Leadership Lessons From The First "300"
Over President's Day weekend I had the great honor of taking some of our student leaders to the mountains of north Georgia for an intense weekend of leadership development. God really spoke to them over the course of the retreat, & it seems that they have a fresh perspective & a renewed sense of purpose in their faith & leadership.
We looked at the life & leadership of Gideon in Judges 6-8 for our Bible study. Over the next several days I want to unpack some of the stuff that I pulled out of this passage both for me & for my student leaders. I want to keep it brief & let you go to the story of Gideon & allow God to unpack the rest for yourself.
Here are the core things I picked up on as I dug into this story with fresh eyes:
1) God Uses The Unlikely To Lead
2) Godly Leadership Begins In Our Closest Relationships
3) Even Leaders Doubt, But They Don't Have To Doubt The One Who Called Them.
4) God Uses The Fearlessly Focused Faithful Few In The Battle
5) Facing Opposition Requires Both Wisdom & Strength
6) Leaders Must Beware Of The Subtle Traps That Are Set For Them
Next week, I'll go into these ideas in more detail, but I encourage you to go read the story of Gideon. Approach it as if you've never heard one word of it. See it with fresh eyes; hear it with fresh ears, & God will reveal some amazing truths to you.
February 20, 2009
February 12, 2009
Student Leadership Retreat Weekend
This weekend is pretty crammed for me. Friday, my family is heading to Knoxville, TN for a wedding. The best part of that will definitely be watching my little girl, Julia, walk down the aisle as a flower girl. She's done it before, but she has a better idea of what she's supposed to be doing this time around. That will be a highlight.
Then on Sunday afternoon immediately following the morning worship service, I'll be loading up with a small group of my student leaders & heading to the mountains of north GA for a really quick leadership retreat. This will be an intense, focused time for us to learn from God's word how we can continually grow & be sharpened as leaders. Along with some wide open discussion time, we'll be focusing in on the life & leadership of Gideon. Most of us who have grown up in church world know the basics of Gideon's story, but when you really begin to peel away the "Sunday School" version & start digging into the meat of what God did in this guy's life, you will find some jewels in the arena of spiritual leadership. Next week, I'll be posting some of the lessons that we will look at over the course of our retreat, but since I don't want to steal my own thunder in the event that some of my students may look at this, I'll hold off for now.
If you're looking for some other good stuff in the area of spiritual leadership, check out http://www.stevenfurtick.com/ . He has really had some good stuff going on lately. I love watching from afar as God does some awesome stuff in Charlotte through Elevation Church.
This weekend is pretty crammed for me. Friday, my family is heading to Knoxville, TN for a wedding. The best part of that will definitely be watching my little girl, Julia, walk down the aisle as a flower girl. She's done it before, but she has a better idea of what she's supposed to be doing this time around. That will be a highlight.
Then on Sunday afternoon immediately following the morning worship service, I'll be loading up with a small group of my student leaders & heading to the mountains of north GA for a really quick leadership retreat. This will be an intense, focused time for us to learn from God's word how we can continually grow & be sharpened as leaders. Along with some wide open discussion time, we'll be focusing in on the life & leadership of Gideon. Most of us who have grown up in church world know the basics of Gideon's story, but when you really begin to peel away the "Sunday School" version & start digging into the meat of what God did in this guy's life, you will find some jewels in the arena of spiritual leadership. Next week, I'll be posting some of the lessons that we will look at over the course of our retreat, but since I don't want to steal my own thunder in the event that some of my students may look at this, I'll hold off for now.
If you're looking for some other good stuff in the area of spiritual leadership, check out http://www.stevenfurtick.com/ . He has really had some good stuff going on lately. I love watching from afar as God does some awesome stuff in Charlotte through Elevation Church.
January 21, 2009
Accountability-That Dirty Little Word
Recently I've had to deal with some situations in my ministry that required me to hold some people accountable for their actions & for their continued growth in their faith. Needless to say, it's never fun to have to do this. Even those of us who love confrontation probably cringe at actually having to do this. The more often I have to deal with these kinds of situations, the more I'm convinced that the discomfort comes from the fact that true, biblical accountability is a lost art in most ministries.
