray with all of them, until they all jointly came up with a vision, (c) not worry about who got on board, because they already were on board. When people come up with the vision, they want to help make it happen. Two years ago, Karen created an adult-education ministry at our church, and people said to her, "Wow! How you'd get such a strong team of people to help?" The answer was simple: She let them develop the vision.
If you use this approach to find your vision, be sure to assemble a "dream team," people with strong gifts in the area. Then, set a few basic parameters, so the group has just enough direction to start the conversation.
Why did I think I have to come up with the vision by myself? Now I try to gather a group of strong leaders and together talk and pray and develop a vision. That takes longer, but the ministry lasts longer.
4. Listen to the people you want to help. You don't have to be great at coming up with vision, if you're willing to listen to the people you want to help. If you listen well, people will tell you what they really need. In other words, the people you want to serve help set your vision.

The 8 Secrets of Inspirational Leadership

2009-09-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

The 8 Secrets of Inspirational Leadership
The 8 Secrets comprise our philosophy for creating the energy and spirit that sustain high performance teams. These secrets instill personal and group confidence, thus help to create an environment where champions are inevitable. This leadership philosophy builds upon two basic rules of human nature, includes five primary elements that address human nature in the context of high performance teamwork, and is tied together by a singular type of energy. The 8 Secrets are:
Secret 1: Everyone wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
Secret 2: Everyone wants to feel valued.
Secret 3: To build a team, you must DEFINE THE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
Leaders must clearly articulate the specific objectives of the team, including the expected timeframe for achieving the objectives.
Leaders must create objectives that are both challenging and achievable.
Secret 4: To inspire followers, you must ENNOBLE THE EFFORT
Leaders must help individuals to feel part of something bigger than themselves.
Leaders must highlight the intrinsic value of the team in its historical and organizational framework.
Secret 5: High performance teams are possible if leaders EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS WITHIN TEAM SYNERGY
Leaders should take the time to make each team member special.
Leaders need to provide the framework for individual accomplishmentto support team objectives.
Secret 6: Leaders and teams must make time to CELEBRATE THE JOURNEY
Win every day.
Leaders and followers must create an awareness of the rewards that occur along the journey.
Secret 7: EMPHASIZE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Challenge each team member to make a personal commitmentto be the best they can be.
Develop the value of the team's objectives within individual team members.
Secret 8: Sustained team high performance is tied together by POSITIVE ENGAGED ENERGY

The 6 Most Annoying Things Kids Say-Part I

2009-09-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

Behavior
The 6 Most Annoying Things Kids Say
By Melody Warnick, Parenting

Rather than deny your child's feelings, talk about her emotions. Give your child the words to express herself, and ultimately she'll cry less.

Snuggling under her blankets at bedtime, Ella, 3, gazed up at me and announced longingly, "I want a new mommy." Not even four years into my tenure as Mom and I was already being edged out of the job. Even worse, Ella started announcing "I want a new mom" frequently, like whenever I failed to buy her a ring pop at the grocery-store checkout. Some days, it was all I could do not to retort, "Yeah? Well, I want a new kid!"
Developing the knack to verbally push your buttons is just part of your child's linguistic and behavioral development. The challenge is to teach her to be courteous while allowing her to assert herself -- and do it without responding like you're 3 years old. What to say (and what to skip) in response to these gems:
"Mine!"
Whatever 18-month-old Weston Congdon has, his 3-year-old brother, Addison, wants, even if it's something that's collected dust in the toy box for the past six months. "What drives me crazy is that usually it's a baby toy, like a teething ring," says their mom, Sarah, of Ames, Iowa. "I think, 'What are you gonna do with it other than take it away from your brother?'" Now Weston, a beginning talker, walks around the house repeating "Mine, mine, mine" ad nauseam. His frustrated mom has been known to retort, "Well, then, the couch is mine and you can't sit on it."
A better way to respond: As tempting as it is to give little ones a dose of their own medicine, it won't help them see the error of their ways, and it may confuse them. Yet keeping your cool in the face of "Mine!" can tax even the most Zen-minded mom.
"Ignoring the behavior is best, but even as a clinical psychologist, I can't," admits Ray Levy, Ph.D., a dad of one and the coauthor of Try and Make Me! "I'd rather have something to say in response that I can depend on." His solution: Toss out a "brain-dead phrase" -- a short-and-sweet sound bite that lets a persistent child know he won't get his way. With a child who insists that everything is his, simply keep repeating, "Sorry" or "It's nice to want things." End of story. Even if the empty phrase doesn't completely shut down the whining, having something -- anything -- to say will keep you from saying something that you shouldn't.
Posted by Visionary Leaders at 1:50 AM 0 comments
Labels: Behaviour, Parenting, Relationship
Baffling Kid Behavior -- Explained
Behavior
Baffling Kid Behavior -- Explained
Why they say one thing and then do another -- and how to know what they really want
By Alix Finkelstein, Baby Name Tool Data Set

Eliot Peitso of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was desperate to get outside. Or so he said. "Out! Out!" he yelled. His mom, Jennifer Johnson, rushed to get ready. Diaper bag packed, house keys located, toys and snacks stuffed into the stroller, she opened the door and had just stepped out when, suddenly, 20-month-old Eliot burst into tears and demanded to stay inside. Did he change his mind? Not exactly. Crossing the threshold again, Eliot wailed louder: "Out! Out!"
"So there I was," Johnson says, "bringing him back in, taking him out again -- which drove us both crazy!" Surely Eliot didn't want to spend the morning stuck in a doorway. In fact, after his mom finally got him out of the house, with tears streaming down his face, he began bouncing up and down in excitement only a block later.
Kids are a bundle of contradictory impulses. Adults are, too, sometimes: "I am so not hungry for dessert," we may say, even as our fork is poised to spear a generous bite of cherry pie. But why do children so often say the exact opposite not only of what they mean but of what they want or need? A little boy, his legs twisted more tightly than a braided loaf of challah bread, insists "I don't need to go!'"
A little girl who could talk of nothing else but her best friend's birthday party awakens that morning and announces: "Parties are dumb. I'm staying home!"
"Our kids aren't out to get us," says Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, author of Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles: Winning for a Lifetime. "Paradoxical behavior like this often happens because a child's feelings are in conflict with his needs, but he hasn't learned how to express either yet. Our job is to figure out what those feelings and needs really are and to help our kids voice them." The most common ways children sabotage themselves, and how we can help:
Posted by Visionary Leaders at 1:47 AM 0 comments
Labels: Behaviour, Parenting, Relationship
Why Dad's Parenting Technique Can Be Better
By Emily Bloch,

Remind him that he's Mr. Efficient at work; this might ramp up his enthusiasm for household management.

"My husband has a 6-year-old from a previous marriage. I gave birth to our son last month. He thinks he knows everything about babies. How do I get him to quit comparing?" - Parenting.com
When my husbands home, my 8-month-old wants nothing to do with me. It breaks my heart that he prefers his dad to me. Am I doing something wrong? - Parenting.com
It's right before bedtime and Sylvia is about to flip out about something - that a page of her picture book is "broken" (read: torn, by her, days before) and that she can't have three more handfuls of popcorn after we said "one more." Before I have a chance to ask, "What's wrong, Syl?" my husband walks up behind her, lifts her up into his arms, and carries her over his shoulder.
"MAMA! NO! Mom-me-ee-ee!!!" she yells, upside down.
My eyes are shooting darts at Aron's back. By surprising her from behind, he's made it worse. He just barrels on in, not giving her a chance to calm down. Now she's never going to go to sleep. It's just so -
And then, from upstairs, giggling. And then, the low murmur of story reading. And then, silence. And then a triumphant husband, breezing down the stairs, as if it were all a bunch of nothing. "What a sweetie she is," he says.
I learn this lesson at least once a week: I confuse Aron's parenting style with being "wrong." I apparently think, especially in my weaker moments, that he should do exactly as I do. But his way often works just as well as mine - if not better.
And then I'm stuck in a brutal twist: If I thought he was wrong and his approach worked, does that mean he's right? And that would make me...
Of course, this train of thought is likely to take me nowhere fast. "It's not about copying your partner's style or his copying yours," says Rona Renner, host of the radio show Childhood Matters and a mom of four kids. "It's about appreciating the way he's different from you."
So while we're not advising you to become clones of your partners, we do think dads often have some good tricks up their sleeves. Why not celebrate what they do right - and maybe even try one of these tips yourself.
Lets kids take risks
"Our girls' adventures are incomprehensible to my wife," says Will Craig of New York City, dad of 4-year-old Radia and 2-year-old Lela. "She'll ask, 'Why did you climb the fence?' The answer is 'Because it's there.' I've always felt the girls need to try things. That doesn't mean I let them burn themselves on the stove, but if Lela is trying to stand up on her toddler chair to reach something and it's about to topple, I might let her feel that balance start to go before I pull her off."
Why moms are different: Renner has a theory about why many mothers tend to flinch when their kids are on the monkey bars: "Moms form a protective attachment to their babies during pregnancy, when we're so focused on having a healthy and safe child that we give up all sorts of risky behavior ourselves. I think some of the instinctive protectiveness comes from this."
"If kids don't experience somewhat risky physical fun, it might make them more cautious and less willing to try things they haven't quite mastered yet," says Kyle Pruett, Ph.D., a clinical professor of child psychiatry at Yale University and author of Fatherneed: Why Father Care Is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child. "You have to fall down in order to learn to ice-skate. If you're afraid of falling down, you won't learn."
Dealing with the difference: Tolerate only what you're comfortable with. But when I see Sylvia playing with Aron or running around outside, I try to ask myself: Is she really in danger, or is it just hard for me to watch? Would a stumble from where she is truly harm her, or just hurt a little bit?
Or do as my friend Laurie does and remove yourself from the situation. For instance, when she and her family are at the beach, she literally turns her chair around to face away from the water because although she knows her kids are safe with their dad, it makes her nervous to watch them play in the waves.
Posted by Visionary Leaders at 1:35 AM 0 comments
Labels: Parenting
Developing a Vision When You're Not a Visionary
Developing a Vision When You're Not a VisionarySix methods for catching a vision.
Kevin Miller

My wife, Karen, and I are both in leadership at our church. So dinner-table discussions often come back to how to help other Christians step into leadership. Volunteers tell us, "I might be willing to facilitate, but I'm not sure I'm a leader." People don't consider themselves leaders, because when they say leader, they think of only one type: a strong, visionary leader. And they know they're not that.
But you don't have to be a visionary to lead well. We've found we can help people move forward as leaders when we say to them, "You can develop a vision even if you're not a visionary." Here are six ways that mortals like us can see where a group needs to go:
1. Tie in to a bigger vision that's already in place. First, ask, "Do I even need to come up with a complete vision from scratch?" Chances are, you don't need to. In most situations, a leader earlier on or higher up has already set a vision, and you can tie what you're doing into that.
Barb is taking on the women's ministry at our church. Does she need to create a vision? Not really. First, her ministry is part of a church, and churches have been going on for 2,000 years and already have a vision: to make disciples through worship, fellowship, teaching, prayer, missions, etc. Second, her ministry is part of our local church, which already has a vision to "Build a sanctuary of transformation" (read: "Become a place where people's lives change for the better because of God"). And finally, Barb's inheriting a women's ministry that already has a vision to encourage women and help them draw closer to God.
So Barb doesn't need to ask, "How do I come up with a vision?" Instead, she can ask, "What part of this vision do I want to build on? How can I improve our fulfillment of that?"
If you aren't starting with a vision, though, here are five ways you can work toward one.
2. Pray and wait on God. This is what most Christians think of when they think of "getting a vision." What does it look like? That varies.
Maybe you'll be reading Scripture, and the particular section captivates you. That's what happened to a guy named Francis: He wandered into a church and heard being read Jesus' words to the rich young ruler, "Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and come follow me." He actually did what he heard, and that's why he's now known as St. Francis.
Or you may be inspired by someone else's ministry. When you see what he or she is doing, you realize, "Oh, that's what I could be!" For example, hearing preachers like John Ortberg and Tim Keller moved me; I saw that preaching in a way that touches both mind and heart would be a great way to invest my life.
Or maybe you'll literally have a middle-of-the-night experience. Billy Graham founded Christianity Today because "About two o'clock one night in 1953, an idea raced through my mind, freshly connecting all the things I had said and pondered about reaching a broader audience. Trying not to disturb Ruth, I slipped out of bed and into my study upstairs to write. A couple of hours later, the concept of a new magazine was complete." (from The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham)
3. Gather a group and jointly develop a vision. When I used to take on a new role at work or church, I would (a) gather a group, (b) cast my vision for this area, (c) see who got on board with the vision.
Then I noticed that my wife did things differently. She would (a) gather a group, (b) talk and pray with all of them, until they all jointly came up with a vision, (c) not worry about who got on board, because they already were on board. When people come up with the vision, they want to help make it happen. Two years ago, Karen created an adult-education ministry at our church, and people said to her, "Wow! How you'd get such a strong team of people to help?" The answer was simple: She let them develop the vision.
If you use this approach to find your vision, be sure to assemble a "dream team," people with strong gifts in the area. Then, set a few basic parameters, so the group has just enough direction to start the conversation.
Why did I think I have to come up with the vision by myself? Now I try to gather a group of strong leaders and together talk and pray and develop a vision. That takes longer, but the ministry lasts longer.
4. Listen to the people you want to help. You don't have to be great at coming up with vision, if you're willing to listen to the people you want to help. If you listen well, people will tell you what they really need. In other words, the people you want to serve help set your vision.

The 6 Most Annoying Things Kids Say-Part II

2009-09-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Behavior
The 6 Most Annoying Things Kids Say
By Melody Warnick, Parenting

Rather than deny your child's feelings, talk about her emotions. Give your child the words to express herself, and ultimately she'll cry less.

"It's not fair."Attempts to pry her 4-year-old son away from one last episode of his favorite show usually turn into major bedtime battles for Anne Eide of Columbus, Mississippi. "William will say, 'But it's not fair!' Then he'll cross his arms and stomp down the hall, come back again, and repeat, 'Mom, it's not fair.'" That's when Eide sometimes can't help but let loose with "Listen here, Mister, you either turn off the TV now or you won't watch it for a week!"
A better way to respond: On nights when she's a tad more patient, Eide uses a kid-friendly example to explain why he doesn't always get his way. "I say, 'Daddy doesn't want to be in school all the time, but right now he needs to.'" Translation: Even adults don't get everything they want. The approach usually works. "He looks at me kind of like, 'Oookay.' Then he goes and gets ready for bed," says Eide.
Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, a mom of two and author of Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles, recommends asking your child to start over and try again with less irritating words, such as "Can we please talk about this?" or "Mom, I don't like that rule." Next time he complains that something's not fair, you can say, "Remember, we talked about this before. What words are you supposed to use instead?" Giving your child new ways to express himself makes him more likely to abandon the annoying ones.

Rather than deny your child's feelings, talk about her emotions. Give your child the words to express herself, and ultimately she'll cry less.

"You're not the boss of me."Eleanor Petersen of St. Louis wants to do everything herself. So when her mom, Amy, was in a rush and buckled the car seat for her, Eleanor, 3, declared, "You're not the boss of me." Petersen had to bite her tongue to keep from answering, "You wanna bet?"
A better way to respond: "As a mom, you have to try not to get caught up in the words and instead connect with the feeling underneath them," says Kurcinka. "You can ask, 'What's going on here? What's the need she's trying to express, and how can I help her do it more appropriately?'" In a calmer moment, Petersen realized that what her daughter really wanted was control. When her mom gave her options (like "Do you want to do the top buckle or the bottom buckle?"), Eleanor was far more likely to cooperate. You can even head off "You're not the boss of me" by teaching your child to say, "I'd like a choice," instead.

"I want it now!"As I was starting to make dinner, my daughter asked for a cookie, and when I said she could have one for dessert, she launched a major whinefest. "But I want a cookie right now!" Ella demanded. None of my attempts at reason dissuaded her. She just kept insisting again and again and again. Desperate for the "I want it now!" noise to stop, I broke down and gave her the cookie.
A better way to respond: Though I usually stand my ground, giving in once can set you back light-years when it comes to nagging, says Paul Coleman, a dad of three and author of How to Say It to Your Kids. "That's how slot machines work: Every tenth pull you get a reward. It's not a big reward, but it's enough to keep you putting more money in the machine." Instead, he says, I should tell my daughter no once or twice, then ignore future requests and get her mind on something else, like a silly dance or a knock-knock joke. The good news: Such dogged persistence can be a plus in the real world. "You can step back and say, 'When they grow up, at least they're not going to be pushovers,'" says Coleman.

The 6 Most Annoying Things Kids Say-Part III

2009-09-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

The 6 Most Annoying Things Kids Say-Part III

"You never let me do anything."Carl Mowry, 10, has been known to whine that he never gets to do what he wants. His mom, Carla, has a take-no-prisoners response: "You know what?" says the Omaha mom. "You're right! I will leave your life alone. But I want $800 for the house payment, $200 for food...." Carl gets a full list, and he has to write it all down.
A better way to respond: Lecturing may shut down the grumbling, but it doesn't get at the problem. Find out what's behind the whine by saying, "Is something wrong? I get the feeling you're upset about more than just not getting to play at Brad's house." Whether or not your child wants to confide in you, at least you're opening the door to the conversation -- on his level.

"I don't like you."I'm certainly not the only mom whose feelings have been bruised by a kid who demands a mom swap or says, "I hate you!" Greyson Kreis, 6, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, put in a request for a new mom when his mother, Kim, made him drop the latest Captain Underpants book to clean up his room and turn in early. Unlike me, she had a quick comeback. "I told him that he had better enjoy that night in his bed because the next day I would find him a new mom, and he could go live in her house -- but without his toys," she says.
A better way to respond: The unanimous chorus from experts: Don't take it personally. Kids say these things when they're frustrated or angry. It doesn't mean you're a bad parent. Of course, distancing yourself when your kid seems to be dissing your mothering skills isn't easy, but letting your child think that you're all too happy to get rid of him -- or worse, that you hate him, too -- isn't okay. Since the under-9 set are literal thinkers, they won't detect the reverse psychology at work, and you might end up undermining your child's trust.
To stay calm, try to pinpoint the real reason your kid is lashing out: For 7-year-old Shaun Herock of De Pere, Wisconsin, it was frustration and fatigue. He snapped, "I don't like you! You're not my friend!" when his mom, Mia, refused to grab hamburgers on the way home from a two-hour football practice. Her measured response: "That's fine. You're entitled to feel that way." Shaun stewed for a while, but by the time they got home, the whole thing had blown over.
Herock recognized that her son only said "I don't like you" when he was overtired, and that helped her keep her temper. Easier said than done, of course, but if you're upset, wait until you've calmed down to say anything. "When you get emotional, you lose 50 IQ points," says Ray Levy. "But later on you can say, 'It hurts my feelings when you tell me you hate me.' Usually when kids are calm, they're pretty remorseful."
My daughter's requests for a new mom have died down recently, but now she likes to say, "You hurt my feelings," when I refuse yet another visit to her bedroom at night. While most of the time I manage a response like "Thanks for sharing," I'm not always as calm as I'd like. "We all lose it and say the wrong thing," says Levy. "But it's good for parents to apologize or change their behavior, instead of thinking they have to be right or perfect all the time." In other words, it's always okay to say "I'm sorry" to your kids.

Hidup Menurut Kehendak Allah “Manusia Firman”

2009-03-17T23:12:00.002-07:00

Hidup Menurut Kehendak Allah
“Manusia Firman”

Saat ini gereja sedang membahas suatu topik yang di ambil dari kitab Yohanes dengan topik “Manusia Firman.” Apa yang dimaksud dengan manusia firman itu? Tergantung bagaimana penafsiran dari setiap orang.

Yoh 1: 1, Pada mulanya adalah Firman; Firman itu bersama-sama dengan Allah dan Firman itu adalah Allah. Yoh 1: 14, Firman itu telah menjadi manusia, dan diam di antara kita, dan … secara spesifik Firman itu bicara Tuhan sendiri dan Firman itu menunjuk kepada Tuhan. Kenapa Firman yang adalah Allah mau diam di antara kita dan “menjadi kita”?

Saya mau baca Kej 1: 26, Berfirmanlah Allah: “Baiklah Kita menjadikan manusia menurut gambar dan rupa Kita, supaya …” Gambar artinya potret (sesuatu yg di ambil dengan alat potret). Rupa artinya bangun, sosok, rupa, wujud (seutuhnya). Gambar dan rupa Allah artinya, wujud Allah yang seutuhnya di “potret” dan jadilah kita. Dengan kata lain, kita ini adalah gambaran Allah, yang menjadi pengganti Allah atau lebih tepatnya wakil Allah. Betapa luar biasanya kejadian kita! Tuhan yang adalah Allah mau menjadikan kita sebagai wakil-Nya.

Karena kita adalah wakil Allah, artinya kita harus melakukan apa yang Allah perintahkan untuk kita lakukan. Kita harus melakukan apa yang Allah ingin kita lakukan untuk Dia melalui diri kita. Kita tidak boleh melakukan sekehendak hati kita. Kita tidak boleh memutuskan segala sesuatu dari diri kita sendiri. Kita harus memutuskan apa yang Allah mau melalui kita. Yesus sendiri mengatakan: “Makanan-Ku ialah melakukan kehendak Dia yang mengutus Aku dan menyelesaikan pekerjaan-Nya (Yoh 4: 34).”

Adam dan Hawa adalah wakil Allah yang pertama. Mereka tidak melakukan apa yang Allah mau melalui mereka. Mereka mengambil keputusan sekehendak hatinya, meskipun itu di larang Tuhan. Adam dan Hawa gagal menjadi wakil Allah. Mereka tidak melakukan apa yang Allah ingin mereka lakukan dalam diri mereka.

Seringkali dalam bisnis waktu kita mengirim utusan untuk menjadi wakil kita (Sance), pengganti kita, orang yang kita utus itu sering mengecewakan. Dia (yang di utus) tidak melakukan apa yang kita ingini / maksud. Karena yang kita utus sering mengecewakan kita, akhirnya kalau ada pertemuan, kita sendiri yang hadir.

Manusia yang diciptakan menurut gambar dan rupa Allah hidup tidak sesuai dengan kehendak Allah, tidak bisa menjadi wakil Allah. Adam dan Hawa sebagai ciptaan-Nya yang pertama telah mengecewakan Tuhan (Kej 3: 6). Bangsa Israelpun yang menjadi umat pilihan Allah sudah mengecewakan Allah. Allah katakan; jangan mengambil laki-laki asing untuk anak-anakmu perempuan dan jangan memberikan anak-anakmu perempuan kepada laki-laki asing, itu yang dilakukan bangsa Israel, yaitu kawin campur. Allah katakan, jika kalian menaklukan suatu bangsa, berhala-berhala mereka harus dihancurkan, itu tidak dihancurkan, malah mereka ikut menyembah berhala-berhala itu. Jadi, para wakil Allah ini telah gagal menjalankan tugas yang Allah ingin mereka lakukan dalam diri mereka.

Apa yang Allah bayangkan waktu Ia mengetahui orang-orang yang diutus-Nya gagal menjadi wakil-Nya? Mau tidak mau, Allah harus melakukan sendiri misi-Nya, supaya kehendak-Nya dapat terlaksana. Karena misi-Nya adalah manusia, satu-satunya cara adalah Allah harus menjadi manusia. Firman yang adalah Allah itu telah menjadi manusia dan diam di antara kita dan “menjadi kita”, dengan kata lain, “manusia firman” itu menunjuk pada kita. Jadi, manusia firman adalah manusia dimana Allah diam dalam diri manusia itu untuk melakukan pekerjaan Allah dalam diri manusia itu.

Jadi, kita bukan wakil lagi yang hanya melakukan pekerjaan Allah, tapi Allah yang diam dalam diri kita untuk melakukan pekerjaan-Nya di dalam diri kita. Waktu kita menjadi wakil, kita melakukan pekerjaan dari diri kita sendiri. Setelah firman diam dalam diri kita, kita melakukan pekerjaan untuk Dia yang diam di dalam kita.

Gal 2: 20 mengatakan; namun aku hidup, tetapi bukan lagi aku sendiri yang hidup, melainkan Kristus yang hidup di dalam aku…dan 2Kor 5: 15, mengatakan; dan Kristus telah mati untuk semua orang, supaya mereka yang hidup, tidak lagi hidup untuk dirinya sendiri, tetapi untuk Dia, yang telah mati dan telah dibangkitkan untuk mereka.

Jadi, Gal 2: 20 dan 2Kor 5: 15 saya simpulkan; karena aku hidup, tetapi bukan aku sendiri yang hidup, melainkan Kristus yang hidup di dalam aku, dan karena Kristus telah mati untuk aku, supaya aku yang hidup, tidak lagi hidup untuk hidupku sendiri, tetapi untuk Dia yang telah mati dan telah dibangkitkan untuk aku. Jadi kita harus sadar dengan status kita, jangan kita mengambil keputusan seolah-olah saya yang menentukan.

Pertanyaannya, bagaimana kita bisa menjadi manusia firman? Saya tidak mengutip dari kitab Yohanes, tapi saya mengutip dari kita Petrus. Ada 4 langkah yang akan saya kupas dari firman Tuhan kitab 1Pt 2: 1-5. Mari kita baca kitab 1Pt 2: 1-5,

1. Bertobat (1)

Langkah awal yang harus kita ambil adalah bertobat. Bertobat perlu sekali. Yang namanya tobat, artinya kapok, tidak akan mengulanginya lagi. Pertobatan identik dengan hal-hal yang negatif. Tidak ada orang bertobat karena melakukan hal yg positif / baik. Pertobatan selalu identik dengan perbuatan yang jelek, jahat, dosa.

1Pt2: 1, karena itu buanglah segala kejahatan, segala tipu muslihat dan segala macam kemunafikan, kedengkian dan fitnah. Dari semua yang disebutkan tadi, tidak satupun yang baik, semuanya jahat. Maka engkau harus bertobat dari itu semua, kapok, tidak akan mengulanginya. Karena itu buanglah, …bertobatlah, …tinggalkan semua itu. Tanpa pertobatan tidak mungkin kita bisa meninggalkan kebiasaan buruk kita, apalagi membuangnya.

Membuang artinya; melepaskan sesuatu (yg tak berguna lagi) dengan sengaja dari tangan. Jadi dosa-dosa yg disebutkan tadi jangan di pegang, artinya dilepaskan. Dosa itu jangan kita pegang terus, artinya jangan hidup di dalam dosa, buanglah, karena memang tidak ada gunanya.

Membuang juga mempunyai arti; melemparkan sesuatu karena tdk berguna lagi. Artinya kita sadar kalau selama ini telah tertipu. Kenikmatan yang kita rasakan hanya sebentar, tapi rasa bersalah yang kita pikul bisa selamanya kalau kita tidak mau membuangnya.

Kalau engkau berkata engkau mau bertobat, engkau harus stop saat itu juga dari segala kebiasaan burukmu. Stop dan tinggalkan. Karena itu buanglah segala kejahatanmu, tipu muslihat, kemunafikan, kedengkian, fitnah, iri hati, kebiasaan burukmu, kedengkianmu, dendammu, kepahitanmu dan bertobatlah.

2. Lahir Baru / memulai hidup baru (2)

Langkah kedua setelah kita bertobat adalah lahir baru. Memulai segala sesuatunya dari baru lagi, dari awal lagi. Kata lain dari bertobat adalah berbalik, bukan berputar, berbalik 180 derajat, bukan berputar 360 derajat. Waktu kita berjalan menuju dosa dan kita sadar, kita harus bertobat, berbalik dari dosa itu dan memulai langkah dari awal lagi. Makanya setelah pertobatan yang diperlukan adalah memulai hidup baru.

Seorang bayi yang dibutuhkan adalah air susu. Ayat 2 mengatakan air susu yang murni dan rohani. Air susu yang murni adalah air susu yang benar-benar sesuai dengan kebutuhannya. Susu banyak, tapi tidak berarti sesuai untuk kebutuhan tiap-tiap bayi. Jika seorang bayi tdk mendapat makanan yg tepat, itu akan berdampak pada pertumbuhannya. Banyak bayi yang kekurangan gizi akibat dampak dari kekurangan makanannya

Begitu juga dengan kita, setelah kita bertobat dan memulai hidup baru, kita perlu makanan rohani yang benar-benar murni yang sumbernya dari firman Allah. Kalau kita tdk mendapat makanan dari firman Allah, ayat 1 tadi, yaitu; tipu muslihat, kemunafikan, kedengkian, fitnah, iri hati, cemburu, kepahitan, dendam, kekayaan, kekhawatiran, kenikmatan, …itu semua akan menghambat pertumbuhan rohani kita.

Sering kita dengar, kalau kita terima Tuhan, segala masalahmu akan Tuhan selesaikan, segala masalahmu pasti teratasi, tapi pada saat semua tidak menjadi kenyataan, atau tidak seperti yang kita bayangkan, kita menjadi kecewa. Ini akibat dari kita tidak mendapat air susu yang murni dan rohani, yaitu firman Allah.

Setelah saya bertobat, saya memulai hidup baru. Mulai aktif baca firman, aktif ke gereja, menginjil. Ngak baca novel, tapi buku-buku rohani yang mendukung pertumbuhan rohani saya. Kalau kita katakan kita bertobat, kita jangan diam di tempat. Kalau kita diam di tempat, kita akan tergoda oleh apa yang sudah kita buang. Maka dari itu, tinggalkan apa yang sudag kita buang, berbalik untuk memulai hidup baru.

