7 Signs of a Leader

Below are the 7 Signs of a Leader.

  • How many of these do you believe you have? More importantly perhaps, do you look up to someone today that doesn’t have many of these traits?
  • Are they really the person to look up to?
  • The choices you make today and the people you surround yourself with will determine much of your path in life; choose wisely.

7 Signs:

  1. Vision: “It’s a terrible thing to see, and have no vision.” – Helen Keller.  Leaders are visionaries; they know where they’re going, and their committed to bringing others along. They have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish and their vision is so compelling that it inspires others to participate in the fulfillment of the vision.
  2. Discipline: “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn.  Leaders are disciplined individuals! They are the first partaker of what they preach and they exemplify unprecedented discipline, focus, and commitment in the achievement of their vision.
  3. Emotional Strength: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” – Proverbs. Leaders are not easily shaken. Leaders anticipate challenges and are not derailed by obstacles. Leaders remain strong when things get tough; they don’t faint when adversity strikes.  Leaders have an amazing level of emotional strength.
  4. Experience: “Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.” – Jim Horning.  Leaders have experience. In other words, they’ve been around the block a few times and they know where they’re going. Their experience has taught them how to get things done and they can differentiate between activity and accomplishment, between efficiency and effectiveness.  Leaders focus their efforts on the tasks that produce the greatest rewards.
  5. Respect: “Respect is love in plain clothes.” – Frankie Byrne.  Leaders are respected and trusted individuals. Leaders have earned the respect of their followers by becoming an “example.” They chart the course, follow their destiny, and inspire others in the process.  Leaders are respected because they earn respect. The second they demand respect is the second they are no longer a leader.
  6. People Skills: “Arguing with a fool proves there are two.” – Doris M. Smith.  Leaders have great people skills; they are friendly to the unfriendly, they know how to respond in every situation. Leaders do not engage in personal battles, they save their strength for the task at hand.  Leaders treat people with respect and dignity; they connect with others on a personal and emotional level.
  7. Momentum and Timing: “If you’re coasting, you’re either losing momentum or else you’re headed downhill.” – Joan Welsh.  Finally, leaders know how to create momentum, and they know when to act. Nothing great is ever accomplished without momentum and timing.  Leaders Develop Leaders

Remember:  Leaders make us better people and give us an ideal to strive for.  The measure of leadership is always influence; leaders have an amazing ability to influence our lives. Leaders lead wherever they go; they lead at work, at home, or wherever they happen to be.The test of a great leader is who they develop. A great leader will develop great followers; those followers will become great leaders. It takes a leader to make a leader. A leader’s legacy is measured by succession.

Are you a great leader?

Think about it.

-jordan

Music Rotation

There is so much good music out there right now.  Take a look at a few records I have on rotation right now.

John Mayer – Battle Studies – Selected Track: Heartbreak Warfare

Switchfoot – Hello Hurricane – Selected Track: Mess of Me

Phil Wickham – Heaven and Earth – Selected Track: Safe

What do you have on rotation?  Listening to these albums?  What’s your favorite track?

-jordan

An Evening w/ Donald Miller

Last night I went to, an evening with Donald Miller.  Don and Susan Isaacs were promoting their new books (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and Angry Conversations With God)  on a book tour and I had the opportunity to attend the Greenville College stop.

Here are a few of my notes:

Susan Isaacs

  • Susan makes me uncomfortable.  I’m not sure why but from the moment she stepped on the stage I couldn’t “settle”.  I wonder if it is because she questions the foundations of the faith or if it was because she mocked things that I take seriously.
  • The worldview you have shapes the view you have of God in your head.
  • Susan “blurs the line” from time to time.  People laughed.  I didn’t.
  • When we criticize the church, we criticize ourselves.  Thank you that I am not the only people who says this.
  • “God totally trashed my life and it”s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
  • I don’t want to read her book, alot of women probably do.

Donald Miller

Personal Questions:

  • Can we ever be Christians, call ourselves Christians, and not talk about the Bible?
  • What if we read the Bible to get to know God better instead of reading it for ourselves?
  • What do you do that benefits other people?
  • What do you want right now in life that is stupid, that doesn’t matter, that is material?

