Category Archives: Leadership

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How To Stay Encouraged

So far, I’m about six months into my new role as a lead minister. After spending more than two decades in youth ministry, I sensed that God was leading in a different direction and stepped out of what I knew and into the unknown.

And it has been a crazy ride so far! The church where I serve is a great place to be, and the leadership is very strong. I’m thankful that they decided to take a chance on an untried newbie. Granted, I had several years of ministry experience, but not in this role.

How To Stay Encouraged

Since I’m so new, I’m learning the ropes as I go along. Much of what I do, I watched several other men perform well in the churches where I served as a youth minister. But actually doing it… That’s kind of a different story. And there are times where the stress, from the responsibility, the learning curve, the leadership skills needed, and more, all pile up and get you down.

At times like that, what you need is a little encouragement.

A few months ago, several men from our church traveled to a neighboring town for a leadership training day. One of the sessions was about staying encouraged. This isn’t something that I really thought I needed at the time, but over the last few months, I’ve found myself going back over my notes, reviewing and processing these thoughts often.

Since I find these ideas so helpful, I thought I’d share them with you. Hopefully, you can gain as much from these thoughts as I have.

So, over the course of the next few days, I want to share with you four key principles to staying encouraged. Here they are briefly:

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Succeeding In Your Plan For Personal Growth

Growth requires a strategic plan. We must be diligent about targeting our end results and keeping our focus on them if we want to grow. Having a plan and sticking to it are great ideas. But how do we go about achieving that?

I believe that there are five steps that you can take to ensure that you grow.

Growth

Making sure that you are poised for growth isn’t always as easy as you want it to be. Growth takes work. There is an element of effort involved that must take place if you want to see any improvements.

For example, one of my favorite things is a fine quality fountain pen. But in order for a fountain pen to be effective, you need to know how to use it. There was a time when my handwriting was pretty poor. I could use a fountain pen, but it wasn’t very nice to look at. But with time and practice, I improved my writing skills and now have handwriting that I’m more satisfied with. I still have along ways to go to achieve the style and look that I want my handwriting to have. But I’m well on my way.

What helped me in this? I developed a plan that would help me improve, and then I started doing it. When I didn’t want to practice, I practiced anyway. I had pages and pages with the same phrases written all over them, testing and evaluating my handwriting. And after a lot of work, my plan helped me succeed in achieving the desired results.

In this particular case, let’s talk about growing as a leader, and improving your leadership abilities. These five principles are universal enough that you can apply them to any areas where you desire to see growth. But for today’s purposes, let’s look at the topic of leadership, and see what the five steps to success are.

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Developing A Plan For Personal Growth

Everyone you ask will tell you that they want to grow. Their intentions are good. But too many people settle for the same old thing, over and over and over. And they never grow.

Because they don’t have a plan.

Growth

In order to grow you have to have a plan. It doesn’t matter what area of life you’re talking about. It can be leadership abilities. Or it can be in matters of faith and your spiritual life. It can even be in specific areas, like understanding your finances, or being a better husband or parent.

In order to grow, you have to have a plan for growth.

A plan will help keep you organized. It will assist you in working smarter towards the goals that you want to achieve in whatever area you desire to grow. A plan will help you see not only the end result, the goal, but also help you see the journey and the process of achieving that goal.

But a plan is harder to incorporate than most people think. And because it is difficult, most never accomplish their plan, and thus, never grow to realize their full potential.

There are three things you must keep in mind as you set your goals on growth. These three things will help you keep your focus on the goal. Tomorrow, we will look at some specific action steps you can take to succeed in growing. But today, let’s look at the attitudes that you must have in place.

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Do What You Do Well

As a leader, one of the most critical steps you need to take is developing your purpose, vision and mission. In other words, what is is that you do? And why do you do it?

When you answer these questions, you’ve defined some of the most essential and foundational elements for your organization, whether that’s a business, a ministry or a church.

Hebrews Purpose Statement

A few days ago, I had to drive to Springfield, Missouri, for an appointment. It’s about sixty miles from my home, making it an easy drive most of the time. And Springfield is home to a couple of my favorite places, one of which is a coffee shop called Hebrews.

Every time I go to Springfield, I make it a point to stop and grab a cup of some incredible coffee. In the past, I’ve been known to haunt the place for a few hours, and more than one blog post, lesson and sermon have been written at these tables while consuming my beverage of choice.

But in all the dozens of times I’ve walked through these doors, and through all the conversations I’ve had with the owner and his staff, I saw something this time that I’d never seen before. I saw a sign of success.

