The Stakes of Leadership

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There was once a community of believers who were so totally devoted to God that their life together was charged with the Spirit’s power. In that band of Christ followers, believers loved each other with a radical kind of love. They took off their masks and shared their lives with one another. They laughed and cried and prayed and sang and served together in authentic Christian fellowship. Those who had more shared freely with those who had less until socioeconomic barriers melted away. People related together in ways that bridged gender and racial chasms, and celebrated cultural differences.
Acts 2 tells us that this community of believers, this church, offered unbelievers a vision of life that was so beautiful it took their breath away. It was so bold, so creative, so dynamic that they couldn’t resist it.
What if what happened in Jerusalem could happen in NTU?

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A tight knit huddle of loving brothers and sisters doing their best to soften one of the cruelest blows life can throw. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness. No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close. (if the church is working right)

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People with the gift of leadership are uniquely equipped to come up with strategies and structures that provide opportunities for other people to use their gifts most effectively. Leaders see the big picture and understand how to help others find their place of service within that picture.

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People supernaturally gifted to lead must yield themselves fully to God. They must cast powerful, biblical, God-honouring visions. They must build effective, loving, clearly focused teams. They must fire up Christ followers to give their absolute best for God. And they must insist with pit bull determination that the gospel be preached, the lost be found, the believers be equipped, the poor be served, the lonely be enfolded into community, and God gets the credit for it all.

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A Leader’s Most Potent Weapon

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Vision is at the very core of leadership. Take vision away from a leader and you cut out his or her heart. Vision is the fuel that leaders run on, the energy that creates action.

Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion.(what’s the MAIN thing)

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1. Seeing the vision (through scripture, seeing a need, seeing other examples etc)

2. Feeling the vision

When God gives you a vision you’ll know it. You’ll see if clearly and feel it deeply.

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Leaders are not the only ones who are energized by passion of their vision, followers thrive on it. Clarity and depth of passion.

“Throw yourselves and your artistic talents into the local church, don’t hold anything back”

Don’t apologize for the strength of feeling that accompanies their God-given visions, God designed leaders to experience their longing, their desire and their drive deeply, and to express it fully. When they do, they energize others.

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The moment I received my vision from God, fulfilling that vision became the pressing priority of my life. Whatever personal agenda I had has given way to the marching orders I received from God. When God asks leaders to subordinate their own personal agendas to fulfill the visions he has given them, he knows that if they do that they will never be sorry.

Visions are priceless. They are holy entrustments from God that must be taken seriously. To squander a vision is an unthinkable sin.

If God has given you a kingdom vision, if you see it clearly and feel it deeply, you had better take responsibility for it. You had better give your life to it. That’s why God made you a leader, that’s your unique calling and that’s what we will be held accountable for someday.

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Communicate a vision by embodying it. Even if no one else joined you, you will still bring this vision to life.

“By God’s grace, I fully intend to pursue the vision God has entrusted to me, no matter what, no matter who comes or goes. I will not let the opinions of others affect my own commitment to God’s call on my life”

They’ve got to see me embody the vision, they’ve got to see me live it out, everyday.

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Communicate the vision ONE-on-ONE. (like how Jesus did with His 12)

Carefully, passionately and personally explain your vision. Then, courageously ask individuals to join them.

Then communicate the vision to the group. Everybody loses when the vision remains fuzzy. “Finally we are not just doing laps, we have a course, we have a target and we are free to move together into a God honouring future”

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Vision leaks, even out of our best people. The demands of everyday life gradually cause their minds to grow fuzzy, their commitment to want, and their hearts to grow cold. Effective leaders are always monitoring vision leakage. They stand ready to re cast the vision.

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The church is full of wonderful, good hearted people. But life has a way of sucking the zest out of them. Vision creates energy that moves people into action. It puts the match to the fuel that most people carry around and yearn to have ignited. Leaders must keep striking that match by painting compelling kingdom pictures, again and again.

Vision increases ownership.

Vision provides focus. (what is it about and what is it not about. So that we won’t be distracted)

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One of the greatest gifts we leaders can give is a clear, God honouring vision that will outlast us. It’s a wonderful way to pass the baton and the bride of Christ will be well served if we can sustain the vision even during leadership transition.

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Getting It Done

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At a certain point, people need more than vision, they need a plan. A step by step explanation of how to move from vision to reality.

