Leadership Writing #4-Vision

Vision

This is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, and we’re always told we need to have one. And the best leaders have vision. And you need to have a personal vision. And you need to get your vision checked because you’re getting old, etc. But the truth of the matter is vision is crucial to leadership (and to being able to see, so get your eyes checked too).

There are many great books on vision, and as I’ve said before, my goal with these writings is not to create something new, but direct young leaders in the right direction. So grab some books and read them. A great place to start is Visioneering by Andy Stanley. Some of these principles are from his book. What I want to do is get your thinking started on vision. Perhaps you’ve never processed any thinking on vision or even prayed that God would start to stir vision in your life. So hopefully this writing will get the wheels cranking.

At its simplest, vision is having a dream or idea of what should be. This could be in your work, in your family life, in your spiritual life or a vision for something that isn’t yet a part of your life. It’s usually motivated by personal passions, experiences and desires. When you begin to develop vision, you become dissatisfied with the status quo and begin to get motivated towards working on what should be as opposed to just sitting around griping about what is. It’s possible to have multiple visions and the reality is we should have a unique vision for each area of our lives. At the same time these “visions” should complement each other so that the vision for our family can coexist along side our vision in our work, or in our relationship with Jesus, etc. If I have a vision for Ephesus Church (which I do!) it can’t supplant what I desire to see happen with my relationship with Casey and the kids (the vision I have for our family). They must coexist in a healthy, complementary way. At the same time, vision brings significance to many areas of our life. I used to hear it from my mom all the time when I was in school, because I never really tried overly hard. I made decent grades and got into the schools I wanted to get into, but barely. It used to frustrate my mom, because she knew I really could do better.  I always had the excuse that it was good enough, and way better than most folks, but I didn’t care too much. In college I slept through a lot of classes including a final exam! But I graduated with decent grades by doing just enough. Then I began to work in ministry. And I would work hard (still do I think!) and work long and discovered I was a bit of a perfectionist. I found myself thinking about ministry and what was next and what needed to be done to get to the next thing and then work at it. All these were traits I never exhibited in school! My mom saw this difference and asked me “why now?” My response: passion and vision. There was significance to what I was doing and it motivated me to do more and to do it better. I had a vision for what should be and the passion to work for it. It hasn’t been easy, still isn’t, but the vision keeps me moving forward, and keeps me passionate about what I’m doing.

In the bible, one of the greatest examples of vision with the accompanying work to see it accomplished is Nehemiah and his oversight of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He was grieved with the way things were (the ruin of Jerusalem) and desired to see it changed. Through circumstances he arrived in Jerusalem and began the rebuilding. It wasn’t easy, it didn’t just happen, he faced much opposition, but the vision was clear and he pursued it.

Andy Stanley shares 4 things that are the foundational for vision in our life:

1. Passion-at its root passion is about strong emotion. Vision is about dreaming of what should be and getting excited enough about it to start doing something about it. What are you passionate about? What should you be passionate about? When Casey and I started dating I was still in school in Florida and she was in school in Virginia. Minor detail right? But I had a vision that I was going to marry that girl, because she is smokin’ hot and she loves Jesus. That’s as good as it gets! Emotions were strong, strong enough to lead to action. One Friday after class I decided what could be, what should be, and I got in my car to drive 11 hours to Virginia. Strong emotions allowed me to push through the 11 hour, ridiculously boring drive because the payoff was worth it (11 years later, still worth it!).  Passion is foundational to vision.

2. Motivation-Vision gives motivation to push through when it’s tough, boring, frustrating, seemingly stagnant, etc. Did I mention how boring that 11 hour drive to Virginia was? The last 45 minutes were okay, because at least I hit the mountains, but other than that…wow. I think God invented South Carolina and Southeastern Georgia as a place to put the leftovers. But I had a vision to marry that girl so the motivation carried me through! I think I made that drive 6 times in 4 months. Too often we don’t really have a vision for what we’re doing so we quit, give up and move on to something else. Vision-fueled motivation allows us to keep going.

