Tag: Sunset

Spiritual Formation

Social justice, human dignity, community awareness, liberation, and other issues often come to the forefront of a discussion about spiritual formation.

However, our participation in these alone does not result in spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation must involve the following:

1) God: There is no spiritual formation without Him.

2) Holy Spirit: We don’t know the full depths of His activity, but He is essential to spiritual formation.

3) Jesus: The cornerstone to our spiritual house, and without Him there is no formation.

4) The Word: This book guides us in the spiritual formation needed to complete and perfect us for every task.

Spiritual formation requires all four.

Leading Succinctly

Students often prefer essay questions. Primarily, because they have an opportunity to write enough “fluff” to maybe hit the right answer. Sadly, our approach to leadership can be the same.

Allowing uncertainty and a lack of clarity to be clouded with the minutia of indirectness is common. When we finish, no one seems to know what was communicated.

How can we be more succinct when communicating?

Think deeply.
Write it down.
Edit.

Good communication is the result of thinking deeply, writing, rewriting, and rewriting until we are succinct.

The same applies when communicating orally.

Lead with Passion

Too many people work in a career, job, or other activity that is filled with drudgery. They struggle to get out of bed and drag themselves through the day.

Life is too short to participate in any area of life we are not passionate about. When the direction of our life is purposed by our passion, we are excited to get up and go.

Wanda Skyes shared this helpful reminder, “If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.”

What are we passionate about and are we doing it?

In Sync Leadership

To be “in sync” involves harmony between our own life and the lives of others, especially those we lead. How can leaders work with others in ways that leave both feeling in sync?

1) Listen. The idea of active listening involves the ability to listen with the head and heart.

2) Equip. An urgent requisite includes equipping others with the tools to accomplish the task.

3) Motivate. Leaders must encourage and inspire others in order to be on the same page.

4) Reward. When the job is done well and reaches its end, the achievement deserves a time to celebrate the victory.

Leading by GPS

A global positioning system (GPS) makes travel in unfamiliar territory much easier. Now, we have a variety of apps on our smart devices that provide this luxury.

From a leadership perspective, imagine the impact on followers with leaders that know they are the GPS, God’s Purposeful Servant.

God is the foundation of our leadership, guided and directed by the Creator of the universe.

Purposeful
indicates two ideas: 1) God’s will drives our leadership, and 2) we lead with intentionality.

Servant is the descriptive word. We are servants of God and others as we lead them with hope for a better future.

Faith-based Leadership

An old Chinese proverb claims that “limitations are the boundaries we place in our minds.” What do we consider to be possible or impossible?

While we claim that all things are possible with God, do we really believe it?

We say we have faith, then turn around and place limitations on what we hope to accomplish because it has not been done before. Do we really believe?

Since God is our strength and He made us fellow-workers in His kingdom, we need to stop thinking in the realm of impossibility. Maybe if we moved out of the way, God would do some incredible things.

Interdependency

Rarely do leaders consider the interdependency of relationships. These are relationships where people are dependent on each other.

Our culture focuses on independence, a make it on your own mentality. Pride often hinders us from ever seeking or asking for help from anyone else.

The other side of the coin is one where we become dependent on someone else without contributing to the relationship ourselves.

When we take a learning posture and realize others can teach, guide, and offer something to help us in our role as leaders, we begin to fulfill an interdependency that will strengthen our ability to lead.

The Light of Leadership

Jesus claimed to be the “Light of the world.” He further told His disciples, “You are the light of the world…,” concluding the thought by saying, “Let your light shine…”

There can be no doubt that Jesus planned for His followers to reflect His character, virtue, and example in a world that does not welcome the light and often attempts to extinguish it.

Katelyn Irons challenged us with this thought, “Shine with all you have. When someone tries to blow you out, just take their oxygen and burn brighter.”

For leaders, it’s about leading out of being. The light is who we are, not just what we do.

Changing the Future

If we could turn back time, what would we do different?

What would we change if we could start 2020 or even 2021 over? Would we do anything different?

Change a word spoken in anger or too hastily?
Choose to make better decisions?
Channel our energy toward a more positive attitude?
Correct a wrong done to a friend, family member, or foe?

We are aware of the impossibility of turning back time. But if we could, certainly, our changes would be for a better life for everyone.

Let’s determine today to lead with those changes in mind.

Inspiring Leaders

Defining leadership becomes more complex by the day. Books, blogs, and dictionaries are constantly modifying ways we think about leadership.

For the past 100 years, definitions seem to indicate the same challenges. Each decade introduced new political figures and challenges to the country that influenced the way leadership was defined.

One consistent fact about leadership, regardless of the time, country, or political power, is the influence leaders have through inspiring others to act toward achieving a goal.

When leaders exercise this ability, they unite a force that keeps everyone focused on the goal and the implementation of plans necessary to reach the goal.