Archive for the ‘Leading’ Category

Posted on March 3, 2010 - by Larry - 3 Comments

Vision

I had a vision the other day that I want to tell you about.

I have been spending some time with Michael Hyatt on his blog about how to create a  Life plan. He writes about how we need to write out what we see as our preferred future in several key areas of our life. Your preferred vision is what you want your life or aspect of your life to look like.

Maybe I am in dreamland but still I think it would be cool if I could say this about my work here in Germany.

Here is my preferred future.

I am investing weekly in several national church planters who are starting churches in their communities amongst various people groups. They are also discipling potential church planters in their church plants.

I am working with the national church. I am praying with the pastors of churches in this area. They are helping me know the culture. They are introducing me to other key people. I am helping them by supporting them through prayer and serving them in ways they feel are beneficial. I am trying to influence them regarding discipleship and church planting.

I am working with several other Christian organizations who have ministries in our city. We pray together. We dream together and we find ways where we can work together on projects. We are advocates for one another and we want to see each other succeed.

I am building a network of people who work in the marketplace. These people come from various parts of the world and they are here for often for just a season. They are believers and want to live their lives as salt and light in the marketplace and community. Because the work in the marketplace they have a type of credibility that I do not have. They are untapped resources for most of us. These Skybridge Community workers pray for one another, support one another, work with local ministries and churches. I try to provide some training and equipping for them that will help them live missionally in a cross cultural setting.

I have a few churches from North America that are helping me at various levels.

I have a team of people who pray for our ministry on a weekly basis. Some of these prayer advocates have told me they pray for me daily. I keep them up to speed via email and I have a Facebook group by invitation only that prays for us.

I have a couple of churches who are partnering side by side with me on some projects that I am working on. They provide some strategic resources. They provide our team with some short term teams that help us facilitate the church planting strategy.

I also have a couple of churches and I am always looking for more that will be the missionary in an area or amongst a people group that I cannot be engaged with at this time. I see these churches has self starters, highly motivated and able to implement their strategies in these areas. I work with them. I try to give them support and encouragement. We have good communication.

I wish this was true for my ministry. I do well at some of these areas and I have a lot to do in other areas.

I can tell you it is one of my  goals when I look at what my ministry looks like.  It is what I am working towards.

Posted on February 17, 2010 - by Larry - 3 Comments

Owning Up

When do you say:  “oops, I made a mistake” ?

Are you able to say ” I am sorry”?

I think transparency is important as a leader. I will never forget the time as a young church planter I was sitting in the living room of some potential core group members. They were attending our meetings and I felt we were connecting fairly well. Then the husband said “you know Larry one thing that bothers us is that you do not seem to have a hard time admitting that you made a mistake. You will be so transparent in front of people. We think a pastor should be above that.”  They wanted a pastor who was perfect and I guess who was able to display that perfection on stage. Obviously they did not stick around. I was too imperfect.

I think in leadership we can become tentative on how much we share and admitting error. If you admit a mistake will you be held accountable for that mistake? You should be held accountable. What will that cost you?

I have for a long time had an interest in corporate apologies.

How often does a corporation admit that they made a mistake? What happens when they do?

How often does a church or church leader admit they probably should have gone a different direction on a ministry?

How often does a team leader or pastor say “you know I messed this up. Can we start over and let’s do it different this time?”

It seems much simpler to just keep going down the road and hoping the next turn will be better and that things will smooth out or correct itself. After all we would not want to give the impression that we are perfect. We could be afraid of the consequences. I have found that most of the time that people will hang with a leader who is transparent and who owns up to his/her humanity.

Posted on January 22, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments

The next person

Have you ever written down in your journal the people who have influenced you in positive ways over the years?

Who have you invested in ?

We need people on both lists.

I was listening to a message last Sunday in a church here in our town. The text was 2 Timothy 2:2

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

Maybe it is Facebook but I have thought a lot about high school and college lately. It was in my freshmen year of college that I became quite serious about my commitment to follow Jesus on a daily basis. The Lord provided me with several mentors.

