The Lift Project: Leading for Results: Character Traits

What does character have to do with results? Turns out according to Henry Cloud, “A lot!” Not just those character traits of hard work, commitment and courage. But just as important (perhaps even more so), those character traits that Peter lays out in 2 Peter 1:5-8, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Put those traits all together in your life combined with knowledge of Christ and His work, you are on the path to fruitfulness.

In the Lift Project: Leading for Results class I am learning there is a balance between monitoring numbers (in church world numbers often equal people) and the growth of one’s character, my character. When numbers start tracking down, something needs to be addressed. But with character something always needs to be grown and developed. Results come from more than hard work, even more than smart work. Eternal results, lasting results, comes from the Spirit’s work within us.

In the 4th week of our online  class were  2 videos to watch and other  online resources that provide some great questions to ponder:

Does the way I am glued together get in my way?

Do I have the make up to make the hard call?

What about the ability to guard the vision?

How result oriented am I? How do I measure those?

Then came the video on pruning. The challenge to make that hard call to let go of some stuff (even good stuff) to focus on the best. This is not just one area of leadership, but in dealing with strategy, meetings, policy, and time with people.

One leadership saying is that when the horse is dead, it’s time to dismount. But what about when the horse is alive though perhaps slowing down? Do I know when to move on to a new horse?

In reading chapter 9 this week from Integrity, I loved how Henry laid out the well known sequence: Ready. Aim. Fire. That makes sense.

Then why the temptation to always focus on ready, or to be more willing to simply fire instead of first aiming? Often the answer is Character.

Results are part of leadership, but character builds a strong leadership core especially with Jesus Christ at the center and the Holy Spirit’s work in one’s life.

Rachel Still Weeping for Her Children

One of the usually skipped over stories of Christmas is Herod’s killing of the innocents. The Wise Men come looking for the Christ Child. An old soon to die Herod goes looking for a young baby that he sees as a threat. To make sure there is no heir from Bethlehem, he kills all the young boys 2 and under. The Christ Child escapes, but Matthew lets us know the prophecy from Jeremiah of “Rachel weeping for her children” (Matthew 2:18)

Rachel Weeping by Charles Willson Peale via Wikimedia Commons

The events of the past week, shootings in a mall in Oregon, in a school in Connecticut, those 5 million children a year who die of preventable causes like Malaria, malnutrition, dehydration, and those children who never get a breath of oxygen in their lungs due to abortion. Rachel is still weeping.

Evil is ugly, Evil is real. Evil is still at work in this world. We see its horror before us, and so does God.

The answers to why are elusive. The answer to who to turn to is clear. We need a Savior. We all need the Savior.

Advent is a time to remember His coming. He has come. He still comes. He is with us. He is Emmanuel. For our God is with us. He knows the pain of the death of innocents, they are part of His story as they have become part of ours.

May we continue to remember His greater story amid the pain of our own. He is the source of hope. He is the One who dies for all. He is the one who will come back one day and lead His followers to a place of no more sorrow, no more pain, no more tears, and no more death.

Our God is with us. May His peace, His presence, and His comforting power be with all who mourn. May our hearts be touched with His love, and share that love with others amid the tears.

Today like every other day is a great day to hug your child, to give thanks for His love, and to follow in the steps of the One who came to this world to give His life for all.

Longing for Daniel Type Leaders Today

Coming out of the recent election cycle and now facing the infamous “fiscal cliff”, I find myself longing for a Daniel type leader. Reading through the Bible this year recently led me through the book of Daniel. His leadership style is needed in our day. He navigates through diets and lions den, delivering messages the king would love to hear and loathe to hear. He’s not it in for fortune or fame. He is in it by faith, for faith and through faith.

Consider this Daniel is an exile and rises up in the ranks of leadership. He doesn’t compromise his faith, but lives it out “faithfully” and with a witness that provides an out for his guard and a greater opportunity to glorify God. He leverages his gift of dream interpretation but more as a witness for what God can do (and will do) than what Daniel has done.