The reason I'm beginning to believe this is because I can't ever remember seeing biblical accountability handled correctly. When it became evident that someone had slipped the common action was either to ignore the person (also known as shunning them right out of the church) or to blast them by telling the story to as many people as would listen. As a result accountability & judgment became synonymous. While these two concepts are very similar, it seems there's one big difference. Accountability implies a sense of mutual submission between believers to Christ & to one another. However, judgment implies a sense of superiority & of course self righteousness. The problem is that most people can't tell the difference anymore, no matter how appropriately they are approaced.
The answer? First, people need to be taught the difference. People need to understand that sometimes the most loving thing to do is to judge(Andy Stanley quote). As long as the judgment that we are making is handled in a biblical way (and there is one), we can approach a fellow believer not to hurt them or belittle them but to help them restore their walk with Christ to its proper place in their life. When restoration is the goal, accountability/judgment is not only a good thing, it's a necessary thing. The second thing we need to do is to hold one another accountable. We can't hide from our responsibility to one another as followers of Jesus. It's true, that we are not perfect, but that doesn't absolve us from our responsibility to lovingly correct & encourage one another in our faith. We can't avoid accountability because it's uncomfortable or at times messy; we have been called by God to pursue a life of holiness & that takes place both as an individual & in the context of a community, the church. The worst thing we can do is ignore our brothers or sisters who are struggling.
How have you seen accountability fleshed out in your own experience? Have you seen it done right? Have you ever done it wrong? If the church doesn't begin to shift more & more toward holding one another accountable, she will be crippled in her mission to bring God glory & to extend His Kingdom to every corner of the earth.
Recently I've had to deal with some situations in my ministry that required me to hold some people accountable for their actions & for their continued growth in their faith. Needless to say, it's never fun to have to do this. Even those of us who love confrontation probably cringe at actually having to do this. The more often I have to deal with these kinds of situations, the more I'm convinced that the discomfort comes from the fact that true, biblical accountability is a lost art in most ministries.
The reason I'm beginning to believe this is because I can't ever remember seeing biblical accountability handled correctly. When it became evident that someone had slipped the common action was either to ignore the person (also known as shunning them right out of the church) or to blast them by telling the story to as many people as would listen. As a result accountability & judgment became synonymous. While these two concepts are very similar, it seems there's one big difference. Accountability implies a sense of mutual submission between believers to Christ & to one another. However, judgment implies a sense of superiority & of course self righteousness. The problem is that most people can't tell the difference anymore, no matter how appropriately they are approaced.
The answer? First, people need to be taught the difference. People need to understand that sometimes the most loving thing to do is to judge(Andy Stanley quote). As long as the judgment that we are making is handled in a biblical way (and there is one), we can approach a fellow believer not to hurt them or belittle them but to help them restore their walk with Christ to its proper place in their life. When restoration is the goal, accountability/judgment is not only a good thing, it's a necessary thing. The second thing we need to do is to hold one another accountable. We can't hide from our responsibility to one another as followers of Jesus. It's true, that we are not perfect, but that doesn't absolve us from our responsibility to lovingly correct & encourage one another in our faith. We can't avoid accountability because it's uncomfortable or at times messy; we have been called by God to pursue a life of holiness & that takes place both as an individual & in the context of a community, the church. The worst thing we can do is ignore our brothers or sisters who are struggling.
How have you seen accountability fleshed out in your own experience? Have you seen it done right? Have you ever done it wrong? If the church doesn't begin to shift more & more toward holding one another accountable, she will be crippled in her mission to bring God glory & to extend His Kingdom to every corner of the earth.