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“Goals big enough to require the supernatural activity of God. Goals that would keep us on our knees”

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Why did the good people in this church settle for having such low impact in their community? Why did they let their church fall so short of its potential?

There is a faithful core of sincere believers who would love to help their church have greater impact if they just knew what to do. These good people have never been led. THey’ve been preached to and taught. They’ve fellowshipped and bible studied, taken courses on prayer and evangelism but no one to inspire them, to mobilize them.

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“You lead as diligently as you possibly can. You maximise every ounce of leadership potential i put in you. Read, study, find a mentor. For the sake of the church and the world, develop this gift to the zenith of its potential in your life.” It’s time for us to be about our Father’s business with diligence, dependence and get it done leadership.  

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Building a Kingdom Dream Team

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Difference between working with other people and doing life deeply with one another as we serve together.

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When the sed of an idea that has been watered with the input from the team finally blossoms into a perfect ministry plan. WHen the future shared moment when team members look back with amazement on how God broke through.

Those are holy moments, moments that brings you to your knees in thanksgiving for what God has done through the ragtag team of which you are a part. (i want those moments)

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What’s the purpose of the team. Different tasks require people with widely different gifts, skills and expertise.

Character

I need to have confidence in a person’s walk with Christ. See evidence of honesty, teachability, humility, reliability, healthy work ethic and a willingness to be entreated.

Competence

Look for the highest level of competence.

Chemistry

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What kind of leader do I need to be to for goals to be reached?

Can teams be self-directed or led by rotating leaders?

Each team needs a top quality leader who will:
Keep the team focused on the mission. Make sure the right people with the right gifts and right talents are in the right positions. Maximise every team member’s contribution and evenly distribute the load so that morale stays high and burnout stays low. Facilitate communication so all members remain in information loop.

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Community Exercises

Guide team members into a deeper expereince of community.

Hot Seat

Take turns to be in the hot seat and ask questions. Deep questions, fun questions.

What do you want on your tombstone

Everyone to write epitaph for one person. Kind of like an affirmation session.

Painting/Something Creative

“Paint a picture about the condition of our souls”

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Remember to celebrate and reward achievements.

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The Resource Challenge

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God is not just able to help, he is actually eager to help. The church is his bride, no one wants to see a church appropriately resourced more than God does. Leaders will sleep alot better at night once they nail down this fundamental principle. The ultimate supplier for the resources we need is the God who wants to see his church built even more than we do, and he has plenty.

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“The pressure that you’re feeling right now is the stuff God wants to use to move you and your people into higher levels of commitment and trust” In those years of scarcity I found God to be utterly, wonderfully, and consistently faithful, the ultimate promise keeper. I don’t think that conviction could have been forged in me in any other way. Scarcity can produce amazing spiritual fruits.

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The Information Principle. People want to know, they deserve to know. They can’t help unless they know.

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One of the jobs of leaders is to help people with their spiritual gift and understand that they are responsible to God for these gifts.

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People don’t give to organizations or to other people. They give to visions. When leaders who understand this take the time to paint pictures for people and to help them imagine the kingdom good that will result from their collective efforts, then people are free to release their resources joyfully.

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Developing Emerging Leaders

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Leaders must invest time and energy to coach and empower a younger leader, and make it one of their highest priority. Because only leaders can develop other leaders and create a leadership culture.

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Someone spotted our potential

“Leadership is more a funciton of ability than age. You provide competent leadership and people of any age will follow your direction”

Someone Invested in us

Remember and honor the people who made these priceless investments in our leadership development. Let those memories motivate us to play the same role in another leader’s life.

 

Entrust Respoinsibility.

This was how Jesus chose His 12.

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Potential leaders always have a natural ability to influence others. Even if they have no conscious intention of leading people, they automatically exert influence.

Character to use that influence constructively. Humility, stability, teachability, integrity to steward that influence well.

“People Skills” includes sensitivity to the thoughts and feelings of others and the ability to listen. Top leaders must have people skills, they must be able to relate to a wide range of people, folks with personality quirks, power issues, self esteem deficiencies.

Drive. Action oriented people who are comfortable taking initiative. People who have so much energy that they energize others without even trying.
1 Corinthians 15:58. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding the work of the Lord.
Intelligence. People with street smarts, mental savvy required to process lots of information, sift through it, consider all the options and generally make the right decision. Someone with an eager, curious mind- intellectual elasticity who can learn and grow over the long haul.