Daniel’s Answer to the King by Briton Rivière [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

When there is a succession of leaders, he still answers the call of duty to literally read the handwriting on the wall. The message is not comforting, but confronting. He doesn’t mince words, doesn’t hold back, but affirms lessons that should have learned and next steps that will happen.

Then comes a regime change, and again Daniel leverages his leadership to serve and to boldly declare the God He ultimately serves. He prays regularly and faithfully. He records what he knows and works in faith with what he doesn’t know. He’s a humble hero of the faith.

Sounds like the kind of leader and even better kind of leaders we could use today.

As you think of the qualities of Biblical leadership, what examples from Daniel’s life inspire you to “bring it” today?

Thank You Critics!

Thank you critics? You might think that I’m punctuation challenged, shouldn’t it be thank you critics? In reflecting on various types of criticism after reading Proverbs 27, I realized God at times brings great blessing even amid life’s critics. Here’s 4 lessons I have picked up along the way:

1. Friends who are critics. These criticisms come from the heart of a friend as Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” Thank you that you seek to bring out the best in me, and your desire is that God’s desire be fulfilled in my life.

2. Friendly foes who are critics. You teach me we can disagree without being disagreeable. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.” Thank you that you help me re-examine my priorities and keep them aligned and realigned with God’s will for my life.

Thanks to WikimediaCommons for Escaping Criticism by Pere Borrell del Caso

3. Enemies who are critics. You teach me to lean into Jesus, to see if I can follow his command from Matthew 5:44 to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Your words stung. We disagreed. In some instances you cursed, but Jesus called for a blessing. Thank you for teaching me the hidden power of Jesus words that make no sense in the midst of a conflict. I discovered great freedom and peace in praying for God to bless you. I was amazed when He did, and even more amazed the blessings He gave me in the process of leaning into Him.

4. Fighting foes who are critics. You teach me the wisdom of Nehemiah’s leadership in Nehemiah 6:3, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Thank you for teaching me that sometimes I have to move on and leave you to God’s care and get back to the good work He has called me to do. Jesus died to save everybody, but I cannot reach everyone for Him. I pray He sends someone else to do the job I was unable to do. I will pray for Him to bless you, but I must get back to the great project, the good work He has called me to do.

Thank you critics, I pray for God to bless you with His love and peace. Thank you for how He has used you to teach me and transform me.

So what lessons is God teaching you through your critics?

Book Review: Spiritual Influence by Mel Lawrenz

I had high expectations when I picked up a copy of Spiritual Influence by Mel Lawrenz. I had listened to his podcast years ago when he interviewed Christian author and teachers. By his questions I knew he was insightful, his ministry journey in following Stuart Briscoe I knew he knew leadership transitions. In reading his weekly posts in the Brook Network I had seen how he understood influence.

I had high expectations for this book and they were met, but not as I expected. When an author says there will be no personal anecdotes, I go oh oh. Then I read the following statement because there are so many other compelling stories.

Some books you zip through either on a long plane flight or an afternoon in a comfortable chair. This book is great to read a chapter a day and let it brew, give time to ponder, to think and to grow.

The book has a complimentary web site at TheInfluenceProject.com. I checked it out after I read the book, I’d recommend you check it out before. The web site provides “The Personal Inventory“, a place to rate how you are doing on each chapter. I wish I had that with me when I read each chapter.

My one suggestion for the book would be to add some questions to guide reflection in processing the compelling stories from life today and from the pages of the Bible.

Where some leadership books you pick and choose the chapters you read, this one is best read all the way through. The 4 parts from getting grounded to taking initiative to going deep to facing challenges are worth the daily investment over a month to look at influence (a word Mel uses in some ways interchangeable with leadership). Too often leadership gets caught up in position, leadership at its best looks at the influence we all have in life and how that is leveraged even more when we follow God’s influence in and through our leadership.

My favorite part of the book are chapters 12-14 that show the relationship between receive power, accept authority, and promote truth. He ties the dynamic of the three together, and makes it unique with the promote truth perspective.