3. Direction-Often times we can get focused on a lot of different things. Oprah calls it multi-tasking. But often those things keep us from moving forward on the truly important things. They could all be good, or they could all be a waste of time, but either way without clear direction we don’t focus on the important stuff. Vision gives us direction. It gives a place of assessment. Is the direction you’re moving in based on vision or not? I realized recently I was spending way too much time in the car listening to tech podcasts. I know, you’re thinking “Ben you’re such a hip, trendy guy. You can’t possibly be a geeky tech-guy too?” Shockingly, yes I am. I love that stuff. I love that stuff to a fault. I realized that listening to tech podcasts don’t really do anything to move the vision God has given for Ephesus forward. That isn’t the long-term direction I want to be moving in. So I made a decision a few weeks ago to drastically reduce the time I spend listening to tech podcasts and reading tech blogs so that I would be more focused on moving forward on the vision for Ephesus. The vision gives me clear direction.

4. Purpose-Rick Warren has seen a lot of success with his book “Purpose-Driven Life” because so many of us are looking for purpose and meaning. We’re looking for a reason to get up in the morning.  A reason to be more engaged at work, or in our relationships. We’re looking for more purpose in our local church. Vision is a huge part of purpose. We have an idea of what should be, vision, and that gives us purpose to act. What we’re doing begins to matter over the long run.

These four points are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to vision. But hopefully you’ve begun to think about vision in your life.

Do you have a vision of what your life should be? What your family should be? What your career should be?

Specifically, do you have a vision for what should be in your local church (Ephesus)? What are YOU doing about that vision?

Pray for a vision in regards to your place in the church. If you’re serving, I challenge you to go beyond accomplishing tasks and prayerfully seek a vision for your role at your church and in ministry. Perhaps that vision extends beyond your local church. As Nehemiah did, spend time praying and seeking God’s wisdom and direction and vision for the areas of your life.

Finally, don’t be afraid to go after it. If the vision is from God, it may be scary, it may take some supernatural happenings to bring it about, but don’t back down! Pursue your vision for what should be so that it will be…

What We’re Reading at Ephesus

I was meeting with some of my staff yesterday and I recommended some books I’ve been reading lately. The question came up about further reading on leadership. Well of course! John Maxwell!! So I sent out some further suggestions on reading and wanted to share with the world some important foundational leadership books and what I’m reading and encouraging the staff to read right now (besides the bible of course!).

Here’s a couple of John Maxwell classics.

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You

Another good one specifically for church is Wayne Cordeiro:
Doing Church as a Team: The Miracle of Teamwork and How It Transforms Churches

And the ones I’m reading right now:
Bill Johnson
When Heaven Invades Earth

Francis Chan
Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit

Fatherhood continued…

Yesterday at Ephesus we took the opportunity on Father’s Day to look at the biblical standards God calls dads to live out. You can download the podcast and listen in if you’re interested. It should be posted soon. Today as I read my Life Journal reading (more are now available for $6 at the Connections Table), I read a story that grieves me each time I revisit it. Jehoshaphat was a great king of Judah who loved the Lord, followed Him closely and heeded His prophets. He did not make a move without seeking the Lord first. J. has always held a special place in my heart for 2 reasons. 1) He was truly a man of God and ruled by His grace. 2) In middle school I was in a church musical called “Fat, Fat Jehoshaphat.” It was a retelling of the time J. was faced with enemies on all sides, fasted, prayed and sent the musicians out first and God won the day. Good times. But I picked something up in the life J. a few years ago. As great a king as he was and as much as the Bible tells us he loved God, he failed as a father. This has always grieved me. Today in the Life Journal reading we pick up the story of the son of J.

2 Chronicles 21:4-6-Now when Jehoram was established over the kingdom of his father (Jehoshophat), he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of Israel. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel (who followed Baal and Asherah), just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

You can read more of Jehoram’s story in 2 Kings 8 and 9, but you get the gist. He blew it, killed his brothers and worshiped false gods. What grieves me so much (he was one of many Hebrew kings who worshiped false gods) is the failure of his godly father Jehoshophat. A godly man and godly king who loved and followed the Lord, yet failed to raise up a godly son. We read of no good excuse as to why this would have happened. We only can see that Jehoshophat failed as a dad to pass on his love for God to his son. This struck me today again as we focused in on honoring and challenging fathers yesterday during our service.

