This makes TJ Addington’s recent blog post very timely. Take a moment to reflect on his advice:
Clarity is rare these days. We are bombarded with information, our schedules are overloaded, and we can get bogged down with too many choices. This makes TJ Addington’s recent blog post very timely. Take a moment to reflect on his advice: Practices That Help Leaders See Clearly All of us want to see the issues of life clearly and this is nowhere more important than for leaders whose actions, perceptions and decisions impact teams and organizations. This does not happen automatically as the busyness of life, demands of leadership and lack of appropriate margin often cloud out clarity leaving us seeing through a clouded rather than a clear lens.
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Creativity does not come naturally. New ideas, solutions, and approaches to problem-solving require times of solitude and reflection. In short, you need time to think. Margaret Wheatley, an author and consultant in the field of strategic planning, summed it up best: “innovation requires thinking and thinking requires time.” So assuming you have set aside some time to think, what do you do with that time? Below is a formula for innovative problem solving. It includes four questions made up of just eight letters: Me?– the personal question It? – The structural question Us? – The relational question Ah!? – The strategic question When I first started as the pastor of my previous church, The First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton (EV Free) in 1995, the church was a healthy one. It had previously been lead by a nationally known and respected leader, Charles Swindoll. Pastor Chuck and his team had done a great job growing a strong, healthy church. In fact, other churches even modeled many of their programs after the successful ministries at EV Free. So why did I come in and insist on change? Below are my 10 reasons that even healthy churches need change: I’ll get to it…next year. It’s Christmas time, which means the year is coming to an end and 2014 is about to start. This is the month when we tend to put projects on hold to make room for stuffing stockings, wrapping presents, and attending a plethora of holiday parties. It’s also the time of year that we reflect on the previous 12 months and gear up for the next 12. I’m not just talking about cheesy new years resolutions and weight-loss goals; I’m talking about our jobs, ministries, and churches. As leaders, 2014 holds new battles, new challenges, and new goals for our ministries and organizations. So don’t just stumble in to January, prepare your flock to engage the new year like Joshua prepared the Israelites to engage for battle and take possession of their promised land. So how exactly did Joshua (and God) prepare his people for battle? Let’s take a look at Joshua, Chapter 5. It certainly wasn’t the typical battle preparation of rest, time with family, and the sharpening of weapons. He took a more unconventional approach and started by circumcising all his men. He followed that painful experience with the Passover ritual before God dried up their food source (Manna), and lastly he encountered God and joined His team. We can learn from this as we prepare our flocks for this next year of ministry in 2014: *Choice 8 of 10 in the Take Back Your Life blog series Paradoxically, the urgent is seldom important, and the important is seldom urgent. In order not to get distacted by the unimportant, but urgent responsibilities, we need to learn the discipline of focus. Florence Chadwick learned this the hard way. Florence was born in 1918 and started swimming at a very young age. At age 10, she became the first person to swim the San Diego Bay channel. A few years later, she became the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. And on July 4, 1952, she set out to swim the twenty-mile distance from Catalina Island to the coast of California. Florence got an early start that morning. Even though it was summer, the water was cold, the weather was chilly, and a heavy fog hung in the air. Part way into her journey, some curious sharks began to follow her. People in a nearby boat—including her mom—fired gunshots into the water to scare off the sharks. Chase A Better Dream *Choice 5 of 10 in the Take Back Your Life Blog Series My former professor, mentor, and friend, the late Dr. Howard Hendricks warned, "When your memories are more exciting than your dreams, you’ve begun to die.” How often do you limit your dreams by setting standards based on your best memories? I often find myself happy to simply maintain and hold my ground. My pride says, “I’m good enough.” But according to Hendricks, that’s not dreaming, that’s dying! God wants my dreams to always be more exciting than my memories. So think bigger, God-sized dreams. Think beyond your own capabilities, and with patience and grace, rely on God’s strength and ability to carry you through. God’s dream for every one of us is to remake us into new creatures, new creations of grace, shaped into His image. God has no desire to wait until heaven to fix our lives and us. He wants the transformation to start now! So where do you start? What makes a good dream? Here are some guidelines to help you as your set your goals. Let God Be God *Choice 2 of 10 – A continuation of the Take Back Your Life blog series. You are about to head down a dark, dangerous, and curvy road. In your car, you have someone who has driven it before and knows the road, who designed the car and knows its capabilities, and who has a vested interest in getting you and the car to your destination safely. Do you still take the driver's seat? Or do you let that person take control of the wheel? The answer is obvious, yet in life we often try to maintain control when we should be surrendering to God, the one who knows the way, knows our limitations, has the resources we need, and cares for us deeply. When you let God be God, you give Him the opportunity to give you back your life and help you live it as He designed it to be lived. God wants to enrich your life, not take from it. He wants to make your life more abundant, but He won’t force His blessings upon you. Even if you know this, it can still be difficult to put into practice. So when you struggle to relinquish control, remind yourself of these 4 reasons why you should let God be God: Climb Down The Ladder To Success *Choice 1 of 10 - a continuation of the Take Back Your LIfe series started last week Have you been striving to climb the “ladder of success” without ever reaching the top? Try climbing down and you might be surprised at what you find. Jesus continually introduces a paradigm for success that contradicts conventional wisdom. In Matthew 20:26, He gives us the humility paradox: “…whoever wishes to be great among you, shall be your servant.” Notice that He doesn’t say humility will just make you nice; He says it will make you great. Want more proof that humility is the way to greatness? 10 Choices To Get Control Of Your Life Again Are you overloaded, always busy, always trying to “catch up,” and constantly living for the weekend? If so, you’ve probably lost control of your life. Don’t mistake the prevalence of these symptoms in so many people’s lives as an indication that this is “normal.” The problem with most people’s lives today is that their lives are too fast, too complex, out of control, and overloaded. And as a result, their potential impact for the Kingdom of God is underutilized. This is not God’s design for our lives. God wants us to surrender control of our lives to him, but how can we surrender control of that which we do not possess? We need to first take back control of our lives from the circumstances, people, obligations and desires that seek to possess us. Below is a brief overview of 10 choices you can make to take back control of your life and give it to God. God is the owner and you are the steward; we often see this principle taught in regards to money. The most common scripture referenced is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-29. In this passage, Jesus teaches us that we are to be wise stewards of the money God has entrusted to us and that we don’t actually own anything. Rather, we have been given stewardship or management over God’s resources and he expects a return. But the principle of good stewardship applies to more than just money. |
AuthorI am Dale Burke, a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, husband, dad and grandpa, leadership consultant, senior pastor for 30+ years and a pastor to pastors. Archive
May 2014
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