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“Leaders learn best from other leaders” We must hand emerging leadrs an important kingdom baton, not a little make believe job or a low stakes challenge. But something that will make their pulse quicken, something that will make them feel believed in, valued and held in high esteem; something that will make them fall to their knees and cry out for God’s help; something that will demand the best they have to offer.
Leadership is best when we provide challenging, soul-stirring kingdom opportunities for leaders in training; when we stand by these developing leaders and cheer them on; when we help them solve problems and pray for them; and when we coach them on to higher levels of effectiveness.

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Discovering and Developing your own Leadership Style

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Different leaders lead with dramatically different styles. They express their gift of leadership in different ways. Certain leadership styles fit better than others with specific kingdom needs.

1. Visionary Leader

Has crystal clear picture in mind of what the future could hold. Such leader cast powerful visions and has indefatigable enthusiasm for turning those visions into reality. Shamelessly appeal to anybody and everybody to get on board with their vision. Not easily discouraged or deterred.
May or may not have the natural ability to form teams, align talents, set goals or manage progress. To be effective in the long haul they will need to have other people who can help them or work very hard to develop the skills that don’t come naturally to them.  

 

      2) Directional Leader

Uncanny, God-given ability to choose the right path for an organization as it approaches a critical intersection. These directional issues can immobilize a ministry. But a leader with directional style is able to sort through all the options, carefully assess the resources, strengths and weaknesses.

May or may not have a high profile in an organization and may not excel at public leadership but they are super important.   

 

       3) Strategic Leadership

God given ability to take an exciting vision and break it down to a series of sequential, achievable steps. Allows organization to intentionally march towards vision. Forms a game plan that everybody understands and challenge people to stay on it.

 

     4) Managing Leadership

Able to organize people, process and resources to achieve a mission. Bringing order out of chaos. Finds deep satisfaction in monitoring and fine tuning a process, motivates team members by establishing appropriate mile markers on the road to the destination. (Joseph and Nehemiah)

 

    5) Motivational Leadership

God-given ability to keep their teammates fired up. Move quickly to inject the right kind of inspiration into those who need it most. Keen sense about who needs public recognition and who needs just a private word of encouragement. They realize that even best teammates get tired and lose focus, most dependable colleagues experience mission drift and wonder if that they are doing matters. They don't get bitter when morale sinks, they see it as an opportunity to dream of new ways to inspire and lift the spirits of everyone on the team.

Jesus consistently motivated his disciples. Called Simon as Peter to honour him. Planned getaways and retreats.

 

    6) Shepherding Leadership

Builds a team slowly, love team members deeply, nurtures them gently, supports them consistently, listens to them patiently, and prays for them diligently. This kind of leader draws team members into such a rich community experience that their hearts begin to overflow with good to energize them. Tend to draw people together almost regardless of their cause. 2 Samuel 23, David drew a group of lonely and disaffected followers and built into them deeply and shepherded them lovingly.

 

Remember that although there are many cause driven people who are waiting to be drawn into a mission by a Vision leader, there are also plenty of community starved people who need to be welcomed onto a team where they can be nurtured and loved. Without tender care they will hold back, but if shepherded lovingly they will joyfully pursue almost any kingdom purpose with loyal dedication.

 

   7) Team Building Leadership

Supernatural insight into people that allows them to successfully find and develop the right people with the right abilities, the right character and the right chemistry with other team members. Put the right people at the right position.

 

8) Entrepreneurial Leadership

Can possess any of the other leadership styles but they function optimally in startup mode. Once things start to pick themselves up, they will need for new things to start. They may feel terribly guilty at the thought of leaving the ministry they started but eventually have to face the truth that if they don't give birth to something brand new every few years, something inside of them starts to die. Example, Paul.

 

9) Re Engineering Leadership

Best in turnaround environment. Gifted by God to thrive on a challenge of taking a troubled situation - a team that has lost its vision, people in wrong situation etc and turn it around. Enthusiastically dig in to uncover the original mission and cause of mission drift. Reevaluate personnel, strategy and values. Love to patch up, tune up and revitalize hurting ministries.

 

10) Bridge building Leadership

Unique ability to bring together under a single leadership umbrella a wide range of constituent groups. This enables complex organization to stay focused on a single mission. Enormous flexibility, supernatural ability to compromise and negotiate. Specially gifted to listen, understand and think outside the box. Love the challenge of relating to diverse groups of people.

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Determine which is your style and ask people if they agree.

Determine whether this style fits the current leadership situation.