3. Menyerahkan Hidup Kita pada Tuhan (4)

Menyerahkan hidup pada Tuhan adalah langkah selanjutnya setelah kita memulai hidup baru. Kita tidak mungkin dapat atau mau menyerahkan hidup kita pada Tuhan kalau kita belum memulai hidup baru.

Ada 2 definisi dari menyerahkan, yaitu: “Memberikan atau memasrahkan.” Definisi memberikan lebih tepat daripada memasrahkan. Memberikan adalah keputusan kita untuk menyerahkan, sedangkan memasrahkan sepertinya tidak ada jalan lain, terpaksa.

Kalau kita memberikan hidup kita pada Tuhan, kita sudah tidak berhak lagi atas hidup kita. Hidup yg kita miliki sudah menjadi milik kepada siapa kita sudah memberikannya, yaitu milik Tuhan. Seperti kata Gal 2: 20 dan 2Kor 5: 15 tadi.

Waktu kita bertobat kita berhenti dari segala kebiasaan buruk kita. Kita tinggalkan gaya hidup lama kita, kita berbalik untuk memulai hidup baru menuju kepada Tuhan. Tujuan kita datang pada Tuhan adalah untuk menyerahkan hidup kita pada Tuhan dan biarkan Tuhan yang mengatur hidup kita Banyak di antara kita sudah menyerahkan hidup pada Tuhan tapi tetap saja mengatur hidupnya sendiri. Ada apa-apa tidak tanya Tuhan.

4. Membiarkan hidup kita di bentuk (5)

Ini adalah konsekwensi dari tiga langkah yang sudah kita ambil. Kalau engkau sudah katakan; Tuhan, aku mau bertobat, aku mau memulai hidup baru, aku mau menyerahkan hidupku pada-Mu. Bisa ngak engkau katakan; Bentuklah aku Tuhan.

Tiga langkah yang awal adalah bagian kita, kita yang menentukan, tapi bagian yang terakhir adalah bagian Tuhan, Tuhan yang menentukan. Tiga langkah tadi mungkin tdk ada masalah, tapi langkah ke-4 ini, kita sering keberatan. Mungkin kita bisa menyerahkan hidup kita pada Tuhan, tapi belum tentu kita mau di bentuk.

Pendeta khotbah nyinggung sedikit kita kecewa. Waktu kita sakit tidak ada yang besuk kita kecewa. Sesuatu tidak sesuai kehendak kita, kecewa. Saya aja marah, kesal kalau Ps. Him sms saya, tolong kasih tahu orang Perum, Minggu ini tidak ada jemputan. Marah, kesal, kenapa tidak sms aja sendiri, kenapa harus melalui saya. Masih belum mau di bentuk.

Saya mau katakan; yang namanya di bentuk itu pasti tidak enak, menyakitkan. Yang di bentuk itu terserah kepada yang membentuknya. Rm 9: 20, “Siapakah kamu, hai manusia, maka kamu membantah Allah? Dapatkah yg dibentuk berkata kpd yang membentuknya: “Mengapakah engkau membentuk aku demikian?” Mau itu sakit kek, tidak enak kek, engkau harus terima. Semua terserah Allah. Tapi kalau kita pasrahkan kepada pembentuk kita, yaitu Allah kita sendiri, hasilnya akan luar biasa.

Saya mau katakan, kalau kita sudah lalui langkah pertama (bertobat), langkah kedua (memulai hidup baru) dan langkah ketiga (menyerahkan hidup kita pada Tuhan), tinggal satu langkah lagi, kita akan menjadi apa yang Tuhan ingini dalam hidup kita. Jadi, berjuanglah, jangan menyerah, tinggal satu langkah lagi.

Kalau anda tidak mau dibentuk, kalau anda gagal pada langkah ke-4, saya katakan: “Masih ada kesempatan / masih ada harapan).” Apa kesempatannya? 1. Bertobat, 2. Memulai hidup baru, 3. Serahkan hidup pada Tuhan dan kalau anda tidak mau dibentuk lagi, saya katakan:“Masih ada kesempatan / harapan.” Apa kesempatannya? 1. Bertobat, 2. Memulai hidup baru, 3. Serahkan hidupmu pada Tuhan dan kalau anda tidak mau dibentuk lagi, saya katakan: “Masih ada kesempatan / masih ada harapan.”

Ingat khotbah Pak Paulus Bambang, kita sering menganggap Tuhan kita itu “Tukang cuci.” Biar dosa kita sekotor apapun, Tuhan akan membersihkan. Karena image kita, Tuhan kita itu Maha Pengampun, Ia akan mengampuni kita, apa saja dosa kita, sebanyak apapun dosa kita, Ia sanggup mengampuni. Makanya kita bebas melakukan dosa sepuas-puas kita.

Masih ingat apa sharing James (sebenarnya bukan kata James, semua ada di alkitab, James hanya mengingati), Tuhan kita itu identik dengan berkat, tetapi dari mulut-Nya keluar juga “kutuk.” Pertanyaanya, kenapa Tuhan mengutuk? Karena orang ini tidak bisa diomongi lagi, tidak bisa ditoleransi lagi. Setiap orang yang melanggar firman Tuhan, orang itu bisa mendapat kutuk.

Tentang janji berkat dan kutuk, di Ul 28: 15, firman Tuhan berkata: “Tetapi jika engkau tidak mendengarkan suara Tuhan, Allahmu, dan tidak melakukan dengan setia segala perintah dan ketetapan-Nya, yang kusampaikan kepadamu pada hari ini, maka segala kutuk ini akan datang kepadamu dan mencapai engkau.”

Ams 3: 33: “Kutuk Tuhan ada di rumah orang fasik, tetapi tempat kediaman orang benar diberkati-Nya.” Tentang persembahan perpuluhan juga orang kena kutuk. Mal 3: 9, Kamu telah kena kutuk, tetapi kamu masih menipu aku, ya kamu seluruh bangsa!

Jadi, kalau engkau tidak mau dibentuk, saya katakan: “Masih ada harapan.” Tapi hati-hati! Kalau kamu tidak mau dibentuk, masih ada harapan, tapi kalau kamu tidak bisa dibentuk, tidak ada harapan lagi! Bukankah ada lagu: “Engkau pejunan, ku tanah liat. Bentuklah aku seturut kehendak-Mu.”

Sebagai penutup saya mau bacakan Yer 18: 1
Firman yang datang dari Tuhan kepada Yeremia, bunyinya (1): “Pergilah dengan segera ke rumah tukang periuk! Disana Aku akan memperdengarkan perkataan-perkataan-Ku kepadamu (2).” Lalu pergilah aku ke rumah tukang periuk, dan kebetulan ia sedang bekerja dengan pelarikannya (alat untuk membentuk tanah liat) (3). Apabila bejana, yang sedang dibuatnya dari tanah liat itu, rusak, maka tukang periuk itu mengerjakannya kembali menjadi bejana lain menurut apa yang baik pada pemandangannya (4). Kemudian datanglah firman Tuhan kepadaku, bunyinya(5): “Masakan Aku tidak dapat bertindak kepada kamu seperti tukang periuk ini, hai kaum Israel!, demikianlah firman Tuhan. Sungguh, seperti tanah liat di tangan tukang periuk, demikianlah kamu di tangan-Ku, hai kaum Israel!

Tanah liat di tangan pejunan, waktu di bentuk kurang pas, akan diperbaiki. Waktu tanah liat itu rusak, dia akan mengulang membuat dari awal. Tuhan memberi kita kesempatan, supaya kita dapat diperbaiki. Waktu Tuhan membentuk kita, bahkan sampai kita rusak, Tuhan akan membentuk kita dari awal lagi. Waktu kita berdosa, Tuhan akan ampuni kita. Kita berdosa lagi, Tuhan ampuni lagi, tapi jangan menganggap Tuhan sebagai “Tukang cuci” yang kerja-Nya cuma membersihkan dosa kita.

Setelah tanah liat di bentuk, lalu di bakar, open, jemur. Kalau adonan tanah liat itu belum pas, tanah liat itu retak setelah di open, tidak ada gunanya lagi, kecuali di buang. Itulah sebabnya kenapa Tuhan bentuk kita terus hingga pas, baru di open. Kalau kita di open sebelum waktunya, kita akan rusak. Waktu ada gesekan, kepahitan, kekecewaan, kita cepat marah.

Jadi kalau kita berdosa, Tuhan ampuni. Kita berdosa, Tuhan ampuni. Tapi jangan sampai dosa yang kita perbuat sudah terbentuk, hingga waktu di bakar ia rusak, hingga harus di buang.

Demikianlah firman yang saya sampaikan, dan saya berharap kita bisa melalui tiga langkah yang menjadi bagian kita, dan membiarkan Tuhan mengambil langkah yang ke empat, yaitu membentuk kita.

Kalau ke-4 langkah ini sudah kita lalui, kita akan menjadi “Manusia firman.”

Pastoral Counseling: 10 Key Principles

2008-12-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

Pastoral Counseling: 10 Key Principles
By Wayde I. Goodall
When I read of those who had negative behavioral patterns (sins) that Paul listed for the Corinthian church, it reminds me of people in our culture today–the sexually immoral (adulterers, prostitutes, homosexuals), idolaters, thieves, swindlers, and those who do not control negative conversation about others (slanderers). But then Paul said, “And that is what some of you were” (1 Corinthians 6:11, NIV). When these people came to Christ, He not only saved them, but they were delivered from the sins that bound them. They came out of a world controlled by the devil and became a part of a healthy community. In spite of the Corinthian’s problems, it was still a church body full of Spirit-filled people who ministered to one another.
The majority of people in our communities turn to a pastor or priest when they have a crisis or counseling need. Robert Morgan wrote: “Pastoral counseling is best done by a pastor–not a professional counselor or psychotherapist. Good professional biblical counselors certainly play an important role when the complexities of mental illness are involved, but they are allies of the pastor, not substitutes for him.” Morgan listed several advantages pastors have in counseling.1
Friendship. Those who need help are counseling with a friend, not just a professional.
Prior relationship. In many cases, there has been an ongoing relationship between the person and the pastor. The pastor often knows the family’s history, spiritual maturity, and past crisis experiences.
Preaching. Preaching can include biblical counseling from the pulpit.2
Biblical advice. People want to know what the Bible says about their particular need.
Availability. Typically, pastors are much more accessible to their parishioners. It is important for people who have lived in destructive behavioral patterns to become a part of a caring church, pastored by a caring pastor. This kind of community is healthy and is an encouragement to those coming out of spiritually or physically harmful lifestyles.
At times, part of the care we offer people is helping them find a competent Christian mental health professional. My rule of thumb has always been that if I sense mental illness, serious depression, or suicidal thinking, I automatically refer to a Christian mental health professional. I remain their pastor. Even for those I refer, I still pray for them and meet with them for pastoral counseling. However, I believe that the professional has the expertise to handle the complicated and delicate issues that come up with these types of difficulties.
Remember these 10 key principles when you are involved in pastoral counseling.3
1. The Scripture is always right. The Bible covers a myriad of problems, difficulties, and issues that people face every day. We can know how God feels about divorce, adultery, substance abuse, dishonesty, and numerous other harmful behaviors. Scripture is clear about God’s desire to set people free, forgive them of their sins, and restore their lives. The Bible is our blueprint for living and should be every pastor’s counseling manual.
2. The counselee is always responsible to do what is right. None of us can blame others for our personal choices in life. It is the counselee’s choice whether to make the right or wrong decision. You can pray for and encourage those who come for counseling, but in the end it is their choice.
3. There is always a biblical, Christ-honoring response that the counselee is capable of choosing. What is the right thing to do when a person has wronged you? Every issue a person faces in life has a Christ-honoring response. It might be confrontation, a gentle rebuke, or forgiveness.
4. Listen carefully. What is said and what is meant may be different. Often people will hint at their situation but never clearly spell it out. As you listen to people, try to hear what they are really saying and ask them questions such as: “Am I hearing you say…?” or “Is there something else you want to talk about.” This type of question often prompts the person to bring out the real issues.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask about willful sin. If you suspect sinful behavior, ask about it at the appropriate time. You could say: “Have you been seeing someone else?” or “What behaviors have you been involved in that you know God would not approve of?”
6. The counselee is a person of worth, made in the image of God. No matter what people have done, they are important to God and should be important to us. God can cleanse, redeem, and restore anyone who comes to Him for help.
7. Counseling advice should be specific and doable. When you give people advice about how to overcome their problems, be specific about how to do it. Write out a “road map” for them. Just saying to counselees that they need to stop a certain behavior is not good enough. They often know they need to stop, but they don’t know how. You can help them find the “how.”
8. Remain hopeful, but realize there are no instant cures to life’s problems. The habit that has lasted years will often take months or years to overcome. A bad marriage doesn’t become a good marriage overnight. Those who have grown up in an abusive home could have similar challenges with their family. Be patient with people, and remain hopeful. Be an encourager to counselees that God will get them through.
9. Know that God can use you. Take charge. There are a variety of people and problems you will face in ministry. Help, in some way, those who cross your path. It might be through counseling, or it could be through referral to a Christian mental health professional or medical doctor. God will help you work with the people He has placed under your care.
10. You are a person talking to a person. Counseling is a relationship. Let people know that God has helped you with your difficulties and challenges. This gives people hope and lets them know that you are also working out your salvation with “fear and trembling".
Counseling is a part of every pastor’s life. We counsel after a tragedy, at a funeral, during a marriage difficulty, or in a premarriage counseling session. We counsel in the church foyer, during visitation, or before a critical surgery. Whenever it occurs, remember these 10 key pastoral counseling principles.

Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire!

2008-12-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire! The Revival Legacy of Minnie F. Abrams
By Gary B. McGee
Rushing to the quarters of Minnie F. Abrams at 3:30 a.m. on June 29, 1905, the matron of a girls’ dormitory at the Mukti Mission in India told her that one of the girls had suddenly awakened “with the fire coming down upon her.”1 Having prayed before going to sleep that she might receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost, the girl now screamed with fright as the others watched the flames. The matron related how she “saw the fire, and ran across the room for a pail of water, and was about to pour it on her when I discovered that she was not on fire.” Becoming one of the most celebrated events of the great revival in India (1905-1907), this “case of the ‘burning bush’ ” prompted confessions of sins and repentance.
Though few evangelicals and Pentecostals would recognize her name today, Christians in India and America hailed Minnie Abrams as a leader in revival and evangelism.
Born in Wisconsin in 1859, Abrams grew up in Mapleton, Minnesota. Desiring to become a teacher, she graduated from Mankato Normal School and then studied for 2 years at the University of Minnesota. Inspired by the life of Fidelia Fiske, an early 19th-century missionary educator, she committed her life to foreign missions.
In pursuit of her calling, Minnie moved to Illinois in 1885 to enroll in the first class of the Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions. Lucy Rider Meyer, a leading figure in the new Methodist deaconess movement, had founded the school to offer theological and practical training for young women.
PREPARATION FOR MISSION
While there, Minnie realized her need to live the “faith life” exemplified by J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, and others who trusted in God alone for their provisions. Living on half of her meager income in Chicago, she gave the rest to “help India.” After graduation, the Minneapolis Branch of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society commissioned her as a Methodist “deaconess-missionary.” She left for India in October 1887.
Staff members at Mukti Mission.
Arriving in Bombay, she immediately began working at a boarding school designed to provide religious instruction for the daughters of church members. Her hope was to eventually “labor among their heathen friends.” For Minnie and many other women missionaries, ministry in a foreign land centered on educational and charitable ministries.
Before long the protective walls around the compound seemed confining. Etched in her memory was her ride through the streets shortly after her ship reached port. On her way to the school, she saw masses of people living in heartbreaking conditions. Under the cover of night, she also made her way to opium dens and witnessed the emaciated bodies of people of all ages enslaved by their addictions.
“Oh, how my heart cried out,” she recounted, “and how I longed to be able to bring the message of life to these people in all their darkness.… Oh, how it stirred me on to learn the language in order that I might give out the message of life to at least as many as my voice would reach.”
For the next 2 years Minnie tried to find time to learn the Marathi language while working as director of three schools. Leisure time hardly existed since, in addition to being housemother, teacher, physician, seamstress, and financial manager, she provided spiritual guidance for the children.
Minnie could not rest until she gained permission to engage in direct evangelism. Despite the presence of missionaries among the millions in Bombay, she knew “they couldn’t reach the thousandth part of the people with the sound of the gospel.” After 10 years of waiting, mission officials gave her permission to become a full-time evangelist. And when her colleague Florence Sterling married, Minnie continued preaching, accompanied only by native workers.
In 1898, the famous Indian Christian Pandita Ramabai invited Abrams to assist her in administering the Mukti (Salvation) Mission at Kedgaon, about 100 miles southeast of Bombay. Ramabai, a high caste Brahmin, had converted to Christianity in 1883. Having already established a school, she added a home for child-widows and developed a ministry to famine victims. Minnie flourished in this new environment since it afforded her the opportunity to train young women for ministry.
EVANGELISM IN THE LAST DAYS
Pandita Ramabai
The burden to evangelize the world weighed heavily on the minds of Ramabai, Abrams, and other radical evangelicals whose clocks ticked ever closer to the midnight hour when Christ would return. Given the immensity of the mission task in India, the saints at the 1898 Keswick Convention in England responded to the personal appeal of Ramabai and earnestly prayed that God would raise up 200,000 Indian evangelists “to go up and down the land proclaiming the gospel of Christ.” Indeed, many ardently prayed for a spiritual harvest on India’s “stony ground.” Mukti would play a pivotal role in preparing laborers for the harvest.
Before the end of the 19th century, the popularity of Wesleyan-holiness and Keswickian (Higher Life) teachings had promoted widespread interest in the baptism and gifts of the Spirit. In conferences for Indian college and university students in the mid-1890s, Robert P. Wilder, a Presbyterian and traveling secretary of the Indian YMCA, accentuated the Higher Life view of Spirit baptism. He challenged his hearers to seek for “power from on high” (Luke 24:49), the kind that provides “divine enablement for ministry distinctive from...regeneration.”
Ramabai and Abrams joined with others in praying for the restoration of apostolic power. Minnie pleaded, “Oh God, in this coming revival I am a candidate for service. Whatever You need done, get me ready, please, to do it, and I will conform to all that You want me to do.”
Hearing that R.A. Torrey and Charles Alexander had held crusades in Australia in 1903 and revival followed, Ramabai decided to send her daughter, Manoramabai, and Minnie to investigate. Arriving just as Torrey was leaving, they inquired about the causes of the revival–“finally we got to the bottom of it.” The community of missionaries and believers at Mukti eagerly heard their reports which intensified their prayers for the promised end-times outpouring of the Spirit.
NEWS FROM WALES
Indian women evangelists
When word of the Welsh revival (1904-1905) with its unusual spiritual phenomena and remarkable number of conversions reached India, revival began among tribal peoples in the Khassia Hills in March 1905. At stations staffed by Welsh Presbyterian missionaries, believers began confessing their sins in “prayer-storms”–hours spent in fervent and loud prayer that pushed aside the traditional order of worship. The “fire” fell in June at the Mukti Mission in South India.
Mission publications soon carried stories of unusual happenings across the subcontinent, including those of believers feeling the “burning” sensation of the “baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.” Revival encompassed a wide spectrum of Christians, from Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, to members of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, London Missionary Society, and the Young Men’s and Women’s Christian Associations.
Along with confessions of sin and prayer storms, other uncommon events captured attention: visions of Jesus, angelic visitations, dreams, reception of the “burning” work of the Spirit (sometimes visible “tongues of fire”), writhing on the ground “unable to bear the burden of their sins,” shaking, and dancing before the Lord to the playing of musical instruments. To these were added laughter, miraculous provisions of food, and young people prophesying.
Bewildered, missionaries sometimes reprimanded believers for “emotional excesses,” only to see revival abruptly end at their mission stations. Others, however, moved beyond their ethnocentrism and were sympathetic to the cross-cultural differences in the makeup and worldview of Indian believers.
J.E. Robinson, a Methodist bishop, relating the events of a district conference in the fall of 1905 said: “So powerful was the manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit that it would not have surprised me had I seen tongues of fire descend upon the disciples present, or had I heard them ‘speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ ” Within 6 months stories of believers speaking in tongues began to circulate before they learned that a Pentecostal movement had also begun in the United States.
Shortly after revival began at Mukti in 1905, Minnie Abrams began taking “praying bands” of young women with her to hold services at mission stations. News of her activities appeared in two major Christian newspapers in India, the Bombay Guardian and the Christian Patriot. The Methodist periodical The Indian Witness also tracked her ministry. In the spring of 1906, Minnie penned the first edition of her influential Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire to encourage believers to seek for the postconversionary experience of Spirit baptism for purity of life and power to evangelize.
VIEW FROM AMERICA
The Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, California, that began in 1906 and triggered many subsequent revivals around the world is now considered the foremost revival of the century in terms of global impact. In looking back at the events that led up to it, eyewitness Frank Bartleman announced that the “revival was rocked in the cradle of little Wales...‘brought up’ in India” and then became “full grown” at Azusa Street.
To the Pentecostal saints in America, news of speaking in tongues and the manifestations of the Spirit’s gifts in India confirmed that what the Old Testament prophet Joel had foretold about the end-times outpouring of the Spirit (Joel 2:28,29) was being fulfilled simultaneously in other parts of the world. Indeed, if the predicted cloudburst was drenching America, they were heartened in knowing that the rain was falling on the other side of the world as well.
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
While Pentecostal phenomena (e.g., visions, prophecy) had been present from the early months of the revival, occurrences of speaking in tongues came later. Incidents were reported 2 and 3 months subsequent to a conference at an Anglican mission station in Aurangabad where Abrams had been the featured speaker. One participant returned home to the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission orphanage at Manmad and gave his testimony. This led to a revival beginning there in June with one or two girls speaking in tongues.
The best known episode, however, took place in early July after several girls returned from Aurangabad to an Anglican boarding school in Bombay. Their accounts stirred the other students to prayer and confession of sins. Three or four spoke in tongues. One of them, a 9-year-old named Sarah, prayed in tongues, “pleading with God for [the conversion of] Libya.”
Undoubtedly this event (and probably others) pressed Maud Wiest to editorialize in the September 1906 issue of the India Alliance (Christian and Missionary Alliance): “Some of the gifts which have been scarcely heard of in the church for many centuries are now being given by the Holy Ghost to simple, unlearned members of the body of Christ, and communities are being stirred and transformed by the wonderful grace of God. Healings, the gift of tongues, visions and dreams, discernment of spirits, the power to prophesy and to pray the prayer of faith, all have a place in the present revival.”
Minnie Abrams (right) with Jivubai, an Indian woman.
Some have credited the Calcutta revival in January 1907 led by A.G. Garr, newly arrived from Azusa Street, as the “first general outpouring of the Spirit” in India. Nevertheless, speaking in tongues had already commenced in Manmad in the preceding June, Bombay in July, and at Mukti in December. After reading about the Los Angeles revival in the pages of the Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles), Ramabai and Abrams acknowledged that “the deeper fullness of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost accompanied by the gift of tongues...had not yet been received” at Mukti and encouraged believers to “tarry” anew (Luke 24:49).
Xenolalia (i.e., known tongues [languages] recognized by hearers) reportedly followed with some speaking for the first time in English, Kanarese, and Sanscrit. Glossolalia (“unknown” tongues) could also be heard. Several girls reported receiving the gift of interpretation and others that of healing.
Commenting on tongues 9 months later, Ramabai said they “were given for a sign for unbelievers among us, that they may see and hear of God’s wonderful works and repent of their hardness of heart.” Consequently, “the girls who have received…are not using them for delivering Scripture messages, except those who have received the gift of interpretation. They pray and praise God, and sometimes sing hymns unknown, and sometimes in known tongues.”
For preaching, some exercised the gift of prophecy (preaching in one’s own language) “so that they could give God’s messages in very clear language, taught by the Holy Spirit. The believers and unbelievers were moved alike by these messages, and a deep spiritual work began in our midst.” This explains why the second edition of Minnie’s Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire, which refers to the restoration of tongues, makes no reference to their use for preaching. Instead, if spoken publicly, their value depended on someone present who either knew the language or had the gift of interpretation.
Given the international reputation of Ramabai and the respect accorded to Abrams, some observers accepted the phenomena at Mukti as genuine or politely restrained their comments. Others, however, sharply protested what appeared to be emotional excesses. In this respect they faced the same criticisms endured by American Pentecostals.
In response Ramabai lamented, “It is sad beyond all expression that God’s children, who have been praying for years for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit,...should now, when God is beginning to answer their prayer, be so hasty in judging and picking their fellow Christians to pieces.”
THE “PHILLIPUS” CLASS
Leaving India in 1908 with Manoramabai for a promotional tour in the United States, Abrams preached at many important centers of Pentecostal activity including Carrie Judd Montgomery’s Home of Peace in Oakland, California, Upper Room Mission in Los Angeles, Stone Church in Chicago, the regional camp meeting at Homestead, Pennsylvania, and the headquarters of the Christian Workers Union in Massachusetts.
On her visits around the country, Minnie recruited six single women to accompany her back for frontline evangelism among unreached peoples in North India. Once again, she wanted to move beyond the constraint of institutional responsibilities and go to the “regions beyond” (2 Corinthians 10:16). Like other holiness and Pentecostal women ministers, she believed that the “promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4) gave them equal opportunity with men in preaching and evangelism. While visiting St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1910 before returning to India, she attended the national Laymen’s Missionary Convention where she was disappointed to hear that “the evangelization of the world was a man’s job.” Notwithstanding, Minnie knew that the immensity of the global task of evangelism required women as well as men.
Recalling her move to the Mukti Mission, she said that the Lord “wanted me to have a little part in answering my own prayers in preparing some of these native women to go out and evangelize their own people. Then the great outpouring of the Spirit came upon us, and today we have 400 Spirit-filled young women, and they are saying, ‘Here I am; send me,’ and the Lord has opened their lips and He has filled their mouths with a testimony that cannot be gainsaid, and that testimony is backed by a daily self-crucified life.”
Minnie returned to India with her new associates–“all baptized in the Spirit” and committed to evangelism: Edith Baugh, Blanche Cunningham, Lillian Doll, Minnie Houck, “Miss Bristol,” and “Miss Dempster.” Ramabai called them the “Phillipus Class” because “like the daughters of Philip, they are to be evangelists” (Acts 21:9). While two remained at Mukti, the others traveled north to the city of Uska Bazar near the border of Nepal. Other women from the United States, including Bernice Lee and Jennie Kirkland, joined them later. Minnie organized the endeavor as the Bezaleel Evangelistic Mission (Exodus 31:2,3), the only known Pentecostal women’s missionary society. (Several members eventually joined or worked with the Assemblies of God.)
With North India especially resistant to the gospel message, intense opposition faced them. Added to this were the difficulties of travel, the heat, and other trying circumstances. The toll soon became evident on Abrams who eventually became ill with blackwater fever. Before leaving the States, she had a premonition that in 2 years her labors would be ended. Minnie died on December 2, 1912, 2 years to the day she had disembarked in Bombay on her return trip.
ONE LITTLE WOMAN
Reflecting back on her ministry, Minnie said, “I was only one little woman.” Yet God used her to train hundreds of Indian women evangelists who, in turn, contributed to the proclamation of the gospel in that vast country. She recognized that God never intended revival to be an end in itself. Without its energies being invested in evangelism, the Great Commission would not be achieved. In line with this concern, her last book Prayer Warfare may have been the first Pentecostal exposition on intercessory prayer for the evangelization of the world in “signs and wonders.”
Minnie’s influence extended to South America when she sent a copy of The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire to Willis and May Hoover, Methodist missionaries in Valparaiso, Chile. (May had been a schoolmate with Minnie at the Chicago Training School.) Minnie’s account of the revival, striking claims about the baptism of fire, and report of miracles added to the tinder that sparked “Pentecostal Methodism” in that country.
This “one little woman” became a pioneer missionary evangelist by refusing to accept the status quo–the “men are preachers\women are teachers” mentality. Following her death a leading Protestant mission periodical paid tribute to “Minnie F. Abrams of India” as “a woman of unusual ability and force of character. When she realized a course of action to be right she followed it without questioning; she was also a woman of faith, and it was this rather than her strength of character and will, which enabled her to accomplish [her] work.” Decades would pass before other Pentecostal missionaries would be so eulogized in the Protestant missionary movement.

