Today I asked myself this question…am I a leader?  Not positional or pastorally, but in deed and duty.  It lead me to this list of qualifications that I believe must be in every leader:

VISION
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion.”
My God given vision, to walk in Christ, to love my wife as Christ loved the Church, make disciples of my children and lead a church that is recklessly reaching Rural America and the World.

INTEGRITY
“I must be the same on the inside, as I am on the outside.”
Honest dealings, predictable reactions, well-controlled emotions, and an absence of tantrums and harsh outbursts are all signs of integrity. A leader who is centered in integrity will be more approachable by followers.

DEDICATION
“Dedication is making me irrelevant within the task and Jesus prevalent!”
Dedication means spending whatever time or energy is necessary to accomplish the task at hand. By setting an excellent example, leaders can show followers that there are no nine-to-five jobs on the team, only opportunities to achieve something great.

MAGNANIMITY
Magnanimity means giving credit where it is due. A magnanimous leader ensures that credit for successes is spread as widely as possible throughout the company. Conversely, a good leader takes personal responsibility for failures.

OPENNESS
“Able to listen to new ideas…even if they are not my usual way of thinking!”
Good leaders are able to suspend judgment while listening to others’ ideas, as well as accept new ways of doing things that someone else thought of. Openness builds mutual respect and trust between leaders and followers, and it also keeps the team well supplied with new ideas that can further its vision.

CREATIVITY
Creativity is the ability to think differently, to get outside of the box that constrains solutions. Creativity gives leaders the ability to see things that others have not seen and thus lead followers in new directions. As I have heard it said and will repeat, God has made all of us creative geniuses.

FAIRNESS
“Fairness means dealing with others consistently and justly.” A leader must check all the facts and hear everyone out before passing judgment. When people feel they that are being treated fairly, they reward a leader with loyalty and dedication.

ASSERTIVENESS
“Assertiveness is not the same as aggressiveness.” A leader must be assertive to get the desired results. Along with assertiveness comes the responsibility to clearly understand what followers expect from their leader. A common weakness in leaders is overassertiveness or underassertiveness…”and that’s all I have to say about that.”

HUMOR
A sense of humor is vital to relieve tension and boredom, as well as to defuse hostility. Effective leaders know how to use humor to energize followers. Humor is a form of power that provides some control over the work environment. And simply put, humor fosters good camaraderie. HA, HA!

WHAT DO I LACK? WHAT DO I NEED TO WORK ON? I am asking these questions today. What about you? Let’s talk about it here!

Brand New Church just launched a facelift on it’s website (check it out here) The message section is AWESOME, the new big viewing screen is great, but the COMMUNITY tab is THE BOMB! As a relational, church leader I am always looking for ways to build commUNITY within our congregants and this community tab is BIG. The genius Jon Dale (@jondale) got me turned on to this great tool for our church. The software is called NING and here is the best part RURAL PASTORS…IT’S FREE!

Here are just a few benefits of this addition to your site (from a web laymen):

#1 New Daily Content at your church or organizational website.
#2 Connects your church with it’s members in a “real” way with family photos, videos, blogs and more.
#3 Content placed on your NING page is able to be shared with your already existing social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
#4 Mulit-Site Churches can develop a greater connection with other campus attendees.
#5 Events can be posted to the site for more face time to your members.
#6 Content is moderated and safe for all ages of the family.
#7 You can invite your church via any contact group that you already have established (gmail, yahoo, etc.).
#8 Once a member, you receive a personal email address that you can use to send your photos and videos from your mobile phone.
#9 No Technical skill is required!
#10 Members can create their own forum and blogs.
#11 Personalized page options are available for community members.
#12 Just a reminder…IT’S FREE!

You can find out more about NING here. Check out our new facelift and join us at our community page today!

This One Day Event with Tony Morgan and Casey Graham is a MUST. The Cost is $49 if registered on or before April 30. We have 30 rooms for $35 a night first come first serve, just email us at info@brandnewchurch.com.

#1 Tony will assist you with Ministry Strategy, Leadership Vision and Structure. His blog is read by thousands and you can order his book here.

#2 Casey will not only enable you to raise funds, create a 12 month objectives,  and a 90 day financial action plan for your organization, but he will tell you how his amazing team can bring leadership to your finances for pennies.

#3 Brand New Church will be a place to inspire you and help you see that God wants to work mightily in every church no matter the obstacle. I will be teaching on “How to Lead Past the Church Bully” and giving practical helps for Leadership Success in the local church setting.

We will also help you with: Volunteers, Excellence on a Zero Budget, 4 Non-Negotiables of Brand New Church and much more!

You can register right here, right now! Can’t wait to meet you and grow with you.