Men, we are called to love God, have a personal relationship with Jesus and pursue personal righteousness. But we must not ever neglect to pass this legacy on to our children. One of the points we talked about yesterday was a father’s responsibility to pastor his children. To teach them about Jesus. As great as Jehoshophat was, his reputation is tarnished in my mind because of the horrendous failure of his son. Don’t pursue godliness or accomplishments at the expense of your children, or those God has placed in your life to mentor and lead. Your legacy matters! After your time on this earth is complete, what will you leave behind? My desire above all is to leave children who love God and advance His kingdom in ways I could never imagine!

Life Journal 6/17/09 How then shall you live?

Young folks especially READ ON!!

Reading Colossians 3 today as a part of my Life Journal reading (If you haven’t gotten a Life Journal yet, there are some on the way). I read in my NKJV but then popped in for a rare visit (at least these days) to the Message translation of this same chapter. Eugene Peterson brought some good paraphrasing to this particular chapter. Paul is laying out some basic standards for living as Jesus-followers. This ties in with Jesus’ teachings on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. If we have really given our lives to Jesus and accepted the love, grace and mercy available because of the cross and resurrection then Paul challenges us to truly change the way we live. I see this chapter especially poignant to young people. Our faith in the US has experienced somewhat of a backlash against religious legalism, and for the most part I’m all for it. There has been added “requirements” placed on Christ-followers that aren’t based in Scripture. This backlash has been especially true among young adults and teenagers. One of the things I love about Ephesus Church is the freedom to truly be ourselves. To be discipled and challenged and grow while not bogged down with false legalism and requirements.

However…there are some dangers to this new exploration of “freedom in Christ.” Taking it too far. As Christians we are called to righteousness in our thinking and our actions. Jesus sets this up in Matthew 5-7 and Paul continues it through much of his writings (probably because it’s all from God and is useful for teaching!), especially here in Colossians 3. Too often young people who are Christians push the envelope a little too far in how they live life. Too much drinking, too much “passion” (Col. 3.5), too much filthy language, etc. Another element that Eugene Peterson translates in the Message is good stuff: “killing off everything connected with that way of death:…doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it.” Then later, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men.”(both Colossians 3)

Young people, hear me, how are you going to live? Jesus is calling us all to more than just acceptance of the cross, He’s calling us to righteousness in every aspect of our lives. Live free, enjoy life, don’t get bogged down in legalism. Those of you that have hung out with me know I strive to live this way. BUT, there is a balance. Don’t be like the world just because you have “freedom.” Choose to live differently as Scripture challenges us to live differently in those areas of your life. Read and meditate on Colossians 3 and see if there are areas in your life where some shifts need to take place.

Game on!

Discipline

Just read this article by the leadership ninja master, John Maxwell this morning. He’s talking about discipline with a great example in Mickey Mantle. In the last month or so as we’ve moved into the beginning of the 2nd year of Ephesus Church’s life I’ve realized a huge need to step up my game. I’ll be honest, I’ve been able to coast through much of life. Occasionally the challenges will come and I’ll push through them and then kind of settle back. But this new season of leading Ephesus Church has challenged me like never before, and God has made it very clear that the coasting days are over. As I’ve pondered that I’ve looked around me for examples of getting past the coast and starting the climb. Leaders I admire and respect DO NOT COAST! The foundation of their intentional life, from my observation, is discipline. Discipline in life to do more with what they have, with what God has blessed them with. Leaders I admire exercise, eat right, read, challenge themselves in areas that they already excel in, etc. To do that takes discipline. And here’s the kicker, discipline is hard. You have to roll out of bed when you don’t want to and get to it. I’m not there, I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m trying hard. My challenge is that you will too. Stop sitting around, making excuses and coasting through life. God deserves so much more! Read this article and be challenged!