Healing the Broken Heart of Divorce

2008-12-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Healing the Broken Heart of Divorce
By Ruth Hetzendorfer
As I watched Susan, I saw a once strong Christian leader now living in complete despair and depression. Life, according to her, was over. The saddest part was that she didn’t even know how she got there. She said, “I have not only failed at the relationship with my husband, but I have failed God and the church.”
As she continued, I realized that her utter despair with life was not just from her husband being unfaithful to her, but from impending judgment pronounced upon her by Christians.
“I’m supposed to do everything right,” she said. “If I had known what I did wrong, I would have changed. I’ve been a pillar in the church. I am a Bible college graduate. And worse, I’m a preacher’s kid.”
Her question to me was, “Why has the church abandoned me and not reached out to me?”
My thoughts were: Where did we go wrong as a body of believers that we failed to reach out? If Susan’s husband had died, would we have acted differently? Did Jesus come to heal all those who are in despair, all those who hurt and mourn? Are the divorced included?
Divorce in the church has always been a challenge because we are afraid of what we don’t know. We are afraid that if we reach out a helping hand, people might think we are condoning or even supporting divorce. Yet doesn’t Scripture say, “The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14)?
Since divorce is everywhere, we cannot close our eyes to it. We must educate not only those who are in our churches but those who are soon to be our leaders (cf. Hosea 4:6).
As a counselor in the church and at a Bible college, I have learned that the keys to helping counselees are to: (1) genuinely care about them; (2) rely on the Holy Spirit for discernment; and (3) have knowledge of their problems and understanding of their inner world. If you can grasp the feelings associated with devastation and hopelessness, you are on your way to understanding the inner world of the divorced.
Jesus was our example of how to treat hurting people. He never turned anyone away, and He was moved with compassion for the hurting. We can follow in His steps by applying His Word. The steps are outlined for us in Isaiah 61:1-3.
Why Marriages Fail
Here are four usually unidentified reasons that marriages dissolve.
1. One or both persons fail to understand the stages and changes of individual development–the seasons of their lives–and how these affect their marriage. Many men and women experience an identity transition around 30 and experience a midlife transition in their late 30s or early 40s.
2. People have an inadequate basis upon which they build their personal identity and security. Too many build their identity on performance, perfectionism, or appearance, and these eventually fade. The best basis for marriage comes from the one who instituted marriage in the first place; but for too many, the teachings of God’s Word have not been incorporated in depth into their lives, transforming both their identity and their security.
3. People come to marriage with unresolved issues between them and their parents, or they come from dysfunctional families. Either can intrude upon their marriage.
4. Some marriages dissolve because the partners were never prepared for marriage, and their expectations were totally unrealistic.
Adapted from H. Norman Wright, The Premarital Counseling Handbook (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1992), 12. Used by permission.
“PREACH GOOD NEWS”
The good news in the issue of divorce is that there is hope for healing and a way to get through the trauma. But before we can share the good news with the divorced, we must first examine our own hearts.
Before we can help, we must be free of preconditioned ideas that the divorced person did something to make his or her spouse leave. There are too many reasons why a person leaves. People are less willing to tolerate an unsatisfactory marriage than ever before. The ideology of marriage has become increasingly hedonistic, focusing on what brings pleasure rather than faithfulness and commitment. With the availability of pornographic material, there are more and more people who are looking for another high and are finding it outside their own marriage.
It is time to stop pronouncing judgment on those who are experiencing divorce and recognize that even a committed Christian’s spouse can leave. The good news is: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done” (Genesis 50:20).
“BIND UP THE BROKENHEARTED”
“Bind” denotes a commitment to defend or oversee a broken heart, not put a bandage on it. A bandage simply says to the hurting, “Oh, I hope things get better. I will pray for you.” What we need to give the divorced is a safeguard: “I may not understand, but I support you. You can trust me to help you through this. I will not abandon you.”
It means more than words, however (cf. James 2:16). It means phone calls, visits, and listening to the same story time and time again. It may mean helping with repairs or helping with a financial need. “Binding up the brokenhearted” means faith in action.
“PROCLAIM FREEDOM FOR THE CAPTIVES”
“Freedom” does not necessarily mean freedom from an ex-spouse or freedom to love again. It means freedom from the bondage that failure brings. Those in the church who have spouses leave them not only feel they have failed in the relationship but feel they have failed God and the church. They feel they will never again be a whole person–one who is free from his or her past.
God forgives. So why do well-meaning Christians feel they must remind the divorced of their past? We must ask ourselves if we have extended acceptance and positive regard to the divorced.
“COMFORT ALL WHO MOURN”
There is no grief quite like the grief of those who go through divorce. Their grief is not only for the loss of a person and the death of dreams for the future, but it is a loss of trust, loss of belief in marriage, and often a loss of friends. “Comfort” indicates a strengthening and uplifting of the spirit.
Those who have lost a spouse need a time to mourn. It takes about 1 year to go through the grieving process before divorced people can go on with life. We must be patient with them as they go through emotional ups and downs.
Dealing with anger and unforgiveness are all part of this process. Forgiveness may take 9 to 12 months, even with daily prayer for those who have caused hurt. Time does not always bring healing. Choosing to forgive and bless those that hurt us will bring change. Our job is to pray, guide, and be patient with the hurting.
“BESTOW ON THEM A CROWN OF BEAUTY INSTEAD OF ASHES”
“Ashes” signify being covered with grief. Yet this verse says we are to bestow “a crown of beauty” to the hurting.
Wearing a crown of beauty depicts giving value and honor to someone, especially after all feelings of worth have been ripped away. We need not be afraid that this step endorses divorce. If God is no respecter of persons, why are we?
The phrase I often repeat is: “The only thing that matters in life is how we treat people.” How often we forget.
“BESTOW ON THEM A GARMENT OF PRAISE INSTEAD OF A SPIRIT OF DESPAIR”
“Despair” pictures a depth of suffering that many of us will never encounter. The remorse and regret of things not done seem to bring a pervasive spirit of depression. What a complete opposite we see when someone is clothed in praise. We must guide hurting people to praise and worship God, regardless of their feelings. Praising God wins the battle and moves us out of despair (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:17-22).
We must encourage the divorced to make choices that will move them
step-by-step to complete healing. Encouraging is modeling optimism in what God can and will do. It is never giving up on someone. Are we willing to provide strength and hope for the hurting?
“THEY WILL BE CALLED OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”
If people truly heal from life-changing traumas, they can be a source of strength to the church. No one can provide hope to the divorced more than one who has already been through the suffering and has not only survived but has learned to live full of the joy of the Lord.
Thankfully, Susan experienced true healing. Her life that was once uprooted and devoid of all hope is now restored. She has sunk her roots deep into the Lord and has become a compassionate counselor, a source of strength to all those who hurt. She is truly an “oak of righteousness,” one displaying a life of complete stability.
How did she do it? She found a body of believers who reached out to her with compassion, and she claimed Genesis 50:20 and never gave up.
Susan’s story proves the truth of the comforting ministry. If we will stop expecting less from those who have experienced pain and instead encourage them to reach for their potential, they will find the untapped inner strength that will minister to others.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
ENDNOTES
1. Not actual name.2. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.
Ruth Hetzendorfer, Ed.D., is a counselor and associate professor at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, Waxahachie, Texas.

The Counseling Pulpit

2008-12-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

The Counseling Pulpit
By Paul L. Walker
The telephone rang at 2 a.m., and an excited voice exclaimed, “I just saw your television program, and your sermon saved my life!” After inquiry, I learned the person calling was a medical doctor who was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs. His addictions had cost him his medical practice, his family, and almost his life.
In his words: “I was in a motel room ready to take my life when your television program came on. In desperation I decided to listen to your sermon. You talked about the keys to the Kingdom, and I felt like I was in a counseling session. I responded to your invitation to pray for Christ to become Lord of my life, and I feel like a brand-new person.”
Now, 10 years later, this man’s medical practice has been restored, and he has been reconciled to his family. This illustrates the impact of counseling pulpits in every church where the Word is preached.
THE COUNSELING PULPIT DEFINED
What is a counseling sermon? Is it any different from any other kind of pulpit message?
In a general sense, all sermons that touch people serve a counseling purpose. In a specific sense, the counseling pulpit helps people learn to expand their limits whenever possible and learn to live effectively within limits that cannot be changed.
The true power of the Word is exemplified in the words of the apostle Paul: “Therefore we do not lose heart” (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10,16-181). This is the theme of the counseling pulpit: “We do not lose heart.” Rather, we deal with earthly issues through the eternal truth of the Bible.
THE COUNSELING PULPIT FOCUSES ON NEEDS
Why do people have problems? Problems occur when basic needs are either deprived or pressured to the extent of chronic stress.
Every day we act in ways to meet our physical needs for air, water, food, appropriate temperature, bodily activity, and all of the biological functions necessary to maintain life. We also strive to satisfy our social needs: the desire for being–to feel significant, the desire for belonging–to feel accepted, and the desire for doing–to feel we are making a contribution. And we all have spiritual needs: the inner cry for redemption from sin, the need for reconciliation with God through Christ, and the need for ongoing relationship with the Father by the Holy Spirit.
The difficulty is that all our needs cannot be immediately gratified, which creates ambiguity and necessitates adjustment. Tension occurs when we strive to have our needs resolved. Barriers are imposed through the circumstances of life, and we are forced to delay and often deny gratification. Consequently, we suffer from stress–a chronic external pressure that cannot be satisfactorily relieved, resolved, or redirected. Unmet needs and external traumatic situations result in problems.
The key is learning to adjust appropriately. Our responses determine our attitudes, beliefs, and values. Response patterns decide our character, temperament, and mood. They shape the quality of our behavior, relationships, and prevailing lifestyle.
The apostle Peter offers the solution: “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). The counseling pulpit focuses on the unmet needs and frayed nerves of a stressed-out society and offers a Christ who cares.
THE COUNSELING PULPIT OFFERS SPIRITUAL RESOURCES
Modern society has become adept at pinpointing problems. We all have to endure the paralysis of analysis. But where are the answers?
The counseling pulpit utilizes the Word as the one true source in providing coping power to handle stressful situations. It lifts up Christ as the life model to be internalized to meet every need. In Him is life and light for productive living (cf. John 1:1-4).
He was the recourse in every situation. He ate with publicans and sinners, was attentive to the needs of a Syro-Phoenician mother, and was willing to talk with a Samaritan woman.2 To Christ the person was more important than the program.
He related to people in spite of tradition. He treated a case of adultery with understanding and forgiveness, touched people who were diseased and dead, ignored such customs as the prescribed hand washings and customary fastings, and often broke the Sabbath.3 To Christ the treatment was more important than tradition.
He responded to people in a therapeutic context. In fact, His entire ministry was characterized by love, compassion, concern, tenderness, noncoercion, and optimism.4 In a word, Christ epitomized the counseling ministry of the Word in loving concern for His people. To Him attitudes were more important than authority.
Christ is still the source that is reflected by the preacher who ministers from the counseling pulpit. The theme of the counseling pulpit is that through the living Word revealed in the Bible we can internalize a spiritual process that stands up under the pressure of the flesh, the world, and Satan.
An alcoholic friend of mine found that this living Word is true.
Dear Pastor:A miracle has taken place in my life. My addiction had become so great I was not able to function in speech or normal physical movements. My body shook constantly, and my mind was so twisted I could not make a simple decision. My marriage had fallen apart, and I had lost contact with my children. For years I had prayed for God’s help to overcome my weakness. Now I know that He did answer them. I know now He had to let me go through the horrors and nightmares so that I could understand and appreciate what it means to enjoy the love and peace of mind that can be found only by accepting Christ as my Savior. I finally realized I had failed completely in trying to control my life. I asked God to take over my life.Life today is great, and I am at peace with myself. My family and friends love me, and I even love myself. When I get upset, I remember to let go and let God take over. Faith in God will bring miracles.Your Friend, Bill
THE COUNSELING PULPIT MOTIVATES BEHAVIORAL CHANGE
What is the goal of preaching? It should motivate people to move from a lower to a higher plane of living. And it should provide an anointed incentive for appropriate behavioral change in order to cope with stress.
The Bible talks about behavioral change as learning how to grow up in Christ. In our Christian walk we ought to be internalizing a process that makes us mature.
Research indicates that the mature person:
Strives for self-awareness by minimizing weaknesses and maximizing strengths.
Cultivates objectivity by accepting circumstances as they really are rather than what they should be, could be, or are wished to be.
Promotes adjustment to the environment by coping with negative limitations through a positive mind-set.
Balances emotions by maintaining harmony between thinking, feeling, and doing.
Displays optimism by viewing problems as challenges for solution rather than causes for depression.
Accepts responsibility for personal behavior by keeping commitments and preserving integrity in relationships.
Those who suffer emotional pain often lapse into immature response patterns in dealing with life. This is when the counseling pulpit speaks the loudest. It provides resources on learning how to grow up.
The Bible says we should increase in the “fruits of righteousness,” “go on to perfection,” “increase and abound in love toward one another and all people,” “desire the pure milk of the word” in order to grow, and to make every effort to add to our “faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”
This is the power of the counseling pulpit. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the preached Word through the counseling minister focuses on needs, offers spiritual resources, and motivates behavioral change.
Paul L. Walker, Ph.D., is general overseer for the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee.
ENDNOTES
1. Scripture references are from the New King James Version.2. See Matthew 9:10; Mark 7:24-30; Luke 19:1-10; John 4:9,27.3. See Mark 1:21,41; 2:18,23,27; 3:1; 5:13; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:8; 8:1-11; 9:14.4. See Matthew 9:36; 13:58; Mark 9:24,25; 10:27; Luke 6:1-35; 13:34,35.5. List is adapted from results of a 30-year study at Harvard and reported by Ronald Kotulak in “Defending Yourself Successfully” in The Miami Herald.

Raising Up Young Leaders Through Sunday School

2008-12-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

Raising Up Young Leaders Through Sunday School

Sunday school provides some of the greatest evangelism and discipleship opportunities available to the church today. Senior pastors who recognize this wisely invest time and resources in their Sunday school staff and facilities. They realize that Sunday school provides an ideal training ground for the future leaders of the church.
Each week in Sunday school, children learn how to be disciples and Christian leaders as they participate in classes specifically designed for their age level. In a classroom setting, children can receive the personal attention they need. They discover spiritual truths by asking questions, discussing Scripture, and through active participation in enjoyable learning activities. Skilled teachers help children develop their inherent and spiritual gifts in an atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement. In a friendly, evangelistic Sunday school, children can make friends and be assimilated into the church in a short period of time.
Furthermore, as children grow in their faith, they learn to evangelize, serve their community, and begin to make a difference in their world. Adults sometimes underestimate the potential of children. Take 11-year old, Ashlee Vann, who runs a food pantry called the Kids Café, in Springfield, Missouri. Every day after school Ashlee helps cook and serve free dinners to approximately 75 needy children. She says, "I stepped in where I saw a need." A busy girl, Ashlee stays involved in her church and is a straight-A student. The mayor presented her with the key to the city at a school assembly.
Although an example like this is unusual, it illustrates what can be done through a child who is motivated to serve others. It is important that those who work with children see their potential and inspire them to prepare themselves for ministry.
The senior pastor is the key to providing the encouragement and resources teachers need to evangelize and equip these younger saints for ministry. Here are some ways senior pastors can lend support and express confidence in their teaching staff.
1. Be a voice for Sunday school. Be involved at some level in recruiting and training workers. According to a recent study, the senior pastor’s involvement is a key factor in growing effective Sunday schools. (High Expectations, p.172.)
2. Invest time in the lives of your Sunday school teachers. Visit with them, send notes of encouragement, and attend training meetings when possible. Have a teacher dedication Sunday and an annual appreciation dinner for your Christian education staff.
3. Visit the children’s department occasionally. Greet the children and the teaching staff. Make arrangements for a special visit from the pastor during the Sunday school hour.
4. Reserve time on the church calendar for staff training and planning meetings. Send your workers to training conferences.
5. Provide a teacher resource library. This allows teachers to study, plan together, and make creative teaching materials for their classes. Bring in a guest speaker at least once a year to train and inspire your workers. Provide childcare and refreshments for staff training meetings.
6. Provide funds for creating a cheerful learning environment for the children. Visiting parents will evaluate the quality of your children’s program based on their first impression of the children’s area.
Your investment in Sunday school will pay dividends in the years to come as young leaders are evangelized, trained, and launched out into the harvest field as a result of the training they’ve received in your Sunday school.

Being A Pastor/Coach To Your Children’s Ministry Leader

2008-12-04T20:48:00.001-08:00

Being A Pastor/Coach To Your Children’s Ministry Leader
By John M. Palmer

Today’s effective pastor also needs the skill and heart of a coach. A successful athletic coach leads, motivates, teaches, and corrects. One of America’s all-time greatest coaches is John Wooden. He coached the UCLA men’s basketball team to 10 national championships in 12 years. Wooden, who is 91 years old and a committed follower of Jesus, was the consummate coach.
One of his best players, Bill Walton, said, "John Wooden taught us how to focus on one primary objective: Be the best you can be in whatever endeavor you undertake. Don’t worry about the score. Don’t worry about image. Don’t worry about the opponent. It sounds easy, but it’s actually very difficult. Coach Wooden showed us how to accomplish it."1
The pastor/coach will do the same. An enthusiastic, visionary, loving, Spirit-anointed pastor/coach is the key to effective local church ministry. And one of the most vital ministries in the local church is children’s ministry.
The pastor/coach has three primary responsibilities in providing effective leadership to a local church’s children’s ministry.
FIND THE RIGHT PERSON TO LEAD THE CHILDREN’S MINISTRY TEAM.
I’ve had two vastly different pastoral experiences. Immediately after graduating from Central Bible College, Ty Silva and I planted New Life Assembly in Athens, Ohio. God gave me the privilege of pastoring that church for 11 years. Our children’s ministry, thanks in large part to the leadership of my wife, Debbie, was very effective. She and I, though young and inexperienced in pastoral leadership, led an equally young and inexperienced group of new believers who were committed to ministering to children.
For the past 15 years I have pastored a church that has the financial resources to employ a full-time children’s pastor. I have been privileged to minister with some capable and committed children’s pastors.
The key to an effective, growing children’s ministry is the leader. Whether paid or volunteer, male or female, young or old, full or part-time, it doesn’t matter. The leader makes or breaks the ministry.
And just as the basketball coach needs to find the right person for each position on the court, so the pastor/coach must seek God’s wisdom to identify the person(s) to lead the children’s ministry. The ability of a pastor to build a ministry leadership team is as crucial as his or her ability to preach God’s Word. While great preaching will draw a crowd, it takes an effective discipling ministry to grow and maintain a solid, soul-winning church.
What kind of person should the pastor-coach look for to lead an exciting, spiritually alive children’s ministry?
Spiritual qualities
The children’s pastor should be a person:
who loves Jesus and is filled with the Holy Spirit.
whom God has called and anointed to minister to children.
who is submissive to spiritual authority.
who has a burning passion to see children saved and discipled.
with a Christlike servant’s heart–that is, a person who is not looking for a position of ministry but an opportunity to minister.
Personality and character traits
The children’s pastor should be a person:
who loves children and enjoys being with them.
whom children love and are drawn toward.
with integrity.
who has high energy and a contagious passion.
with a good sense of humor.
who has the capacity and desire to continue to grow.
who can effectively communicate with children and adults.
who is creative.
Leadership skills2
The children’s pastor should be a person with the ability to:
connect with and encourage people.
understand and motivate people.
gather and recruit people.
equip and empower people.
develop and multiply people.
While all of the above qualities, traits, and skills are important, few people possess all of them. With the Spirit’s anointing, incredible things happen in our ministry, even when we are inadequate. The apostle Paul believed and taught: "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God" (2 Corinthians 3:4,5*).
You can have an effective children’s ministry if your children’s ministry leader(s) embodies the spiritual qualities and personality/character traits identified above. However, if you desire to have a cutting-edge, growing children’s ministry and one that effectively reaches and disciples a larger number of children, it is essential that you prayerfully seek someone who also possesses or can develop the five leadership skills listed above. Without these skills, an individual, no matter how Christlike and committed, can only minister to a limited number of children. But when a person with the spiritual qualities and the personality/character traits also has these leadership skills, there is no limit to how many children he or she can influence with the love of Jesus.
Finding the Right Person
Whether in a smaller church or a larger one, here are some practical things a pastor-coach can do to find the right person to lead the children’s ministry.
Pray that God will raise up someone in your congregation who already possesses the gifts and passion for children’s ministry.
Pray that God will help you disciple and mentor someone who has the potential gifts and passion for children’s ministry.
Pray that God will help you lead someone to Christ who eventually could minister to children. (Several of our most effective children’s ministry leaders have been individuals whom we led to Christ and discipled.)
Share your heart with your deacons and other ministry leaders in your church. Ask them to pray with you.
Ask a neighboring pastor to assist you in identifying and developing leaders in your church. Others are willing to help if we are not too proud to ask.
Ask help from your district office. Your district leadership will consult with you about your situation. They love you and want to help.
Call the student ministries office at one or more of our colleges. They will provide names of graduating seniors or recent graduates who have a passion for children’s ministry.
Because leaders attract leaders, develop your own leadership gifts. As you do, you’ll find that young leaders will ask if you have a place for them.
HELP EQUIP THE CHILDRENS MINISTRY LEADER
While the children’s ministry leader (either paid or volunteer) has the responsibility to equip or "prepare God’s people for works of service" (Ephesians 4:12), the pastor/coach has the privilege of helping to equip the children’s ministry leader by:
Association
Spend time to develop a good relationship with the children’s ministry leader. The Gospels record that Jesus called His disciples to "be with him" (Mark 3:14). As He spent time with the Twelve, Jesus poured himself into them, equipping them to effectively do the work He would ask them to do.
All of us are busy. But if we want to be the kind of leader who is developing and multiplying people, we must spend time with those we are leading. If you will spend time with your children’s ministry leader and develop a solid personal relationship, your children’s ministry leader will begin to flourish.
Instruction
There are things your children’s ministry leader needs to know. Your instruction-investment will reap a big harvest. Coach Wooden was a great coach because he was a great instructor. He taught by example and word. A little bit of instruction each week, over time, will result in an excited, maturing team member.
Demonstration
While instruction is telling them what to do, demonstration is showing them how to do it. This is a powerful way to equip and train. For example, one of the best ways for the children’s ministry leader to improve his/her preaching is to watch you preach. Encourage your children’s ministry leader to closely observe you and other leaders so they can more readily learn. Jesus not only instructed His disciples concerning prayer, but He showed them how to pray. They learned by watching the Master.
Giving feedback
Positive and corrective feedback is essential in the training process. Your children’s ministry leaders need to know when they have done well and when they could improve. And while corrective feedback is absolutely critical for growth, positive feedback is even more important.
A word of caution: Some pastors have strong perfectionist tendencies; we expect a lot of ourselves and of others. While that quality is good, it can be a source of discouragement for leaders.
I have discouraged several young assistant pastors. In the past, my tendency has been to point out the areas in which improvement is needed rather than giving positive feedback for a job well done. I deeply regret having done that.
As I change and grow as a leader, I am learning the value of giving much more positive feedback than corrective feedback. Positive feedback is a great way to equip and train.
Provide Resources
Provide as many resources for your children’s ministry as your church can afford. Resources could include:
Budget. Whether it’s $500 or $50,000, provide finances for the children’s ministry. Money is needed for training materials, retreats for the children, puppets, appreciation dinners, and curriculum.
Seminars and conferences. An effective children’s ministry leader needs to master skills: administration, leadership, recruiting and training, dynamic preaching, puppets, storytelling, balloon animals, and illusions. It is money well invested when you provide opportunities and encourage your children’s ministry leader to attend local, regional, and national conferences. An alert and growing leader will benefit greatly from them.
Here are three practical notes about seminars and conferences:
If possible, provide the money to send your leader with his/her spouse.
Ask your leader to research the various seminars and conferences that are available and put together an appropriate budget. Then the two of you decide together which opportunities would be best for that individual.
Many districts conduct annual training conferences. Encourage your children’s ministry leader(s) to participate and support them.
You may ask, "Why invest all that money in training? They’ll become effective and some bigger church will hire them away from us." That may happen. But which do you prefer–a well-trained leader who is with you for a while, does a great job of evangelizing and discipling your children, then leaves for another place, or an untrained nonleader who stays with you forever? I’ll take the former every time.
Assist with recruiting volunteers for the children’s ministry. In nearly every church, the largest cadre of volunteers are those who minister to children. It takes several committed people to provide ministry through Sunday school, children’s church, Royal Rangers, Missionettes, Junior Bible Quiz, and well-staffed nurseries. You and your children’s ministry leader are teammates, so do all you can to help him or her succeed in building a strong children’s ministry team.
EMPOWER THE CHILDRENS MINISTRY LEADER
Turn your children’s ministry leader loose to do what God has called him or her to do. One of the most frustrating things for an assistant pastor or a lay volunteer ministry leader is having responsibility but no authority–being given a task but not the freedom to do it.
Some pastors are good at asking someone to do something, but not good in letting him or her do it. Let’s face it–they probably won’t do it like we would, or as well as we could (at least at first). But if we insist on monitoring their every move, we will stifle their enthusiasm, creativity, and desire to do what God has called them to do.
Here are a few practical things about empowering others to minister:
Establish boundaries.
Discuss with your children’s ministry leader what you expect. Let him/her know if there are some things he/she is not permitted to do.
Discuss lines of accountability.
To whom is the children’s ministry leader accountable? With whom will he/she meet on a regular basis to discuss the ministry?
Discuss compensation.
Is this a totally voluntary ministry position? Is there part-time pay? If your children’s ministry leader is full-time, how much will he/she be paid? Are there other benefits such as health insurance, vacation, mileage or ministry expense reimbursement? To avoid misunderstanding later about the compensation package, spell out the details of it in writing when you hire your children’s ministry leader.
Communicate.
When bringing in a new children’s ministry leader, be sure your church leadership, children’s workers, and congregation are made aware of his or her responsibilities and expectations. While specifics of compensation are certainly not to be shared with the congregation, it is important for them to know whether this person is full-time or part-time and what his or her individual responsibilities are. This communication benefits everyone.
From time to time, give your children’s ministry leader an opportunity to speak to the adults for a few minutes during the Sunday morning service, or let him or her preach on Sunday morning. When you allow your children’s ministry leader to share his or her heart with the adults, you are empowering that person and making effective children’s ministry more possible and probable.
Encourage and expect your children’s ministry leader to try new things, be creative, and make mistakes. You may have a burn mark on the new gym floor (as we do) when an illustration didn’t go exactly as intended. But that’s not the end of the world. Maturing disciples–not having a stain-free floor–is our goal.
As pastor-coaches, the members of our team may sometimes disappoint us. But let’s not forget the many times they have made us proud. If we will do our best to prayerfully and wisely select the best individuals to lead our children’s ministries teams; if we will do our best to equip our children’s ministry leaders to do the best possible job they can do; and if we will empower them by turning them loose, we will have many joyful experiences and positive memories.
John M. Palmer is senior pastor, First Assembly of God, Des Moines, Iowa.

The Coaching Approach to Care-Part II

2008-12-01T01:41:00.000-08:00

The Coaching Approach to Care
Rather than giving answers, try teaching skills.
by Chris Blumhofer

Question intentionally
"A great coaching question is one that fits the moment," says Hall. Such questions share certain characteristics: they are open-ended and exploratory, and they do not lead to a particular answer. For instance, "What would make this conversation most useful right now?"
"Even if you know where a person's issue is leading, you have to hold back," says Hall. Citing Marcus Buckingham, he explains: "With water, the most efficient route between two points isn't a straight line, but rather the path of least resistance. We may know everything about where this person is going, but we have to work with him to discover the path." Coaching disciples
Howard, who is transitioning from senior pastor to focus on coaching in his church, sees many applications for coaching in pastoral care. "In the pulpit, we are pressured to say something different every week," he says. "But coaching allows me to work with people for a season and develop their skills. It can help people discover what God has gifted them for and how they can embrace that calling. It's a wonderful tool."

The Coaching Approach to Care

2008-12-01T01:28:00.000-08:00

The Coaching Approach to Care
Rather than giving answers, try teaching skills.
by Chris Blumhofer

Bill Howard was on the brink of burnout. In the last ten years, the church he pastored had changed worship and leadership styles, ministry model, name, and location. The congregation was growing, but the decade of transitions and the accompanying conflicts had taken their toll.
When conflict erupted on his staff, Howard began questioning how his church conducted ministry. If the pastors of the church can't put its teaching into practice, he thought, we must be doing something wrong.
"I was burned out on the 'telling' model, which assumes, If we tell our hearers about Christ and give them answers, they will grow in maturity," Howard reflects. "I'd been giving answers for 18 years when I realized that discipleship requires pastors to teach not just answers, but also the process of arriving at them."
The "telling" model of ministry, centered on teaching and preaching, has a vital place in ministry. But it's not enough. "No one would raise children with only a 'telling' model," explains Howard. "When our kids reach a certain age, we stop dispensing answers and begin transferring skills."
To supplement his "telling" ministry and nurture maturity, Howard drew on skills from the field of coaching.
"Whereas counseling focuses on internal issues and on the past," says Chad Hall, former pastor, church planter, and author of Coaching for Christian Leaders, "coaching is about moving forward, taking steps into the future. It's for people who are fairly functional and don't necessarily require the healing that comes through therapy."
Fortunately, pastors already possess many traits necessary for successful coaching, including asking and listening. "Most pastors are pretty good in those areas," Hall explains. "They need only certain tweaks to tap into the resources of coaching."
But those tweaks are critical. They involve new assumptions and actions.Presume health
"When a person came to me and said, 'I need to talk,' I would assume, This is a healthy person who needs coaching," explains Hall. If it became clear, as he directed a parishioner toward action and spiritual growth, that the person was uncoachable, Hall would revert to counseling. "But if a relatively healthy person—someone who 'just feels stuck'—receives counseling when he needs coaching, it's like giving the wrong prescription."
The goal of coaching is not to diagnose pathology, but to facilitate discovery and action. "In counseling, you're listening to diagnose, and that makes you the smartest person in the room," says Hall. "But coaches serve as thought partners, listening in order to help the other person have 'aha' moments." Listen intentionally
For Bill Howard, the goal of coaching is to answer the question, Where would God have you be in one year, two years, five years? and to help a person develop a plan for getting there. This is done by listening for major themes in a person's understanding of her life and what she feels is missing.
Coaches do not listen in order to solve problems. Instead, they listen to mirror back thoughts and insights to the person being coached. Therein lies its effectiveness. People seldom act on insights provided by others—which was the discouraging reality that led Bill Howard into coaching. But when a person comes to that conclusion himself, he is more apt to embrace the implications.

