Stretching out for effectiveness!

Posted by Bill on December 10, 2011

“Expect God to lead you along unfamiliar paths. When He does, He will transform the darkness into light before you and make the rough places smooth. You can count on Him to do these things! He will not forsake you.” Isaiah 42:16

In his book, Be All You Can Be, John C. Maxwell says, “The difference between leaders, followers, and losers are: Leaders stretch with challenges; Followers struggle with challenges; and Losers shrink from challenges.” He also adds, “Successful leaders when challenged are like rubber bands – they become useful when stretched.”

An ongoing temptation for each of us in our leadership development is to settle into comfort zones when we reach plateaus along the way in our upward climb. There is a saying, “When you stop growing, you stop leading.” Another word for growing is stretching. We all want to grow but not all of us want to be stretched. We want the gain, but without the pain. Stretching costs – and it guarantees to disturb our comfort. Stepping out of the box is a risky move – it takes us along unfamiliar paths.

I’ve learnt in my life that to remain effective in leadership I must remain open to the stretching opportunities the Lord hand picks for me. In fact, leadership development demands that we search for stretching opportunities, not hide from them. A number of years ago I was invited to Cyprus to facilitate three small groups development discussion meetings. For me, this was a stretching opportunity. I remember working my tail off in getting ready for the new challenge.

Time spent in considering the three questions I was asked to address by my host church stretched my mind further than my experience to discover new principles. Throughout this time of preparation I asked the Lord for fresh insight. I asked Him to stretch my knowledge base and deepen my understanding – to take me forward along unfamiliar paths. I worked hard in going over existing information and researched new material. Carrying a piece of paper with me was useful in noting new ideas that flashed into my mind.

Friends, stretching opportunities seldom come to us at convenient times. They usually come when life seems fast and crazy. At such times, we may be tempted to let opportunities pass by, thinking “my plate is full.” However, I have come to realise that even though our plate is full the Lord may have in mind to expand (stretch) our plate … to grow us some more!

Long before the aircraft touched down on the runway at Cyprus I felt I had grown a lot more in my leadership development. Through my willingness to be stretched I made new and exciting discoveries that strengthened my small groups’ development presentations. Because I let the Lord stretch me a little more, I had more to share with others. Our willingness to follow the Lord along unfamiliar paths will stretch us and make us more effective.

Are you open to being stretched?

A critical distinction

Posted by Bill on November 26, 2011

One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt from following the Lord is to distinguish between sinner and sin. The Lord has helped me in situations of disappointment and hurt by others to carefully separate sinner and sin in my mind before reacting. I’ve learnt not to throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater … the baby is the object of God’s love!

A great example for me with regards to this is the incident where Peter denied the Lord, three times, after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:69-75). After the rooster had crowed, Jesus didn’t show Peter a look of rejection, nor did the Lord withdraw His love from him. To the contrary, after His resurrection, the Lord cooked breakfast at the Sea of Galilee for His dear friend, Peter, and reaffirmed His unconditional agape love for him (John 21:15-17).

In restoring Peter from his mega-failure and guilt, the Lord demonstrated the importance and power of making the distinction between sinner and sin. Through this undeserved act of grace, Peter was able to rise from his failure and follow His Lord, and became one of the greatest church leaders of the New Testament era.

Friends, with more than thirty years of discipleship experience behind me I still feel I am no more than a novice in the area of modelling the Lord’s practice of making the distinction between sinner and sin. In this matter, I have failed many times with those in my family; with friends; work associates; and others in the church. My natural default is to reject both sinner and sin, denying the sinner of the love of Christ through my life. However, my desire is to be like Christ in every way … my desire is to love sinners, no matter what they do to me. (“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8).

The Lord succeeded in His earthly mission through practicing the importance of making the “critical distinction” between sinner and sin – He died to save us, not our sins!

The view gets better as we climb higher!

Posted by Bill on November 19, 2011

I have chosen to stand on a rock-solid belief that the view gets better as we climb higher with the Lord. With that belief I am determined to do all that is within my control to climb higher to the next level … and the next, and the next. From where I presently stand, I am excited by the amazing things I believe the Lord has in store for His old, but not worn out, servant.

Now, before I make the mistake of racing ahead, enthusiastic and emotionally charged, to take hold of the blessings that have been reserved for me I need to pause for a moment to remind myself of a critical principle of the upward climb … the principle of cost. Truly, I don’t expect to progress in my climb without having to pay something. Jesus, our go-ahead God, came into our world to elevate us with Him, in life and ministry. Although most people in life are happy to see their lives moving forward and higher, only few are prepared to pay the price.

For those who are serious about journeying with Jesus to the top, He says from the Book of Luke … “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” “So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me” Luke 14:26b, 33. Twice in this passage, Jesus says we cannot follow Him unless we are prepared to meet the necessary demand – to love Him more than everyone and everything in our lives. Loving Jesus “more than …” is the principle cost of climbing higher in your faith.