Take-a-ways:

Other Bullet Points:

  • Story: A character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.
  • “The best way a human can learn is through story”
  • In story, success doesn’t matter.  You will go knowhere unless you learn to overcome conflict.  Winning means absolutely nothing.
  • Fear paralyzes us from moving forward.  Conflict is never going to leave. Its good to embrace conflict.
  • “The more Adam worked in the garden, the more he admired Eve.”
  • Enjoy the little things in life.  Don’t miss them.  If you do, you missed out and it’s your fault.

What an awesome evening.

Special thanks to my good friend Janie for the ticket.  It was much appreciated.  I owe ya one!

-jordan

Monday Load-In

Monday mornings I spend some time in the mornings doing what I call, “load-ins”.  When I used to work at Lowes (the finest home improvement facility in all Warsaw Indiana) in college, we would get shipments from various trucks at the beginning of the week that needed loaded into the store.  While the truck would come and dump everything off on Monday, it would take the majority of the week to get everything set-up and in place throughout the various departments in the store.

Therefore, on Monday’s I “load-in” or put everything on a to-do-list that needs accomplished throughout the week.  I spend some time placing the “load” on a schedule then sort them out according to what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by to have the maximum impact.  Here’s what a typical Monday “load-in” looks like for me:

Weekly Load-In List

Church

  • Prepare and study for College Sunday School Lesson
  • Update Website(s) – youth/church (if needed, includes facebook pages)
  • smallGROUPS prep and development

GeNESIS (Youth Group Sunday Night Prep)

  • Introduction/welcome Video (burn onto DVD if needed)
  • Worship Set (usually 3 songs set-list)
  • Worship Slides
  • Game(s)
  • Any Other “special” Activities
  • Lesson (prep and study)
  • Breakout Questions (if needed)
  • Staff Schedules

GeNESIS (Other)

  • Monday Morning Memo (staff e-mail giving updates and information)
  • Deeper Bible Study (Wednesday night core group study. Prep and study)
  • Contact students (we do this bi-weekly as a “check-in”)
  • Contact Staff (also bi-weekly to get a “feel” for how things are going and/or concerns)
  • 5th Quarter Prep (only during football season)
  • Youth Pastor report (monthly)
  • Event Planning (This is a wide category that depends on the year.  It is for retreats, conferences, or any other events we have coming up.  I usually break this down deeper than what it is listed as here)

Other (church related material)

  • Softball (this is seasonal but it usually includes sending out an e-mail and doing line-ups)
  • Plan, prep, and study for speaking engagements or worship
  • Meetings (usually already booked.  Some meetings take prep work, some don’t.  It just depends.)

So as you can see, things need sorted out.  Like I said before, on Monday I will break this down to gauge what needs to be done and by what day.  It takes a lot of discipline to get everything accomplished but in ministry it is necessary because you never know who will pop in at random or what could come up (wedding, funeral, family crisis, etc.).

Other youth pastors:

  • What do you do in the week?
  • How do you organize and maintain your schedule?
  • What does a “load-in look like for you?

I would love to hear your responses.

-jordan

15 Signs that a Church is in Trouble

Interesting…

From Perry Noble, here are 15 signs that a Church is in Trouble.

  1. When excuses are made about the way things are instead of embracing a willingness to roll up the sleeves and fix the problem.
  2. When the church becomes content with merely receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!
  3. The focus of the church is to build a great church (complete with the pastors picture…and his wife’s…on everything) and not the Kingdom of God.
  4. The leadership begins to settle for the natural rather than rely on the supernatural.
  5. The church begins to view success/failure in regards to how they are viewed in the church world rather than whether or not they are actually fulfilling the Great Commission!
  6. The leaders within the church cease to be coachable.
  7. There is a loss of a sense of urgency!  (Hell is no longer hot, sin is no longer wrong and the cross is no longer important!)
  8. Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!
  9. The church is reactive rather than proactive.
  10. The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.”
  11. The goal of the church is to simply maintain the way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the big givers!
  12. The church is no longer willing to take steps of faith because “there is just too much to lose.”
  13. The church simply does not care about the obvious and immediate needs that exist in the community.
  14. The people learn how to depend on one man to minister to everyone rather than everyone embracing their role in the body, thus allowing the body to care for itself.
  15. When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.