Develop your strong leadership style and grow the weaker styles.

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A Leader’s Sixth Sense

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“What I Believe” Convictions that direct how we make decisions

Make sure your beliefs are biblical.

1. If i honour God in everything, He will honour me.

Make decisions that honors God the most.

    2) People Matter

Show sensitivity and deference to what God treasures the most (1 Sam 2:30b, Matthew 22:37-39). Whenever there’s a human component to a decision that comes my way, my antenna goes way up. When someone’s welfare hangs in the balance, I work overtime to get that decision right. I’d rather have to stand before God someday and take my lumps for being too merciful than for being too harsh.

    3) The local church is the hope of the world

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When morale is down, it’s the leader’s job to spot it and lift it up.

Pain is a powerful teacher and a fantastic informer of our decision making process.

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Turn our ears to heaven during decision making processes.

Is there enough quiteness in your life for you to hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit? Do yo uhave the guts to carry out promptings, even though you might not understand them fully, and even though your team might quesiton your wisdom? Are you willing to walk by faith and commit yourself to the Spirit to fully inform your decision making?

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The Art of Self Leadership

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Who is your toughest leadership challenge?

You.

1 Sam 30.

David had to lead himself before he can lead anybody else. Unless he is squared away internally he has nothing much to offer his team. How can any of us lead others effectively if our spirits are sagging and our courage is wavering.

Jesus also knew he had to go to a quiet place to recalibrate, to remind himself who he was and how much the Father loved him. Every leader has to do this work alone, self leading.

 

“The best gift you can give the people you lead is a healthy, energized, fully surrendered and focused self. And no one can make that happen in your life except you”

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• Always check with God if my calling is sure.

• Ensure and persist for a clear vision.

• Keep the passion hot.

“You’re a leader. It’s your job to keep your passion hot. Do whatever you have to do, go wherever you have to go to stay fired up and don’t apologize to anybody”

• Am I developing my spiritual gifts? (I have to account to God for the gifts He entrusted to me)

• Is my character submitted to Christ? (who will want to follow a leader who’s anyhow)

• Is my pride subdued? (Peter 5:5. Do we want opposition from God as we lead of do we want his grace and favour? The best way to find our is to ask. Ask your teammates, the people in your small group.)

 

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• It’s a leader’s job to deal with fear so that it doesn't sabotage your mission/group.

• Leaders who ignore their interior reality often make unwise decisions that have grave consequences for the people they lead.

• Don’t let the pace at which I’ve been doing the work of God destroy God’s work in me

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A Leader’s Prayer

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Faith based optimism like David

• Faith based optimism to perceive what will happen with God in the mix.

• David was not intimidated by a giant, a murderous king, genocidal enemies and even when he failed morally with Bathsheba and God killed his first born.

• Optimists expect to experience God’s greatness and love, even when they’re facing bleak circumstances. The people we lead need to see this kind of optimism.

• God is alive, powerful, gracious and merciful.

 

Jonathan’s capacity to Love

• I don't want to sacrifice community on the altar of kingdom cause, don’t want to use people, don't want to see people as tools.

• I’d rather be known for being a man of love than a man of vision.

 

Joseph’s personal holiness

• Joseph saw his leadership as a holy stewardship for which he someday need to stand accountable to God.

• Moral authority comes from a completely surrendered heart, an unsoiled mind and a clean conscience before God.

• People who follow my leadership needs to have the confidence that I’m not going to wind up in a ditch; not going to lead a double life; not going to play with the cash register; not going to sell out to the values of the world; not going to be seduced by temptations.

“I  hate that wandering, rebellious spirit that surfaces in me from time to time. But I can’t ignore it or just refuse to address it. It’s here and it’s real and I have to acknowledge it. Then I have to fight it with a whole array of spiritual practices. These practices can, I confess, become burdensome. But I know their value, so I hang onto them like a drowning man hangs onto a life preserver.”

 

Joshua’s decisiveness

• ‘Choose this day whom you will serve, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15)

• ‘Now that you’ve heard the plan, decide whether to get on board or stand clear because the train is leaving the station. Seekers, sooner or later you have to decide. Admit to sin and receive grace or walk away from the greatest act of love ever demonstrated to this sin stained world’

• People don’t drift into a God-honouring direction; people have to choose to follow God. Make calculated, tough and often costly decisions. Leaders are often the catalysts for those heroic decisions.

• Remind people that life is not a game and spiritual growth is not something to be taken lightly.