Though the book did not have any of Mel’s personal anecdotes, the stories were indeed compelling and greatly appreciated.

I give the book 5 out of 5 stars. For those looking for a great leadership training resource and discussion tool, the bite size chapters provided good  food to chew on and even better to grow one’s leadership. It’s a tool I will pick up again and again, and look forward to sharing with those on my leadership team.

The Lift Project: Shaping Culture: Pruning Time

“What is some good stuff that needs to be pruned, stick stuff that we’ve not been dealing with, or dead stuff that needs to go?” That question from the Henry Cloud videos  in this 7th and last week of Shaping Culture class in the LIFT Project  is one that will stick with me.

It’s also a question not to ask once, but to be revisited on a regular basis.

In video 1, Henry dealt with “pruning” basics.

1. You prune when the bush produces more buds or a vine more branches then it can handle.

What are the good things in your life that are for a different season, not for today, but for tomorrow?

2. You prune what is sick, but not getting well.

As Henry points out, “Great leaders have the ability to cut losses before they lose everything. Peter Drucker considered this an essential leadership skill for great leaders — the principle/ability to abandon.

3. You prune dead branches in the way, blocking other branches from growth.

That one seems obvious. Easy to see when it comes to gardening, too often a bit more challenging in ministry.

One man’s dead branch in ministry is another’s sick, but getting well. Then there’s the challenge of knowing is this the season for this good work or is it for tomorrow.

That leads back to Henry’s question, “What is some good stuff that needs to be pruned, stick stuff that we’ve not been dealing with, or dead stuff that needs to go?” He says this is not merely a leadership exercise to do once, but as a regular habit. It’s not just the question for the leader to ask, but for team input as well.

Video 2: Pruning Moment

In the 2nd video Henry built on the pruning image to talk about the “pruning moment”. That’s the moment you own the situation. You come to the conclusion, “If I don’t prune this, my tomorrow will not reach the vision God has given me.”

It’s a stewardship issue. If I don’t prune what God has given me to prune, that will hinder the growth he wants. By keeping connected what today needs to be pruned, you impact what God desires to do tomorrow. (Yes, the Holy Spirit can work a miracle, but I was wisely advised is when the Holy Spirit wants to work a miracle, let Him work it. But the best ministry strategy is not “pray for a miracle” at the desperation point. Better to pray along the way, thanking the Holy Spirit the biggest miracle is He works through you and me.)

So here’s some questions Henry gives to face the pruning moment, to own it and to follow through with the pruning you know (and everybody else knows) needs to be done.

What have you been tolerating that you need to prune in order to move forward?

Going forward, how difficult do you sense it will be to create some necessary endings?

And if pruning is a challenge, then ask — what experiences in your life made you overly concerned about how people respond?

One of Henry’s suggestion to develop a pruning ability is to have people who hold you accountable to prune (that’s why these are not only individual questions, but team questions in ministry). These are also questions for myself, what do I need to prune from my life for further growth? And perhaps even more, when will I prune?

So what do you need to prune for further growth? And who do you need to be having the “prune” conversation with today?

The next round of classes in the Lift project start September 17th, check out the courses and register here.

Can You Answer 5 Great Questions from God?

Michael Hyatt says, “Questions are powerful tools. They can ignite hope and lead to new insights. They can also destroy hope and keep us stuck in bad assumptions. The key is to be intentional and choose our questions well.”

While walking the other day, I thought about the questions God asks us and came up with 5 from the Bible. Set aside some time to spend  with God and see what answers the Holy Spirit speaks into your heart.

Coronado — A Great Place to Ponder the Questions of Life

Question 1: Where are you? (Genesis 3:9)

Adam and Eve stumble in the Garden of Eden. What God said not to do, they do. They end up hiding from God, and God asks, “Where are you?” Part of solving any problem is first realizing whether you are headed in the right direction or not. Sometimes to get to where I want to go, I need to know where I am. Even tougher I admit, I am not in the right place. Repentance is to confess I am headed in the wrong direction, and I need to turn around.