Life Journal for 6/3/2009

I’m going to journal from today’s Life Journal reading for today in a moment, but first I need to take a moment to say today marks the 9th anniversary of Casey and my wedding! Yippee! I’m so blessed to be married to such an amazing girl! She loves Jesus with all her heart, cares so deeply about other’s loving Jesus that it often leaves her in tears, loves our children deeply and is an AMAZING mother, smacks me around when I need it (which is often) and is truly an Ephesians 5 wife, plus she is super hot! We married in 2000, but met in 1998 completely by God’s sovereignty (I’m rather Calvinistic in that regard!) and in true Armininian style she decided to give me a shot. I love you Casey, and can’t wait for another 90! Now on to the journaling

Proverbs 26:20: Where there is no wood, the fire goes out.

This is such a short verse, in fact it is only half of the verse, kind of sitting there by itself as many of Solomon’s proverbs do. No other context around it. On it’s surface it seems rather Boy Scouts 101, but it caused me to stop as I read it this morning. Anyone who’s tried to start a fire AND keep it lit without the use of lighter fluid or Roman candles or in the brush of Southern California, knows the challenges of starting a fire. It requires fuel, wood. But it requires certain types of wood at strategic points to truly become a self-sustaining useful fire. Solomon is not talking about the intricacies of Smore creation, he’s talking about our spiritual life. The fire must stay lit, but it happens in stages. At the beginning small twigs and leaves, kindling are needed. They light fast and bright, but quickly burn out. Too often we stay at the kindling stage. We light fast and then burn out because kindling isn’t the right fuel for long-term “burning.” You have to step it up a notch and throw some medium sized sticks on there to get the heat level a little higher and longer-lasting. Once those begin to burn you move up even more to the big logs. Big logs take much longer to develop into useful fuel, but once there they burn hotter, longer, and much more usefully. Isn’t that our spiritual life? Personally and as the local church? We need to move from kindling to log burning if we’re going to sustain and be useful to God’s Kingdom purposes.

Kindling provides a quick bright flame that is exciting when we see it shoot up in the air, but it burns out so quickly if it isn’t used to get the next level of wood burning. It provides a great “show” but does not change the surrounding campsite. It doesn’t really provide useful warmth nor is it useful for cooking. Again, sticks will burn for a while, but aren’t the best for the long term. You’ve got to put in the work and effort to get the big logs burning, that’s where the true value in a fire is. We have to want to move past the kindling to the big logs. It’s work! It’s not as flashy as the initial burst of flame, but that’s where true growth happens. We should desire to burn long and hot and change our world, not just ourselves, just as there is a difference between a fire of kindling and healthy fire of logs. Otherwise, too quickly, the fire goes out.

Lord, let us be a people willing to put in the work to become logs in your fire. As individuals and as churches. I don’t want my fire, or the fire of Ephesus Church to go out. Lord I also pray for churches all over the world that we might all be challenged to become fires built on logs and not kindling. Amen.

Leadership Writing #3: Humility

Leadership writing #3 Humility

In this 3^rd writing I want to take on a topic of personal importance to me, and a potentially huge landmine in Godly leadership: humility. Humility is one of those things we give much lip service to and pretend that is important and highly valued, but struggle to truly live out. Let’s face it, we can be pretty selfish and self-absorbed most of the time! Greek mythology gives us a term for it, “narcissistic,” derived from the story of a homosexual teenager who spurned all his male suitors’ advances and fell in love with his own reflection until he eventually committed suicide. Hmmm, self-absorbed pride comes with some issues…. Our problems come when we have an inflated view of ourselves, what we deserve or are owed, and the types of work or service we should be engaged in. Pride is at the root of much our own personal sin and the reason for Satan’s expulsion from heaven as he sought to supplant God. Beyond blatant pride issues is the issue of false humility. In our minds we know we should be humble, but our hearts don’t always follow suit. We act humble, because we know we’re supposed to, but inside the pride is there and affecting our thinking and interactions with others.

Humility in the leader can be difficult. There is no doubt about that. In a place of leadership you have people looking to you for direction, guidance and inspiration. While these are noble pursuits and rightly sought by those that you may be leading, if improperly pursued or sought by the leader, pride begins to raise its head in our lives. As a leader you are naturally out front, our pride likes to be out front! It can be a dangerous slope if we do not keep our focus on Jesus and His incredible example of humility. At the same time, a fear of pride taking root in our lives should not grow inside of us and keep us from moving into the places of leadership God may be calling us into. Below I’ve listed 5 thoughts on humility, I hope they’ll guide you into a place of true humility as a servant-leader.

1. Self-evaluate

You know yourself better than anyone. Even those that are bound tightly by pride and arrogance know the truth of where they are inside. Examine your life. Do you seek an inappropriate amount of attention from others? Do you need everyone to know what you have done, are doing or will be doing (have you ever been prideful of something you haven’t even done yet?! No comment from the author on that one!). Do you push back when asked to do something that you feel is “beneath you?” Do you look at yourself in every mirror or reflective window you pass by? That last one was kind of a joke, but not really….

What’s the verdict when you self-evaluate? Are there areas in your life where pride is taking hold? Here’s the next part, and this one’s tough: if you know God is calling you to a place of leadership, in a big-way or in a small-way, prepare to be broken. God wants to clean the pride out of your life. He will accomplish His plans one way or the other, as good as you may think you are, He’s better and can accomplish His plans without you. That’s humbling in itself. As He prepares you for the next step in life, He cares much more about you than the task ahead. He desires to see the pride cleaned out of you, and for most of us that is a painful extraction, because God is not a big fan of anesthesia (Gen. 3:16, although I think epidurals are part of the redemption, but that’s for another time)! Moses, a prince of Egypt, was broken. Jonah, a man of God was broken. David, a man after God’s own heart, was broken. Peter, the foundation of the Church, was broken. Paul, the writer of most of the New Testament, was broken. We’re in good company. After leaving Southern California to come to Charlotte to start Ephesus, I was broken. I’ve struggled with pride my whole life and brought that arrogance with me. God didn’t need me to take Charlotte by storm in the Fall of 2005, He much more preferred to begin a season of humility and brokenness in my life. It was painful, at times frustrating, but absolutely necessary. I’ve not fully arrived, and still struggle sometimes, but God is working in me as I pursue Him and honestly evaluate my own life and heart.

2. Humility requires regular repentance

I can sometimes be accused of talking about sin too much. I do bring it up often, but it’s a constant reminder that we’re not all we think we’re cracked up to be. We’re sinners. We’re prideful folks. This can be especially true as we pursue leadership, as I mentioned above. Being reminded of my sin is not a downer for me, it’s a reminder to me to be humble. Without Jesus, I’m truly going nowhere. Now, this is not a reason to wallow in self-pity and emotional tear-jerking, it should be a catalyst to repent, live humbly and pursue Jesus. Looking at the perfect life of Jesus should be a constant reminder of our station in the grand scheme of eternity and keep us pretty humble.

3. “No excuse sir!”

Many of you know that I spent a very short time at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Coming out of high school the only thing on my mind was flying planes for the Navy, becoming a naval aviator. It’s a grueling process to get accepted to the Naval Academy and once there you’re quickly humbled merely by the fact that everyone else in your class is probably better than you in most ways! I had grown up with a bit of a chip on my shoulder because people gave me attention. I had developed this attitude that I deserved it, and also developed a bad habit of making excuses for not doing everything perfect all the time. There was always an excuse. At the Naval Academy, as well as West Point and the Air Force Academy, you’re taught, that as a Plebe, you only have 4 responses available to you when addressed by a superior officer: “Yes sir/ma’am,” “no sir/ma’am,” “I’ll found out sir/ma’am,” and my favorite, “no excuse sir/ma’am.” That last one taught me the most. Now, while I was accepted to the Naval Academy, reported for duty and was sworn into the Navy as a Midshipman 4^th Class, I only stayed there for 30 days. Very quickly after my arrival I realized this was not where God wanted me to be. I have the utmost respect for everyone who attends a service academy and for those who serve our nation, but God had other plans for my life. Not only was I only there one month, but this was 15 years ago. But in that one month, 15 years ago, I was taught an incredible lesson in humility: “no excuse sir.” As I said, I was good at making excuses. I was prideful and arrogant and could do no wrong. But in the halls of Bancroft Hall I learned to take responsibility for my screw-ups and failures. Officers and upperclassmen didn’t want to hear excuses, as great as they may have been; they wanted to hear responsibility. Taking responsibility for our actions is humbling, but crucial to the successful leader. Humility means owning up to what your responsible for. No matter what. You may have a great reason something didn’t happen the way it should, but ultimately the leader is still responsible. The humble leader takes the responsibility and makes no excuses.