How do we prove to Jesus that we love Him more than anyone and anything, including our own lives? He says in the Book of John … “If you love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15. Before we can “keep His commandments” we must sacrifice whatever stands in our way.

Friends, at no stage of our climb with Jesus should we entertain the thought that pushing on to the next level is going to happen without having to pay a high cost. The Lord never asks from us anything but that which is necessary to accomplish His will in our lives. He wants to take us up to the summit of our climb. And, loving Him more than anyone and everything else is the bottom-line cost of our rise. The Lord sacrificed everything, including His life, to come down to where we once were; that place where were held captive and blackened by our sin – to free us and lead us up to the summit of our potential in Him. Why? Because He loves us, more than His own life!

Would you like to go to the next level of your climb in your relationship with the Lord (in your marriage, parenting, leadership, ministry, and mission) where the view is tons better than from where you presently stand (John 10:10b)? If your answer is “yes”, you must sacrifice whatever stands in your way, and obey Him.

Dear friends … the view gets better as we climb higher with Him!

Iza says “It works!”

Posted by Bill on

What can I add to this fantastic testimony from Iza at Christian Fellowship North in Warsaw – especially so soon after our visit…

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Bill, I’m excited! So much is happening!

Marcin and I each chose three current small group leaders to serve as coaches. I chose Pavlina, Justyna, and Gosia; and Marcin (and Agata) chose Leszek, Dajilidzionki, and Tomek.

I met with each of my prospective coaches, separately of course. I talked with them about how to best develop the small group pastors under their leadership and how to best nurture their groups. We discussed your summary on “Where many leaders go wrong”, devoting more time on the following points that highlight the present weakness of each group:

Choose an apprentice, and form a leadership core of four
Choose a good outreach coordinator (blessing list, etc)
Take each group through the Small Groups Development process (SGD training manual)
Practice pair-partnerships (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
Plan, pray, and work hard for multiplication

During our discussion we talked about their groups – people who can be in the leadership core (who can be apprentices). It turned out that we were able to identify quite a number of new people who can be leaders! So, I will plan to start training next January, or February.

Marcin, Agata and I met with Pavlina, Tomek and Marta last Saturday. We talked about the growth of our small groups, and that Pavlina had decided to help us (Pavlina would be their coach). So, they can now meet together, call each other and pray for each other with Pavlina, not me or Martin and Agata. And later we also talked about the above points. Actually, Pavlina lead this part of meeting. And Bill, I was so surprised how well it worked! Now, I see, how important it is to first establish coaches. Pavlina and I are “one” in mind, body and purpose! We are becoming a strong leadership team with a plan to help and care for all small group leaders!

So, I’m so excited! It works!

Iza

: Beryl and Iza

: Marcin, Iza and Bill

: Agata, with Emilka and David

Thank you Iza – and THANK YOU LORD for what you are doing in and through the lives of Iza and her colleagues and Christian Fellowship North in Warsaw.

Attitude before Aptitude

Posted by Bill on November 12, 2011

Following the Lord without stumbling in our lives requires the ongoing development of the “right attitude”. Believers often fail in their spiritual walk, not because they are light-on in the area of their aptitude, but because they have a wrong attitude. Paul says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:5-7).

1 Timothy 3:1-7 lists the qualities of a pastor. Notice that of the fifteen qualities listed, only one deals with something he/she does: being able to teach. All the other attributes deal with the pastor’s character. Thus, a leader’s character is more important than his/her skill.

A successful walk with Christ demands a heart that is humble. The right aptitude issues from this right heart-condition. The Lord can only work in such a heart. Having a right attitude is a choice. Here are 10 suggestions that will help you to develop the right attitude:

Hate your sin, but never hate yourself.
Be quick to repent.
When God gives you light, walk in it.
Stop saying negative things about yourself. God loves you and it’s wrong to hate what He loves. He has great plans for you, so you’re in conflict with Him when you speak negatively concerning your future.
Never be afraid to admit that you’ve made a mistake and don’t always assume that when things go wrong, or always say, “It must be my fault.”
Don’t meditate excessively on what you’ve done, right or wrong; both of these activities keep your mind on you! Center your thoughts on Christ.
Take good care of yourself physically. Make the best of what God has given you to work with, but don’t be obsessed with your appearance.
Never stop learning, but don’t allow your education to become a point of pride. God doesn’t use you because of what’s in your head: He uses you because of what’s in your heart.
Realise that your talents are a gift, not something you have manufactured yourself or earned; never look down on people who can’t do what you do.
Don’t despise your weaknesses; they keep you dependent on God.

Friends, the Lord is more concerned about who we are than what we do – “attitude before aptitude”.