Tag: Challenge

Why Wait?

Do we know what should be done? Why are we waiting to do it? Do we have the ability and resources to make it happen? Why are we waiting?

Souls are waiting. The church is waiting. Our God is waiting.

God has given us the ability and resources to make it happen.

Why are we waiting?

With so much at stake, will our waiting be worth it if we wait too long?

Application generally applies to anyone who delays obedience to the gospel. The same is true for leading.

We need to challenge our excuses. We cannot wait any longer. Paul’s words to the church at Corinth should be remembered, “Act like men.” Leadership will not wait!

Learning Teamwork

One of the challenges facing all leaders is the ability to work well with others.

Amy Poehler says, “As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”

When leaders feel threatened by those who think outside the box and are talented / gifted, they cannot achieve genuine success in leadership.

If we really want to multiply the strength of the church, we need to learn the true art of teamwork.

Learning Leaders

How would you describe the adventure, purpose, nature, challenge, essence, opportunity, secret, spice, and beauty of life?

William Arthur Ward sums it up this way: “The adventure of life is to learn. The purpose of life is to grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome. The essence of life is to care. The opportunity of life is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give.”

Learning, growing, changing, overcoming, caring, serving, daring, befriending and giving are the key elements to the activity of great leaders.

A Leadership Challenge

While a challenge often involves a form of competition, the most relevant definition describes a task or situation that tests someone’s abilities.

Two primary thoughts should be considered in relationship to leaders.

1) Leaders must challenge themselves. We must find ways to test our abilities to strengthen the character of our leadership.

2) Leaders must challenge others. The idea is to present tasks or situations where the abilities of followers are tested to produce personal growth.

People arise to what is expected. If little or nothing is expected, then little or nothing is given. However, experience has proven that when leaders provide encouragement and expectation, followers come through.

Leading with Prayer

I recently heard a question asked, “Do we believe in prayer?”

Most people can attest to God answering prayers in powerful ways.

Perhaps the struggle we have deals with the temptation to doubt when various trials arise and challenge our faith in God’s power to answer.

There is no magic formula, special words, proper position, or time of day that makes a difference in prayer.

For Christians, prayer is about the simplicity of a humble heart that trusts God to answer in His time, in His ways, and in our best interest.

We may not always understand, but prayer is foundational to powerful leadership.

Success and Vision

Before we can experience success, we must understand what we mean by success.

The definition of success on a personal and corporate level takes on different dimensions accordingly. We also find that the definition of success often changes with the stage and development of one’s life.

If we do not know how to define success, creating a vision for the future will be met with great challenge.

When we do not know the destination, how will we ever know if we reach it? Beyond this, why would anyone be passionate about pursuing the vision?

Unless we define success, any thought of vision crumbles with mediocrity.

Unscriptural or Uncomfortable?

There is a difference in something being uncomfortable versus unscriptural.

The challenge is recognizing the difference, but how?

Know the book. When knowledge of God’s word is weak, leaders will struggle to know if something is biblical or not.

Seek wisdom through prayer. Prayer is one of the most powerful tools and often neglected. God says ask for wisdom and it will be given.

Ask the right questions.
What does the Bible say about this matter? Is this practice tradition? Should it continue? How will it affect the church?

Be patient. No decision should be made in one meeting. Give it time, but be careful not to procrastinate.

Informing Others

The challenge to leadership exists when there is a lack of communication.

When leaders do not keep others informed, people grow suspicious, begin to distrust leaders, doubt a leaders ability, and become anxious.

However, when leaders keep others informed, great things can happen.

What kind of information needs to be provided?

Inform others why changes are being made.
Inform others of the plans for the change.
Inform others of who will be needed to accomplish the change.
Inform others of challenges / or hindrances facing the plans.
Inform others of the needs.

When leaders communicate / inform others, trustworthy and loyal relationships develop. It is time for God’s leaders to lead.

Improving Your Leadership

Leaders understand the necessity of growing, improving who they are and all they do. They understand that leading others assumes a responsibility that demands growth.

While certain choices are made one time for all time, other choices require a daily commitment to achieve. For leaders to become better in who they are and what they do, deciding daily to improve goes far in achieving results.

Be decisive. It is about a decision to move beyond the present circumstances.

To remain neutral only supports stagnation and ultimately failure. Leaders know the dangers and seek to avoid such an outcome. Challenge yourself to get better.

Courageous Leadership

Leaders need courage, but what does that mean?

We often think of courage as a quality or characteristic that people possess or develop. Some people have it and some do not.

However, courage is a decision to act bravely when you are scared to death. It is easy to say we have courage when everything operates smoothly, but what about in times of challenge, controversy, or conflict?

It takes courage to stand against the influences of false teaching, to address disciplinary matters, to stand for right decisions (even if unpopular or unaccepted by some), and do so with a gentleness and love that demonstrates concern for every individual.