Inspirational Leadership

2008-12-01T01:19:00.001-08:00

Inspirational Leadership
The Investors in People Standard looks for clear people management and development strategies, effective implementation and consistent evaluation which underpins improvement
In a competitive world – both commercially, and in terms of the labour market – organisations are searching for the magic ingredient which will turbocharge their people, making them more engaged and motivated, committed and flexible. For many, ‘inspirational leadership’ offers this promise.
Inspirational leadership is a key part of the skills, innovation and management mix needed of world-class organisations. The DTI’s Innovation Report set out the challenge: “UK companies will have to compete more in the future on unique, high value-added and innovative products and services. This will require inspirational leadership, stronger management and leadership skills, a highly skilled workforce, a flexible labour market that promotes diversity and fair treatment, and high performance workplaces.”
Profile explicitly challenges top managers to become role models for inspirational leadership, generating mutual trust through having a sense of purpose, being honest, showing passion and encouraging others to share their vision and follow their lead. Underlying this concept is a large and demanding raft of skills, attitudes, personal traits - and above all behaviours.
Inspirational leadership is explored throughout the Profile framework, from the communication of core values, through to the creation of a culture of feedback and learning. It looks for the characteristics of an entrepreneur – seizing opportunity and looking to the future. But modern leadership is not about being a lone autocrat, barking commands at the troops. Particularly in larger organisations, inspirational leaders need to encourage others to lead, develop a culture of sharing and teamwork, recognise the contribution people make, and use the tools of recruitment, development and reward creatively to motivate people and make the most of talent wherever it lies.

The Gospel and the Happiness Paradox-Part II

2008-12-01T01:11:00.000-08:00

The Gospel and the Happiness Paradox
Can eternal happiness be achieved by selfish pursuit?
John Ortberg

Discipleship or obedience is not something we have to cajole people into by obligation or gratitude ("after all, Jesus died for you; the least you can do is deny yourself happiness for a while on earth"), it is simply the process of learning to enter into the good, with-God life. The gospel becomes social as well as personal—not because individuals don't matter, but because to be "saved" means (among other things) to be delivered from the chronic selfishness that contributes to the world's hurt and to my misery.
We do have a ways to go on one great task regarding the gospel. And that is how to articulate a biblically sound, spiritually powerful gospel in a way that calls for great clarity of decision.
One reason the old "if you were to die tonight" gospel was so popular (and, I think, has been used by God to a large degree), is that at least it helps people be very clear that they've made a decision about something. ("I'm not going to earn my way anymore; I'm on the grace plan.") And that decision itself is often enough to start people on the road toward God.
In our day, I think, we are seeing more accurate ways of understanding the gospel. But we need clarion calls of directness to help people respond today.
When Jesus walked the earth, the call "Follow me" was easily understood. People would actually, physically, bodily, walk with Jesus. People knew if they were following.
When the church formed, the call to follow Jesus was easily understood. There was an alternative community that met daily, that radically transformed people's financial lives, social lives, time, learning, allegiances, and hope. People knew if they were following.
In our day, that experience has become so diluted and enculturated that people have a hard time knowing.
The availability of life, with God, in his favor and power, as a gift of grace we receive by repentance and trust, through the death and resurrection of Jesus—that's the gospel with power. What needs still to be done is to find ways to express this with great clarity and simplicity, ways to help ordinary people know for sure they have made the great decision, the great commitment of their lives.

The Gospel and the Happiness Paradox-Part I

2008-12-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

The Gospel and the Happiness Paradox
Can eternal happiness be achieved by selfish pursuit?
John Ortberg

What is the gospel? Folks in the most interesting places are asking that question these days. When I was growing up, in the 1890s, no one had to ask what the gospel was. We knew. It was the answer to the question: "If you were to die tonight, how do you know for sure you'd go to heaven?" The gospel was what got you saved. We knew what getting saved was, too. Getting saved was being placed in the heaven-bound category. And we knew what heaven was. Heaven was the pleasure factory where everybody wanted to go after death.
But now folks like N.T. Wright (from a New Testament historical perspective), and Dallas Willard (from a spiritual formation and discipleship perspective), and Shane Claiborne (from a community perspective), and Brian McLaren (from a general gadfly perspective), are calling us to rethink what the gospel really means. Recently someone asked me to comment on it. (Actually it was my wife. And she did so only because I asked her to ask me to comment on it so I'd have an excuse to write about it.) So here are a few thoughts.
I recently subscribed to an actual, academic, peer-review journal called Journal of Happiness Studies. "Positive psychology" is the big new trend in social science over the last decade, so all kinds of researchers have decided to explore the northern rather than southern hemisphere of human emotions.
One theme that keeps cropping up is the happiness paradox: "the more directly one aims to maximize pleasure and avoid pain, the more likely one is to produce a life bereft of depth, meaning, and community." One article listed eleven separate facets of the happiness paradox. Another explained the principle of indirection: happiness, by its nature, cannot be obtained by direct pursuit. You have to sneak up on it. Or rather, you have to let it sneak up on you while you're pursuing something more important.
It struck me that the traditional expression of the gospel I heard growing up fell into a similar trap. There was not much serious thought about the true nature of heaven. (If you've been avoiding God all your life, would you want to be in heaven? It appears that God will be very hard to avoid there.)
Maybe the "if you were to die tonight" version of the gospel falls victim to the happiness paradox. If "heaven" is understood as "ultimate happiness," then I can seek to obtain it while remaining trapped in my self-centeredness. If "heaven" is understood as the eternal pleasure factory, then obtaining it has no intrinsic relationship to transformation, therefore no intrinsic relationship to discipleship.
But if the gospel really is the announcement of the availability, through Jesus, of the "with-God life," then things begin to fall into place. Grace is not just the forgiveness of sin, it is the power to live the with-God life from one moment to the next. Heaven is not a pleasure factory that an angry God chooses to shut some people out of because they don't pass a theology test; it is a community of servanthood that can only be enjoyed by a certain kind of character.

New People Partnership

2008-12-01T01:04:00.000-08:00

Why New People Partnership?
New People Partnership is the full implementation of the new realities that exist between the corporation and its employees. While we talk about how fast the business environment has changed, probably no dimension is changing faster than the dynamics between employer and employee. In today's volatile times, companies can no longer guarantee lifetime job security. "Specialized skills are increasingly required by firms, yet these skills are what make employees more mobile in the marketplace." For instance, in the 40's people held on average 2 jobs during their entire lifetimes. But today, that number has risen to 14 and still growing.2 Thus, the New People Partnership that establishes a new quid pro quo.

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Harnessing the People Power
Today, people are your firm's most precious and underutilized resource. They are your firm's repository of knowledge and they are central to your company's competitive advantage. Well coached, and highly motivated people are critical to the development and execution of strategies, especially in today's faster-paced, more perplexing world, where top management alone can no longer assure your firm's competitiveness.
Establishing a New Environment
At all levels, your company needs people who can deliver at the frontier of performance. They must understand where your company is going and be able to influence this path. They must share in your company's fortunes and be motivated to push for greater achievements. "New People Partnership" will help you attract this vital resource.
Recognizing that lifetime employment is no longer feasible, this "partnership" involves a mutual commitment to establishing the environment for learning, self-leadership, and for ongoing employability. In essence, the New People Partnership is a fresh perspective that dictates that the company owns the work rather than the employee's career.
Key Principles
A successful people partnership is a coherent set of people systems and processes that reflect the business environment, the enterprise strategy, and organizational values. Each one will be unique to an organization and its employees, but there are some key principles that are common to all the companies that are exploring the New People Partnerships.

10 Ways to Distinguish between a Team and a Group

2008-12-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

"Teamwork is a make or break situation. Either you help make it or the lack of it will break you." – Kris A. Hiatt
The purpose of assembling a team is to accomplish bigger goals than any that would be possible for the individual working alone. The aim and purpose of a team is to perform, get results and achieve victory in the workplace and marketplace. The very best managers are those who can gather together a group of individuals and mould them into a team. Here are ten key differentials to help you mould your people into a pro-active and productive team.
Understandings. In a group, members think they are grouped together for administrative purposes only. Individuals sometimes cross purpose with others. In a team, members recognise their independence and understand both personal and team goals are best accomplished with mutual support. Time is not wasted struggling over "Turf" or attempting personal gain at the expense of others.
Ownership. In a group, members tend to focus on themselves because they are not sufficiently involved in planning the unit's objectives. They approach their job simply as a hired hand. "Castle Building" is common. In a team, members feel a sense of ownership for their jobs and unit, because they are committed to values-based common goals that they helped establish.

Creativity and Contribution. In a group, members are told what to do rather than being asked what the best approach would be. Suggestions and creativity are not encouraged. In a team, members contribute to the organisation's success by applying their unique talents, knowledge and creativity to team objectives.
Trust. In a group, members distrust the motives of colleagues because they do not understand the role of other members. Expressions of opinion or disagreement are considered divisive or non-supportive. In a team, members work in a climate of trust and are encouraged to openly express ideas, opinions, disagreements and feelings. Questions are welcomed.
Common Understandings. In a group, members are so cautious about what they say, that real understanding is not possible. Game playing may occur and communication traps be set to catch the unwary. In a team, members practice open and honest communication. They make an effort to understand each other's point of view.
Personal Development. In a group, members receive good training but are limited in applying it to the job by the manager or other group members. In a team, members are encouraged to continually develop skills and apply what they learn on the job. They perceive they have the support of the team.
Conflict Resolution. In a group, members find themselves in conflict situations they do not know how to resolve. Their supervisor/leader may put off intervention until serious damage is done, i.e. a crisis situation. In a team, members realise conflict is a normal aspect of human interaction but they view such situations as an opportunity for new ideas and creativity. They work to resolve conflict quickly and constructively.

Participative Decision Making. In a group, members may or may not participate in decisions affecting the team. Conformity often appears more important than positive results. Win/lose situations are common. In a team, members participate in decisions affecting the team but understand their leader must make a final ruling whenever the team cannot decide, or an emergency exists. Positive win/win results are the goal at all times.
Clear Leadership. In a group, members tend to work in an unstructured environment with undetermined standards of performance. Leaders do not walk the talk and tend to lead from behind a desk. In a team, members work in a structured environment, they know what boundaries exist and who has final authority. The leader sets agreed high standards of performance and he/she is respected via active, willing participation.
Commitment. In a group, members are uncommitted towards excellence and personal pride. Performance levels tend to be mediocre. Staff turnover is high because talented individuals quickly recognise that
(a) personal expectations are not being fulfilled
(b) they are not learning and growing from others and
(c) they are not working with the best people.
In a team, only those committed to excellence are hired. Prospective team members are queuing at the door to be recruited on the basis of their high levels of hard and soft skill sets. Everyone works together in a harmonious environment.

Why Inspirational Leadership?

2008-12-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

Why Inspirational Leadership?
Do you want to encourage extraordinary performance from your people? Do you want them to do great things?
If yes, then you must create an inspiring corporate culture that inspires, empowers and energizes them.
People do what they have to do for a manager, they do their best for an inspirational leader.
To inspire, you must both create resonance and move people with a compelling vision. You must embody what you ask of others, and be able to articulate a shared vision in a way that inspires others to act. You must offer a sense of common purpose beyond the day-to-day tasks, making work exciting, advises Steve Farber.
10 Roles of an Inspirational Leader

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Provide an inspiring vision and strategic alignment, launch a crusade
Help people connect their personal goals to business goals
Make relentless innovation a religion
Encourage entrepreneurial creativity and experimentation
Involve everyone, empower and trust employees
Coach and train your people to greatness
Build teams and promote and teamwork, leverage diversity
Motivate, inspire and energize people, recognize achievements
Encourage risk taking
Make business fun

Leadership Character Model

2008-11-30T23:20:00.000-08:00

Leadership Character Model
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Leadership Character ModelSM is a prescriptive leadership theory developed in 1995 by Robert Turknett and Carolyn Turknett of the Turknett Leadership Group. This model was described in their Decent People, Decent Company: How to Lead with Character in Work and in Life, published in 2005. The character necessary for leadership can be visualized as a scale, where integrity is the strong and solid base, and respect and responsibility are balanced on either side. People with integrity are honest, trustworthy and authentic. They are also respectful of others and have a strong sense of personal responsibility. Respect is developed by the component qualities of Empathy, Emotional Mastery, Lack of Blame and Humility. Responsibility is developed by the component qualities of Accountability, Courage, Self Confidence and Focus on the Whole.

Respect
People who demonstrate Respect show unconditional high regard for others, acknowledging their value as human beings, regardless of their behavior. The respect comes through in all situations, even during times of conflict or criticism. Demonstrating respect for others requires developing and refining the following core qualities:

Empathy
Treating everyone in the organization with empathy helps leaders earn trust. Leaders who are empathetic create strong bonds and are seen as less political. A person who demonstrates the core quality of empathy:
Can understand others’ points of view, including the views of those who are different
Shows genuine concern for others
Listens with understanding
Is respectful even when he or she has nothing to gain from the relationship

Lack of Blame
People who don't blame others are not defensive. They are able to reflect honestly on their own behavior and are willing to admit mistakes. When things go wrong, they don't spend time assigning blame; they spend time fixing the problem. A person who demonstrates the core quality of lack of blame:
Admits fault when appropriate
Does not look for a scapegoat in a crisis
Spends time fixing problems, not assigning them

Humility
Humility is a lack of pomposity and arrogance. It is the recognition that all people are fallible, that we are all combinations of strengths and weaknesses. People who demonstrate humility, as someone has said, "don't think less of themselves; they just think more of others." Arrogance derails more leaders than any other factor. A person with the core quality of humility:
Listens to others with an open mind
Doesn't brag or name drop
Clearly sees and admits their own limitations and failings
Is not afraid to be vulnerable

Emotional Mastery
People who have developed emotional mastery recognize that, as Epictetus said 2000 years ago, "It's not the facts and events that upset man, but the view he takes of them." For those in positions of formal power, the most important aspect of emotional mastery may be controlling anger. Outbursts of anger have no spot in the workplace, and can quickly destroy a sense of organizational equity and partnership. A person with the core quality of emotional mastery:
Says what he or she thinks, but never berates others
Stays calm even in crisis situations
Doesn't let anxiety interfere with public speaking or with other things that need to be done
Reflects before reacting and is able to consciously choose an appropriate response

Responsibility
Responsibility is the acceptance of full responsibility for personal success and for the success of the project, team and organization. Becoming responsible requires developing and refining the following core qualities:

Accountability
People who are truly accountable expand their view of organizational responsibility. At all levels, accountable people do what they can to get done what needs to get done, no matter where in the organization they have to go. They NEVER say, "It's not my job." They also hold themselves accountable for making relationships work - they don't say, "Well, I'll go halfway if they will." They take 100% responsibility for making any relationship work. A person with the core quality of accountability:
Takes the initiative to get things done
Is not afraid to hold others accountable
Is willing to cross departmental boundaries to help with a meaningful project
Takes personal responsibility for organizational success

Self-Confidence
People who are self-confident feel that they are the equal of others, even when those others are in positions of much greater formal power. People who are self-confident also recognize the value of building the self-confidence of others and won't be threatened by doing so. Self-confidence in everyone builds a sense of partnership and helps the organization get maximum effort and ideas from everyone. A person with the core quality of self-confidence:
Has a self assured bearing
Is flexible and willing to change
Easily gives others credit
Isn't afraid to tell the truth

Courage
People with courage are assertive and willing to take risks. They ask forgiveness rather than permission, and are willing to try even though they might fail. They are willing to risk conflict to have their ideas heard, balancing that with the respect that makes constructive conflict possible. A person with the core quality of courage:
Champions new or unpopular ideas
Talks to others, not about others, when there is a problem
Accepts feedback and really hears what others say
Takes the ball and runs with it, even when there are obstacles

Focus on the whole
People who focus on the whole think in terms of the good for the entire organization, not in terms of what's good for them, their team or their department. They can see interdependencies and can see beyond what is immediately observable. They have an understanding of and enthusiasm for the business and an understanding of their industry. For example, if working on a software project, they consider the implications of the whole project and commit to an outcome that works for the customer rather than focusing on just their piece of the project. A person who demonstrates the core quality of focusing on the whole:
Realizes that they represent their company to customers
Sees how the work in their area affects the entire project and the entire organization
Gathers information from all stakeholders when making decisions
Shares information throughout the company and understands the value of a knowledgeable workforce

Christian Leaders: Anne Hutchinson

2008-11-30T23:19:00.000-08:00

America's Christian Leaders: Anne Hutchinson
By Jay Rogers
In 1636, Anne Hutchinson, the wife of one of Boston’s leading citizens, was charged with heresy and banished from Massachusetts Colony. A woman of learning and great religious conviction, Hutchinson challenged the Puritan clergy and asserted her view of the “Covenant of Grace” – that moral conduct and piety should not be the primary qualifications for “visible sanctification.”
Her preachings were unjustly labeled “antinomianism” by the Puritans – a heresy – since the Christian leaders of that day held to a strong “Covenant of Works” teaching which dictated the need for outward signs of God’s grace. The question of “works versus grace” is a very old one; it goes on forever in a certain type of mind. Both are true doctrines, however, the “Covenant of Grace” is true in a higher sense.
Anne Hutchinson’s teaching can be summed up in a simple phrase which she taught the women who met in her home: “As I do understand it, laws, commands, rules and edicts are for those who have not the light which makes plain the pathway. He who has God’s grace in his heart cannot go astray.”
Actually, what Anne Hutchinson was preaching was not antithetical to what the Puritans believed at all. What began as quibbling over fine points of Christian doctrine ended as a confrontation over the role of authority in the colony. Threatened by meetings she held in her Boston home, the clergy charged Hutchinson with blasphemy. An outspoken female in a male hierarchy, Hutchinson had little hope that many would speak in her defense, and she was being tried by the General Court.
After being sentenced, she went with her family to what is now Rhode Island. Several years later she moved to New York where she and some of her family were massacred by Indians. One of her descendants, Thomas Hutchinson, later became governor of Massachusetts.
Anne Hutchinson pioneered the principles of civil liberty and religious freedom which were written into the Constitution of the United States. The spirit of Anne Hutchinson, the first woman preacher and fearless defender of freedom in New England, survived her persecution and death and it survives even until this day.

What Is Leadership?

2008-11-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

What is Leadership?
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task” [1]. A definition more inclusive of followers comes from Alan Keith of Genentech who said "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." [2]Students of leadership have produced theories involving traits [3],styles and behaviors, power, situational interaction, vision and values [4], charisma, and intelligence among others.

Theories of Leadership

Trait theory
Trait theory tries to describe the types of behavior and personality tendencies associated with effective leadership. According to Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991), "key leader traits include: drive (a broad term which includes achievement, motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity, and initiative): leadership motivation (the desire to lead but not to seek power as an end in itself): honesty and integrity: self-confidence (which is associated with emotional stability): cognitive ability: and knowledge of the business. There is less clear evidence for traits such as charisma, creativity and flexibility".[5]

Leadership Style
However one determines leadership behavior, one can categorize it into various leadership styles. Many ways of doing this exist. For example, the Managerial Grid Model, a behavioral leadership-model, suggests five different leadership styles, based on leaders' strength of concern for people and their concern for goal achievement.
Kurt Lewin, Ronald Lipitt, and R. K. White identified three leadership styles: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire, based on the amount of influence and power exercised by the leader.
Other leadership styles have been identified as discussed below.
The bureaucratic leader (Weber, 1905)[6] is very structured and follows the procedures as they have been established. This type of leadership has no space to explore new ways to solve problems and is usually slow paced to ensure adherence to the ladders stated by the company. Leaders ensure that all the steps have been followed prior to sending it to the next level of authority. Universities, hospitals, banks and government usually require this type of leader in their organizations to ensure quality, increase security and decrease corruption. Leaders who try to speed up the process will experience frustration and anxiety.
The charismatic leader(Weber, 1905)[6] leads by infusing energy and eagerness into their team members. This type of leader has to be committed to the organization for the long run. If the success of the division or project is attributed to the leader and not the team, charismatic leaders may become a risk for the company by deciding to resign for advanced opportunities. It takes the company time and hard work to gain the employees' confidence back with other type of leadership after they have committed themselves to the magnetism of a charismatic leader.
The autocratic leader (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939)[7] is given the power to make decisions alone, having total authority. This leadership style is good for employees that need close supervision to perform certain tasks.
The democratic leader (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939)[7] This style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process (determining what to do and how to do it). However, the leader maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style is not a sign of weakness, rather it is a sign of strength that your employees will respect.
This is normally used when you have part of the information, and your employees have other parts. Note that a leader is not expected to know everything -- this is why you employ knowledgeable and skillful employees. Using this style is of mutual benefit -- it allows them to become part of the team and allows you to make better decisions.
The laissez-faire ("let do") leader (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939)[7] In this style, the leader allows the employees to make the decisions. However, the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it. You cannot do everything! You must set priorities and delegate certain tasks. This is not a style to use so that you can blame others when things go wrong, rather this is a style to be used when you fully trust and confidence in the people below you. Do not be afraid to use it, however, use it wisely!
The people-oriented leader (Fiedler, 1967)[8] is the one who, in order to comply with effectiveness and efficiency, supports, trains and develops his personnel, increasing job satisfaction and genuine interest to do a good job.
The task-oriented leader (Fiedler, 1967)[8] focuses on the job, and concentrates on the specific tasks assigned to each employee to reach goal accomplishment. This leadership style suffers the same motivation issues as autocratic leadership, showing no involvement in the teams needs. It requires close supervision and control to achieve expected results. Another name for this is deal maker (Rowley & Roevens, 1999)[9] and is linked to a first phase in managing Change, enhance, according to the Organize with Chaos approach.
The servant leader (Greenleaf, 1977)[10] facilitates goal accomplishment by giving its team members what they need in order to be productive. This leader is an instrument employees use to reach the goal rather than a commanding voice that moves to change. This leadership style, in a manner similar to democratic leadership, tends to achieve the results in a slower time frame than other styles, although employee engagement is higher.
The transactional leader (Burns, 1978)[11] is given power to perform certain tasks and reward or punish for the team’s performance. It gives the opportunity to the manager to lead the group and the group agrees to follow his lead to accomplish a predetermined goal in exchange for something else. Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train subordinates when productivity is not up to the desired level and reward effectiveness when expected outcome is reached.
The transformational leader (Burns, 1978)[11] motivates its team to be effective and efficient. Communication is the base for goal achievement focusing the group on the final desired outcome or goal attainment. This leader is highly visible and uses chain of command to get the job done. Transformational leaders focus on the big picture, needing to be surrounded by people who take care of the details. The leader is always looking for ideas that move the organization to reach the company’s vision.
The environment leader ( Carmazzi, 2005)[12] is the one who nurtures group or organizational environment to affect the emotional and psychological perception of an individual’s place in that group or organization. An understanding and application of group psychology and dynamics is essential for this style to be effective. The leader uses organizational culture to inspire individuals and develop leaders at all levels. This leadership style relies on creating an education matrix where groups interactively learn the fundamental psychology of group dynamics and culture from each other. The leader uses this psychology, and complementary language, to influence direction through the members of the inspired group to do what is required for the benefit of all.

Leadership styles of "Outstanding Leaders"
In 1994 House and Podsakoff attempted to summarize the behaviors and approaches of "outstanding leaders" that they obtained from some more modern theories and research findings. These leadership behaviors and approaches do not constitute specific styles, but cumulatively they probably[citation needed] characterize the most effective style of leaders/managers of the time. The listed leadership "styles" cover:
Vision. Outstanding leaders articulate an ideological vision congruent with the deeply-held values of followers, a vision that describes a better future to which the followers have an alleged moral right.
Passion and self-sacrifice. Leaders display a passion for, and have a strong conviction of, what they regard as the moral correctness of their vision. They engage in outstanding or extraordinary behavior and make extraordinary self-sacrifices in the interest of their vision and mission.
Confidence, determination, and persistence. Outstanding leaders display a high degree of faith in themselves and in the attainment of the vision they articulate. Theoretically, such leaders need to have a very high degree of self-confidence and moral conviction because their mission usually challenges the status quo and, therefore, may offend those who have a stake in preserving the established order.
Image-building. House and Podsakoff regard outstanding leaders as self-conscious about their own image. They recognize the desirability of followers perceiving them as competent, credible, and trustworthy.
Role-modeling. Leader-image-building sets the stage for effective role-modeling because followers identify with the values of role models whom they perceived in positive terms.
External representation. Outstanding leaders act as spokespersons for their respective organizations and symbolically represent those organizations to external constituencies.
Expectations of and confidence in followers. Outstanding leaders communicate expectations of high performance from their followers and strong confidence in their followers’ ability to meet such expectations.
Selective motive-arousal. Outstanding leaders selectively arouse those motives of followers that the outstanding leaders see as of special relevance to the successful accomplishment of the vision and mission.
Frame alignment. To persuade followers to accept and implement change, outstanding leaders engage in "frame alignment". This refers to the linkage of individual and leader interpretive orientations such that some set of followers’ interests, values, and beliefs, as well as the leader’s activities, goals, and ideology, becomes congruent and complementary.
Inspirational communication. Outstanding leaders often, but not always, communicate their message in an inspirational manner using vivid stories, slogans, symbols, and ceremonies.
Even though these ten leadership behaviors and approaches do not really equate to specific styles, evidence has started to accumulate[citation needed] that a leader’s style can make a difference. Style becomes the key to the formulation and implementation of strategy[citation needed] and plays an important role in work-group members’ activity and in team citizenship. Little doubt exists that the way (style) in which leaders influence work-group members can make a difference in their own and their people’s performance[citation needed].
(Adopted from: Robert House and Philip M. Podsakoff, "Leadership Effectiveness: Past Perspectives and Future Directions for Research" in Greenberg, Jerald ed.),pp. 45-82 Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science, Hillsdale, NJ, England: Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1994. x, 312 pp. .)

Situational Leadership theory
Situational leadership theory offers an alternative approach. It proceeds from the assumption that different situations call for different characteristics. According to this group of theories, no single optimal psychographic profile of a leader exists. The situational leadership model of Hersey and Blanchard, for example, suggest four leadership-styles and four levels of follower-development. For effectiveness, the model posits that the leadership-style must match the appropriate level of followership-development. In this model, leadership behavior becomes a function not only of the characteristics of the leader, but of the characteristics of followers as well. Other situational leadership models introduce a variety of situational variables. These determinants include:
the nature of the task (structured or routine)
organizational policies, climate, and culture
the preferences of the leader's superiors
the expectations of peers
the reciprocal responses of followers
The contingency model of Vroom and Yetton uses other situational variables, including:
the nature of the problem
the requirements for accuracy
the acceptance of an initiative
time-constraints
cost constraints
The Fiedler contingency model bases the leader’s effectiveness on what Fred Fiedler called situational contingency. This results from the interaction of leadership style and situational favorableness (later called "situational control").

Leadership and emotions
Leadership can be perceived as a particularly emotion-laden process, with emotions entwined with the social influence process[13]. In an organization, the leaders’ mood has some effects on his group. These effects can be described in 3 levels[14]:
The mood of individual group members. Group members with leaders in a positive mood experience more positive mood than do group members with leaders in a negative mood.The leaders transmit their moods to other group members through the mechanism of mood contagion [14].Mood contagion may be one of the psychological mechanisms by which charismatic leaders influence followers[15].
The affective tone of the group. Group affective tone represents the consistent or homogeneous affective reactions within a group. Group affective tone is an aggregate of the moods of the individual members of the group and refers to mood at the group level of analysis. Groups with leaders in a positive mood have a more positive affective tone than do groups with leaders in a negative mood [14].
Group processes like coordination, effort expenditure, and task strategy.Public expressions of mood impact how group members think and act. When people experience and express mood, they send signals to others. Leaders signal their goals, intentions, and attitudes through their expressions of moods. For example, expressions of positive moods by leaders signal that leaders deem progress toward goals to be good.The group members respond to those signals cognitively and behaviorally in ways that are reflected in the group processes [14].
In research about client service it was found that expressions of positive mood by the leader improve the performance of the group, although in other sectors there were another findings[16].
Beyond the leader’s mood, his behavior is a source for employee positive and negative emotions at work. The leader creates situations and events that lead to emotional response. Certain leader behaviors displayed during interactions with their employees are the sources of these affective events. Leaders shape workplace affective events. Examples –feedback giving, allocating tasks, resource distribution. Since employee behavior and productivity are directly affected by their emotional states, it is imperative to consider employee emotional responses to organizational leaders[17]. Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage moods and emotions in the self and others, contributes to effective leadership in organizations[16].

