Leadership of Self and Others – Removing Barriers Releasing Potential

PASSION for EXCELLENCE

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own”.

A Passion for Excellence is a phrase that describes the strong desire of a person to do what is outstanding, extraordinary and remarkable, following a continuous path of trying to live an excellent productive life.

I can hear people say, I’m human and I make mistakes so I cannot always strive for excellence I make mistakes aren’t we all like this. So let me challenge us all by remembering that once we accept Christ as our Lord and saviour, presumably we then accept Luke 9 v 23 Then he said to the crowd, ´If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me´.

So when Jesus says we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily, He is speaking about “dying to self”, not dying physically on a cross, but dying to our own selfish desires, to do the will of God…. daily. A Christian life is a life of surrender and sometimes sacrifice, but also an adventurous journey.

Imagine Jesus is standing right by you now, WOW goosebumps all over, well wouldn’t we be filled with passion, excitement and want to do our very best for Him, I personally don’t always get it right however I do try.

People with a passion for Christ want to follow him. They want to learn as much as possible about Him, his teachings, and His commands. Passionate Christians love Christ. If you’re passionate for Christ, you desire to grow in your faith and want to have biblical fellowship with other believers. On the flipside the amazing thing is that God is passionate about having a relationship with each and every one of us.

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Time to end myopic leadership

Why this subject, simply that some leaders I have personally come across in the church, don’t lead, they dictate.

This is not about a person’s faith nor their relationship with God, it is about the lack of leadership skills, an inability to communicate effectively (it’s not about a sermon) and understand people and the lack of ability to transform a church into an effective body.

A leader in my view should take the lead from Moses how he coached Joshua to lead, developing him in order that he grew, in this case to lead Israel into the Promised Land. Also Nehemiah how he used what we call now action centred leadership to bring people together in order to build the walls of Jerusalem These two simple examples are in total opposition to what I have witnessed, leaders, holding on to the first part of Hebrews 13:17 “obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them”, woe betide anyone who suggested that there is another way for they found themselves ostracized and as the some of the worst leaders in history have said “ there is only one way, my way”!! Update, it is still in the church today and has no place in the church today.

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Be strong and courageous

A brief blog about being strong and courageous, be it we are leading ourselves or others, simply we just need faith and being confident in who we are in Christ.

Examples of courageous leadership are the stuff of legends and movies. In the film Brave Heart, the portrayal of William Wallace by Mel Gibson, Wallace’s stirring words to his fearful followers, quaking in the presence of the English army, “They may take away our lives, but they’ll never take away our freedom,” were coupled with a willingness to lead his men into battle. His courage inspired and fortified the resolve of his countrymen ultimately leading to a routing of the English forces.

Are You Living A Life Of True Significance?

Following on from my last post on Nehemiah I thought that this hort post full of thought provoking questions would be of value.

An unknown quote; “I may, I suppose, regard myself as a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets. That‘s fame; I can fairly easily earn enough money to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue Service. That‘s success. Furnished with money and a little fame… [I] may partake of friendly diversions. That‘s pleasure. It might even happen… that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time. That‘s fulfillment…

Do you want extraordinary results? Learn from Nehemiah.

We know God is in the business of working through his people to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. One such man who embarked on what seemed to be an impossible task was, Nehemiah.

God needed him remember Jerusalem’s wall was still in ruins, and the news broke his heart. As he talked to God, a plan began to take form in Nehemiah’s mind about his own role in the rebuilding of the city walls. He willingly left the security of his home and job in Persia to follow God on an “impossible” mission. And the rest as they says is history.

From beginning to end, Nehemiah prayed for God’s help. He never hesitated to ask God to remember him, closing his autobiography with these words: “Remember me with favour, O my God.” Throughout the “impossible” task, Nehemiah displayed unusual leadership. The wall around Jerusalem was rebuilt in record time, despite resistance. Even Israel’s enemies grudgingly and fearfully admitted that God was with these builders. Not only that, but God worked through Nehemiah to bring about a spiritual awakening among the people of Judah.

A Winning Attitude

In the book of Numbers chapter 13 & 14 we read God ordering Moses to choose 12 leaders from each tribe and send them to spy on the land of Canaan. Moses instructed them to find the nature of the country, its population and military strength, degree of fertility and physical security. He also asked them to bring some of the fruits that grow there. (It was the season when Grapes were beginning to ripe) Twelve spies spied the land and their observations were same. They found that the land is rich and fertile, (Numbers 13:23-27) and that the inhabitants of Canaan are stronger and they live in cities that are very large and fortified, (Numbers 13:28-29).

But this is where the similarities end. Chapter 13 says except for Caleb and Joshua every one else had already thrown up the cards. Why did the spies act so weirdly? They were controlled by their defeated attitudes. When you perceive something in a certain way it is called your personal attitude. There are defeating attitudes and Winning attitudes.

Continue reading “A Winning Attitude”

Empowerment 5 ~ Empowered Individuals

This is the final piece in the jigsaw where we will briefly look at “Empowered Individuals”.

The Empowerment (Trust) Matrix

Low trust Entrenched in Bunkers Caged Eagles

High trust Flying Blind Empowered Individuals

Low Enablement High Enablement

The goal of all organisations/churches and its leaders should be to get as many people as possible into the empowered performer category ~ the lower right quadrant.

The message is obvious for those who want to build an empowered organisation/church: reduce the number of people who are entrenched in bunkers, flying blind or caged eagles. Increase the numbers who are fully trusted (EMPOWERED).