Question 2: What are you doing here? (1 Kings 19:9, 13)

This one is such an important question of the burned out prophet Elijah, God asks him twice, “What are you doing here?” On the fast track of life, it’s good to come up for air and to listen to God, listen to your heart. Am I still on purpose? What am I accomplishing? How did I end up in this place? Do I know what is happening in my life and why? What am I doing here?

Question 3: Who do you say I am? (Matthew 16:15)

Jesus asks this question of his disciples. His initial question is “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” His important question for his disciples and for us is, “Who do you say I am?” That answer has eternal implications. The right answer speaks of Jesus as the Son of God, and seeks to understand what that means for life. Americans tend to define God in their own image, God  invites us to see who He is in the image of Jesus — His life, death and resurrection.

Question 4: What do you want me to do for you? (Mark 10:51)

Jesus asks this question of blind Bartimaeus. The obvious answer has to be, “I want to see.” And for Bartimaeus that is the answer he gives. Yet Jesus still asks him the question. He still asks us as well, “What do you want me to do for you?” I find praying through this question seeks to clarify what I am pursing in life and what my desires are in life.

Question 5: Why do you look for the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5)

Technically this is a question the angels ask the women who come to the empty tomb on Easter. God sends the angels and the message, so I give Him credit for the question. When I look at how to answer this question it invites me to look at my priorities — am I pursuing that which gives life or am I trying to find life in those things that lead to death?

I’m still working on my list of 5 questions, and need your help. As you read the Bible what questions do you discover God asking? What answers is He giving you today?

The Discipleship of Noah?!

Sharon and I have joined a “huddle” (a discipleship small group-ish), and we are all assigned verses to look at, then read and say this is how I see discipleship at work. Everyone in the group gets verses from the New Testament except me.

My assignment is  a few verses from Genesis 6. I want to raise my hand and say, “Hey, Peter, Paul, John, Andrew, Barnabas, none of them are in that verse.” And I’m kind of certain I’m reading the flood account of Noah.

Noah's Sacrifice by Daniel Maclise / US Public Domain

Sure enough Genesis 6:9 says, “This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”

Then it hit me, Genesis 6:9 lays out Noah’s discipleship in reverse order. Moses tells the story starting with the result of Noah’s discipleship, then his community influence, and ending with the beginning key. If I were to put them in chronological order, it would look like this:

1. He walked faithfully with God.

An unheard of occurrence in his day, and a rare occurrence in our day. The foundation of Noah’s discipleship (and our’s) is walking faithfully with God. Such a walk leads Noah to hear God’s voice to build an ark when as that great theologian Bill Cosby says that Noah then asked, “What’s an ark?” And God told him.

2. Blameless among the people.

Walking faithfully with God leads you to walk blameless with people. Is Noah perfect? Not so much, especially later in Genesis. Noah does know to turn to God, to deal with sin issues in Genesis 8. Walking faithfully with God leads Noah to be blameless among the people.

3. A Righteous Man.

One who walks faithfully with God and is blameless among the people sounds like a great definition of a righteous man.

Discipleship at its best leads to walking faithfully with God, and being blameless among the people.  Jesus describes this as loving God and loving others. Such followers of Christ we need to raise up today and all together pursue with God’s grace to be who God desires to make us to be in Christ.

Pays to keep learning. Genesis 6:9 reminds me discipleship is not merely a New Testament phenomenon. Great disciples like Noah are around in the Old Testament as well. Who in the Old Testament is inspiring your walk with God today?

Book of Ruth: Persevering with God from Pleasant to Bitter to Pleasant Again

We praise the patience of Job, but how about the perseverance of Naomi? True confession I have read the book of Ruth at least 30 times, and each of those 30 times up to this year, I have not come away a big fan of Naomi. The book’s named after Ruth, she’s the heroine. She’s the star.