Leadership and vision
Many definitions of leadership involve an element of Goal managementvision — except in cases of involuntary leadership and often in cases of traditional leadership. A vision provides direction to the influence process. A leader or group of leaders can have one or more visions of the future to aid them to move a group successfully towards this goal. A vision, for effectiveness, should allegedly:
appear as a simple, yet vibrant, image in the mind of the leader
describe a future state, credible and preferable to the present state
act as a bridge between the current state and a future optimum state
appear desirable enough to energize followers
succeed in speaking to followers at an emotional or spiritual level (logical appeals by themselves seldom muster a following)[citation needed]
For leadership to occur, according to this theory, some people "leaders" must communicate the vision to others "followers" in such a way that the followers adopt the vision as their own. Leaders must not just see the vision themselves, they must have the ability to get others to see it also. Numerous techniques aid in this process, including: narratives, metaphors, symbolic actions, leading by example,incentives, and penaltypenalties.[citation needed]
Stacey (1992) has suggested that the emphasis on vision puts an unrealistic burden on the leader. Such emphasis appears to perpetuate the myth that an organization must depend on a single, uncommonly talented individual to decide what to do. Stacey claims that this fosters a culture of dependency and conformity in which followers take no pro-active incentives and do not think independently.[citation needed]
Kanungo's charismatic leadership model describes the role of the vision in three stages that are continuously ongoing, overlapping one another. Assessing the status quo, formulation and articulation of the vision, and implementation of the vision.[citation needed]

Evaluating "effective leadership"
James MacGregor Burns introduced a normative element: an effective Burnsian leader will unite followers in a shared vision that will improve an organization and society at large. Burns calls leadership that delivers "true" value, integrity, and trust transformational leadership. He distinguishes such leadership from "mere" transactional leadership that builds power by doing whatever will get more followers. [1] But problems arise in quantifying the transformational quality of leadership - evaluation of that quality seems more difficult to quantify than merely counting the followers that the straw man of transactional leadership James MacGregor Burns has set as a primary standard for effectiveness. Thus transformational leadership requires an evaluation of quality, independent of the market demand that exhibits in the number of followers.
Assessments, as of 2006[update], of transformational and transactional leadership commonly make use of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), developed by Bass and Avolio in 1990 and revised in 1995. It measures five dimensions of transformational leadership:
idealized influence - attributions
idealized influence - behaviors
inspirational motivation
individualized consideration
intellectual stimulation
The three dimensions of transactional leadership measured by the MLQ[citation needed] cover:
contingent reward
management by exception (active)
management by exception (passive)
The functional leadership model conceives leadership as a set of behaviors that helps a group perform a task, reach their goal, or perform their function. In this model, effective leaders encourage functional behaviors and discourage dysfunctional ones.
In the path-goal model of leadership, developed jointly by Martin Evans and Robert House and based on the "Expectancy Theory of Motivation", a leader has the function of clearing the path toward the goal(s) of the group, by meeting the needs of subordinates.

Contexts of Leadership

Leadership in Organizations
An organization that is established as an instrument or means for achieving defined objectives has been referred to as a formal organization. Its design specifies how goals are subdivided and reflected in subdivisions of the organization. Divisions, departments, sections, positions, jobs, and tasks make up this work structure. Thus, the formal organization is expected to behave impersonally in regard to relationships with clients or with its members. According to Weber's definition, entry and subsequent advancement is by merit or seniority. Each employee receives a salary and enjoys a degree of tenure that safeguards him from the arbitrary influence of superiors or of powerful clients. The higher his position in the hierarchy, the greater his presumed expertise in adjudicating problems that may arise in the course of the work carried out at lower levels of the organization. It is this bureaucratic structure that forms the basis for the appointment of heads or chiefs of administrative subdivisions in the organization and endows them with the authority attached to their position. [18]
In contrast to the appointed head or chief of an administrative unit, a leader emerges within the context of the informal organization that underlies the formal structure. The informal organization expresses the personal objectives and goals of the individual membership. Their objectives and goals may or may not coincide with those of the formal organization. The informal organization represents an extension of the social structures that generally characterize human life — the spontaneous emergence of groups and organizations as ends in themselves.
In prehistoric times, man was preoccupied with his personal security, maintenance, protection, and survival. Now man spends a major portion of his waking hours working for organizations. His need to identify with a community that provides security, protection, maintenance, and a feeling of belonging continues unchanged from prehistoric times. This need is met by the informal organization and its emergent, or unofficial, leaders.[19]
Leaders emerge from within the structure of the informal organization. Their personal qualities, the demands of the situation, or a combination of these and other factors attract followers who accept their leadership within one or several overlay structures. Instead of the authority of position held by an appointed head or chief, the emergent leader wields influence or power. Influence is the ability of a person to gain co-operation from others by means of persuasion or control over rewards. Power is a stronger form of influence because it reflects a person's ability to enforce action through the control of a means of punishment.[19]
A leader is anyone who influences a group toward obtaining a particular result. It is not dependant on title or formal authority. (elevos, paraphrased from Leaders, Bennis, and Leadership Presence, Halpern & Lubar). An individual who is appointed to a managerial position has the right to command and enforce obedience by virtue of the authority of his position. However, he must possess adequate personal attributes to match his authority, because authority is only potentially available to him. In the absence of sufficient personal competence, a manager may be confronted by an emergent leader who can challenge his role in the organization and reduce it to that of a figurehead. However, only authority of position has the backing of formal sanctions. It follows that whoever wields personal influence and power can legitimize this only by gaining a formal position in the hierarchy, with commensurate authority.[19] Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Every organization needs leaders at every level.[20]

Leadership in Politics

Representative democracy
In representative democracies the people retain sovereignty (popular sovereignty) but delegate day-to-day administration and leadership to elected officials. In the United States, for example, the Constitution provides an example of recycling authority. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the American Founders rejected the idea of a monarch, but they still proposed leadership by people in positions of authority, with the authority split into three powers: in this case the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. Under the American theory, the authority of the leadership derives from the power of the voters as conveyed through the electoral college. Many individuals share authority, including the many legislators in the Senate and the House of Representatives. [2]

[edit] Leadership among primates
Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, in Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence present evidence that only humans and chimpanzees, among all the animals living on earth, share a similar tendency for a cluster of behaviors: violence, territoriality, and competition for uniting behind the one chief male of the land. [3] This position is contentious. Many animals beyond apes are territorial, compete, exhibit violence, and have a social structure controlled by a dominant male (lions, wolves, etc.), suggesting Wrangham and Peterson's evidence is not empirical. However, we must examine other species as well, including elephants (which are undoubtedly matriarchal and follow an alpha female), meerkats (who are likewise matriarchal), and many others.
It would be beneficial, to examine that most accounts of leadership over the past few millennia (since the creation of Christian religions) are through the perspective of a patriarchal society, founded on Christian literature. If one looks before these times, it is noticed that Pagan and Earth-based tribes in fact had female leaders. It is important also to note that the peculiarities of one tribe cannot necessarily be ascribed to another, as even our modern-day customs differ. The current day patrilineal custom is only a recent invention in human history and our original method of familial practices were matrilineal (Dr. Christopher Shelley and Bianca Rus, UBC). The fundamental assumption that has been built into 90% of the world's countries is that patriarchy is the 'natural' biological predisposition of homo sapiens. Unfortunately, this belief has led to the widespread oppression of women in all of those countries, but in varying degrees. (Whole Earth Review, Winter, 1995 by Thomas Laird, Michael Victor). The Iroquoian First Nations tribes are an example of a matrilineal tribe, along with Mayan tribes, and also the society of Meghalaya, India. (Laird and Victor, 1995).
By comparison, bonobos, the second-closest species-relatives of man, do not unite behind the chief male of the land. The bonobos show deference to an alpha or top-ranking female that, with the support of her coalition of other females, can prove as strong as the strongest male in the land. Thus, if leadership amounts to getting the greatest number of followers, then among the bonobos, a female almost always exerts the strongest and most effective leadership. However, not all scientists agree on the allegedly "peaceful" nature of the bonobo or its reputation as a "hippie chimp".[4]

Leadership and Management
Some commentators link leadership closely with the idea of management. Some regard the two as synonymous, and others consider management a subset of leadership. If one accepts this premise, one can view leadership as:
centralized or decentralized
broad or focused
decision-oriented or morale-centred
intrinsic or derived from some authority
Any of the bipolar labels traditionally ascribed to management style could also apply to leadership style. Hersey and Blanchard use this approach: they claim that management merely consists of leadership applied to business situations; or in other words: management forms a sub-set of the broader process of leadership. They put it this way: "Leadership occurs any time one attempts to influence the behavior of an individual or group, regardless of the reason.Management is a kind of leadership in which the achievement of organizational goals is paramount."
However, a clear distinction between management and leadership may nevertheless prove useful. This would allow for a reciprocal relationship between leadership and management, implying that an effective manager should possess leadership skills, and an effective leader should demonstrate management skills. One clear distinction could provide the following definition:
Management involves power by position.
Leadership involves power by influence.
Abraham Zaleznik (1977),for example, delineated differences between leadership and management. He saw leaders as inspiring visionaries, concerned about substance; while managers he views as planners who have concerns with process.Warren Bennis (1989) further explicated a dichotomy between managers and leaders. He drew twelve distinctions between the two groups:
Managers administer, leaders innovate
Managers ask how and when, leaders ask what and why
Managers focus on systems, leaders focus on people
Managers do things right, leaders do the right things
Managers maintain, leaders develop
Managers rely on control, leaders inspire trust
Managers have a short-term perspective, leaders have a longer-term perspective
Managers accept the status-quo, leaders challenge the status-quo
Managers have an eye on the bottom line, leaders have an eye on the horizon
Managers imitate, leaders originate
Managers emulate the classic good soldier, leaders are their own person
Managers copy, leaders show originality
Paul Birch (1999) also sees a distinction between leadership and management. He observed that, as a broad generalization, managers concerned themselves with tasks while leaders concerned themselves with people. Birch does not suggest that leaders do not focus on "the task." Indeed, the things that characterise a great leader include the fact that they achieve. Effective leaders create and sustain competitive advantage through the attainment of cost leadership, revenue leadership, time leadership, and market value leadership. Managers typically follow and realize a leader's vision. The difference lies in the leader realising that the achievement of the task comes about through the goodwill and support of others (influence), while the manager may not.
This goodwill and support originates in the leader seeing people as people, not as another resource for deployment in support of "the task". The manager often has the role of organizing resources to get something done. People form one of these resources, and many of the worst managers treat people as just another interchangeable item. A leader has the role of causing others to follow a path he/she has laid out or a vision he/she has articulated in order to achieve a task. Often, people see the task as subordinate to the vision. For instance, an organization might have the overall task of generating profit, but a good leader may see profit as a by-product that flows from whatever aspect of their vision differentiates their company from the competition.
Leadership does not only manifest itself as purely a business phenomenon. Many people can think of an inspiring leader they have encountered who has nothing whatever to do with business: a politician, an officer in the armed forces, a Scout or Guide leader, a teacher, etc. Similarly, management does not occur only as a purely business phenomenon. Again, we can think of examples of people that we have met who fill the management niche in non-business organisationsNon-business organizations should find it easier to articulate a non-money-driven inspiring vision that will support true leadership. However, often this does not occur.
Differences in the mix of leadership and management can define various management styles. Some management styles tend to de-emphasize leadership. Included in this group one could include participatory management, democratic management, and collaborative management styles. Other management styles, such as authoritarian management, micro-management, and top-down management, depend more on a leader to provide direction. Note, however, that just because an organisation has no single leader giving it direction, does not mean it necessarily has weak leadership. In many cases group leadership (multiple leaders) can prove effective. Having a single leader (as in dictatorship) allows for quick and decisive decision-making when needed as well as when not needed. Group decision-making sometimes earns the derisive label "committee-itis" because of the longer times required to make decisions, but group leadership can bring more expertise, experience, and perspectives through a democratic process.
Patricia Pitcher (1994) has challenged the bifurcation into leaders and managers. She used a factor analysis (in marketing)factor analysis technique on data collected over 8 years, and concluded that three types of leaders exist, each with very different psychological profiles:'Artists' imaginative, inspiring, visionary, entrepreneurial, intuitive, daring, and emotional Craftsmen: well-balanced, steady, reasonable, sensible, predictable, and trustworthy Technocrats: cerebral, detail-oriented, fastidious, uncompromising, and hard-headed She speculates that no one profile offers a preferred leadership style. She claims that if we want to build, we should find an "artist leader" if we want to solidify our position, we should find a "craftsman leader" and if we have an ugly job that needs to get done like downsizing.we should find a "technocratic leader".Pitcher also observed that a balanced leader exhibiting all three sets of traits occurs extremely rarely: she found none in her study.
Bruce Lynn postulates a differentiation between 'Leadership' and ‘Management’ based on perspectives to risk. Specifically,"A Leader optimises upside opportunity; a Manager minimises downside risk." He argues that successful executives need to apply both disciplines in a balance appropriate to the enterprise and its context. Leadership without Management yields steps forward, but as many if not more steps backwards. Management without Leadership avoids any step backwards, but doesn’t move forward.

Leadership by a group
In contrast to individual leadership, some organizations have adopted group leadership. In this situation, more than one person provides direction to the group as a whole. Some organizations have taken this approach in hopes of increasing creativity, reducing costs, or downsizing. Others may see the traditional leadership of a boss as costing too much in team performance. In some situations, the maintenance of the boss becomes too expensive - either by draining the resources of the group as a whole, or by impeding the creativity within the team, even unintentionally.[citation needed]
A common example of group leadership involves cross-functional teams. A team of people with diverse skills and from all parts of an organization assembles to lead a project. A team structure can involve sharing power equally on all issues, but more commonly uses rotating leadership. The team member(s) best able to handle any given phase of the project become(s) the temporary leader(s). According to Ogbonnia (2007), "effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals". Ogbonnia defines an effective leader "as an individual with the capacity to consistently succeed in a given condition and be recognized as meeting the expectations of an organization or society."

Historical views on leadership
Sanskrit literature identifies ten types of leaders. Defining characteristics of the ten types of leaders are explained with examples from history and mythology.[21]
Aristocratic thinkers have postulated that leadership depends on one's blue blood or genes: monarchy takes an extreme view of the same idea, and may prop up its assertions against the claims of mere aristocrats by invoking divine sanction: see the divine right of kings. Contrariwise, more democratically-inclined theorists have pointed to examples of meritocratic leaders, such as the Napoleonic marshals profiting from careers open to talent.
In the autocratic/paternalistic strain of thought, traditionalists recall the role of leadership of the Roman pater familias. Feminist thinking, on the other hand, may damn such models as patriarchal and posit against them emotionally-attuned, responsive, and consensual empathetic guidance and matriarchies.
Comparable to the Roman tradition, the views of Confucianism on "right living" relate very much to the ideal of the (male) scholar-leader and his benevolent rule, buttressed by a tradition of filial piety.
Within the context of Islam, views on the nature, scope and inheritance of leadership have played a major role in shaping sects and their history. See caliphate.
In the 19th century, the elaboration of anarchist thought called the whole concept of leadership into question. (Note that the Oxford English Dictionary traces the word "leadership" in English only as far back as the 19th century.) One response to this denial of élitism came with Leninism, which demanded an élite group of disciplined cadres to act as the vanguard of a socialist revolution, bringing into existence the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Other historical views of leadership have addressed the seeming contrasts between secular and religious leadership. The doctrines of Caesaro-papism have recurred and had their detractors over several centuries. Christian thinking on leadership has often emphasized stewardship of divinely-provided resources - human and material - and their deployment in accordance with a Divine plan. Compare servant leadership.
For a more general take on leadership in politics, compare the concept of the statesman.
The great traits that a leader must have, have been debated over time, and most people agree that these are the five key traits. You must have a vision. We've all heard the saying "You must stand for something, or you'll fall for everything." But what does that really mean? Standing firm when it comes to your company's policies and procedures is all well and good, but it doesn't speak to having a vision. As a leader, you have to learn to communicate your vision or the vision of your company to the people you want to follow you. You must have passion, you have to show your team that you want to accomplish the goal as badly as they do, your passion will drive them. You must learn to be a great decision maker. Sometimes, leaders must face times of pressure where they are forced to make quick decisions, a great leader must have this skill. You must be a team builder. To become a great leader, you must first make your team great, you must have the power to give your team responsibilities, and trust them too, you must slowly make them greater and greater. You must have character. Without character, all the other "keys" are for naught. That's because your innate character strengths and limitations play a critical role in your leadership style. The real question is, are you aware of just what role they play? All great leaders have taken steps to learn about their individual personality and what part it plays in their leadership style.

Leadership cycles
If a group or an organization wants or expects identifiable leadership, it will require processes for appointing/acquiring and replacing leaders.[citation needed]
Traditional closed groups rely on bloodlines or seniority to select leaders and/or leadership candidates: monarchies, tribal chiefdoms, oligarchies and aristocratic societies rely on (and often define their institutions by) such methods.[citation needed]
Competence or perceived competence provides a possible basis for selecting leadership elites from a broader pool of potential talent. Political lobbying may prove necessary in electoral systems, but immediately demonstrated skill and character may secure leadership in smaller groups such as gangs.[citation needed]
Many organizations and groups aim to identify, grow, foster and promote what they see as leadership potential or ability - especially among younger members of society. See for example the Scouting movement. For a specific environment, see leadership development.[citation needed]
The issues of succession planning or of legitimation become important at times when leadership (particularly individual leadership) might or must change due to term-expiry, accident or senescence.[citation needed]

Titles emphasizing authority
At certain stages in their development, the hierarchies of social ranks implied different degrees or ranks of leadership in society. Thus a knight led fewer men in general than did a duke; a baronet might in theory control less land than an earl. See peerage for a systematization of this hierarchy, and order of precedence for links to various systems.
In the course of the 18th and 20th centuries, several political operators took non-traditional paths to become dominant in their societies. They or their systems often expressed a belief in strong individual leadership, but existing titles and labels ("King", "Emperor", "President" and so on) often seemed inappropriate, insufficient or downright inaccurate in some circumstances. The formal or informal titles or descriptions they or their flunkies employe express and foster a general veneration for leadership of the inspired and autocratic variety. The definite article when used as part of the title (in languages which use definite articles) emphasizes the existence of a sole "true" leader.

Suggested qualities of leadership
Studies of leadership have suggested qualities that people often associate with leadership. They include:
Technical/specific skill at some task at hand
Charismatic inspiration - attractiveness to others and the ability to leverage this esteem to motivate others
Preoccupation with a role - a dedication that consumes much of leaders' life - service to a cause
A clear sense of purpose (or mission) - clear goals - focus - commitment
Results-orientation - directing every action towards a mission - prioritizing activities to spend time where results most occur
Cooperation - work well with others
Optimism - very few pessimists become leaders
Rejection of determinism - belief in one's ability to "make a difference"
Ability to encourage and nurture those that report to them - delegate in such a way as people will grow
Role models - leaders may adopt a persona that encapsulates their mission and lead by example
Self-knowledge (in non-bureaucratic structures)
Self-awareness - the ability to "lead" (as it were) one's own self prior to leading other selves similarly
Awareness of environment - the ability to understand the environment they lead in and how they affect and are affected by it
With regards to people and to projects, the ability to choose winners - recognizing that, unlike with skills, one cannot (in general) teach attitude. Note that "picking winners" ("choosing winners") carries implications of gamblers' luck as well as of the capacity to take risks, but "true" leaders, like gamblers but unlike "false" leaders, base their decisions on realistic insight (and usually on many other factors partially derived from "real" wisdom).
Empathy - Understanding what others say, rather than listening to how they say things - this could partly sum this quality up as "walking in someone else's shoes" (to use a common cliché).
Integrity - the integration of outward actions and inner values.
Sense of Humour - people work better when they're happy.
In 2008 Burman and Evans[22] published a 'charter' for leaders:
Leading by example in accordance with the company’s core values.
Building the trust and confidence of the people with which they work.
Continually seeking improvement in their methods and effectiveness.
Keeping people informed.
Being accountable for their actions and holding others accountable for theirs.
Involving people, seeking their views, listening actively to what they have to say and representing these views honestly.
Being clear on what is expected, and providing feedback on progress.
Showing tolerance of people’s differences and dealing with their issues fairly.
Acknowledging and recognizing people for their contributions and performance.
Weighing alternatives, considering both short and long-term effects and then being resolute in the decisions they make.
The approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. Although trait theory has an intuitive appeal, difficulties may arise in proving its tenets, and opponents frequently challenge this approach. The "strongest" versions of trait theory see these "leadership characteristics" as innate, and accordingly labels some people as "born leaders" due to their psychological makeup. On this reading of the theory, leadership development involves identifying and measuring leadership qualities, screening potential leaders from non-leaders, then training those with potential.
David McClelland saw leadership skills, not so much as a set of traits, but as a pattern of motives. He claimed that successful leaders will tend to have a high need for power, a low need for affiliation, and a high level of what he called activity inhibition (one might call it self-control).

Criticism of the concept of leadership
Noam Chomsky has criticized the concept of leadership as involving people subordinating their needs to that of someone else. While the conventional view of leadership is rather satisfying to people who "want to be told what to do", one should question why they are being subjected to acts that may not be rational or even desirable. Rationality is the key element missing when "leaders" say "believe me" and "have faith". It is fairly easy to have people simplistically follow you as their "leader", if no attention is paid to rationality

Church Politics Parts II

2008-11-30T21:45:00.000-08:00

Church Politics Part 2by Dan ReilandThe Pastor's Coach
Bob wanted pews in the new sanctuary, and the pastor, board, staff and building committee wanted chairs. Easy right? Wrong. Bob was a founding member, influential and rich. The pastor met with him on several occasions pleading his case in favor of chairs in the new sanctuary. If you are wondering “What about Bob” is causing all the fuss, he threatened to pull his huge commitment to the building fund if they didn't put pews in the new church. Before you say this is an easy one, the pastor should buck up and tell Bob to take a hike, you know it's never that easy. Under the intense financial pressure of a new building, the leaders needed and wanted Bob's check.
Bob had dozens of people convinced that this was a critical issue and central to the future success of the church. The church was about fifty years old and always had pews. People had come to Christ in pews, hundreds of them. God cared about pews. Pews represented unity and chairs individualism. Don't laugh, if I came to your church I'll bet I could find a sacred cow or two! Before long, Bob had made it a theological issue of passionate proportion. And it didn't matter that pews were more expensive than chairs, and sat less people.
This caused a division in the church. Soon, as is often the case, the issue wasn't the issue. The case of pews vs. chairs began to fade for church politics and who was whose friend. This sounded like, “I don't really care about pews and chairs, but I'm Bob's friend, so I guess I want pews.” Bob's grandson was the youth pastor at the church. And there you have church politics in full bloom. This is not the subtle variety, but nonetheless common. Most political issues start slow, quiet and subtle, and then turn into a “crazy” story like this one. (The story slightly modified to protect the church, and the person's name is not Bob.)
The next several paragraphs comprise a summary review of the central thoughts of Part I of this article on Church Politics. I enthusiastically encourage you to read Part 1 in its entirety if you haven't. (See previous issues for Part 1.)
Church politics has taken on its own contemporary definition, pertaining specifically to the local church. We instinctively know what we're talking about when someone says “church politics.”
Politics is agenda driven. Somebody wants something. The major complication is that the issues at the core (personal and selfish desires), get communicated as if they are the cause of Christ. This is not new. Holy Wars have been fought with the same dynamics in play. This is further complicated because it's rarely malice that drives the personal agenda. It's more often good people who really believe that what they are doing (what they want) is right. The problem is that good people who are attempting to do good things lose sight of the big picture and begin to justify their part of the mission as The Mission.
So, what can you do?
If politics is a problem and clean-up is needed:
Refuse to engage with petty people and petty matters on a petty level. Good people who have lost perspective, or who are hurting can create political situations that require leadership. Left untended they can transition to situations of malice. This requires a very different approach.
Hit the big issues head on. But don't be political about politics. Jesus said: “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16), but He never meant for you to fight people's personal agenda's to defend, or in protection of, your own personal agenda.
That's the end of a very brief summary, let's press jump back into Part 2.
If things are good, but you want to be proactive:
Never allow yourself to be put up for sale.
Don't let anyone put a price tag on your leadership no matter how much pressure you are under. Every leader has at least one significant decision to make, usually early on, whether or not to receive a check and thereby sell his or her time and influence. Don't miss-read this. I'm not referring to a back-room type of unethical deal. I'm talking about a subjective situation in which anyone might have difficulty making the decision. Far too many good men and women, on a mission for God, have fallen prey to the need to finance their dream.
In the opening story, the pastor did take “Bob's” check. Ultimately it cost him his job. Too much influence slid into the wrong people's hands and he lost leadership of the church. The story is a sad one, but it doesn't have to be for you. Just say “Thanks, but keep the check.”
Develop a culture where character matters.
Kevin Myers, the senior pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Lawrenceville, GA (a suburb of Atlanta) where I serve, has done an outstanding job keeping the church virtually free from politics. I do my best to carry on what he has established as I lead the staff.
I believe the central thing that Kevin did over the years to make this a reality is insist on a culture of no pretense and character that is above reproach. It's not a culture of perfection. Trust me, we're a team where I think sarcasm is a spiritual gift! Seriously, we well recognize all our flaws and laugh a lot because we don't take ourselves too seriously. But because we take God seriously, character matters.
One example is Chris Morgan our worship leader. Chris is the bomb. He's a killer guitar player, can sing like James Taylor, and will take you out on a basketball court. But here's where it gets really good. When it comes to musicians and singers Chris will never allow competence to override character. Chris always says no to that check, no matter how big it is. Further, he works with his team to keep ego in check, hearts set on God, and worship as the genuine objective. He will confront pride and coach for Godliness. All the while he and his team have a blast. If you sneak in to a rehearsal just a little early while they are warming up, you might hear them busting out with a hot rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama.” .
Refuse to engage in or allow gossip.
Church leaders can get caught up in gossip. I believe that leaders do need to talk about people, yes, on occasion, even when they are not in the room. But only for the purpose of developing their spiritual life or overall welfare. Never for the purpose of tearing them down or the blunt end of a hurtful joke. And more often than not, the person becomes aware of the conversation.
The difficulty in this process is that its easy for noble purposes to descend into purposeless or even hurtful gossip. Negative things get said about people and then they get repeated. No harm was meant, but it was said. It takes so much time and effort to repair the relationship and trust still remains at risk. When trust is at risk, politics is on the other side of the door.
Keep it real. Stay positive. Speak well of everyone. And when you must have the tough conversations about someone, make it solely for the purpose of their best interest.
Practice generosity.
Let me close with a simple thought. Generosity is the opposite of politics. I know that if you consult Webster's Dictionary, you won't find them to be natural opposites. But consider that if political people in political environments are about getting something they want, then the act of generosity and giving yourself away will do much to deflate the air out of political tires. Could they take advantage of you? Yes. But do it anyway. Jesus would and I believe it will come back around for God's favor in the end.
Church politics is likely here to stay, but you have the opportunity to reduce it substantially in your church, if not nearly eliminate it. Whether you need to hit it head on or you will proactively keep politics to a minimum, my prayer for you is that God would help you in this process so you can invest your time in the things that really matter.
Be blessed and thanks for all you do!!

