Shrink or Shrug?

As I studied Nehemiah I came to 2 conclusions. Leaders don’t shrink or shrug! Nehemiah was so bold in his approach to everything he encountered.  Look at his every action and you will find a leader who avoided shrinking at enormous pressures or shrugging during difficult choices. He did all this with a foundation of certainty because he knew he was “with God.”

So, the first job as a leader should be to make sure we are ALWAYS with God. Know Him better than your favorite teams stats, know Him better than your girlfriends schedule, know Him better than your bank accounts, know Him above all else and THEN act like you know Him better than anything else in your life.

Lead those in whom you have been given or earned influence. When the time comes to act be decisive and avoid cowering. If you tend to cower in critical moments I have good and bad news. Good news, you may not be a leader. Bad news, you may not be a leader. In watching Nehemiah deal with the King and those who would ruin the efforts at rebuilding the wall he was not a “shrinker.”What if he had been a “shrinker?”

He was also not one to shrug. The hardest lesson I am learning these days has to relate to the “shrug.” When the King asked him what he needed he didn’t say, “I dunno.” He jumped and made huge requests that would launch the work of God into a new stratosphere with the King’s own resources. When given the chance don’t shy away or shrug and simnply defer your chance to lead to someone or somebody else’s agenda. I love how Nehemiah took charge for God’s goals. He is an encouragement and challenge to me and I hope this is to you as well.

What Do You Think?

I would enjoy hearing your thoughts about what she said. All I can say is WOW!

Tension

“Most leaders spend their time avoiding tension. Good leaders endure it. Great leaders engage it. How do you handle tension in a team/life?”

I first posted this thought on Twitter and then thought I better explain myself. Sometimes a quote is totally self explanatory, sometimes it leaves you totally baffled, and then there are the quotes that demand you spell out some fundamentals or expose a truth for growing. So here is what I think:

Many years ago at Grand Canyon University I was able to “corner” Erwin McManus after a conference session. As always he did a fine job. However, I had a problem. My problem wasn’t so much with anything he said but with my current set of circumstances. I was about to start my first lead/head/senior (whatever you feel comfortable with) role and was excited but petrified. I approached him…thank him for his time…told him I only had one question…

“If you could go back and tell your younger self any one thing right before you started your first pastorate what would you say?”

He didn’t hesitate…not one second. He looked me straight in the eye (even with a hundred people trying to do the very same thing I was doing) and said… “I would tell myself to run head first into every challenge. You can’t afford to run away. Every challenge ignored comes back bigger than when you ran away from it.” (that is now a bit of paraphrase but the very heart of his comment)

Truth:

Every leader will face tension. Tension is that delicate balance we must all walk in order to arrive at great decisions, the most excellent and creative expressions, or any vision worth pursuing. The problem I see with current leadership trends today (especially in the church) is that we only give this thought “lip service.” The result is an idealogy, vision, passion, or creative voice that represents one person, and usually not the ONE that matters most. It is crafted out of fear and an over inflated sense of self that does not tolerate a different thought or opinion. The result is the glaring chink in the armor of a leader who has been called to stand as one commissioned strong, brave, and respected. The sad result is that people will only follow this leadership for so long, and the younger generations will flee from it with speed unlike you have ever seen.

Question:

How does one embrace and engage tension for the sake of vision? First let me say that I am a work in progress in this arena…BUT I am fighting this fight. I am hoping to engage some friends with this post who are doing the same and the goal will be to have them “Guest Post” in this blog. I will offer my thoughts and the thoughts of those who come alongside in an effort to “practice what I preach.” This is as much an exercise for me as it is anything, so be patient. Pray for me and those who will post as I am sure it will result in some great thought and personal challenge!

If you read this and would like to “guest post” send me an email (look on contact page). OR feel free to just leave a comment below if you don’t want to go to all that trouble of working out what “guest post” means.

How Much?

I recently posted a video of Penn, of Penn and Teller fame, that shows him retelling a story of a guys efforts to share Christ with him. It was honest and because of that it was powerful. Some things I think we can learn from this video.

1. It is not about results.
   • Penn was obviously moved by this encounter of a man sharing a Bible with him. BUT what moved him was the courage, the sincerity, and level headed nature of the person who was “proselytizing.” It may take hundred or thousands of like encounters before this man would ever give his life to follow Christ. Then again, he may never…as he says, “I don’t believe in God.”
2. Be a nice person.
   • One of the more profound statements Penn makes (one of them) is that the guy felt genuine and not forced or wacky. He was sane and well intentioned. Several things I could mention here but the most critical is “be yourself” and don’t worry about following  as set of rules or steps. Just explain what you did and why you did the things that changed your life for Christ. That is the power of testimony.
     • As a side note the more you study the less forced you will appear. Talk with everyone about your story. Say it over and over again and with time the more you say it the less you will be inclined to feel rehearsed and scripted.
3. Consider your motives.
   • we all have motives. The fact that sharing our faith with those who don’t know or even like Christ has eternal consequences should be a motivating factor. Penn makes a statement in his video that is enough to leave you feeling “run over” like a stray dog on the freeway. Here is what he said,

How much do you have to hate someone not to proseletyze them?

When the unbelieveing world understands our motivations more than we do…there are problems. The gospel of John reminds us that Jesus was God’s path to redemption and that Jesus is the epitome of love expressed. Romans would suggest in many places that our own lives were cared for even while we were still sinners. A sinning world is in great need of hearing the truth that Christ died to forgive them of their sins. The simplicity of Penn’s statement leads me to understand that the unbeleiving world believes our motivations are jacked up when we don’t share out of a genuine care and concern. In fact, they interpret it as hatred. That was not Jesus mission. He came to serve people and the greatest act of service is sharing THE way, THE truth, and THE life with them…the cponsequences for not doing that:

1. They may never hear about Jesus.
2. We miss our greatest calling.
3. They feel as though we hate them for not doing it.

This is having major implications in my life right now. How will this affect you? Will it affect you? Do you disagree?