As the barista grabbed some supplies out of a cabinet behind the counter, I spied a small paper, with a handwritten message. And I was impressed. You can see a shot of Hebrew’s purpose statement in the image above. It’s simple. And it’s effective.

I see three principles in these few words that can help you make your purpose as focused as you can.

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Becoming A Model

I love it when I read a passage from the Bible that I’ve read dozens of times, and notice something completely new. Have you ever had that happen? It happened for me just the other day.

Coin In Sand

I was reading through the book of 1 Thessalonians this week, and I stumbled across a phrase, and a challenge, that I’d never noticed before.

Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonian church while he was in Corinth, right around the halfway point of the first century. The church in Thessalonica was a young, small church in a very large and pagan city. These early Christians faced sever challenges to their faith at every turn, including persecution and social pressures, temptations from their old, previous lifestyles, and conflicts with other Christians. Paul’s letter to these readers sounds strikingly familiar to our culture today.

In the first chapter, Paul is expressing his thanksgiving for the believers in this church, sharing how they labored and endured in the face of the trials they were experiencing. Paul writes of how they were chosen by God and how they became imitators of the Lord, in spite of severe persecution and suffering.

And then, he writes verse 7:

And so you became a model to all the believers…

A model…

How many times have I read this passage and never noticed this phrase?

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Three More Qualities Of Connectors

One of the hallmarks of a great communicator is the ability to connect. Great connectors continue to be great connectors because they evaluate themselves constantly.

Through my years as a minister, I’ve identified six different qualities of a connector. A couple of days ago, we looked at the first three on that list. Today, we’ll look at the remaining three qualities.

Vintage Radio

There are many ways for a communicator to relate well to his listeners. But few communicators make the connection with their audience that creates a lasting effect.

A communicator who wants to be effective in connecting with his listeners must be focused on others, he must keep the message simple, and he must be a great storyteller. But there are three additional essential qualities that a connector must display.

Connectors are creative communicators

Right off the bat, a connector must establish some common ground with his listeners. Your listeners all have their own agenda; they are listening because they need something from you. In order to help them see your vision, your purpose, you must identify those perceived needs and link your words to them. You can do that by getting inside your story. Tell it from the viewpoint of the insider. And don’t leave it hanging at the end; allow them to see what happened next, and enable them to see what their next step is as well.

There are four unpardonable sins for a communicator. When you commit any of these, you lose your connection. This happens when you are unprepared, are uncomfortable, are uncommitted, or are uninterested.

Connectors communicate with conviction

A belief is something that you hold. But a conviction is something that holds you. And your convictions make a huge difference in your message! When your listeners see how important this is to you, they identify more closely with what you are trying to impart to them.

There are three ways to connect your message in a way that makes a difference. Be more than the messenger, be a part of the message. Your listeners will relate more deeply and be more fully engaged. Your message must be more than just a sermon or a speech. Allow your listeners to see just how meaningful it is to you, and help them to see what it must be meaningful to them. And you must encourage them to see that they have a stake in the outcome.

Connectors master the art of timing

In order to connect with your listeners, you need to say the right thing at the right time. The wrong words at the wrong time spell disaster. The wrong words at the right time are a mistake. The right words at the wrong result in resistance. But the right words at the right time wins cooperation.

Know what to say. And know when to say it.

Again, being a great communicator requires a lot of work. It’s not easy. But taking the time to hone your skills at communication will result in a much more solid connection with your listeners than you realize.

And communicators are not only found in the roles of speech givers and preaching. You must communicate in every role you have, whether that’s in the home, or at work, or in your friendships. you must develop the ability to communicate well.

Great communicators connect. And they connect with a great message.

As a minister, what can be more important than communicating well?

We’ve covered the six qualities of a communicator. What would you add to this list? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Three Qualities Of Connectors

There are great communicators and there are bad communicators. The difference between the two is that great communicators connect with their listeners, and do so by answering four questions of themselves regularly.

But what does a connector look like? What are the defining characteristics of someone who can connect well with his listeners?

Satellite Dish

There are many ways for a leader to stand out from the rest. But one of the most influential ways is to be a great communicator. It doesn’t matter if you are leading a large corporation, a small business, a church, or even your family. Great leaders connect well with others.

You may use your communication skill in a more public manner in certain positions, but every leader must communicate. And in order to be a great communicator, you need to be a great connector.

I’ve identified six qualities or characteristics of a connector. These aren’t necessarily exhaustive; there may be other qualities that I’ve not identified. But throughout more than two decades of speaking to teens, and now all ages, as a minister, I’ve discovered that these six qualities must be present in order to build that connection with my listeners.

In this post, we will examine the first three on the list, and take a look at the rest later this week.

Here are the first three qualities of a connector: