uncomfortable

I received this statement about leadership from Kristy Mosel, our student pastor’s wife this morning and I thought, “How true.”  It is from Seth Godin’s site  and here it is. “Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.”

Leadership is very discomforting because there is always a new problem facing you.  I have never been the kind of person to sit back and talk about problems.  There is something inside of me that I feel responsible to help.  Sometimes that is a gift and sometimes it is a curse.  Leadership is all about problems. If there were no problems, there would be no need for leadership.

Stockbridge Community Church is a place that develops leaders that are willing to be uncomfortable in order to bring comfort to others.  Next Sunday over 80 people will be led through discomfort by giving blood.  For every pint of blood, three lives will be saved. That is 240 people’s lives saved.

Next week we will have over a 150 people leading and willing to be uncomfortable by serving as ushers, greeters, singers, student workers, children workers, nursery workers, parking lot attendants, bulletins stuffers, small group hosts and on and on the list goes.

That’s what makes this church great, people willing to be discomforted in order to help someone else.  That my friends, is the best leadership you can give.

Jesus was the greatest leader.   Listen to what he says about himself.

Mark 10:45 (NIV)   For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

Leadership Secrets

Yesterday I was paid one of the greatest compliments I have ever been given.  Someone said, “You were gone two weeks and we didn’t even miss you.”  Now that may not sound like a great compliment to you, but it is to a leader.  In other words, this person was saying, “We missed you, but nothing was lacking in our church services.”

She said, “I have been to churches and when the pastor wasn’t there, the people didn’t show up and the service was a train wreck, but that was not the case when you and Rhonda were gone.”  The band was great and the young lady leading the music was great.  She paused and said, “What a great speaker Chesnee is and Ricky was dynamic with his message.  You have two people who can step up.  You are blessed.”   I replied, “I know. They have been with me for years and are people that have helped us mold SCC to be the authentic, loving church we are.  It is a called unity in our staff and in our church that it keeps moving in one direction no matter who is speaking.”

She was just taken aback by how smooth things moved every week we were gone. She didn’t know that I have nothing to do with that.  Every week Pam Salter and Doug House make the services run smoothly.  “The drama was off the chart,” one person said.  Diane Carden does such a passionate job with our Drama team. 

Real leadership is getting people to see their God given talent and encouraging them to use it for the greater good of mankind and building up God’s people.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”

Philippians 1:27

Upcoming posts:

Thy will be done in heaven, my will be done on earth
Humility is a lesson that life teaches all of us
Anger is to be talked about and not acted out!

stop looking in the mirror

I have been reading a book called, True North, by Bill George.  It is a book about becoming an authentic leader.  One of the statements that he makes in the book about leadership is, “the role of leaders is not to get other people to follow them, but to empower others to lead.”

I think we spend way too much time in our life trying to get people to have confidence in us and not enough time getting people to have confidence in themselves.  I have experienced this a lot in my life.  I spent the first fifteen years of my adult life trying to convince myself and others I was a confident leader and they should follow me.  That is what I was thought leadership was all about….to get people to follow you.  I don’t think that way anymore.  I realize that real leadership is getting people to see the potential in themselves through the work of Christ in their life.

The Bible says that when we become Christians, all things become new. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

The only problem we all have with believing this verse is that when we look in the mirror all we see is that person who made all the mistakes of our past.  It is very hard getting passed the face that we have looked at for years in the mirror, and has represented our old sinful life, and think, “I am different.”

Here is the secret to moving forward.  Stop looking in the mirror for your identity, look in the Bible for it.  When you look in the Bible we see that our identity is not in my physical appearance anymore, but in Jesus.

You will never feel different about yourself until you start seeing your self differently and that does not happen by looking in the mirror.  It only reminds us of our past, but the Bible tells us through our relationship with Jesus we are made new and it starts in our thoughts, then moves to our attitudes and show up in our actions.

Naturally Good

I have been listening to a John Maxwell leadership CD and I have found some of the things he has said to be very true.  One thing that he said was that “People don’t change much.  Don’t waste your time trying to put in something that was left out.  Try to draw out what was left in.”   All I can say to that is amen, amen, amen.  I, for years have tried to help people be something they’re not.  Like, I have tried to get a person who didn’t like to be up front, to be an up front person.   I tried to get people to lead who were not leaders.  I have even tried this with my own wife.  I tried to convince Rhonda that she could be a great Sunday School teacher.  Well, she did it for a while and did a good job, but she was miserable.  I have always tried to convince people they really could do whatever even if they didn’t really like to do it.

 

Wisdom has finally shown up thanks to Chesnee Dorsey and we have a class at Stockbridge Community Church called, “The 301 class” to help people discover what they like to do and what is in their heart.  I have found that my job as a husband, parent, employer, and pastor is help people draw out of their heart what God is put in them, never try to get them to be something that they are not.

 

John Maxwell said it this way, “the single most important lesson any parent, leader, coach or friend can ever grasp: I can make you more than you are, I just can’t make you something you’re not!”

 

We are to draw of out of people what God has put in and not try to drive in to people what I think God left out.  That one statement can change your marriage and every relationship you have.  The bottom line, quit trying to change people and encourage them in areas that they are naturally good at.

 

Is there anyone else besides me guilty in this area?

 

The Question Pt.2

I read something last week that I would like to share.  It is from the book “The Question Behind the Question,” by John Miller.   He talks about what real leaders look like in a family, business, church or any situation.  Here is what he said, “Leaders are not problem solvers.  Leadership is not about covering for people, taking on their duties and responsibilities, or doing it all by yourself.  That is not a service to others; it is a disservice to everyone.  When a manager steps in and closes the sale, when project leaders carry the team’s ball, when parents clean the child’s room-it teaches nothing positive and adds no real value.”

 

Leaders are not problem solvers but problem givers.  They let others tackle the problem, design their own solutions, and take action.  How else can people learn?  How else can leaders serve?”

 

As I read that and thought to myself, I am guilty of not being a very good leader at home or work at times.  I have always taken a great deal of pride in being a problem solver.  So now is the time to take inventory of who is around you, ask the question who can help me solve this problem.  I leave you with the scripture I left you with last Friday.  Proverbs 16:18 (NCV)   Pride will destroy a person; a proud attitude leads to ruin.

 

I never thought trying to do it all myself was a form of pride, but it is.