Church Politics Part 1

2008-11-30T21:38:00.000-08:00

Church Politics Part 1by Dan ReilandThe Pastor's Coach
What do Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr have in common? In addition to being wives of King Henry VIII, they were all part of church politics on steroids.
We could drop in on church history at any point and find political issues. In the case of King Henry (1491-1547), church politics were out of control at best. Henry wed his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, through an arranged marriage to help secure strong political relations with King Ferdinand II and Spain – forming a strategic alliance against France. King Henry became impatient with Catherine's inability to bear him a son, and things got worse when he became attracted to a young courtier in the Queen's entourage, Anne Boleyn. He sought the Pope for an annulment. This, however, was problematic because Henry had been a strong supporter of the Catholic Church even writing against Martin Luther. The Catholic Church could not support the divorce, and debate over consummation and/or lack of consummation ensued. As you can imagine, this was church politics at its finest.
Nonetheless, with the help of Thomas Cranmer, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry abolished papal supremacy, and declared himself head of the Church of England – The Anglican Church. The Pope reacted by moving to excommunicate Henry (a little like trying to discipline an angry church member who left to start their own church – as if they're going to listen to you or care!). this obviously led to tremendous religious upheaval.
Anyone who opposed Henry's religious policies was quickly suppressed. Several monks who stood against Him were even tortured and executed.
This short romp through church history has gone beyond anything we have experienced. However, most of us are aware of church politics on the local level that are nearly as disheartening and on a personal level just as devastating.
Today, “Church Politics” has taken on a more contemporary definition, pertaining specifically to the local church. It's a sad truth, don't you think, that whatever the definition, we instinctively grasp the meaning of the term. And it's easy to make a list of potential places such politics can take root:
Decisions made at Church board meetings
Who's on the Church board
Annual Business Meetings
Worship style
The Pastor's resignation
A Pastor's hiring
Staff feuds
Building programs
Church Budgets
I'm sure you could double the length of this list including things right down to who gets what room for a Sunday School class!
Understand the origin of politics. Politics is agenda driven. Somebody wants something. The major complication is that the issues at the core (personal and selfish desires), get communicated as if they are the cause of Christ. This is not new. Holy Wars have been fought with the same dynamics in play.
This is further complicated because its rarely malice that drives the personal agenda. It's more often good people who really believe that what they are doing (what they want) is right. The problem is that good people who are attempting to do good things lose sight of the big picture and begin to justify their part of the mission as The Mission. When the situation reaches the state where it does become ugly and wars begin, all perspective is lost and we (after the fact) hear stories of things that happen in local churches that we can hardly believe are true. I know of dozens of examples of this from screaming matches in church business meetings to tithe checks withheld because “we don't like how things are going around here.” (Loosely translated this means I'm not getting what I want.) Alliances are formed between peoples and groups (déjà vu King Henry and Ferdinand with Spain and England against France) and the church is tremendously wounded. God's heart is crushed and Christianity gets another black eye.
So, what can you do?
If politics is a problem and clean-up is needed:
Refuse to engage with petty people and petty matters on a petty level.
It's difficult to ignore petty people, even though sometimes it's the wise leadership thing to do. So what about the petty issues that you are convinced you can't (or shouldn't) ignore? Don't allow yourself to be drawn down into the smallness of the issue, but commit yourself to raise the person(s) up to a higher level. Your goal is to help people see things differently so they think and behave differently.
Most local church politics is about small things that don't matter. It is often driven by good people who have merely lost perspective. People who fall into this group have, in a way, forgotten the purpose of the church, or have become impassioned that their way is the only way to accomplish the church's purpose. For these people, offer wisdom and guidance. Appeal to their sense of the larger Kingdom and help them remember why they fell in love with your church in the first place. Talk about what really changed. Is it the church or them? Talk with them about the condition of their own personal walk with God. Don't accuse, just ask questions. It's highly unlikely that their prayer life is flourishing if they are causing problems, even small problems, in the church. Listen carefully and then speak candidly about how you need them to support the larger vision. Your greatest challenge here is not how much heat you will face, but how much time it takes. This is a relationally time intensive process.
Sometimes the petty things are driven by good people who are hurt about something. These usually shouldn't be ignored. They represent a level more complex than the first. The issue may still be petty but as John Maxwell says- “hurting people hurt people.” And things therefore get complicated. It's important at this stage to help people understand the real underlying issue. It usually has little to do with the church. The church just becomes the lightening rod for their pain. If you are part of the hurt, apologize and move forward. If not, do what you can do for their healing process. If the person's situation is deep and complex, I recommend that you refer them to a professional therapist. And that you remain their encourager in the process.
Loss of a healthy perspective, and/or hurting people can transition into situations of malice. This requires a very different approach.
Hit the big issues head on.
Don't be political about politics. Jesus said: “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16), but He never meant for you to fight people's personal agendas to defend, or in protection of, your own personal agenda. That's how it is in Washington DC. We live in the greatest country in the world but the political back-scratching and political back-biting is so complex that it's nearly impossible to know who really stands for what. In the midst of that complexity, it is nearly impossible to get anything done. Sound familiar?
You must remain on your knees and beg God to help you keep your perspective clear and your motives pure. This is not easy when you are under attack.
The place to start is to clearly name the elephant in the room. If it's not already obvious, everyone involved must come out of the corners, back hallways, and Starbucks gripe sessions and own their issues personally. Never allow the phrase “everyone agrees with me.” Who's everyone, and do they even go to our church?! It's imperative that each person involved owns their own stuff. Do everything you can to break down the “angry mob” group mindset, by meeting with key people one to one and insist that they take responsibility for their opinions and behaviors, on their own.
Find the source. In 25 years of church leadership, I've never found a problem in a local church, especially those of political nature that didn't have a source. The source is always a person. I'm not saying it's a bad person, but good people can do some really dumb things. Meet one to one with this person. If it is a tight-knit group of two-three people then meet with them. Start by discovering what they really want and go from there.
If things are more subtle, meaning it's not a good old fashioned church brouhaha, thank the Lord for the reduced heat, but beware of the dangers of passive aggressive behavior. Again, force out into the open what the key influencers really think and feel.
This is complicated. You might ask at this point, “What's the difference between church conflict and church politics?” Sometimes nothing. However, with “pure” conflict, people can be upfront, honest, agree to disagree and seek a common solution. But politics involves agendas, positioning, maneuvering – and usually with a sense of a righteous cause (subtle or not).
You may need to bring in outside help. A church consultant with a good reputation could be of great help to you. Make sure you know this consultant well before you hire him. This person must be strong, relational, and have spiritual gifts of wisdom, leadership and exhortation.
Be prepared to lose people. Jesus did. Again, don't get sucked into your own personal Holy War. (Yes, most politics are softer and more subtle than all out war, but skirmishes that are left untended can result in one.) Be willing to lovingly let people leave your church who ultimately believe that their mission is more important than the mission of the church. Or more commonly, that their way of accomplishing the mission is the way the rest of church should go.
The bottom line is that you must act. Churches that have a political bent don't get better if left to their own natural course. They get worse. Politics feeds politics. Further, you must address the big blatant issues head on. You can't do this half way and survive. If you need heart surgery, you can't go in for half now and half later. It's all or nothing, and either way the results are dramatic. Be prepared to engage for a long period of time. This is a process that is not solved overnight, but with prayer, wisdom, and a steady leadership vision, you effect the changes you need to make.
In Part 2 of this article, I will address Church Politics for those of you who lead in a church where things are good, but you want to be proactive in developing or maintaining a politic free church.
Be blessed and thanks for all you do!!

Are God The Same Allah?

2008-11-30T21:35:00.001-08:00

Are God & Allah the same?

FIRST-PERSON: Are God & Allah the same? Emir Caner
Posted on Apr 23, 2007
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--In some far-flung field around the world a Southern Baptist missionary enters a territory which has remained hostile to the Gospel for some time. Upon entering the mountainous village, he is able to speak to some of the villagers about eternal matters. They are uninhibited to speak about their faith, although reticent to accept any other opinion, and this missionary quickly gains a cursory understanding of their god. He is an all-powerful being who blesses both the just and the unjust. He reveals himself through miracles. Additionally, these villagers believe that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. In fact, these villagers believe that their god has a son and that this son was once dead and now has come to life! Now, can this missionary then assume that the god the villagers are describing, due to so many similar characteristics, is the same God the Scripture reveals?If your answer is yes, you have fallen prey to a tactic the devil has used since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The devil, the best counterfeiter in history, plays upon the attributes of God and places them upon another, even himself. Ironically, the situation above is not foreign to the Scripture, for Elijah is that missionary who found himself in a strikingly similar situation in 1 Kings 18:20-40. The Jewish people had fallen into idolatry, specifically Baal worship. Although Baal worship differed regionally, Elijah came across the form of Baal worship which believed that Baal is the son of El, the most high god. Baal was once dead, but like the fall harvest, has come back to life. Baal required a blood sacrifice for appeasement to El, albeit the sacrifice is not of Baal himself but of a first-born son of each family. Baal was all-powerful and could be seen in miracles such as raining down fire. Yet, Baal was not mistaken as Jehovah. Elijah rhetorically asks the Israelites who are worshipping a false god, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God follow him; but if Baal, follow him" (1 Kings 18:21).Today, similar debate has revolved around the two largest faiths in the world, Islam and Christianity, and whether the god of the Koran is the God of the Bible. Simply put, the god of Muhammad is not the Father of Jesus. The subject in its essence is not a linguistic issue, but a theological matter with eternal ramifications. To say that since Allah is Arabic for God and YHWH is Hebrew for God, Christians and Muslims worship the same God is beyond naïve –- it is blasphemous. When Elijah challenged his fellow Jews to follow the one true God, he did so without regard to linguistics. Indeed, the etymology of Baal is derived from the root word for Lord or Master. If the matter at hand were merely about words and similar nomenclature, Elijah's statement would make absolutely no sense. Would the Israelites not be worshipping the same god as their forefathers since they have a title similar to that of their forefathers? Would Elijah not owe an unqualified apology to the prophets of Baal for assuming their worship was a façade and their god nonexistent? How could there even be such a theological animal as a "false god" if the word "god" is used in conversation? And for those who argue linguistically, would they be comfortable praying to Baal today since it is only another word for Lord?As someone who came out of a Sunni Muslim background, I can personally attest that I rejected God as Father (surah 5:18), Jesus Christ as the Son of God (surah 5:116; 19:88), and the very person of the Holy Spirit (surah 70:4). What part of the Triune God did I understand? I was an idolater, plain and simple, and the vacuity in my prayers only proved that point. Like the Israelites who worshipped Baal, I know too well the great pain of praying to a non-existent god. As 1 Kings 18:29 describes, "There was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention." To argue, then, that I was worshipping the true God, just inadequately or incompletely, would have been to place false light upon my total darkness. My Muslim mind would have interpreted such folly as insisting that Muhammad did receive at least some of his revelation from the one, true God -- that in some ways he was a true prophet.This is not an argument which denies that God is sovereign over Muhammad and all followers of Islam. But as Timothy George noted in a recent Christianity Today article, "No devout Muslim can call the God of Muhammad 'Father,' for this, to their mind, would compromise divine transcendence. But no faithful Christian can refuse to confess, with joy and confidence, 'I believe in God the Father ... Almighty!' Apart from the Incarnation and the Trinity, it is possible to know that God is, but not who God is." Even modern Muslim apologists recognize the difficulty in arguing that Christians worship the same god as Muslims. In a recent editorial in the PakTribune (Pakistan News Service), Ahmer Muzammil asserted, "I believe that whoever believes in one Allah (God) without any partners, sons, daughters or incarnations, whether they are Christians, Jews, Muslims, or whoever they might be, they all believe in the same Allah (GOD) that we do and that Jesus, Moses, Adam, Noah, and Mohammad called masses to the same GOD." The latter part of the quote, attributing Islamic devotion to Old Testament prophets, is key to understanding why the Koran states, "We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our God and your God is one; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam)" (surah 29:46). Muslims do not believe the God of the Old Testament, especially as seen in the Major and Minor Prophets, is their god since the Old Testament is a corrupted collection (surah 3:78) which fails to clarify that Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets were actually Muslims. Islam, in denying the revelation, denies the Revelator.The Koran further substantiates the claim that Christians do not worship the same god as Muslims. Surah 5:72 denounces partnering "other gods with Allah," and warns those who do so, "Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode." Surah 112:3, perhaps the central passage in the entire discussion, explicitly divorces Allah from the Christian God, explaining, "He begets not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him." Ultimately, Allah "forgives not (the sin of) joining other gods with Him" (4:116). It is clear, then, that according to Islam Peter committed this heinous sin when he publicly proclaimed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). The church itself is built upon this confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, in the very character of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. To remove Him from the Godhead would be the death knell of the church, the end of Christianity. "There is no other foundation that anyone can lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Rejecting each person of the Trinity, the God of the Old Testament and New Testament is replaced by a figment of Muhammad's imagination, a god that beyond the somewhat similar characteristics of monotheism and transcendence resembles only remotely the God of the Scriptures.It behooves us as Southern Baptists to stand unwaveringly against the ecumenists and syncretists who try to convince us that Muslims and Christians worship the same god. When Baptist scholars like Charles Kimball state, "The name for God in Islam, in Arabic, is Allah. This is not another god. This is the God. It's the same God that Jews and Christians are talking about," Southern Baptists must ardently stand against such theological heresy. For the sake of ensuring that the Gospel is preached faithfully and biblically, it is imperative that Southern Baptist leadership stand united on this crucial and non-negotiable issue. While Kimball and other prominent Baptists are creating confusion with a corrupt notion of the One True God, SBC leaders should draw a line of separation from them by boldly affirming that He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and rejecting the grave theological error that others are promoting. Since an assent of the god of Islam is ultimately a rejection of the Triune God, any such person who holds to such aberrant views should have the integrity to resign from any position of leadership held within the Southern Baptist Convention. To equate the god of Islam with the God of the Bible is to reject the God described in the Baptist Faith and Message, the doctrinal statement which Southern Baptists have accepted for more than eight decades as a confessional statement ensuring theological accountability in our convention. Evidence strongly suggests that the vast majority of Southern Baptists uphold the distinction between the god of Islam and the God of the Scripture. In a recent survey, it was stated that 79 percent of evangelicals do not believe Muslims and Christians worship the same god. If that is the case within evangelicalism, it is certain that the percentage of Southern Baptists, more conservative than evangelicals at large, reject this belief in even greater numbers. Let's reassure Southern Baptists that what they believe is not in vain, that without Christ, religions and their gods are false. Our voices must be heard on the issue or else our zeal for the lost will diminish and the clarity of the Gospel will be muddled. I pray our response to the situation will be vastly different from that of the Israelites who, when confronted with this issue, "answered [Elijah] not a word" (1 Kings 18:21b). This hour must be one of courage and not cowardice, for if the doctrine of God is compromised, other crucial doctrines will soon fall to the ecumenists as well. Truth is immortal.--30--Emir Caner is the dean of the College at Southwestern and Professor of History. He is the co-author of several books, including "Unveiling Islam." He has an article in the upcoming B&H Publishing Group book, "Contenting Earnestly for the Faith," edited by Paul Copan and William Lane Craig.

Visionary Advance

2008-11-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

Kingdom strategies serving the marketplace!VISION 2 ADVANCE!If the Kingdom of God is anything, and it is EVERYTHING, it is RELATIONAL, Supernaturally RELATIONAL!
Roberts Weekly Pondering
Todd Bentley's moral failure was publically exposed this week. There is more that has come forth from young women and pastors from his home town and around the world, so more information should be forthcoming, unfortunately. We have tried to be wise in our reporting, as we felt compelled to report because so many questions were being asked and so many were being influenced by wrongful doctrine and untruthful claims. Many leaders have been deceived and so we know the deception was very powerful, even though many of us were wondering how so many had been caught up in it.
Lakeland was not revival, but there were many who made the journey who were touched. The question was, how could that be? Well we know that God inhabits the praises of His people and there were many who came to worship Him in the Lakeland meetings. Many came expecting, and God met them in their expectation of Him. There were claims of the dead raised and other extravagant miracles, and this simply did not happen. Some people were healed and many were touched in the worship. We have seen in the past from Ted Haggard, William Branham, Paula White, etc., that results can happen regardless of the character and lifestyle of those from the platform. Todd's lifestyle, character, doctrine, methods, etc., often did not line up with the Word of God and that is why there was such a schism in the charismatic church. Those that supported Lakeland and felt touched and those of us that were watching in shock as we seeme d to be watching a completely different story.
We have asked leaders to not put a spin on their involvement and to consider acknowledging that they were duped. I have been duped before and will again. I was fortunate that on this occasion, we had information early on of the deception that was going on. We witnessed how this was in fact perpetrated by man, for man's agendas. We shared this with many of leaders involved, and many would not listen. Instead they warned us to not come against Todd Bentley, his lifestyle, his methods, or his doctrine, because he was God's choice to mess with our religion. We were called "revival police", and other names for asking questions. The fact was that they needed revival police, because there was criminal activity going on. Todd should have been arrested for assault when he kicked a sick man to the ground in Jesus name.
I am hoping that those leaders who supported Lakeland and used the same platform for gain would come forth and admit that they either were too concerned with their own agendas to listen to those who warned them of such things, or they simply just missed it. God TV has an enormous responsibility in all this and ignored wisdom from many leaders regarding this. At the time of this writing, many have back pedaled claiming that they did not lay hands on Todd, or endorse him. It would be refreshing if they came out and said, I am so sorry, please forgive us for our blindness in these matters. And also ask Todd for forgiveness in using his platform, rather than having Todd come down from the platform for the ministry and healing that was needed.
If you have talked to the people who have been hurt by this violence and abuse, you would understand the frustration from many of us. When we questioned staff members, and former staff members about Todd, many used the same words to describe him, Pathological Liar". These lies in the guise of ministry and Todd's behind the scenes lifestyle made it difficult for his board and others to discern. I have gotten emails wondering if I am happy now that Todd has been caught in an affair, (www.alfian-palar.blogspot.com). We are not happy about this, it has been sickening and impacts us all. I am saddened for him, for his family, for the other woman, and for all of those who have been hurt through this process and Todd's lifestyle. I pray for repentance, I pray for mercy, I pray for reconciliation and I pray for total exposure so that Todd can finally get the deliverance and healing he needs. This did not happen 3 years ago, and this led to this sad moment.
I would like to thank all the brave souls out there that stood for righteousness, holiness, and reverence towards the things of God. One man whom I love and respect is Lee Grady. He has been guarded and only released responsibly needed information, and he did so in the love of God, and the love of the truth of His Word. My prayer is that we could all learn from this. It could happen to any of us, if we refuse to walk humbly in the fear of God .We must also choose to walk with those around us that that will provide relational accountability, get in our face when they need to, and encourage us towards righteous living before God and man. Todd has a chance now to be whole for the first time in his life and that is what we should all pray for. We should also pray for a miracle in his family and also for the charismatic church to walk in plumb line truth of God's Word. We also pra y for the church to rid themselves of the self pleasure pursuit of signs and wonders, and adrenaline rush experience, and instead pursue King Jesus and His righteousness in every aspect of our lives. As they die to self, and serve others, they will see signs and wonders follow their lifestyles of obedience while living in His presence.

The secret of successful life is simple: "Do something beautiful for GOD"

2008-11-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

The secret of successful life is simple: "Do something beautiful for GOD"
-DR.Robert H.Schuller-

I learned a wonderful line from Mother Teresa that has impacted my life and I share it often with people. “Do something beautiful for God.” Mother Teresa shared this with me in our first one-to-one conversation. What in the world is the purpose of life anyway? Why are we alive today? Because God wants us to do something beautiful in the world in which we live. Now that’s a great resolution for the new year before us.

What can you and I do? The Christian faith is astounding. It promises that anybody can become a somebody with Jesus Christ. Are you a janitor in a hospital? You qualify! Do something beautiful for God. The two most famous dwarfs, John and Greg Rice, faced awesome challenges. They were born identical twins in the hospital. When their parents saw them, they walked out of the hospital and never came back. Two janitors in that hospital, a man and his wife, took the little boys home and raised them in their family. So they grew up as the famous and successful John and Greg Rice in that home, and they attributed what they became to two janitors. When John died recently, 1,500 people went to his funeral.

What can you do? Just begin with your spirit. It starts in the heart, not in the head. That’s why people who open their heart to Jesus Christ experience the born-again experience. That’s the ultimate wow, and that’s only the beginning.

The secret of a successful life is so simple: Do something beautiful for God. Find a need and fill it. Find a hurt and heal it. Find a problem and solve it.

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

The Power of Words

2008-11-30T21:28:00.000-08:00

The Power of Words
by Zig Ziglar
Word power can be awesome. Think about the impact of these words: A young man and a young woman each say "I love you." Later, the minister says, "I now pronounce you man and wife." Still later, the doctor says, "It's a girl!" or "It's a boy!" Think of the joy those words create. Listen to these words spoken after the Battle of Gettysburg: "Four score and seven years ago..." and Lincoln had just opened his historic address. Or this: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," and Roosevelt gave a nation hope and courage. Or: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country," and Kennedy challenged us to get involved. "I have a dream," and most of us recognize the hope that Martin Luther King gave all of us that racial tensions can disappear. Or, "My feet hurt," as Rosa Parks refused to stand up and move to the back of the bus and an entire people stood up and moved forward. Or, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” - and a nation was launched. Think about this: "Give me liberty or give me death," and Patrick Henry rallied thirteen isolated colonies to fight for their freedom. Consider "We have not yet begun to fight," and John Paul Jones roused his command aboard ship to repel the British invaders and an enormous chapter was written in our fight for freedom.

Sharpen Your Sixth Sense

2008-11-30T21:14:00.000-08:00

Sharpen Your Sixth Sense
Every leader can develop better intuition and discernment.
by Bill Hybels

A few years ago a low budget movie became a box office smash. The story line followed a boy who had a mysterious capacity to see what other people could not see—in this case seeing and interacting with people who weren't alive. The famous line in this movie, The Sixth Sense, was the boy's revelation, "I see dead people." It's eerie but quite memorable.
A pastor said to me, "Big deal. I see that at every deacon's meeting."
Leaders, too, have a special intuition—a sixth sense, if you will. We probably all know leaders whose internal compass consistently works better than anyone else's in the room. Everyone else is trying to find the right direction in a particular circumstance, and then this individual, who's been quietly listening, speaks up and suggests a certain course, and everybody says, "That's it. Of course, that's it." How did he or she do that?
I know leaders who can perceive the future better than the average person. They can see the implications of current decisions on future realities. It's quite uncanny.
Other leaders can spot the one glittering diamond of opportunity where others see only a coal mine full of problems. I know leaders who can discern leadership potential in an individual the rest of us would write off.
How do you explain those mysterious capacities?
Recently I've been thinking about a leader's decision-making process. What contributes to this intuition? Can it be developed?
For 30 days I tried an experiment. I kept a pad of paper with me, and every time I made a leadership decision, large or small, I jotted the decision down. After 30 days I reflected on those decisions to see if I could discern what factors informed my decision making. I wanted to understand this sixth sense, this mystery of my own intuition.
My conclusion? After considerable reflection, I believe that diligent, spiritually gifted, Romans 12:8 leaders will, over time, construct a value system and experience base that informs each subsequent decision. This process enables Spirit-led leaders to get wiser and better as the years go by.
As I looked at my decisions, four distinct influences became apparent. These four sources inform most leaders' decisions, whether or not they're aware of them.
What I really believe
One decision that landed on my desk during that time involved one of our Willow Creek Association international offices. A senior leader, who subsequently left our employ, had made multiple questionable financial commitments. There were no signed contracts or paperwork to reference, but people were asking us to pay them for work they had done.
When asked what we should do, I answered instantaneously and intuitively: "Pay them. All of them. Pay whatever they ask."
As a Dutchman, parting with any amount of money is emotionally wrenching for me. But this decision was easy. I didn't have to hire a consultant or consciously pray about it. It wasn't even really economic in nature. The decision virtually made itself because of three bedrock foundations of my life.
If I honor God in everything, God will honor me. This is not a wall-plaqued nicety. This is a bedrock, unshakable-to-the-core-of-my-being belief. I really believe that the sovereign God will show his divine favor to any leader who consistently attempts to honor God in absolutely everything.Conversely, if I dishonor God in any way, if I take shortcuts in life or in ministry, if I compromise my character, if I fail to keep my word, if I fail to obey promptings that he calls me to obey, I really believe that help from heaven is no longer guaranteed. God might give it in his grace, but I can't expect it. And I'm not a good enough leader to lead without help from heaven.

People matter. God has only one true treasure in this cosmos, and it's people. Therefore, I really believe that if I treat as valuable what God treasures most in this world, He will empower my efforts.So whenever there's a "people component" to a decision, my antenna goes way up. I often tell our board members: "Friends, if we're going to err on this one, let's err on the side of being gracious to people." When we stand before God someday, we may find we extended too much grace sometimes, but we sure don't want to find out we erred on the other side.In Luke 18 Jesus describes an unjust judge who had "no fear of God and no respect for people." He didn't worry about honoring God; he made whatever decisions would favor himself. And since he didn't care that people mattered, he had no respect for them. His decisions were informed by a faulty belief system that led to corruption. My resolve is to never resemble that judge.

The church is the hope of the world. Most people mistakenly assume that I'm pretty intense about everything in life. Not true. Ask my close friends. I don't get amped up about restaurants, clothes, cars, recreation, money, politics, or most things in life. But without apology I get charged about this thing Jesus calls his bride, the church. Accuse me of being intense about the church, and I stand guilty as charged.I'm all over any decision that has major implications for the future, health, unity, or effectiveness of the church—I'm all over that. I'll do almost anything or pay almost any price to make sure the church is well led. What do you really believe? Identifying your core beliefs will sharpen your leadership.

What would a better leader do?
My decisions are often informed by what I know other leaders would do in a similar situation—leaders who are wiser, more gifted, more experienced than me. Some of these people I know personally. Some I've never met, but they've mentored me by their books and tapes.
Different kinds of decisions prompt me to look to different kinds of leaders. Some decisions involve risk, and you have to consider a serious downside. The person who speaks to me most when I'm doing risk assessment is my dad. He has been dead for almost 25 years, but he still powerfully affects my risk management through what I observed in him.
Some leaders are extravagant risk takers—who bet the farm again and again. And what happens when you bet the farm again and again? Eventually you lose the farm. On the other hand, some leaders are risk averse. They never take a risk.
My father was a calculated risk taker. He provided steady, consistent oversight for his core businesses. But he used to tell me, "Billy, if you don't take a flyer once in a while, you'll never learn anything, and life will get very boring." I think the expression take a flyer came from pilots testing new airplanes. My dad took his share of flyers in business—new ideas, new strategies, new products. He took some risks with people. Some flew really well; others crashed and lost a lot of money. But after a crash he would tell me the lessons he had learned during the adventure. And he would say, "It's not the end of the world. And it was sure fun to try."
My dad was almost impervious to the naysayers around him. When told his new idea was crazy, he would smile broadly and securely and say, "You're probably right. We'll all know in a few months, won't we?"
He wasn't a careless, always-bet-the-farm risk taker, nor was he risk averse. He just felt that a calculated flyer here and there would keep him learning and growing.
That approach continues to inform my decision making. We're taking a flyer right now with Willow Creek's regional ministry centers. We don't know if they're going to work. It's a calculated risk. But what often gives me the guts to pull the trigger is the influence of my dad.
Some leaders bet the farm too often and kill their churches. They must have someone in their heads they really respect—maybe a commodities trader—who thrives on risk. Other leaders haven't taken a flyer in a decade, probably influenced by a respected voice that says, "Risk is bad. Failure is worse than never trying."
Who is informing your attitude toward risk? Is it the right person?
Many other kinds of decisions come to me.
How to handle underperforming staff? I look to two leaders—Jesus and Peter Drucker—and in that order. Jesus said, "A laborer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7). The implication is that an employer owes a productive worker appropriate wages.
Conversely, if a worker is not performing worthy service, their wages should cease or decrease. Peter Drucker told me once, "Bill, when it comes to paid staff, even church staff, non-performance is unacceptable." I've never forgotten that.
So when we have an underperforming staff member, we call it what it is: unacceptable. Then we try to discern the cause. Is it poor job fit? Lack of training? Unrealistic expectations? We can address those. Or is it poor work habits? A bad attitude? A character flaw? An inability to work well with others? From time to time we've had to invite people off our staff. We do it lovingly. We often offer support and severance. But what Jesus and Peter Drucker said keep echoing in my mind.
Other decisions deal with issues of excellence. I think of two businessmen: Ed Prince and Rich DeVoss. They set excellence levels in their businesses and personal lives that seemed, as I began to really know them, so appropriate. Some people are too perfectionistic; others have an "anything will do" attitude. Ed and Rich model the right balance for me.
Another issue that lands on my desk is bureaucracy. One of our leading lay leaders will contact me totally frustrated and say, "What does a person have to do around here to get a simple yes or no? It's been three, count them, three months since I asked permission to do this. I don't even care what the decision is anymore or how you make it. Flip a coin, or call the Psychic Hotline. Just make a decision."
This is happening more and more at Willow Creek, and it's driving me nuts. But two business leaders that I've never met are helping me. I've read most of what they've written and much that's been written about them—Jack Welch from General Electric and Lou Gerstner from IBM. When Lou Gerstner took over IBM, he said that getting a decision made around there was like trying to swim upstream in a river of peanut butter. So he declared war on indecision, and for the most part he's winning the war. Jack Welch identified as his number two value at GE the ruthless eradication of bureaucracy.
When I receive an S.O.S. from anyone at church who says, "Will someone make a decision?" Lou Gerstner and Jack Welch come to mind, and they motivate me to take action fast.
So I'll have my assistant Jean call all the affected parties to my office, and I'll say, "We're not leaving this room until we have an answer to the question that's been waiting for twelve weeks. So, roll up your sleeves. We're making a decision."
I'm not advocating short circuiting due process. But timely decision making is essential for the life of a growing church. People deserve timely decisions. It wrecks morale to live in a constant stream of peanut butter.
There are many other types of decisions. For theological decisions I've had Dr. Bilezikian in my head for 30 years. With relational and psychological decisions I have two counselors who help me. In ethical and moral decisions my hero is the Old Testament leader Joseph, one of the few major leaders of all time of whom it was said had a thoroughly clean record.
It's important to read, to be around other leaders, to be exposed to people and principles that will inform your daily decisions and influence your intuition.
Pain
The third major data source that impacts my decision making is pain from prior decisions that went bad. Sometimes someone will be trying to persuade me to go along with their concept, and in mid-sentence—almost as if they're stepping on a landmine—I break in and say, "That's not going to happen."
When they ask why, I'll say, "We tried that very thing 15 years ago. We thought we were smart and we got whacked. Then we tried it again ten years ago. We got whacked again. We thought we were smarter three years ago, and we really got whacked. We have exceeded our whack quotient. Sorry. Your proposal is DOA, dead on arrival. Let it go."
One of the advantages of being an experienced leader is that you've filled a pain file with enough jagged-edged memories that your intuition is poised and ready to wave the "go slow" flag when the likelihood of more pain appears on the horizon. Younger, lesser-experienced leaders are still busy collecting their whacks, and that's just life. Isn't it?
Pain is a fantastic teacher. When I do mentoring sessions with pastors, after dinner sometimes we'll put our feet up and tell each other the lessons we've learned the hard way, stuff we'll never do again. And I've heard some doozies.
"I'll never make my mother-in-law the head elder again."

"I'll never give a new youth pastor the church credit card for a weekend retreat."

"I'll never let a guest speaker preach on signs and wonders while I'm on vacation."

"I'll never tell the worship dancer, 'Just wear whatever you want when you dance.'"

Pain is a very effective teacher. And it's wise to learn from the pain of others.
Promptings by the Holy Spirit
A year ago I was being pressured by our programming team to decide on the topic for our January weekend series. As I wrestled with my decision, the Holy Spirit nudged me as definitely as I've ever received a prompting: "Preach on love."
I argued back: "You've got to be kidding. That's too mushy for January. People need their annual January body slam like 'Fly Straight This Year,' 'Lose Weight,' 'Slow Down,' 'Get Out of Debt,' 'Stop Sinning,' 'Grow in God.' You know, January stuff!"
But after a few days, the Holy Spirit just wore me down: "Will you trust me on this one?"
So I did a series called "Graduate Level Loving." And it received one of the highest responses of any series in recent years. And it was prompted more by God than my pastoral common sense.
The decision to start Willow Creek in the first place wasn't a carefully calculated business plan. It was just a prompting. The same with the decision to focus on seekers, to utilize the arts, and to do our believer service mid-week.
All this defied conventional wisdom. It was simply Spirit prompted.
So many of our best staff and volunteers wound up in the positions they're in not because we brilliantly placed them but because the Holy Spirit prompted them.
That 30-day decision-making evaluation was a valuable exercise for me because it reminded me again what Scripture teaches: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, those are the sons and daughters of God" (Rom. 8:14).
Yes, we must use wisdom and good judgment as we lead our churches. But just as surely we must keep an ear tuned to heaven at all times, listening for the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit, who from time to time speaks into our decision making.
I used to think all leaders did this regularly. But I don't take that for granted any more. Do you really have an ear assigned to heaven? Is there enough quietness integrated into your life so you can hear the Spirit when he whispers? Do you obey the Spirit when he informs your decision making?
The Holy Spirit is a supernatural data source all his own, a source that supercedes all the other data sources and sharpens your sixth sense as a leader.—Bill Hybels is pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.