 

Esther’s Courage

• Willing to lose status, position, perks, security, even her life, to do what God had called her to do. Esther was certain of the values worth living and dying for.

• Do the right thing and “if i perish, i perish.”

 

Solomon’s Wisdom

• “Pray that I will have wisdom, that my leadership will be characterized by a godly sober mindedness. That I will discern God’s mind on every matter”

 

Jeremiah’s emotional authenticity

• When the people were unresponsive to his teaching and when the evil one seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Jeremiah didn’t get cynical, nor did he slide into bitterness. With rare honesty, he expressed his true feelings to God. He admitted that he felt abandoned and fearful of the future. Then he let God restore his broken heart.

• Remain faithful to your calling even if ministry don’t seem to go well.

• It’s not about putting up a ‘game face’ but spilling the truth of your broken heart to God and let Him touch you with a healing balm.

 

Nehemiah’s commitment to celebration

• Honour each other’s hard work and praise God for sustaining.

• All work and no play makes for dull people and dull churches. It wears people down.

 

Peter’s  initiative

• Even though Peter lost faith and sank into the water, he was the only one who took initiative to step out of the water.

• H made verbal commitments he couldn't keep but was the only one who spoke up at all.

• He had to do something.

• Initiate kingdom action, create new things and launch out in ways that keeps the enemy on his heels.

 

Paul’s Intensity

• Focus, work ethic, competitiveness and drive to win.

• Powerful intensity lifts your teammates to a higher level and wither and melt your opponents.

• Run the most important race in the world with all the energy i can muster.

• Not frenetic busyness but an intelligent, Christ honouring apostle Paul like intensity.

• I would gladly spend and be spent for the sake of the church, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

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A Leader’s Pathway

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1 Cor 13

• If i cast a vision with the tongues of men and angels but lead without the love of God at my core, I am a ringing cell phone or worse a clamoring vacuous corporate type.

• If I have the gift of leadership and can provide direction, build teams, set goals but fail to exhibit Christ like kindness or give Christ the credit for my accomplishments, In the eyes of God, all my achievements count for nothing.

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A fully yielded heart.

• Find out sacred/spiritual pathways to move towards vital union with Christ

 

Relational pathway

• These people feel spiritual dullness when they try to walk with God alone. (bible studies done along feels like empty homework assignments etc)

• Give them people to walk with them and they will flourish and grow.

 

Intellectual pathway

• People whose mind must be fully engaged before they can make significant spiritual progress. Their hearts will never fully engage until their minds are filled with truth.

• They need bible commentaries, classes and seminaries to challenge their thinkings.

• Once their minds are fully convinced, their hearts and will quickly follow and their convictions are rock solid. Once a person’s mind belonged to God, everything else would follow.

• Reading theology, archaeology, philosophy and history recreationally will feed their souls.

• Let them stretch their mind intellectually and love God with all their Mind.

 

Serving pathway

• The doers who catch spiritual stride and feel consistently close to God when they quietly and consistently labor in kingdom’s vineyards.

• Put together a spiritual formation plan that centers on serving.

 

Contemplative pathway

• Christians who carefully guard their schedules, avoid patterns of busyness. Easily drained by relationships and activities. But can spend unlimited time in solitude.

• Just being alone with God is enough, they spend hours reflecting on the goodness of God and have enormous capacity for prayer and private worship. They operate with sensitive spiritual antennae and can discern the activity of God wherever they are.

• Sometimes they feel out of step with the rest of the community. Their sensitivity cause them to take very seriously things that people don;t. Like natural realm. They serve as the conscience of the faith community. Often idealistic, they help us focus on what kingdom life is supposed to be like.

• Mature leaders must understand that contemplatives need considerable amount of time outside the mainstream, protect their thought life. Eventually their reflections will lead to something wonderful that blesses the church.

 

Activist Pathway

• They’re happiest when white knuckled and gasping for breath. THey revel in a highly challenging environment that pushes them to the absolute edge of their potential. (‘ I feel closest to God when I have wrung out every last drop of my emotional, physical and spiritual potential for a worthy kingdom cause. Or when i collapse on the pillow at night and say, “There God - I gave you my all, my best, my very last drop.”)

• Activists choose a fast pace. They’re not victims, they love riding rockets. These are people who burst out of the starting blocks and ran full speed from the day they received their orders to the day they died.

• Accept that God made them that way and lead into their pathway. Come into God’s presence even if it’s with their hair on fire. He knows our kind and enjoys us completely.