January 7, 2009
Momentum Conference This Weekend
I'm really pumped about a conference I get to be a part of this weekend. I'll be at the Momentum 3 Conference sponsored by Global Youth Ministry. For those of you who aren't really that familiar with Global, they are a ministry that has a vision to reach the world by reaching the world's teenagers. They're all about developing youth ministry leaders & student leaders to reach other students for Christ. They do all the stuff like a lot of ministries, like weekend conferences & camps during the summer, but here's where they are different. They also take students overseas to do mission work. While those students are there they will take on leadership roles in leading a camp similar to the one they may have attended through Global in the past. They also get to work, in some cases, with a "Global Mentor" who has gone to live on the ground to develop youth ministry leaders in places where youth ministry either doesn't exist or it's in its infancy. They have a global vision that they're inviting local churches to get involved with.
This weekend I get to head up to their mountain top retreat center to spend some time with Roger Glidewell & a bunch of other youth ministry leaders. During the weekend we'll not only be taught & challenged by Roger & other conference staff, but we'll spend some time really talking about what we are doing as youth leaders all over the country. It's unlike anything I've been apart of. Usually it's about going & hearing "somebody" teach you about youth ministry & leadership, & that's great, but this looks like it's going to go to another level. I'm really pumped about what I'm going to hear, not only from Roger, but from all the other leaders who will be there sharing what God is doing in & through their ministries in their churches.
If you don't know much about Global, check them out at http://www.globalyouthministry.com/ . I would encourage any youth ministry leader to investigate them & get involved in what God is doing through Global Youth Ministry.
I'm really pumped about a conference I get to be a part of this weekend. I'll be at the Momentum 3 Conference sponsored by Global Youth Ministry. For those of you who aren't really that familiar with Global, they are a ministry that has a vision to reach the world by reaching the world's teenagers. They're all about developing youth ministry leaders & student leaders to reach other students for Christ. They do all the stuff like a lot of ministries, like weekend conferences & camps during the summer, but here's where they are different. They also take students overseas to do mission work. While those students are there they will take on leadership roles in leading a camp similar to the one they may have attended through Global in the past. They also get to work, in some cases, with a "Global Mentor" who has gone to live on the ground to develop youth ministry leaders in places where youth ministry either doesn't exist or it's in its infancy. They have a global vision that they're inviting local churches to get involved with.
This weekend I get to head up to their mountain top retreat center to spend some time with Roger Glidewell & a bunch of other youth ministry leaders. During the weekend we'll not only be taught & challenged by Roger & other conference staff, but we'll spend some time really talking about what we are doing as youth leaders all over the country. It's unlike anything I've been apart of. Usually it's about going & hearing "somebody" teach you about youth ministry & leadership, & that's great, but this looks like it's going to go to another level. I'm really pumped about what I'm going to hear, not only from Roger, but from all the other leaders who will be there sharing what God is doing in & through their ministries in their churches.
If you don't know much about Global, check them out at http://www.globalyouthministry.com/ . I would encourage any youth ministry leader to investigate them & get involved in what God is doing through Global Youth Ministry.
January 6, 2009
Moving My Blog Back Here
After trying out the blog features of the new pastors.com website, I've decided to move my blog back to the blogger.com site. First, the traffic & user friendly nature of pastors.com has seriously declined. It's just not the network that it once was. The updates they made to the site to me is good example of how change isn't always the best thing for an organization. Secondly, I wanted my blog to be in a place where it might be stumbled upon by just about anybody, & that wasn't going to happen at pastors.com.
However there are some really good posts (of course I am a little biased) on the pastors.com blog so I want to give you a link to those blog posts: http://pastors.com/blogs/bowman/default.aspx
I would really encourage you to go by there & read through some of those posts.
Thanks
After trying out the blog features of the new pastors.com website, I've decided to move my blog back to the blogger.com site. First, the traffic & user friendly nature of pastors.com has seriously declined. It's just not the network that it once was. The updates they made to the site to me is good example of how change isn't always the best thing for an organization. Secondly, I wanted my blog to be in a place where it might be stumbled upon by just about anybody, & that wasn't going to happen at pastors.com.
However there are some really good posts (of course I am a little biased) on the pastors.com blog so I want to give you a link to those blog posts: http://pastors.com/blogs/bowman/default.aspx
I would really encourage you to go by there & read through some of those posts.
Thanks
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)