I remember Ken who took me as a college student to share Christ with other students in our area.

I remember Ed who took me through MasterLife 1,2 and then started making up more to walk me through as a college student.

I remember Larry who challenge me in music (hard to believe) and to not be afraid to tell my story.

I remember David who taught me how to relate to people that I lead and to serve people I lead as Jesus would.

The list could go on.  I was pretty rough around the edges.

All of these people during College and Seminary made major investments in me. They mentored me. They helped me in my spiritual journey. They helped me in my leadership journey.

As I have started a new year I have been thinking about this quite a bit. Who am I investing in? My family, colleagues, students, new  missionaries on the field, national believers, etc..

I know the benefits will out last me. If I invest my time, energy and resources in others then it can go beyond my lifetime.

Posted on January 14, 2010 - by Larry - 3 Comments

The Possibility Thinker

Recently I remember being part of a group conversation regarding missions.  One of the guys in the group  has lived on the mission field a long time. This person has a wealth of knowledge and experience.  As I was interacting with the group and listening to this person I kept hearing something that inspired me to write this post.

For nearly every idea that was popping up in the conversation from a younger worker this person had a response.

“The problem with that is….”

I tried to be polite in the conversation but I must admit that kind of impossibility thinking drove me crazy.  I believe those words can quench the spirit of people who are trying to be creative in their ministry. Sure most ideas can be well, idealistic,  but we need dreamers.

On the other hand I know people who react just the opposite. They are what I call “possibility thinkers”. When someone presents an idea they do not kill it but they help you think through the possibilities and start dreaming with you. You start thinking you can actually do this. As they dream with you they are able in some wild sort of way help you self- realize some of the issues you need to consider as you implement your dream.

These are men and women of faith and vision.

Sometimes in organizations we can create an atmosphere where thinking outside the box or trying something new or risky is discouraged. We need possibility thinkers on the field. We need people willing to take a chance.

I talk to a lot of people from a lot of different missional networks and churches. Consider these two scenarios from the past.

One pastor called a mission organization several times about his church’s vision to start a work in a certain country. The reply he kept getting from the office was “sorry we do not work there”. Finally he gets connected with a possibility thinker. The ideas became a reality.

I heard of another pastor who had a similar story. He has a vision for his church to engage a certain people group.  He was trying to connect with some field leaders of a mission agency from his denomination.  After running against too much control and opposition from the field he moved on and started working with another organization in the same country.

What if he had connected with a possibility thinker?

Since I am becoming older each day I find this topic crucial in my own ministry.  I want to empower the younger workers on the field to pursue their God- given dreams.  I want to see churches try things in missions that have not been tried before. The future depends on this.

Are you a possibility thinker?

Posted on January 7, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments

What is leadership?

What is leadership?

I remember first being asked this question when I was just out of seminary. I am sure it was in a John Maxwell book. I wish I could have a dollar for each time someone has started the leadership topic out with that question. I guess I would be paying myself a dollar today. smile.

I have always hung on to the definition that leadership is influence.  This Christmas season I started brainstorming about some potential blog posts and decided I have some posts that I would like to write regarding leadership. I am not an expert on this. In fact I feel rather arrogant actually making  it a category on my blog.

In reality, I have had a lot of experience in this area.

Some good and some bad.

I have made  my share of mistakes. I will make more for sure.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to lead at various levels. Here is the one thread that runs through all of my experiences. Leadership is all about being able to influence people. It is less about position though in most churches and organizations we have made position the key factor.

If leadership is influence then I think we need to take seriously a few traits in ourselves such as our

• character
• skill to get the job done
• ability for  others to trust us
• honesty
• reliability
• being a person of vision and faith
• being a possibility thinker
  

If people are going to follow you regardless of position then there are characteristics that need to be present in your life. I hope these things can be said of me. If not then as  saying goes …. “He who thinks he is a leader and no one is following is only taking a walk. I am quite certain that I heard that from Maxwell as well.

More soon.