TALENT IS NEVER ENOUGH

2008-11-30T21:12:00.000-08:00

TALENT IS NEVER ENOUGH
By: John C. Maxwell

01. BELIEF lifts your talent.
02. PASSION energizes your talent.
03. INITIATIVE activates your talent.
04. FOCUS directs your talent.
05. PREPARATION positions your talent.
06. PRACTICE sharpens your talent.
07. PERSEVERANCE sustains your talent.
08. COURAGE tests your talent.
09. TEACHABILITY expands your talent.
10. CHARACTER protects your talent.
11. RELATIONSHIP influences your talent.
12. RESPONSIBILITY strengthens your talent.
13. TEAMWORK multiplies your talent.
When is TALENT enough? The answer is: NEVER!

Time for a Change

2008-11-30T21:07:00.001-08:00

Leadership Illustration

Time for a Change"When it comes to change, there are three seasons of timing: People change when they hurt enough that they have to, when they learn enough that they want to, and when they receive enough that they are able to."—Author John Maxwell

Leader's Insight: Ministry Gone StaleDo leaders have a shelf life?by Angie Ward, contributing editor
Andrew was a well-respected senior pastor at a highly esteemed church of 2,500. But when I met him, he had just decided to leave his position. At the time, he didn't have another job offer and wasn't sure what he was going to do next. But he realized he was not the leader his church needed for the next stage in its lifespan.
"I used to say my next stop will be my last one," Andrew told me, "but I just don't say that anymore, because I no longer think I'm supposed to stay in one place forever."
Andrew had come to a realization that I have been observing over the last few years: some leaders have a shelf life.
The old paradigm assumed that a pastor should ideally make a commitment to the church 'til death do them part. But I don't believe that is realistic or ideal in today's culture. In fact, many churches would be better served to realize that it's perfectly acceptable that some leaders' effectiveness will expire after a certain point.
The office of pastor requires not just shepherding and preaching skills, but also leadership skills. The church of today, no matter its size, is a complex organization. As it matures, it will require different kinds of leadership. Some leaders do well at adapting to and enjoying each stage, but others are best suited and gifted for a more time-limited role.
For example, Steve is a serial church planter. The quintessential entrepreneur, Steve has realized that he is most effective at planning, planting, and growing a new church, then handing the reins over to a new pastor. He is neither skilled at nor energized by leading an established church.
Bob, on the other hand, is a turnaround artist. He describes his as a "ministry of renewal," bringing life to dying congregations and giving them a vision for the future that begins a new chapter of growth in that church. He has done this in at least four churches, and counting.
While Bob helps churches find new life, my friend Rick does the opposite: he helps dying churches end well. His is the work of a chaplain, loving the people and helping them work through the grieving as they give their church a proper funeral and burial.
And then there are the scores of pastors who are uniquely suited for leading churches of a particular size or from one level to the next or maybe two levels, but not beyond. For example, they may be able to help a church grow from 100 to 400 people, but may not be skilled at the complexities or specialization necessary to lead a church over 1,000. Some can do it, but many can't.
Most organizations, however, assume that if you succeeded in one situation, you will succeed at the challenges of the next level. But past performance is no guarantee of future results. As a sports fan, I observe this all the time in the coaching world. A highly successful college coach will think he's ready to make the jump to the professional level. But the demands and culture of professional sports are very different from the world of college athletics. Some succeed in making the transition, but many do not.
Know yourselfHaving a shelf life is not the same as bailing out every time ministry gets tough. Quite the opposite, leaders who know their shelf life may often relish the challenges that come with a particular stage of ministry.
So, how do you know your shelf life, or whether you have one? Unfortunately, unlike milk and bread, leaders are not stamped with a "sell-by" date after which we go sour or stale and possibly taint the products around us. Still, there are signs that your ministry may be going soft.
The more obvious signs are passion and energy, which are tied to your individual strengths. If you find yourself dreading the majority of your job, you may have drifted too far from your leadership sweet spot.
You can also look at your ministry history. Do you see any patterns in your leadership effectiveness? But you also need to ask yourself hard questions about your current situation. If your church's effectiveness has plateaued, you must be willing to consider whether your leadership ability, or lack thereof, is one of the reasons.
Once you realize your own shelf life, you have several options. One is that you can work to extend it. A commitment to lifelong learning will help you stay "fresh" much longer. Or you may realize that you just need to move to a different shelf. If this is the case, it does not mean that you no longer love the people. It does mean that it is crucial for you to leave well. That means being honest and forthright about your limitations and reasons for making a change. At the same time, churches must be able to release others whose sell-by dates have expired, without judging them for recognized their shelf life.
The more confident you are of your unique gifts and calling as a leader, the less you will be tempted to make a change because you assume that bigger is automatically better; or, just as bad, to stay beyond your shelf life because it's comfortable for you, even while it's detrimental to your church.
Recognizing your shelf life is one way to extend it to a lifetime of effective leadership.

"Keep yourselves in the love of God…" Jude 1:21

2008-11-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

"Keep yourselves in the love of God…" Jude 1:21
When it comes to focus in our lives, our Lord makes it clear that of all his commandments, "the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:1) No other topic is mentioned and discussed more in the Bible. Loving can be both a joy and a challenge.
While the world directs attention to romantic love on one special holiday, St. Valentine's Day, we believe that loving one another is a reflection of one's fundamental values. Practically applying love in and for life requires commitment, growth and sometimes help.
Love too deserves to be celebrated! We have selected a special collection of resources that can enhance the diverse aspects of love in your life, from Love for the Father to Loving Yourself and Loving Others in your life! If you're giving a gift this holiday, we suggest considering one that can have a much longer impact; and an eternal one!We also hope you'll also enjoy these gems, timeless pieces of scripture that remind us of the need to do any and all things in Love. One Flesh, One Blood Take passion and commitment for your spouse to new heights! Check out special gifts for greater intimacy, better communication and development of practical relationship skills. "Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun."Ecclesiastes 9:9 ",1]

Love too deserves to be celebrated! We have selected a special collection of resources that can enhance the diverse aspects of love in your life, from Love for the Father to Loving Yourself and Loving Others in your life! If you're giving a gift this holiday, we suggest considering one that can have a much longer impact; and an eternal one!
We also hope you'll also enjoy these gems, timeless pieces of scripture that remind us of the need to do any and all things in Love.

One Flesh, One Blood
Take passion and commitment for your spouse to new heights! Check out special gifts for greater intimacy, better communication and development of practical relationship skills.
"Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun."Ecclesiastes 9:9
Tending To Our Lambs The lesson of love is one that can last a lifetime. As parents, grandparents, extended family and friends we have the privilege and duty to teach the young about Christ's love, the sanctity of all human life and how to live faithfully. "Little children, let us not love with word or tongue, but in deed and truth." 1 John 3:18",1]

Tending To Our Lambs
The lesson of love is one that can last a lifetime. As parents, grandparents, extended family and friends we have the privilege and duty to teach the young about Christ's love, the sanctity of all human life and how to live faithfully.
"Little children, let us not love with word or tongue, but in deed and truth." 1 John 3:18

Loving Him Who Loved You First\nWho deserves your love more? By growing in your relationship and faith with God, you will become more equipped to share love with others. "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:30-31",1]

Loving Him Who Loved You First
Who deserves your love more? By growing in your relationship and faith with God, you will become more equipped to share love with others.
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:30-31

Enjoying God's Gift – You! We are called to be good stewards of our body, mind and soul. Invest in yourself and experience all the joy the He has planned for your life. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39",1]

Enjoying God's Gift – You!
We are called to be good stewards of our body, mind and soul. Invest in yourself and experience all the joy the He has planned for your life.
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Love One Another\nRelationships make or break the human experience. God made us to live in fellowship with one another, rooted in love. Learn more about forming and growing strong bonds. \n"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Romans 12:10-11* Scripture from the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible. Focus on the Family received your e-mail address on family.org or through the mail. We sincerely apologize if someone else has submitted your address without your permission.",1]

Love One Another
Relationships make or break the human experience. God made us to live in fellowship with one another, rooted in love. Learn more about forming and growing strong bonds.
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Romans 12:10-11

* Scripture from the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible.

VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

2008-11-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

Are you someone with a vision burning inside that seeks to manifest? Do you see yourself as a visionary? What is it that makes a visionary become a visionary leader? A visionary may dream wonderful visions of the future and articulate them with great inspiration. A visionary is good with words. But a visionary leader is good with actions as well as words, and so can bring his/her vision into being in the world, thus transforming it in some way. More than words are needed for a vision to take form in today’s world. It requires leadership and heartfelt commitment.A visionary leader is effective in manifesting his or her vision because s/he creates specific, achievable goals, initiates action and enlists the participation of others. What are the qualities and abilities of true visionary leaders? What is the mysterious inner process within leaders that enables them to work their magic and radiate the charisma that mobilizes others for a higher purpose? Visionary leadership is based on a balanced expression of the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical dimensions. It requires core values, clear vision, empowering relationships, and innovative action. When one or more of these dimensions are missing, leadership cannot manifest a vision.
A COMMITMENT TO CORE SPIRITUAL VALUES
A commitment to values is an outstanding characteristic of all visionary leaders. They embody a sense of personal integrity, and radiate a sense of energy, vitality and will. Will is standing in a spiritual state of being. Will is a spiritual attribute, which allows a leader to stand for something. More self-aware and reflective than others, visionary leaders follow an inner sense of direction, and lead from the inside out, as exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “I must first be the change I want to see in my world.” He was a prime example of a commitment to values, as he freed India by appealing to the moral conscience of Britain and using “satyagraha” or non-violent action to reveal the immorality of the British Empire. Rather than being corrupted by power, visionary leaders are elevated by power and exercise moral leadership. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, embodies this type of moral leadership, as does Marion Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, who has a deep commitment to children’s welfare. Many successful leaders in business, such as Jeffrey Swartz of Timberland Shoes, have demonstrated the power of living their values. Swartz pays employees to volunteer in the community and honors the “double bottom line”--profit and values”. Tom Chappell, CEO of Tom’s of Maine, found that he could “do well by doing good.” Doing good-- embodying his values--has made his company very profitable. Tom’s of Maine uses all natural ingredients in their products to protect consumers and the environment.
A CLEAR, INSPIRATIONAL VISION
Visionaries who are successful at manifesting their visions base their leadership on an inspirational, positive picture of the future, as well as a clear sense of direction as to how to get there. Vision is a field that brings energy into form. Effective leaders broadcast a coherent message by themselves embodying their vision, as author Margaret Wheatley notes. They keep communicating the vision to create a strong field which then brings their vision into physical reality. Nelson Mandela clearly held a positive vision of a racially harmonious South Africa during his 28 years in jail and helped bring it into reality peacefully-- to the amazement of the world. The best visionary leaders move energy to a higher level by offering a clear vision of what is possible. They inspire people to be better than they already are and help them identify with what Lincoln called “the angels of their better nature.” This was the power of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. The creative power of lighted, inspired words can sound a certain inner note that people recognize and respond to. This then creates dramatic social change. Like King, visionary leaders have the ability to sense the deeper spiritual needs of followers and link their current demands to these deeper, often unspoken, need for purpose and meaning. Visionary leaders often have the ability to see higher spiritual forces at work behind the scenes of events, and they align with the vision of these redemptive forces. Both George Washington and Winston Churchill spoke about the help they received from a “guiding hand.” Churchill said, “...we have a guardian because we serve a great cause, and we shall have that guardian as long as we serve that cause faithfully.” Sojourner Truth, a former slave, was guided by an inner spiritual experience to preach the emancipation of slaves and women’s rights all over the country during the Civil War. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt had a vision of Mohammed who told him to create peace in the Middle East. This vision is the hidden story behind the Camp David Peace Treaty between Arabs and Israelis.Visionary leaders transmit energy to people, giving them a new sense of hope and confidence in achieving the vision. Television host Oprah Winfrey helps her guests believe in themselves and work to create a better world.Visionary leaders often enunciate a vision based on principles that become guideposts for humanity. They intuitively draw on the ageless wisdom and present it in a new synthesis to meet the particular need of the times. In the Brundtland Report, Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, helped synthesize the principles of sustainable development that are needed to protect our environment for future generations.
RESPECTFUL, EMPOWERING RELATIONSHIPS
Good relationships are the heart of effective visionary leaders. They embody a deeply caring approach to people, seeing them as their greatest asset. Aaron Feuerstein, CEO of Malden Mills, kept all his employees on the payroll when a fire destroyed 75% of his factories. His employees were so grateful they helped him rebuild and within a year the company was more profitable than ever.In contrast to the old style of leadership which tells people what to do, and pushes or dominates them, visionary leaders embody a receptive, as well as a dynamic energy. They know how to listen and learn from other points of view and have fine tuned their communications skills. Rita Bailey, Director of Southwest Airline’s University for People, says the secret of the airline’s amazing financial success is living by the golden rule--treating employees as family, with warmth and respect. Employees then treat customers the same way.Visionary leaders promote a partnership approach and create a shared sense of vision and meaning with others. They exhibit a greater respect for others and carefully develop team spirit and team learning, Building this sense of shared vision and partnership has also been key to the effectiveness of feminist Gloria Steinem.The most effective visionary leaders are responsive to the real needs of people and they develop participative strategies to include people in designing their own futures. This approach has been very successful for Robert Haas, the CEO of Levi Strauss. Rather than confront or avoid conflict, the new leaders have learned how to transform conflict into usable energy. They work to unite--rather than divide-- people.
INNOVATIVE, COURAGEOUS ACTION
Visionary leaders are especially noted for transforming old mental maps or paradigms, and creating strategies that are “outside the box” of conventional thought. They embody a balance of right brain (rational) and left brain (intuitive) functions. Their thinking is broad and systemic, seeing the big picture, the whole system, and “the pattern that connects.” They then create innovative strategies for actualizing their vision. CNN founder Ted Turner transformed television news by boldly creating an around-the-clock international news network. CEO Ray Anderson took courageous action in transforming his world-wide company, Interface Carpets, into the most environmentally sustainable corporation. Interface launched a massive effort to cut its use of energy, replace petroleum-based supplies with vegetable-based substitutes, and reduce emissions by 24%. Customers now don’t buy a wall-to-wall carpet--they rent one--and when it wears out, all its component parts are recycled, and the customer receives a new one.Visionary leaders anticipate change and are proactive, rather than reactive to events. Their focus is on opportunities, not on problems. They emphasize win/win--rather than adversarial win/lose--approaches. This is the strategy of environmental economist Hazel Henderson, author of Building a Win/Win World, who created The Calvert/Henderson Sustainable Indicators with the Calvert Social Investment Funds.Body Shop founder Anita Roddick addressed health and environmental problems, as well as poverty in the Third World, through the innovative strategies she designed for her hugely successful products and stores. Products are made of non-polluting ingredients and stores are opened in poor neighborhoods to provide employment and return profit to the community. When we see a truly visionary leader accomplishing great things, s/he is drawing on the resources of their soul and its remarkable capabilities. Each of us can access our inner resources to become a more effective leader in our own field. First we must be willing to take initiative and stand for something we believe in passionately. We must be ready to take the heat. Many of us avoid the responsibility of leadership primarily because we are too sensitive to criticism. But when we know who we truly are and we live from an inner core of values, criticism can be filtered to take in only what is true and helpful to our growth. Today, as we enter the Third Millennium, thousands of new visionary leaders are emerging in all fields of human endeavor around the world, leading a quiet revolution energized by power of the soul. By appreciating and supporting those who lead from their core spiritual values, we strengthen those leadership qualities in ourselves.

The Leadership Life of the Senior Pastor

2008-11-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

The Leadership Life of the Senior Pastor,
by Dan Reiland

The life of any leader is unique. There are pressures, pitfalls and promises that we all experience, but I believe there is something very distinctive about the role of a local church senior pastor. I have worked closely with three senior pastors over the course of many years, and coached / consulted with hundreds. Their role is uncommon in its demands and its delights.
Senior pastor, you gotta laugh when people ask questions like: “What do you do all week?” or “Do you work full time?” or one of my favorites, “Do you get to play lots of golf?” At times you want to wrap that dusty nine iron that never comes out of its bag around their uninformed neck . . . but then you think better, smile and love them anyway.
As I listened to one senior pastor tell me about his leadership life, the image of an annual physical with the family doctor came to mind. You are poked and prodded, and blood is drawn – but none is given back. You learn things you don't want to know, you are told you need to eat better and exercise, but don't have time. Then you are given a report only containing what is wrong, nothing about what is right. And you think, “When do I get to give a report like this to my congregation?!” Then, once again, you think better, smile and keep on leading.
Within the larger context of joy and privilege, pressure is a very real part of the job. Pressure is the topic in this first of a three part series. Part two and three, respectively, will cover pitfalls and promises.
Pressure is a necessary part of life, but too much of it, or never finding relief can cause serious trouble. How is your pressure level these days? What are your relief valves? My prayer is that as you read through the practical and personal pressures that a senior pastor faces, you will find insight and encouragement. If you are not a senior pastor, this article will help you pray for, support and encourage your senior pastor.
Practical Pressures:
The vast majority of senior pastors answer the same when they list the top three practical pressures they face. In the midst of dozens of things to do, emails to answer, and people to see these three things rank at the top of the pressures that never go away. These pressures are not bad, but they are very real.
Writing and delivering a meaningful message (Every week!)
Every seven days! It's not quite as much pressure as the newspaper business, but its close. Every day they start fresh. Every Monday, you start fresh. Each message is expected to instruct, inspire, and challenge. Your message is expected to entertain with the creativity of a Holly Wood movie and then carry the fresh anointing of God! No problem! Not to mention that you are compared to Andy Stanley, Ed Young Jr. and Bill Hybels. No pressure there.
The good news is that God has equipped you to do what He has called you to do, and the Holy Spirit fills in the gaps. Don't worry about comparisons. Just be yourself. God's Word is alive and powerful. When you stand up to deliver it, God is with you. I'm not saying He covers you if you don't prepare, but He adds blessing to the message that you and He craft together. About 38-42 sermons a year seems to be the rough average, so be sure to get your needed breaks. Guest speakers are a good thing. They give you a break to pray, rest, and take care of a couple dozen other things on your list.
Discerning and communicating a compelling vision (Leadership!)
This pressure seems to carry the most weight of all. Of the hundreds of pastors I've had share their vision with me; most pause, get reflective, and even if enthusiastic – communicate with a weightiness to their answer. More senior pastor's than you might imagine struggle to give a clear answer, and more than a few have lost sight of a fresh and compelling vision. This is not uncommon, so don't despair.
If you are confident in your vision – great – keep on leading. If you are not, the first thing to do is nothing. You can't borrow a vision, read one in a book or get one from a church you think is doing some cool things. Vision comes from God and it's personal. Relax, dream, ask God for a picture of what he wants your people (church) to look like. He won't withhold that from you. It may be for you, like it was for me at one time, that God first has a vision for what He wants you to become as a person before He reveals His next vision for you as a leader. If this is the case, there is no shortage of wisdom for you to throw yourself headlong into the continued pursuit of the Great Commission until God makes clear His unique and specific plan for your church.
Raising the finances needed to resource the vision (Money, money, money!)
I have never met a senior pastor who said his church had enough money, not even one. The complexity of mixing the spiritual nature of trusting God for finances, together with the human element of inspiring the people to give to a vision is a huge pressure. We can say that it's not about people giving to resource the church, and that it's about being obedient and giving to God. But a leadership reality check says that ministry requires money. And it's expensive.
There is good news. Though finances are a “very real and present pressure” it is not one that you must focus massive and primary energy into. If you pour huge effort and energy into capturing and communicating vision and strong weekly messages, the church finances will typically find an upward swing. This doesn't dismiss prayer, paying attention to giving, good budgeting, and an annual stewardship series etc., but it does suggest that “money” isn't the issue itself. It's more about your leadership and the hearts of the people. Giving is an indicator of the condition of these things. So, keep your head in the game when it comes to finances, but pour your heart into vision and messages.
Personal Pressures:
This list varies more than the one just covered. Nonetheless, the majority of senior pastors would include these three things at the top of their list of personal pressures. Again, the idea is not that these pressures are bad, but simply recognize that they are real.
Leading well at home, and leading well at church
This is a positive and healthy pressure close to the heart of any senior pastor. It's connected to an expectation that the senior pastor's home is a loving, spiritually grounded, mature and God-filled environment. Whether or not this is “fair” or “right” isn't the point. The fact that it's true is the pressure. There isn't one family that carries quite the scrutiny as does the senior pastor's.
The best leadership “foot forward” is to be honest. Be honest with yourself, God and your congregation about your family life. When you tell honest stories about your own marriage and family as part of your weekend messages, you not only help your congregation connect, but they realize that your marriage is good but not perfect. This gives your people hope. If your marriage or family life is struggling and you are not comfortable sharing stories, I urge you all the more to lean into honesty. You and your spouse get honest, see a counselor, and get some help. We all need it at times. Don't wait; you'll be glad when you see the results.
Loneliness – the quiet place where “the buck stops here”
This is the most difficult of all six points for me to write about. This is the one that as close as I get and as much as I understand, there is a point where the senior pastor carries what no other person in the church carries. I'm not suggesting that the vision and burden isn't shared. It is, but there is something about the last point on the decision-making trail. There is something about the quiet loneliness in the stillness of the night that I can sense from a close up view, and though we can carry much, there is that certain place of leadership that is carried by the senior pastor. To this I don't dare add any practical how to advice or three steps to success. I can only say, on behalf of all of us, thanks, and “we” hope to lift as much of the load as possible.
Hearing from God . . . the ultimate combination of privilege and pressure
This is a bitter sweet pressure. There is nothing sweeter in life than hearing, knowing and following the voice of God. And yet, the worst place for a spiritual leader is to experience the opposite. I know of no leader who has not experienced at least a season where God was quiet. That can scare the tar out of the best of Christian leaders. We dare not take a step out from under the direction of God. And yet sometimes when we can't hear Him, it at least seems like we must keep moving. So for the senior pastor this is huge. Learning to trust in those few but weighty times when God seems to be quiet is tough. It's a time to wait, trust, hold and pray. Don't panic, but pray, and my prayer for you is that you would never get comfortable in that silence. It's easy to slip into following your own voice in the silence of God's voice. Never settle for that, press on, hold on, pray, listen and wait.

POPULARITY VERSUS PRODUCTIVITY

2008-11-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

Popularity and productivity sound like fraternal twins, but in reality they can look as different as Paris Hilton and Warren Buffet. If productivity is a Honda Civic, then popularity is a Lamborghini Diablo with a bad transmission. In leadership, substance trumps style—every time.
A Popular Flop
Among the litany of dotcom flameouts, Pets.com is notable for the mass popularity it achieved, and infamous for its failure to generate even a cent of profit. As a 1998 startup, Pets.com was founded upon the idea of selling pet supplies to online shoppers. The darling of venture capitalists, Pets.com raised a spectacular $82.5 million of capital during its initial public offering in 2000. Shortly thereafter, Pets.com poured $1.2 million into a Super Bowl commercial. Featuring the company mascot, a sock puppet dog, the advertisement was a smash hit and was voted the best Super Bowl ad by USA Today. The business’ catchy slogan “Because Pets Can't Drive!” announced its arrival to the American market, and consumers flocked to the company’s website. Fellow dotcom, Amazon, even bought into the craze—literally—purchasing 50% ownership of Pets.com.
Unfortunately for Pets.com (and fans of their sock puppet mascot), they never garnered enough business to offset massive startup costs sunk into warehousing and marketing. The dotcom bubble burst and financing dried up. Only nine months after going public, Pets.com went out of business. In short, Pets.com lacked a productive business model which could translate popularity into profits.
Lovable Losers
The Chicago Cubs epitomize the concept of the popular, but ineffective franchise. Nicknamed, “The Lovable Losers” by their fans, the Cubs consistently play their way to the bottom of the standings, despite having one of the higher payrolls in Major League Baseball. Although the Cubs have endeared themselves to Chicagoans, who pack Wrigley Field for every game, the team cannot seem to deliver results. With each passing year of futility, the Cubs prove how disconnected popularity can be from performance.
Leadership Application
What can leaders learn from Pets.com and the Chicago Cubs? Well, a couple of simple lessons.
First, as the proverb says, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” A prudent leader looks past appearances to discern the heart of a matter. Perhaps it’s the potential hire with the glittering resume, who, upon further review, falsified his achievements. Or maybe it’s a potential partner with the captivating sales pitch, who after being researched, turns out to have a track record of unethical behavior. Or possibly it’s a sparkling business opportunity that promises growth and brand recognition, but, after being reviewed, would clearly steer the company away from its mission.
Second, leaders build margins not image. A leader may be forced to take unpopular stands for the good of the company. Popularity isn’t bad, but decisions made solely on the basis of popular opinion can be devastating. Leaving a plush corporate campus for smaller, more functional office space doesn’t earn a leader a pat on the back, but it may protect the company from financial doom. Layoffs are agonizingly unpopular, but they may the only solution to a downturn in the economy. Leaders are willing to endure the criticism of making tough calls that fly in the face of popular opinion.

