Lasting Leadership
Hey Gang,
In 25 years of ministry of I have watched a lot of people bail. I have seen pastors, staff and members bail. They give many reasons for dropping out on God, burnout being high on the list. How can you provide leadership that lasts. We all know bad stuff happens, so what are we supposed to do? “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Phil. 4:8)
It really is all about your focus! It is our nature to stay focused to the negative and not look where God said to look. The church can easily be a bummer and many of the people critical and negative. Got to tell you, this still is shocking for me. This is where we are. If you want to provide leadership that lasts you must stay tuned to positive faith-building stuff.
1. Is God still on the throne?
2 Does He still own the future?
3. Is He still in charge?
4. Does He still love you and work all things out for good?
5. Is the Bible still true?
We know the answer is YES! Then keep stoking the fire. God said, “For a lack of wood the fire goes out.” Let’s pile some wood on the fire to keep it going and yes, God can still light a fire with wet wood! Allow Him to fire you up and start a revival in your heart. Take a walk. Open up your Bible. Call out to the Lord. Spend some time in silence and solitude. Go for a prayer retreat. Throw some wood on the fire in your heart and let the Holy Spirit turn you into a bonfire fire for Jesus.
Be blessed and look up for that is where your help will come from.
Love ya,
Pastor
P.S. Ann Jackson’s book, “Mad Church Disease“, could be of great help. I loved it.
3 Comments
After mediocre time with the Lord for several months, I find that focusing on Him truly builds the relationship quickly till a point is reached where you can’t get by without time with Him.
Not experienced at replying to blogs, but…
I think leadership is shown in the little things not just the big. Also, for those feeling the burn out or other challenges, in my experience, it helps to do one small thing each day to see the positive and to try to build on it day by day. As the Lord says, there is good that will come from it, it’s just hard to see when you are surrounded with hurt/grief/pain, etc.
Yes..this is soooooo true! If we would just focus on those things He tells us to we would begin to see others as God does.
How would those people who are “nasty” or those circumstances that are awful look if they were always filtered through Phil 4:8?
But what about the reality of the ugliness?….let God take care of that.
We are here for such a very short time, I think that looking back from eternity’s shore we will all feel foolish for having been so focused on the moment.
Excited to get the book!