 

Creation pathway

• Naturalist, tree huggers. They come alive when surrounded by natural splendor, mountains, deserts, plains, woods, oceans or beaches.

• Being close to nature increase their awareness of God and they draw direct spiritual meaning from nature. (Mountains reflecting rock solid faithfulness of God, unchanging character. Deserts remind them of spiritual comfort and refreshment, that God restores our dry, dusty souls.)

 

Worship pathway

• People whose heart starve for God honouring worship.

• Like David. They need a plan that allow them to dive deeply into worship often.

 

WHATS NEXT

1. Identify your pathway

• There are more than 7. (Sacred Pathways - Gary Thomas).

• It’s possible to have more than one. Don’t compare your pathway with others. Accept whatever pathway we’re wired with.

      2) Lean into your pathway

• Experiment with it.

      3) Appreciate all the pathways

• They all offer opportunity for growth. Maximise growth my leaning in to the primary pathway but experimenting with others.  

      4) Help others identify their pathways

• When the people you lead understand their pathway that help them relate to Christ more closely, they will grow.

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Developing an Enduring Spirit

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“If you could ask your single most pressing question and with a wave of a wand walk away with a solid answer - what would your question be?”

Can i be sustained? Am I going to survive my calling?

 

“Why perpetuate this? If i’m going to crash someday, why not crash now? If I wait, the crash is just going to get more spectacular, and the more spectacular the crash, the more people it’s going to damage. So why keep up this insanity?”

 

God is perfectly capable of helping each of us finish what he has called us to do. He will move us beyond enduring to enjoying, beyond surviving to prevailing, if we are willing to do a little learning.

 

Don’t betray the One who gave me life, salvation and the promise of eternity. Fulfil your ministry, don’t bail, don’t quite. Figure out what you need to do to sustain your life in ministry, because quitting is not an option.

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Enduring 101:

 

1. Make your calling sure and stay focused

• Sort out exactly what God has asked you to do. 2 Timothy 4:5b, ‘fulfill your ministry’.

• Fulfil the exact ministry that God gave you, not the one you dreamed up, not the one that makes you feel responsible for the salvation of the entire world, not the one that pushes you so far beyond your measure of faith that fear and anxiety dominate your daily life.

• The one that flows out of a sincere spirit of humility and submission, corresponds with your spiritual gifts, talents and is proportionate to the measure of faith that God has given you.

• Know how to say ‘no’. No matter how noble the cause, if it’s not your assignment, say no.

 

     2) Endure by developing the courage to change.

• 1 Timothy 4:16.  “Examine yourself and examine your life. Then change whatever you can change that will lighten your load and help you prevail in your calling”. We need to go the distance.

• Face parts of yourself that you normally wouldn't face.

• Don’t let the sensitivity and fear of people questioning my willingness to pay the price to be a committed follower of Christ stop be from remembering that I’m a child of God, not just a servant.  

• Take time to reassemble my broken inner world.

• Paul too had a thorn that he can’t change. Most of us have a thorn in our lives that forces us to turn to God daily and say ‘Darn it, God. It hurts again today. For the life of me I don’t understand why you don’t remove this. But there’s a reason why you are God and I am me. So I’ll trust you through another day”.

• How do you handle a thorn? You talk to God about it, express your frustration, scream and cry. But eventually, you claim God’s words to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you” 2 Cor 12:9

 

     3) Endure by discovering safe people.

• Transit from being self sufficient, independent types to becoming people who lean deeply into community. Learn to say ‘help’. Even Jesus asked his small group of friends to stay with him. Matthew 26:38

• As christians, we’re supposed to love each other, be brothers and sisters to each other and support each other, watch out for each other.

• Our hearts were not built to handle the hardships and heartbreaks of ministry alone. Link up with people who can help us bear the heavy burden.

 

     4) Enduring with an eternal perspective.

• Look at your short term struggles against the backdrop of eternity. 2 Corinthians 4:17. Think like a pilot instead of a sailor.

• 1 Corinthians 15:8. Your labor is not in vain if it is in the Lord.

• Decide in advance that you are never going to quit. Decide in advance that you are going to keep abounding in the work of the Lord no matter how high the pain level rises. Decide in advance that you are going to keep showing up, trusting, serving, proclaiming the gospel, discipling, shepherding, leading and casting the vision. That’s courageous leadership.

 

Stay the course.