Lead from Your Strengths

2008-11-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

Lead from Your StrengthsA top leader says trying to shore up your weak spots is a waste of time.by Chad Hall, guest columnist
Marcus Buckingham is a man on a mission. If the British-born leadership guru accomplishes his goal of starting a strengths revolution, pastors may well be some of the highest beneficiaries.
Buckingham is the charismatic and affable researcher and writer who has put "strengths" into the leadership lexicon in North America. Through his work with the Gallup organization and now on his own, Buckingham pushes the notion that each of us has a unique combination of strengths that we are best able to apply to our work and life. From my work as a ministry coach, I can confirm that his message is hitting home with many pastors.
One of Buckingham's premises is that each person has an innate set of strengths that can be applied to pretty much any aspect of life. In fact, Buckingham's research found 34 unique strengths that can show up in a near infinite set of combinations. What Buckingham calls "strength" is not really a talent or a skill set, but some combination that goes beyond skills. You could think of it as a person's recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be applied for some benefit. The list includes such strengths as "strategic" and "ideation" and "competition" and even "woo." While everyone has some capacity for each of the 34 strengths, a 180-question assessment provided by Gallup identifies a person's top five strengths.
Yet for Buckingham, the goal is not as much to identify your strengths or label yourself as having certain strengths; rather, the goal is to use your strengths.
Using strengths means three things: (1) knowing what your strengths are so you can focus on making the most of them; (2) applying your strengths to an ever-increasing range of opportunities; in other words, use them more and more; and (3) further strengthening your strengths rather than shoring up your weaknesses as your best plan for leadership development.
This basic message has found an audience among pastors. Buckingham spoke to over 5,000 ministry leaders at this year's Leadership Summit (hosted by the Willow Creek Association) and his presence at the conference is testimony to the resonance his message finds among pastors, many of whom have found typical development plans lacking.
Continuing Education programs offered by seminaries, mentoring from seasoned pastors, and development plans that track with the life-stage of the congregation all have their place. But where these come up short for some pastors is in their common off-the-rack angle that attempts to reshape the pastor to fit a certain mold of abilities or knowledge or beliefs. Contrary to such approaches, the message of the strengths movement is that each pastor already has what it takes to be successful. In Buckingham's words, the best development plans focus on what was put in rather than trying to put in what was left out.
The impact is being felt across the denominational and theological spectrum.
Ben Trawick serves North Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. It's a church that appreciates stained glass, vestments, and the pulpit. For years, Ben knew himself to be an excellent proclaimer, but kicked himself for lacking the financial and administrative skills that he thought church leadership demanded. He sensed constant pressure, mostly from within, to be someone other than himself. The StrengthsFinder assessment told him what he already knew: his top strengths included communication and intellection. Buckingham's strategy gave him permission to build on these strengths. As he puts it, "I decided to just run with the premise that God could produce more fruit by my becoming a more gifted and intelligent communicator than by my trying to become like someone else." This led him to engage the College of Preachers and develop a customized approach for developing his preaching gifts along communication and intellectual lines. Today, his sermons are more crisp, more engaging, and more life changing than ever. The congregation appreciates his growth and they are experiencing their own.
At Northeast Baptist Church just outside Atlanta, Pastor Brian Wright has started a strengths revolution for his whole church. "The StrengthsFinder confirmed what I already suspected was my strength and, with help from my ministry coach, it gave me permission to use my strengths as a primary avenue of leadership. The assessment articulated my primary strength as a maximizer, which led me to develop a student internship program where seminary students are allowed to grow and develop their leadership skills."
By using his strengths, Brian says, "the ministry that I do is more rewarding and more fun, which means I have more energy to give. In the areas where I lack strength, I hired staff or equipped lay people who are strong in those areas. And the StrengthsFinder gave me an approach for helping find and develop those folks as well. I am most effective when I am doing what I love to do and can do best, and so are those around me."
Brian's approach to dealing with his weaknesses tracks with Buckingham's advice: don't ignore your weaknesses, but find ways for applying strength as a solution.
In addition to a teamwork approach, Buckingham advises reimagining your role in a way that utilizes your strengths. This approach worked for David Washburn, pastor of First Baptist Church of Waynesboro, Virginia. With strategic strength, he's found that a lot of strategy can stretch a little bit of vision. "I kept reading books telling me how important vision was for a pastor, but I knew that was not my native tongue. I can do vision, but I'm not great at it. But by applying my strategic ability really well, I've found that I don't need so much vision. The extent to which I can see a vision for the church is enough, because my ability to strategize a way to live into that vision makes the most of it. I suspect the woods are also full of pastors who make up for lack of strategy by making the most of strengths related to vision."
For some pastors, the StrengthsFinder made a positive impact by helping them let go of unrealistic ministry expectations and move into roles where they could be more effective. Such was the case for David Ward in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 2001 he accepted a call to serve as pastor of Living Hope Community Church. While he is a gifted communicator and very much a people person, David found that the administrative and tactical aspects of leading a church were outside his range of strengths. For many years, the church muddled along and he tried hard to shore up his weaknesses. Along with the insight of friends and ministry partners, David found meaning in the StrengthsFinder. "The StrengthsFinder put some handles on what I inherently knew and did not want to admit. When I finally just accepted that I was not one of those entrepreneurial make-it-all-happen kind of guys, I was free to explore who I was. I like who God has made me to be, and determined that a guy with my strengths and gifts was better suited to be on a ministry staff team, rather than solo pastor of a small church."
Soon after, David accepted a call to serve as Minister of Community Life at Chapel Hill Bible Church. He says, "In the call process, I was able to use the strengths concept as one of the lenses for looking at whether I fit what they needed. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses ensured a match between me and my role."
Perhaps Buckingham has started a revolution after all. As these pastors can attest, turning one's focus from weaknesses to strengths can be revolutionary.
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Dumping GroundIn a place where even people are considered refuse, no one would listen to the educated, accomplished pastor. Until he became one of them.an interview with Saul Cruz
To an outsider, Armonía Ministries looks like a remarkable example of local leadership in some of Mexico's poorest communities—a network of schools, medical clinics, and community centers led by community members themselves. And it is. But Armonía ("Harmony") is also a cross-cultural mission—not just because it welcomes short- and long-term volunteers from churches in the United States and Europe, but because its founders had to learn to cross daunting class and cultural barriers. Saul (pronounced sah-OOL) and Pilar Cruz founded Armonía in 1987 just as Saul, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology, was rising to prominence as a national leader in World Vision Mexico. As he describes in this interview with Christian Vision Project editorial director Andy Crouch, Armonía's story is one of unlearning many of his assumptions about success and significance.
It's a story that holds many lessons for anyone who would cross barriers of education and privilege—anyone who is asking the Christian Vision Project's question for 2007: What must we learn, and unlearn, to be agents of God's mission in the world?
When you began working with World Vision in Mexico City twenty years ago, how engaged were Protestant churches with the needs of the poor?In 1985 there were about a thousand Protestant churches—for a city that was estimated at that time somewhat over 8 million people—with an average of 60 members.
We took a socioeconomic map of Mexico City. At that time, 8 percent of the residents of Mexico City were wealthy, some of the wealthiest people in the world, in fact. Then 17 percent, at that time, were middle class; 75 percent were poor, most of them surviving on less than a dollar a day.
Then on this map that highlighted areas by income, we located the churches. Of 1,000 churches, 890 were located in middle-class neighorhoods. A few were among the wealthy—mostly serving not Mexicans but expatriates. Nearly all the rest were at the borders between poor and middle class neighborhoods. Almost none were located within poor neighborhoods.
Many churches are little islands that don't get involved with their neighbors.
So you had vast areas of Mexico City without any evangelical Protestant presence.
That must have been a disappointment.But I did discover a large church in one of the worst neighborhoods—a neighborhood without water, without paved roads, with very little electricity. This is it, I thought, the kind of church that mobilizes its resources to serve in a place where those resources are really needed. So I visited the pastor.
Walking into the compound, we found a paradise: green grass, sprinkled water, and nice cars. The pastor received me with great joy, took me to his office, and offered me coffee. He kept a very nice office!
I asked him how in the world his church had ended up here. I was expecting him to say, "I saw the need. I saw that we could have an effect."
He said, "You know, land is cheap here. If you protect the cars, you can have plenty of good parking spaces!"
What a unique perspective.Now, I must say that if you come to the United States, the picture is not so different. Many churches are little islands that really do not get involved with the neighbors. They don't realize that they can have an effect in the transformation of society.
What led you personally into this kind of ministry?My wife has always been my partner, my chief intercessor. When we got married, we had made a commitment to work among the poor. When I was making very good money and my career as a psychologist was taking off, we had left it all behind to start a school for disabled children in a poor community. But the more I got involved in my work with World Vision a few years later, the more distant she became.
The truth was that while there was plenty of love in our marriage, our postures towards the needy were becoming very different. While I was working on these grand national projects, she had gotten involved with people with cerebral palsy. She was always asking me, "When are you going to join us?" But I was too busy to work with her. After all, I was mobilizing churches to work among the poor!
One day she stopped me and said, "Listen. You're not the man I married. And I don't know why you have changed so much. But one of the reasons I married you is because you had this passion for the poor. And now you have a passion to become important."
"Well, listen," I said, "If I can influence the churches of Mexico, and if I can mobilize them—"
She said, "Influence the churches of Mexico? Who do you think you are? Luther or Calvin?"
Well. That started a huge conversation.
My wife and I have had those "conversations."We took a brief sabbatical and went away to wrestle with this. We fought and fought. Then one day she said: "I don't want to be mean, but I need to ask you. Do you really know how to work with the poor? Or do you just speak of the poor?"
I didn't have an answer. I could speak of the poor. I could show you books. I could call the rest of the world to work among the poor. But I personally wasn't working with the poor.
She said: "We need to learn. And if we don't learn, how can we call others to do it?"
That ended the argument. She won. Because she was right. We agreed to live in a slum of Mexico City and focus on working alongside the poor.
Now, for my wife, working with the poor was no big deal. She didn't want to be perceived as a power figure, somebody with access to money or who had an agenda for change, but just a neighbor. But for me, it meant disrobing from my sense of power, my place of safety. I started a little clinic—a place to serve the people and walk my children to school and talk to neighbors. And, oh, that was dreadful, because I was a neighbor—nothing more. Just a neighbor.
It's not "let's go transform these poor folks" but "let's see how they and we will be transformed."
My wife's approach, however, was amazingly effective. She connected with prostitutes who wanted to leave their profession, with mothers who had seen their children die because of drug addiction or drug selling, who wanted to change their environment. But I wasn't satisfied with my wife's approach. I felt powerless.
When a church nearby offered us the use of their buildings as a community center, I accepted.
Which sounds like a good opportunity.Exactly. It sounded perfect. We created a community center, and we started bringing people to church there. On Sundays we would wake up early and go to neighbors saying, "Wake up. Let's go to church. Let's read the Bible together and sing together. Come join us." It was becoming a real parade every Sunday. People singing in the streets, knocking on doors, offering coffee to neighbors, some of whom came to church in pajamas!
But I didn't notice that the church was taking it very poorly. The daughter of one of the leaders fell in love with one of the new Christians, a former leader of a street gang. The father cornered me after a service and said, "If my daughter marries this man, I'm going to kill him."
Then, one Sunday, I made a huge mistake. As I was preaching, one of the local women we'd worked with came in bleeding, wearing only one shoe. Her dress had been ripped, and she had been seriously beaten—clearly by a pimp. Our little son started to yell when he saw the blood, and grabbed his mommy, so my wife couldn't go and help her.
No one in the whole room moved toward her. So I stopped preaching, asked one of the deacons to continue the service, and I went over, took her by the hand, and asked my wife to follow me to my office. When we came out, having attended to her needs, the service was over, but a group of church leaders was waiting for me.
"You never abandon the pulpit for a woman like that," they said. "This is completely out of order!"
I should have known that the relationship was strained beyond repair. But for a few weeks we kept bringing people to church with us. We were usually late, which is not unusual in Mexico. But one week we came singing to the door of the church building. It was locked. This was strange. No one else was there.
I went back home and got my keys. I opened the door, went in—and it was completely empty. Not one chair. Not one bench. Absolutely clean.
They had taken out all the furniture?Everything. And on the floor was a note: "Saul, we understand that God is leading you in a different way. And we have decided to move. We have bought a piece of land and have built our own church, and you are on your own. If you can pay the bills, you can do it. Good-bye."
The people with us were crying, cursing, spitting—they felt so rejected by the church. We tried to carry on, but the next morning the owner of the building came. "Are you Mr. Cruz? I need you to vacate the premises."
I said I was willing to sign a contract. But he said, "No. The people who left said that you keep very bad company, and I should be careful of you."
"Yes, I'm in very bad company," I said. "That's very true. I'm with sinners all the time!"
That forced us to go to a piece of land we had been given in the middle of one of the worst slums, a garbage dump. In the lower areas, people were living among the sewage. They made islands in the sewage with dirt and sand and connected them with little bridges, and there was a huge network of manmade islands on top of the raw sewage of the city. We moved to a somewhat safer neighborhood and worked for three years to clean up that property and begin a ministry there. But it was so far from where we had been before that we were starting over entirely. For my wife that was not a problem. She would be happy to start working in the garbage dump.
But for me, it was getting rid of my sources of power more and more.
It sounds like your own sense of significance was stretched to the breaking point.Exactly. At the end of those three years, I said to my wife, "I need to quit. I want to go back to a regular church. I want to preach again. Here I'm being very ineffective. If you speak, women listen to you. When you read the Bible, women listen to you. They give you their children. You take them to hospitals. Even their husbands come and listen to you. But when I speak, they yawn or they leave. I'm not accepted the way you are. You are extremely effective. I think I've got to go elsewhere. I will support you. But I need a better job."
In my mind, I had become a nobody. I had graduated from university, had won academic prizes, and had a significant career. But in that neighborhood,
I was no one—and it was my fault. I hadn't learned to speak like them. My wife was speaking like them. I wanted them to understand me, and to listen to my way of speaking. Deep down, I was arrogant, and they could tell.
So I said to my wife, "Look, you're really the pastor here. I will support you. And I will be the husband of the pastor." We had such a war that night, a Saturday night. Our poor children had to listen to it all.
"Tomorrow," I said, "I'm going to start attending another church."
You're not the first pastor to have that idea. (Laughter.)On Sunday morning there was a knock on our door. It was my next-door neighbor, a middle-class man. He said, "Are you a counselor?"
Yes, I said.
"Please help me. I'm losing my marriage."
I almost told him, "I'm losing mine too—let's cry together!" But instead, my arrogance crept back in. Here was something I was an expert in! So I invited him in, and we talked for two hours. I was in my element. I felt useful. His wife joined us, and at the end of the conversation, they resolved to find a way to save their marriage. They were relieved and grateful.
Just as they were leaving they asked, "Do you go to church? Because we see you leave every Sunday dressed for church."
And my wife said, "Yes, we do, and he's the preacher."
And I said, "No, no. We have a community center in one of the slums of the city. It's muddy and smells bad because it's next to the garbage. And in fact, what I have is a little group of people who come and listen when my wife speaks and don't listen when I speak."
The couple said, "We want to go with you."
"Are you sure?" I asked. But they really did want to go. So they went with us that morning.
At church, as we were in the middle of a prayer, some people came running into the community center to say, "There's an emergency down at the corner!"
We ran to the corner and discovered that a huge cavern, perhaps eight feet deep, had opened up under the road. A new sewage system had been installed two years before, but it had been not been sealed properly. The sewage coming down the hill was washing away the sand under the road. The road was on the verge of collapse, and there was a danger that dozens of nearby houses would be swept away as well.
Someone called the city services, but they said it would take three days for them to come. It was clear that the road would collapse before then. We had no idea what to do.
Then I felt someone touch my shoulder and say, "Can I help?"
It was the neighbor who had come with me.
"No, no," I said. "Please, you must get out of here. You are our guest, and this situation is dangerous."
He said, "No, I know exactly what to do. I'm a mining engineer."
So he organized the neighbors to make sand bags, and he created a tower underneath the sewer pipes using the sand bags and wood that we took from our own building. We mobilized the whole neighborhood, stopped traffic, and put every man to work. He managed to put everything back in place.
What an extraordinary gift that he had come with you that day!Of course, it was also an awful mess. We were all completely covered in dirt, and worse. We started working about noon and finished at three in the morning the next day. We emerged from the pit and went back to our community center, probably two hundred men, and the women had heated water for us to wash. They took our clothing, and washed it as best as they could. It was cold and drizzling, and we were shivering, but at least we weren't smelling as bad as we were before.
And I started to cry. I said, "I'm sorry. But I need to pray. I need to thank God, because he just saved us. He saved you. He saved me. He sent this man, my neighbor, to help us, and he gave us one another to do the work. Can we pray?"
They said yes. So I put out my hands. They held my hands. We all knelt down, and I prayed.
When I stood up, I was their pastor. I could see it. From that day on, they respected me. From that day on, I became their pastor.
You see, being a pastor is about learning the language of love. People need to see you're for real—that you really care for them, that you're even ready to put your life on the edge for them. Suddenly my role in that neighborhood completely changed.
Does that story have implications for the way that anyone comes into a poor community?It's very easy for missionaries to make the mistakes I made. We build our churches on power. But we never earn the respect of people around us. And with power comes the fantasy that I know it all, that I'm the one with competence to "fix" the society I'm in.
But there's actually great resistance to people coming into a poor community assuming they know what the people there need. We have realized that when we go into a new community, we have to take the stance that we don't know anything. We know who we are, we say, but we don't know how to work here. So we are open. Teach us, please.
When we have groups from North America or Europe visit us, I never have an agenda for the group or for the community. Instead, when the group arrives, we ask the community, "What can you do together? Would you be willing to do something together?" And the answer may be we just want to play football with you, or we'd like you to teach us something about computers. Or it may be, we're good dancers. Would you like to learn to dance from us?
Visitors say, What? I came to save the world. I came to change the world. My pastor said that we were going to Mexico to change the world for Christ. And you ask me to learn to dance your folk dances?
But you know, they learn much more through this process than just by believing these fantasies that a one- or two-week so-called mission trip will save the world.
What could American churches learn that would help us be better partners for you in your mission?I think that the American church, which I love and I'm very grateful for, is often not very conscious of its language. You hear the language of "changing the world" from Americans all the time. Well, that has enormous implications for the rest of us! Why do these Americans want to change the world? Into what kind of world will they change it? Do they know better than us? Is that what they mean?
If you come to me, even with the best intentions, and say, "Saul, I came here to change your world,"
I will feel insulted. Because you don't know how much I love my own culture. I was born here because of God's decision, not mine. I grew up with our music, our colors, our rhythms.
When people come and say, "Oh, you're late because this is Mexico," I always think, Well, so what? Mexicans are laid back. And we love it!
And the same applies when I, as an educated person, go into the slums. When I talk to them, I have to do it locally, on the streets, in their homes, wherever. And I need to be sure we are creating a language of mutual understanding. We need to agree which things we need to focus our attention on changing, and for which things we can just say, "Thank you, God. What you have given us is beautiful as is."
Then, suppose we agree that one of the problems to address is that children are failing in their English classes. Now it would be easy to say, "Can I recruit someone from England or America to come and teach?" But first I should ask, "Is there a resource in the community?"
Someone may say, "My daughter studies English and she's doing well. She could teach the children." But perhaps she needs to work to support herself. Can the community band together to pay her? This kind of process is very different from coming in to "change the world." We don't want our neighbors to perceive us as their saviors—they should see us as their partners, their facilitators, their friends.
We pray, "Your will be done on earth as in heaven." Doesn't that imply changing the world?I would distinguish between "change" and "transformation." Change can come as a result of power. If you have power—the power of superior resources, technology, knowledge, or connections—you can bring a certain kind of change. But if you use power to put what you have down the throats of people, you never, never see them transforming. Instead you'll see them adapting. But there's something about "transformation" that implies a process that's not done to someone, but a process where we both start to create a new common language, a new common world, new common understanding.
So the transformation that needs to take place goes both ways.Exactly. It's not "Let's go transform these poor folks" but "let's see how they and we will be transformed!"
That's the strong language of love.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/004/9.52.html

Why Many Young Adults QuitOne in four young Protestants has walked away from the church.
About three-fourths of young people quit church. "Tell me something I don't know," you say.
Well, Lifeway Research (Southern Baptist) says they know the reasons why 70 percent of 18-year-olds who attended church regularly in high school quit by age 23: they don't like it. And by age 30, 34 percent still have not rebounded. That means one in four young Protestants has left the church.
On their laundry list of reasons: they wanted a break (27%), church is too judgmental (26%), they moved away to college (25%), busy with work (23%).
On the positive side, the 30 percent who kept attending church cited solid spiritual reasons, including: "it's vital to my relationship with God" (65%) and church "helps guide my everyday decisions" (58%).
Lifeway's Ed Stetzer blames the losses on sorry youth ministry: "Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza," Stetzer said. "There's no life transformation taking place. People are looking for a faith that can change them and be part of changing the world."
"Unless religious leaders take younger adults more seriously, the future of American religion is in doubt," said Bowling Alone author and sociologist Robert Wuthnow, whose new book, After the Baby Boomers, was published in September.
The proportion of young adults identifying with mainline churches is about half what it was a generation ago, and evangelicals have barely held their own, Wuthnow said.
Posted in the USA Today newspaper on August 6, 2007.

Husband as Leader, Husband as...Servant?

2008-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Husband as Leader, Husband as...Servant?
Greg Smalley, M.A.
But greatest among you shall be your servant.???Matthew 23:11
A few years ago, I discovered the tremendous value of serving my wife, Erin. While we were shopping, I asked Erin if there was anything that I could do for her. "Yes," she begged, "Can I please shop alone, without Taylor (our eighteen month old daughter) hanging on me?"
After several last minute instructions, Taylor and I set off in search of a massive bookstore I'd seen earlier. Once inside, Taylor and I discovered the biggest children's section we'd ever seen. There were mountains of books, and an enormous stage where the kids could play. It was the "Disneyland" of children's bookstores. Instantly, Taylor situated herself in the middle of the stage and began reading a book.
As Taylor and I interacted, I felt as if we were being watched. That's when I discovered I was the only father present. Surveying the room, I noticed several mothers smiling at me. A few moms even commented about what a precious daughter I had. "This servant thing," I thought to myself, "I'm on to something!"
Unfortunately, my celebrity status was short-lived. Because instantly, those mothers who'd been smiling now seemed disgusted with me. Trying to determine why the quick change, I noticed that Taylor was now playing with finger paint. "Brown finger paint?" I wondered. "Where did she get that?" Then it dawned on me. That wasn't paint!
Earlier that day, Taylor had developed a rash on her bottom. Consequently, the combination of her rash and a messy diaper, resulted in very itchy toddler. As a result of her scratching, Taylor "painted" some of the stage and several books with the contents of her diaper. To make matters worse, as we were trying to leave, I ended up having to purchase several more book than I had intended too buy.
The most interesting part of the experience, however, was when I told Erin about our daughter's artistic expression. Instead of lecturing me about messy diapers or leaving Taylor unattended, Erin simply thanked me for letting her shop alone. She even apologized for the humiliation I must have felt. I was right???this servant thing???I was definitely on to something!
What Does It Mean to Be a Servant?
The positive reaction I received from Erin, illustrates what can happen when you serve your mate: When you do something for your mate it motivates her to return the kindness. Erin's positive response was her way of serving me in return. When you serve your mate, it's essentially another way to communicate honor. Honor is defined as making the decision to attach "high value" to someone???to treat them as a priceless treasure in our lives. According to Dr. Gary Smalley, in his book, Love Is A Decision, "Honor [or service] is the single most important principle we know of for building healthy relationships. It's important for a husband and wife to begin applying it toward each other. The results of allowing 'honor' to reign can be dramatic and life-changing." (p. 20).
As we serve our spouses, we make them feel as if they're the most important thing to us. This is the essence of the second greatest commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:38).
Two Ways to Become a Servant In Your Marriage
1. Make A Commitment. The first way to become a servant is to make a commitment to serve your spouse. In I Peter 3:7 it says, "You husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect …" A great way to show consideration is to serve someone. Serving our mate needs to be a decision that we make every day. I encourage you to wake up each morning and think of several ways to honor your mate by serving him unconditionally. Imagine how different marriages could be if couples tried to out serve one another each day.
2. Personalize Your Service. Since each person interprets "service" differently, I encourage you to discover your mate's unique definition. Asking questions like, "How could I make you feel like a priceless treasure today?" or "How can I help out around the house?" should help you decide how to best serve your spouse.
If your desire is to have a significant impact upon your marital relationship, I encourage you to make service a daily occurrence. As this happens, you can become the type of person Christ spoke so highly of, "But greatest among you shall be your servant!"

2008-11-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

“LASTING LEADERSHIP”
Leadership - www.visionaryleaders.blogspot.com

EXODUS 18:1-27

Moses was a growing leader. He had 40 years of training in Egypt, 40 years in wilderness and now he’s training during active duty. He never stopped growing and learning and if we want to be leaders who last, then we must learn from those who have learned.

For me, I am not too much for those who teach but haven’t put into practice. It’s one thing to teach it and quite another to actually do it.

We get information here from a man who was one of the greatest leaders who ever lived. I personally don’t like learning things the hard (first hand experience of mistakes) way. I’m grateful God has given us examples in scripture and life we can learn from.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things. Peter Drucker

So what can we learn about leadership in this passage that will facilitate us in being leaders that last the duration of our call?

In this passage, there are four indispensable sustaining elements Moses grew to understand and put into practice.

I. THE PRIORITY OF FAMILY 18:1-6

Ex 4:25-26 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast [it] at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [art] thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband [thou art], because of the circumcision.

A. If your going to be married, Christian marriage is essential (they had a fight and temporarily separated over a biblical doctrine and requirement)

I’m sure his immediate fleshly need, due to his loneliness in the desert, prompted his to marry this gentile women. He only thought of the present not the future and as a result, in many ways, it brought him more pain than joy and fulfillment.

1Co 7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Mt 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,

B. Your walk with God and His hand on your life may be the key to your in-laws salvation (18:1,11-12)

C. Every child has his/her own unique giftedness and calling from the Lord

Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I’m sure Moses would have given anything to have his sons as his mentors rather than Joshua but that wasn’t what God had called them to be or do. Or it could be, they simply did their own thing and missed God’s best.

II. THE PRINCIPLE OF HUMILITY 18:7-10

Pr 16:18 Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Nu 12:3 (Now the man Moses [was] very meek, above all the men which [were] upon the face of the earth.)

Mt 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Lu 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Pr 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

A. He respected others 18:7

Jude 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling [words], having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

B. He recognized God as the source of his blessings 18:8

Pr 8:13 The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let [not] arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD [is] a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

C. He ascribed all the honor to the Lord for their victory 18:9-10

III. THE PROWESS (superior skill or ability) OF LISTENING 18:13-24 *17 & 19

There are three aspects of counsel to consider:

A. The Beneficiary - the Seeker

Ps 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

Ps 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Ps 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

B. The Basis - the Scripture 18:23

Mt 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

C. The Benefit - Success

Pr 18:15 The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

Pr 11:14 Where no counsel [is], the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors [there is] safety.

Pr 15:22 Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

Pr 20:18 [Every] purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

IV. THE PRACTICE OF DELEGATION 18:25-27

Blessed is the leader who seeks the best for those he serves.

ABLE 2428: chayil (khah-yil): virtue, substance, strength, power and efficiency

Mt 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

A. Every person should have the opportunity to utilize their gift(s) 18:20

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. William James

1Co 7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

B. It provides stability by affording organization; thus, each person knows his/her responsibility and lines of authority 18:21

1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Heb 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that [is] unprofitable for you.

Our God is a God of perfect symmetry - order and balance

C. It prevents burnout and gives ample opportunity for everybody to get ample rest. 18:17-18

Mr 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

D. Spiritual qualifications are essential for God to bless the work of His people regardless of the good intention of the leadership. 18:21 & 25

An army of a thousand is easy to find, but, ah, how difficult to find a general. Chinese proverb

E. God expects and has designed that men assume the main headship roles of leadership. 18:25 (This is the Devine design and order of the church and home)

F. Properly training, educating and mentoring is one of the primary responsibilities of every Christian. 18:20-21

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive it isn't.~ Richard Bach

Delegating work works!

Moses was a growing leader. He had 40 years of training in Egypt, 40 years in wilderness and now he’s training during active duty. He never stopped growing and learning and if we want to be leaders who last, then we must learn from those who have learned.

For me, I am not too much for those who teach but haven’t put into practice. It’s one thing to teach it and quite another to actually do it.

We get information here from a man who was one of the greatest leaders who ever lived. I personally don’t like learning things the hard (first hand experience of mistakes) way. I’m grateful God has given us examples in scripture and life we can learn from.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things. Peter Drucker

So what can we learn about leadership in this passage that will facilitate us in being leaders that last the duration of our call?

In this passage, there are four indispensable sustaining elements Moses grew to understand and put into practice.

I. THE PRIORITY OF FAMILY 18:1-6

Ex 4:25-26 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast [it] at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [art] thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband [thou art], because of the circumcision.

A. If your going to be married, Christian marriage is essential (they had a fight and temporarily separated over a biblical doctrine and requirement)

I’m sure his immediate fleshly need, due to his loneliness in the desert, prompted his to marry this gentile women. He only thought of the present not the future and as a result, in many ways, it brought him more pain than joy and fulfillment.

1Co 7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

Mt 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,

B. Your walk with God and His hand on your life may be the key to your in-laws salvation (18:1,11-12)

C. Every child has his/her own unique giftedness and calling from the Lord

Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I’m sure Moses would have given anything to have his sons as his mentors rather than Joshua but that wasn’t what God had called them to be or do. Or it could be, they simply did their own thing and missed God’s best.

II. THE PRINCIPLE OF HUMILITY 18:7-10

Pr 16:18 Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Nu 12:3 (Now the man Moses [was] very meek, above all the men which [were] upon the face of the earth.)

Mt 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Lu 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Pr 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

A. He respected others 18:7

Jude 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling [words], having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

B. He recognized God as the source of his blessings 18:8

Pr 8:13 The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let [not] arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD [is] a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

C. He ascribed all the honor to the Lord for their victory 18:9-10

III. THE PROWESS (superior skill or ability) OF LISTENING 18:13-24 *17 & 19

There are three aspects of counsel to consider:

A. The Beneficiary - the Seeker

Ps 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

Ps 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Ps 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

B. The Basis - the Scripture 18:23

Mt 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

C. The Benefit - Success

Pr 18:15 The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

Pr 11:14 Where no counsel [is], the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors [there is] safety.

Pr 15:22 Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

Pr 20:18 [Every] purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

IV. THE PRACTICE OF DELEGATION 18:25-27

Blessed is the leader who seeks the best for those he serves.

ABLE 2428: chayil (khah-yil): virtue, substance, strength, power and efficiency

Mt 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

A. Every person should have the opportunity to utilize their gift(s) 18:20

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. William James

1Co 7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

B. It provides stability by affording organization; thus, each person knows his/her responsibility and lines of authority 18:21

1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Heb 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that [is] unprofitable for you.

Our God is a God of perfect symmetry - order and balance

C. It prevents burnout and gives ample opportunity for everybody to get ample rest. 18:17-18

Mr 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

D. Spiritual qualifications are essential for God to bless the work of His people regardless of the good intention of the leadership. 18:21 & 25

An army of a thousand is easy to find, but, ah, how difficult to find a general. Chinese proverb

E. God expects and has designed that men assume the main headship roles of leadership. 18:25 (This is the Devine design and order of the church and home)

F. Properly training, educating and mentoring is one of the primary responsibilities of every Christian. 18:20-21

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive it isn't.~ Richard Bach

Delegating work works!

Our church recently needed to add an additional Worship Service. This was part of the discussion of whether to go to a 3-hour Schedule (8:00 Worship; 9:15 Sunday School; 10:30 Worship) or a 2-hour schedule (9:00 Worship & main Sunday School; 10:30 Worship & overflow Sunday School).

Reasons for 3 hour schedule
Worship area can be used as classroom
Minimal noise from Worship area during other classes
Pastor can teach Sunday morning class
Worship team can attend Adult Sunday School
More time for parking lot to clear between services (from those who do not attend Sunday School)
Allows opportunity for adults from both services to interact during Sunday School hour

Reasons against 3 hour schedule
Attendance
· How many people will actually get up for an 8:00 service?
· Probably won't relieve crowding in 2nd service Preschool class since 1st service so early (assuming some Preschool parents will attend a 9:00 worship, but few would go to a 7:45/8:00 service)
· Those who attend 1st service only never interact with 2nd service adults. Only those who attend 2nd service or Sunday School present for Fellowship Time.
Time
· Early start time on 1st Service – many people arrive late for 9:00 Sunday School
· Worship team starts practice at 6:45 am? (1 hour rehearsal ending 15 minutes before service)
· Long Morning for workers - 6:45 to 12:00 – others 7:30-12:15
· Additional 15 minutes "slack time" needed between Worship and Sunday School for margin/buffer
· Kids of some Ministry workers there 7:30 to 12:00 – may have to attend both services – burnout?
· Day even longer for teens attending afternoon groups
Workers
· Additional workers needed for 3rd Nursery / Preschool class (if offered)
· Additional hour of greeters/parking lot attendants
Space
· Already nearly out of room Sunday School hour - 3 hour schedule give no options for expansion in existing space since all classes meet same hour
· Middle hour - most crowded - people from both services. 3 hour doubles Worship space with no expansion of education space.