2 Peter 1:3-8 is a passage you don’t need to pray in your life…you need to add it to your life. It says, “make every effort to add to your faith…”. God has done his part, now you do yours. Don’t PRAY THESE, PLAY THESE in your daily living. There are seven, one for every day to add to your Christ walk:

#1 Goodness – praiseworthy
Be intentional with your goodness.
#2 Knowledge – intellect of God shown in right living
#3 Self Control – masters your desires and appetites
Eating, Addiction, Flesh
#4 Perserverance – Endure, hang in there
When you have a deliberate vision and purpose…don’t waiver!
Your tolerance for pain is the indicator of how great you will be!
#5 Godliness – Reverance, Respect
Revere the things of God…His Church, His Word, Your Relationship w/Him
#6 Brotherly Kindness – Love people like family
#7 Love – benevolence
Act on someone else’s behalf

WHY??? SO THAT YOU WILL BE EFFECTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! Verse 8 gives you this promise!
Share with me practical ways you will be adding these to your life.

Let me share with you 5 things I did not learn in Seminary:
#1 How to Communicate Vision
#2 How to Lead a Staff
#3 How to “Exhort” the Church Bully
#4 How to Handle membership Loss
#5 How to Love Your Wife as Christ Loved the Church

The Youngs deal with all of these in this video conversation. Thank you Ed Young and Dr. Ed Young Sr. for this dialogue. Father and son learning from each other and encouraging thousands during this lesson. In 45 minutes you will learn more than you can imagine concerning church leadership. Staff Issues, Time Off, How to Lead Leaders, Personal Evangelism, How to Develop Staff Leadership and so much more. Calendar the time to watch this remarkable question and answer.

Everyone around you is looking for encouragement and acceptance. It is up to you and me to give it, or create chaos in a life. Your words are the only thing, once it has left you, that you cannot get back. You can speak power into them or drag them down with poorly-put words. James 3:6 says, “the tongue…sets the course of his life…” Let me illustrate this truth with commonly used phrases:

Poorly Put
#1 “Not now.”
#2 “You’re stupid.”
#3 “You can’t.”
#4 “Good for nothing.”
#5 “You never.”
#6 “It’s your fault.”
#7 “I fell out of love”
#8 “You’re a liar.”
#9 “Do you ever listen?!”
#10 “Forget it.”

Pure Power
#1 “I’m wrong.”
#2 “You can do it.”
#3 “I believe in you.”
#4 “I love you.”
#5 “I’m proud of you.”
#6 “Thank you.”
#7 “I need you.”
#8 “I trust you.”
#9 “I respect you.”
#10 “Please forgive me.”

Add to these list and let’s empower those around us with Pure Power!

Dr. Sam Chand ask this question; “What is your leadership capacity?”. He stated there are 7 areas we must be increasing capacity as a leader.
Let’s look at these seven areas:

#1 Pain
You will only grow, if your threshold for pain is growing. Leaders will and must experience pain. You will only know blessing if you have been troubled.

#2 Relational
Your marriage, your friendships, your co-workers are growing your relational leadership or you are dying. When you stop relating, you stop being relevant or needed. Don’t be afraid of hurt, pain, betrayal just love big and trust God.

#3 Exposure
God grows you ministry and exposure as you expose yourself before God! Be honest in confession and be available to hear from God.

#4 Identity
Don’t change who you are for anyone. God has hard-wired you to be you.

#5 Crisis
Never waste a crisis. Learn from it and capitalize on it. Crisis will separate “the fans” from “the followers”.

#6 Character
Your talent can take you where your character cannot keep you. Your 3 or 4 closest influences are determining your character and destiny.

#7 Risk
When you are 100% sure you are to late.

What areas would add to leadership capacity?

Ed Young Sr. gave some practical advise for pastors and church leaders here at C3. He is a 74 year old man and SBC pastor of 50 years. Here is what he says hinders church growth and promotes church growth:

10 Things that HInder

#1 Poor Location
#2 Committee-Led Church
#3 “Right Size” Mentality
#4 Negative Preaching
#5 Fear of Debt
#6 Staff that does not Function
#7 Church without a Leader…(Pastors MUST Lead)
#8 Threatening Atmosphere to the Unbelieving
#9 Evangelistic Counting
#10 Shabby Building

10 Things that Promote

#1 Leadership, Leadership, Leadership
#2 Surplus Parking
#3 Visibility
#4 Prioritized Ministry (Non-Negotiables)
#5 Prayer
#6 Shared Vsion
#7 Quality
#8 Constant Change
#9 Discernment
#10 Preach the Word of God!

Ok, many have asked what I learned from my first (and definitely not last) marriage counseling appointment:

#12 Cindy is the best wife on planet earth!

#1 Never waste a good fight (work through it, don’t bury it).

Make certain you find a “Christian Biblically Based” counselor. I highly recommend Fellowship Counseling Services. You can learn more by clicking here

John 4:23-24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

I have friends that love the sensational and I have friends who love scholarship.  Jesus says he is looking for worshipers who love both which always equals “SUBSTANCE”.  God wants you and I to be FOUND as true worshippers of His Son.  I try to illustrate this here…let me know what you think…(please forgive me for the cheerleader spirit fingers)

Spirit Fingers from Shannon O’Dell on Vimeo.