Category Archives: Leadership

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Motivation! – Day 58 of 75 Days

Scripture Read:  Psalm 115, 116

Key Verse:  Psalm 115:1

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.”

Observation:

The glory and praise does not belong to us.

Application:

How is it that a fledgling church can see such incredible growth? Because of the amazing vision of it’s staff? Because of the dedication of it’s leadership team? Because of the phenomenal co-workers who come early each weekend to set up and serve? Because of the allure and aroma of fresh coffee? Is it because of 98 signs in the parking lot, an adorably energetic bear, and a bright, cheerful children’s area from which giggles and songs echo down the hallway? Maybe the generosity of a congregation that cares about kids who need school supplies?

All of that would simply be empty activity, void of meaning and purpose without the one we do it all for. Josh!? Heck no! He would be the first to bench me if he thought my motivation was to please him. And we would not see the blessing we have experienced if we were doing it just because the pastor said so. It is because we do all of this planning and preparation for the purpose of pleasing our God that we have been so blessed. We deserve none of the praise. People are renewed and restored, lives are rebuilt, healing is found – not because we pray, but because we pray to the giver of life – the one whose steadfast love and faithfulness made all of this possible.

Prayer:

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. May your church always be a place for those who are not here yet. We are here so that they too can know your love and faithfulness. Bless what is to come because we do it for you and give you all the glory! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3EBPeXVx0I

By Bonnie 217staff team

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Highly Unlikely – Day 57 of 75 Days

Scripture Read:  Psalm 113, 114

Key Verse:  Psalm 113:7

“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.”

Observation:

God will surprise us by using people and things we thought were unusable. This is a theme in scripture.   God is in the business of making princes and princesses out of highly unlikely candidates.  The title of the Psalm asks a rhetorical question as if to say, “no one compares to our God.”  After all, no one thinks like God and understands and fathoms his plans.  No ones sees the possibility of a redeemed life quite like God does, but is it possible to start to see people as God sees them?  I think so.

Jesus was born in an unlikely place and the disciples weren’t the educated elite of the day.  It is highly likely that the next person to change the face of 217church will come from an unlikely place.

Application:

One of the primary roles of the leader is leadership selection.  One of the things I tell people who want to lead well is, “Start selecting leaders!”  Don’t always look in the obvious places. Jesus didn’t. He went out and chose smelly fishermen that followed him.  I am looking for some people to serve alongside of 217church right now that don’t have degrees, amazing qualifications, or that want a “titled position.” Quite frankly I want people who will park cars with incredible excellence and attention to detail.  Our next Pastor will probably first lead the parking ministry.  I’M DEAD SERIOUS!  If you are too good to park cars you don’t understand what Jesus did for you, and you don’t understand grace, humility and servant leadership.  Until you can care for a first time guest like Jesus would, I don’t want you anywhere near a LEADERSHIP TEAM!

What I am looking for are these things:

  • Character – I could care less how “good”, “likable”, or “charismatic” you are.  How about respect, honor and honesty?  Doesn’t matter what your college degree says if you don’t have character.
  • Passion – I want people who are passionate about every small task. This means everything. There is NOT an insignificant task in our church!  Signage, coffee, staging, children, THEY ALL MATTER!
  • Teachability – Most people claim to be teachable, but only so long as it fits their agenda.  I want people who have a ravenous hunger to learn how to do things with class and precision.  Not haphazard whatever leaders!

Prayer:

God help me to be the leader who sees people as you see them.  Help me to raise the poor from the dust and to embrace the highly unlikely.

By Josh 217staff team

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Something is Wrong – Day 26 of 75 Days

Scripture Read:  Psalm 51, 52

Key Verse:  Psalm 51:10-12

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence 
or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Observation:

David finally finds the guts to approach God about what is perhaps the worst thing he has ever done. David cries out to his God from the deepest place of pain, guilt, and regret that one can have. We see a window into the heart of David and his desire to never lose the ability to be in the presence of God or even worse, lose the Holy Spirit. He desperately pleas with God to restore his joy of salvation at it is lost and covered over with sin. When it all comes down to it, David becomes so broken that his unrighteousness is revealed. His brokenness causes Him to cry out for God and ask for restoration.