Reading through the Bible this year left me with a greater appreciation for Naomi. In the space of 5 verses, Naomi experiences a famine, a move out of her home country for at least two years, the death of her husband, the death of both her sons. 5 quick verses to read, 5 times of tragedy, of suffering. The only times of pleasure listed is the marriage of both her sons. Though they die, the daughter-in-laws’ live, and in the case of Ruth becomes an advocate for Naomi.

Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah by William Blake 1795 U.S. Public Domain

If you check the footnotes as you read through the book of Ruth (and you should check the footnotes), you discover that Naomi’s name means “pleasant”. But when she comes back to her home town Bethlehem from her 5 tragedies and 10 plus years in Moab, the city is stirred, they wonder if it is Naomi that they see?

She replies, “Don’t call me Naomi … Call me Mara.” While Naomi means “Pleasant,” Naomi means “Bitter.” She then says, “The LORD has afflicted me.” (Ruth 1:20-21)

So why the admiration of Naomi? Because whether she is pleasant or bitter or anywhere in between, she still holds on to the Lord.

By the time you reach Ruth 3, Naomi is actively searching for a home for Ruth — a path that will lead to Boaz, that will lead to Christ. Naomi worked through her bitterness, and she did it with belief in the LORD, even when she felt a bitter hand was being played.

By Ruth 4, Naomi’s friends are telling her how pleasant her life is with a daughter-in-law worth 7 sons. The LORD she has trusted in from pleasant to bitter to pleasant has proven faithful once again.

Don’t know today if your life is pleasant or bitter or somewhere in between, but hang in there with the patience of Job and the perseverance of Naomi.

Judges: God Can Make Anyone a Leader

Reading through the Bible in a year has brought me to the book of Judges.  For many Judges comes across as a bloody, brutal book that reveals what happens when “everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6). The book seems like an endless cycle of despair. Israel forgets, Israel falls, Israel cries out and God sends Judges. The cycle is repeated 7 times, and gets worse every time. Still God delivers.

What amazes me in this book is not only God’s patience and forgiveness, but His knack to make leaders out of anyone and anybody. Ehud in Judges 3 comes off as the left-handed judge. Literally the Hebrew says Ehud has something wrong with his right hand. No problem for God, he turns Ehud into a left handed warrior and a leader is born. God can make anyone a leader.

Deborah is a woman, not a great thing to be if you want to be a leader in the Old Testament. But Deborah leads the way. She’s not only a judge, she’s a prophetess. She even writes her own song, her own chapter in the Bible. God can make anyone a leader.

Deborah the Prophetess' interpretation by Gustave Doré U.S. Public Domain

Gideon’s name means “the one who sits down.” Not really a name that will bring fear to one’s enemies. Ever heard of a leader called “the Great Sitter”? Gideon even sees himself as the bottom rung of the ladder — least clan of the tribe, least member of the family. Gideon can’t go any lower, but God can make anyone a leader and he turns in Gideon into a “Mighty Warrior.”

Out numbered 4 to 1, the odds in God’s eyes are not fair. So God takes Gideon’s band of warriors to being outnumbered 450 to 1, still not fair when God is on your side. God can make anyone a leader.

That’s the leadership hope I find in the book of Judges, God can make anyone a leader — Samson, the lustful strong Judge. Jephthah, the illegitimate saving judge. A whole series of minor judges who are listed but whose stories are not well known. What is known from Judges is God can make anyone a leader.

That gives me hope. For what God did in Judges is what God still can do today. In a world where everyone does as they see fit. We still need to cry out to God to deliver, and to still believe God can make leaders out of anyone. And here’s the best part, that anyone includes you and me.

Whatever is holding you back. Whatever is your physical weakness or spiritual failure, don’t give up. We still need leaders and God can still use you. That’s where I am finding hope in the book of Judges. How about you, who is your favorite Judge / Deliverer in the book of Judges? And perhaps even more important where is God calling you to lead? You are one of the anyone’s He’s making into a leader.