What do you think?

-jordan

Stolen Post: Elevation Giving

Take a look at the following video!

It’s from Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church. He taught his 4 year old son, Elijah, all about money.  The video serves as a great example for all of us to follow and an awesome illustration about raising children the right way.  We all need a good lesson on how to manage our money God’s way using a simple concept, right?

As Elevation says, “I hope this video challenges you, makes you smile, and encourages you to assess your own financial management of the money God has entrusted to you.”

  • Give 10% to God
  • Give 10% to savings
  • Spend the rest

If 4 year old Elijah Furtick can manage money God’s way, so can you!

Check it out by clicking the following link: Elijah Offering Video.

Awesome!

-jordan

Worship Tools Review: Gretsch Electromatic Bass

Picked up the Gretsch Electromatic Junior Jet Bass for worship team the other day.  Thought I would do a review for those looking at a short scale bass. Enjoy!

-jordan

The Faith that Doesn’t Demand Details

This morning I was reminded of the women who went to see Jesus in Mark 16 after His death.  The women knew that as they got closer to the tomb there were obstacles in the way (a large stone in front of the tomb, a seal, and maybe even a guard).  However, they pressed on, knowing God would sort out the details when they arrived.  The woman knew there was work to be done (like put spices on the body, etc. [Note: Little did they know that Christ was alive but that's another lesson all together.]).  The woman also knew that taking care of a dead body wasn’t glamorous work or even a job that people were signing up to complete, but they knew it was necessary and God wanted them to accomplish the task, so they went to take care of it.

The women in Mark step out in faith.  They did what they were commanded to do.

As Christians, we too are commanded by God to do the same.  He asks us all the time to accomplish His will through faith.  We want the details, God wants the devoted.  Therefore, it is imperative that we go out and do the work of the Lord by faith.  I fear that we are losing this concept the more time passes.  We want to see the outcome, God wants us to see His provision.  What God can do in our lives when we step out in faith is massive.  However, it take steps of faith and trusting in Him to work out the details.

We as believers must have faith to do the work that the Lord demands.

If the job were easy, it wouldn’t take faith.

It’s that simple.

Having faith in regards to doing the will of the Lord means that the details will determined the more we lean on the understanding of Christ.

  • It is a surrendering of your will.
  • It is a letting go of control.
  • It is an acknowledgment that Christ has the reigns and rules above all things.

So today may you have faith that God will sort out the details as you take steps towards the Christ.

“The righteous will live by faith.”

Think about it.

-jordan

Pumpkin Love

The primary purpose for which all of the gifts of God are given is to build up the Body of Christ. The New Testament reminds us of this constantly.  When we use our gifts properly we not only have an impact on the lost but encourage and uplift our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Photo on 2009-10-20 at 10.19 #2

There is a long story to these pumpkins but I’ll make it brief.  A woman in our church is using her gifts this Halloween season to spread the love and joy of Christ to build up the body. As I walked into my office the other day and saw these two pumpkins I was ecstatic.  To think that someone would think about my wife and I enough to take the time and make something that would brighten our day and keep us focused on the task at hand was just want I needed to keep going.

If we (my wife and I) were both encouraged and felt loved because of the compassion of one person, and two little pumpkins, think of the impact we all could have when we use our gifts to build up the body of Christ (a.k.a our brothers and sisters).  It’s amazing how far a small e-mail just saying hi will go, or a note, or how about being truly radical and send yourself on a personal visit.  Whatever you do, don’t be scared to use your gift to make an impact on someone for the kingdom today!

Know that you are loved and they go show someone else they are loved too.  It is one of the best parts about knowing Jesus.

How do you show love to other people to build up the body of Christ?  What will you do today to make that impact on someone else today?

Think about it.

-jordan

Why I Love the Ministry

If you do nothing else watch the last 2 minutes of this video.

Jesus is not done working yet!

-jordan

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