Application:

Have you ever prayed a prayer like this? As I read this part of the scripture something changes within me. I realize one key thing. If my brokenness doesn’t cause me to cry out to God and plea for Him to cleanse me of my sin, there is something wrong with me. I want to be and be remembered as a man that follows passionately after God’s heart no matter what the cost. If this is true then I must be able to walk in the authority that God has given me through the Holy Spirit. In order to receive it and feel it to be true I must remain in His presence. As I am consistently in His presence my heart can remain pure. David knew in the moment of this prayer that there was no way that he could lead effectively, passionately, or efficiently without the presence, power, and joy of God. I stop and think of this in my own life. God spoke to me through this Psalm to make sure each morning I wake up and take time to be in His presence, receive His power, and live in His joy.  Everyone who has eyes to read this post is a leader of something. Your family, friends, at work, home, or even as a Christian. The way you lead will directly be a reflection of where your heart is. So may we continue to pray in this way:

Prayer:

Create in me a pure heart Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit in me. Lord as I walk out of my door in the morning to face the battles that wait for me outside of it, do not let me leave without authority in the Holy Spirit. Do not let me leave without your joy. Do not let me leave without having been in your presence. Show me your ways and teach me your paths. Amen!

By Kevin 217staff team

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BIG Dreams need small tasks

I have been needing to disconnect lately to think about the trajectory of my life.  I pray and plan for vision in two major areas, my family and 217church.  Once I start implementing, it is so easy to get distracted and derailed from a desired outcome.  I think it is because I lose site of the dream.  The tension revolves around this idea that you have to think about the big picture while you are doing the small tasks.  If you do this, the small things go in the right direction.

What small tasks are connected to your BIG Dream?  Hopefully, lots of them.  This week I get to celebrate all the small tasks Jesus did leading to the Big Dream of the resurrection.  Palm Sunday is next…

Dream big, plan well, implement methodically

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty”  Proverbs 21:5

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Training

Here is one short story of a life changed through constant training.

“Last night was amazing for my family. Being a part of 217 has really changed our lives. I have always loved God but now you are challenging me to really develop a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ and I am doing that.  You’re like my “Personal Trainer” for a relationship with Jesus. As a fitness Instructor I see people fail all the time when they try and do it alone. But when they show up and either take classes or get a trainer they get results.“

Last week was amazing for our new church and for me personally.  Celebrating 40 baptisms in 12 months of ministry is a true joy.

It’s the little short stories, the small testimonies that keep me doing what I am doing.  It always comes down to the story of one person that will motivate and cause me to beg God for more just like it.  I’m doing that now for those who haven’t experienced a true relationship with Christ yet.

It’s about training for godliness.  Can’t neglect, must train,

I’m going on a run now, must train my body.

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Leadership 101 #3 Focus

Principle #3  You Must Lead from the Vision

Here are two mistakes we commonly make regarding this principle:  First, we mistake motion for progress.  The reason we do this is to make ourselves feel good.  We are incredibly insecure and selfish so we pull the, “it wasn’t God’s will” card.  What if it was God’s will and you just did the wrong things?  Just because you are busy it doesn’t mean you are doing the right things.  Once I am clear about the vision, it must define my behavior.  If it doesn’t, then we don’t believe in the vision.  Belief = Behavior.  Everyone is busy doing something but the real question is, are we making progress?

Next mistake: We just want people to like us. This is where leaders fail often.  One complaining, disgruntled, manipulative person can get us off focus and it is all our fault.  We don’t want to disappoint them and we want them to like us.  Leadership is not about people liking me, it is about me working alongside them towards a common vision bigger than any one person.  Every time I have caved to someone’s special interest, I compromise the mission and my own character and integrity.

Think this is extreme?  Consider Judas.  Don’t betray the vision! Matthew 26:46-48

Whatever you are leading, know what you are about and live it.

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Leadership 101 #2 Responsibility

Principle #2 Leaders Take Responsibility

What are some things I am responsible for?  Myself, My family, church leaders. If you put a leader in place then you take responsibility for everything that person does:  The good, the bad, the stupid things they say, the brilliant idea, everything.  If you are the leader, then everything that happens in the organization sooner or later comes back to you.  This is why it is so important to hire people slowly, and remove people quickly.  This is why a culture of taking responsibility is so critical.  You have to train leaders to do the same thing.  Blaming someone for something that happened under your watch makes you look rather ridiculous and creates a toxic culture.  Everyone starts to look over their shoulder and trust will elude the team.

Everything comes back to me.  Either I hired the wrong person, didn’t coach and help them enough, or gave them too much responsibility too soon.  When a character issue arises, it is always up to the leader to help the person deal with it in an effective way.

So you want to be a leader?  Take responsibility.

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Leadership 101 #1 Humility

Over the last few days I have been pondering what I am looking for in leaders.  In essence, this made me do a heart check of what I am as a leader.  So over the next 10 days I will share 10 principles that I am learning.