4. Humility=servanthood

Somewhere in our wiring is a penchant for position and title. For some reason we like to have titles, an impressive resume and an excuse to not do certain things that are “below us.” This is pride. Jesus, the greatest leader to ever walk on Earth exemplified servant-hood in the entirety of His life. Nothing and no one was beneath Him.  In John 13 we see the example of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. This wasn’t just a nice gesture because their sandals had gotten funky, it was a service provided by only the lowest servants. This is for obvious reasons, who wants to wash feet? Feet are gross. Not only that, but everyone would have been wearing open sandals walking on dirt roads and paths covered in all manner of refuse and animal waste. Yet here is the Son of God, who very shortly will be giving His life for all mankind, washing feet. Jesus says in John 13:13-14, “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Last fall, I had the tremendous opportunity to spend some time at New Hope Church in Hawaii. While I was there I learned the story of two of the pastors there. One is a former judge, the other a former convict. Interestingly, the former convict was sentenced to prison by the former judge for drug-related crimes! Upon his release from prison the ex-convict came to New Hope searching for a new direction in life. While he had been in prison, the judge had started a new relationship with Jesus through the ministry of New Hope. When the former drug dealer went into the bathroom prior to the service he saw the judge who had sentenced him cleaning the toilets. This extreme act of servant-hood prompted this former inmate to pursue Jesus. Now they serve together as pastors at New Hope, both pursuing new careers from very different backgrounds.

5. Humility leads to teachability

John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” Being teachable throughout life is a mark of humility. Too often we falsely pretend to know WAY more than we actually do. In my years as a youth pastor one of the most frustrating phrases I heard teenagers utter was, “I know.” 99.9% they said this after being shown quite obviously that they didn’t know! When we are leaders we can have a tendency to think we have to put on the act that we do know everything we’re supposed to know. We have false pride in thinking “we have arrived.” There is a great book on leadership that comes from an interesting place. Ender’s Game is a very popular science fiction story about a young boy raised up and trained to lead mankind in the defense against an alien invasion. I know compelling stuff! But in truth, this is just a great book whether you’re a sci-fi fan or not. One of the aspects of this book that make it great is the look at leadership. The protagonist, Ender Wiggin, is always striving to learn from anyone he can. He’s shown to be a tremendous leader, but he is always open to learning from whomever he can no matter their station. When we stop learning, we stop growing and eventually we’ll stop leading. Acknowledge, humbly, that there is much for you to learn and never stop being teachable.

Break it down:

1. How do you react to your mistakes?

2. Are you willing to serve in obscurity? Why/why not?

3. Where do you need some humility?

Afterword for May 3, 2009

I really like this method of doing a little follow-up to sermons from Sunday. Hopefully I’ll be able to do these on a semi-regular basis. This Afterword is for May 3, 2009. Enjoy…and check out the sweet face I’m making in the screenshot before you click “play.” Nice.

Afterword to message for April 19-enjoy!

There was a few things connected with this sermon that I didn’t say on Sunday. So through the magic of technology I get to add an Afterword to this sermon. Be sure to listen to the whole sermon via podcast on either iTunes, by searching for EphesusChurch.tv, or at the media page of our website,ephesuschurch.tv.

Some Links for Message on April 18th

Tomorrow I’m going to rail for a while from Matthew 5:27-32. Here’s some links to help along the way…

Mostly for the ladies- http://www.thenewpornaddicts.com/

Mostly for the guys- http://relit.org/porn_again_christian/

Pretty much for everybody- http://xxxchurch.com/

Stop making excuses…