Principle #1 Leaders must lead from a place of humility –

I am tired of people who have all the answers.  Vision is highly overrated.  What blesses a ministry, a work place, a home, is humility and integrity.  I’ll gladly take a person who is humble and who has integrity over big vision any day.  Show me unconditional loyalty with no entitlement and I will naturally want to walk alongside you.  A lot of people have vision based on ego.  This is corrupt and evil.  If we depend on Jesus we get his vision and develop our trust in him.  This has to be done with humility.  Before I release and call someone a leader, I want to see if they can serve someone else’s vision.  I must follow, then maybe I can lead.

Do you get hung up on this just as much as I do?

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Vision: A Dream with a Deadline

About a year ago I remember envisioning the possibility of a new church in Hamilton with a couple of close friends.  Then, when we felt like we had the green light from leaders, mentors and a clear compelling call from God to plant a church, we started walking in the vision.  Now that we are launched I wanted to try and capture a few of my key learnings regarding vision.  Because I experienced them first hand, I would consider them convictions.

You need a clear plan – As the leader you need to be able to envision almost every detail of how the vision will be pulled off.  This means first God must stir your heart for what you are doing.  If you can’t be clear, people won’t be motivated, they will be confused and no one wants to be confused.  When you have the plan its time to move.

Set a Deadline and keep it – One of the things different people tried to do was get me to compromise the dates we had set forth.  People tried to discourage everything from the preview services to the launch. Don‘t let this happen to you.  Excuses are exits on the road to the vision God has called you to.

It will cost more than you think – I am not just talking about money here.  Anything worth living for could cost you everything.  For me it was moving away from family, giving up a ministry I loved, while trusting God with the end game.

It takes a group of people – If you try and go it alone, you are making a colossal mistake.  You will burn out, stress out and make more mistakes than you need to.  So many times in the process of launching 217church there were people who were divine appointments that kept us on the right path.  Ultimately, the vision of the church was His vision, he just wants me to be faithful.  You have to get over yourself.

If you are lacking vision in your life I want to personally invite you to 217church to be a part of something much bigger than any of us.  We meet at 10am at the amc 24 in Hamilton, NJ.  Nehemiah 2:17 is our heart:  “…Come let us build…” building up lives, building up the church, building up the community, all in the name of Jesus.

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Day 30: Courage to Confess

Title: Courage to Confess

Scripture Read: Proverbs 30

Key Verse:  “There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing.”          Proverbs 30:29-30

Observations:

Courage is something you decide. It takes absolutely no talent at all to have courage.  I think courage is learned, caught and is a conscious choice.  The Lion is stately in its stride and retreats before nothing because it knows its place in the world.  It was made as one of the most powerful beasts to roam the earth.  You won’t see a lion shrink before the challenges it faces.

So many times we perceive Jesus as meek and mild, little baby Jesus, polite and passive, quiet and gentle.  This is the lamb Jesus is compared to.  But Jesus is also compared to a lion in the scriptures. (Rev. 5:5) Jesus is righteousness for us and this should inspire courage within us.  We see this from a previous reading, “…the righteous are as bold as a lion.  (Proverbs 28:1) Perception creates our reality.  For far too long I have known people who live as weak Christians.  They are powerless and defeated with limited courage.  How do I know?  I’ve experienced it first hand, just like you.  We are to be victorious with the characteristics of a lion.  This is who Jesus is and it is who we are in Him.

Applications:

This week I had three people who are friends of mine come forward and confess some pretty serious sins to me they are dealing with.  These people are amazing each with an incredible story of how Jesus is in the process of healing them.  The most difficult thing in the world to face is my own sin.  I think this is true of all men and women.  It takes even more courage to confess your sins to someone else.

In all three of these moments I communicated to them how proud I was of them for taking the courageous step of confession.  Courage brings confession and confession leads to healing.  Healing leads to a life of purpose and holiness.  Why have we abandoned this practice?  (James 5:16) Confession is something so simple and yet extremely intimidating.  It is far easier to just attend church and even a small group and never confess your sins to someone.  What might make it easier?

A pattern of confession: We all need to establish times when we know people will be there to listen.  It has to show up on our calendars.

A person of confidence: We need someone to confide in.  If there is no one there to confess to whom we trust, we won’t confess.  We need to be intentional about cultivating deep relationships with a select few people.  Trust me, if they judge you and persecute you, you just found out they weren’t much of a friend anyway.  Get some new friends.

Be as bold as a lion and humble in your approach.

Prayer:

Lord, continue to give me the courage to confess my sins to my brothers in Christ that I may be encouraged and have victory over the enemy who seeks to destroy me.

Burning Questions:

You know this one is coming…Do you have a pattern of confession? Do you have a person to confide in?  When will you meet with them and come clean?