One-year-old birthdays are fun. For each of our girls, we bought a cake with at least three inches of icing on the top. The icing is a prerequisite for capturing a photograph you can use to embarrass them later. It's amazing how much children grow within the first twelve months of life. Hair, fingers, toes. Hair on their toes. I don't remember sitting down with either Hannah or Hope and sharing three steps on how to grow taller. I did have a few conversations about sleeping through the night! Growth happens naturally when the right environment is provided. Spiritually speaking, we are told that growth happens when we are connected to the Vine (John 15:1-8). Being connected to Jesus is the right environment for growing in our faith and love for God. This weekend I will be teaching at Mountainview about what spiritual growth is, and what it is not. …
Read More
Life is filled with adjustments. A good coach will be making constant adjustments. A good teacher adjusts her teaching style to fit her students. A good parent ... well, we all know how many adjustments we have to make. Not all adjustments are easy or obvious. Sometimes we have to admit that our current course of action is not the correct course of action. At that point, we can either continue down the same road or make an adjustment. The adjustment may require additional time, energy, or money. It's not always easy. Some necessary adjustments aren't obvious. On the surface, life (or business or family) may appear to be running smoothly. Or, at least it's running. No bumps. No conflicts. Why rock the boat? Why change course? Success can be seductive, especially past success. It's why the most dangerous words in a meeting are "We've never done it that way…
Read More
One of the items I've been working on for Mountainview is a new adult education initiative. Our mission is similar to many other churches: "To turn unchurched people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ." But what does a "fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ" look like? Our new adult education thrust is designed to help move people towards maturity in Jesus by teaching everything from the basics to in-depth studies of all sorts. So ... we've begun looking for prospective teachers and assistant teachers. I'm excited to think about the quality of experience that exists in a congregation such as ours. Life experience, faith experience, job experience. I'm also excited to envision different environments where people can encounter God and be changed by Him. And I'm looking forward to teaching one of those classes (maybe the "Dummies Guide to Baseball and Breaking Bread"). If you're in or around Mountainview,…
Read More
One of the concepts that Ken Blanchard explores in "Leading at a Higher Level" is the difference between a driven leader and a called leader. Coming from the faith world, the concept of "calling" is familiar. It's not explored much in the business world. A driven leader is a person who seeks to advance their own cause, their own agenda, and looks to move authority up the ladder. A called leader is one who seeks to serve those around him or her. A called leader seeks to improve the leadership skills of others, moving down the ladder to serve rather than waiting to be served. This is not to say that a called leader does not have passion or ambition. In fact, they are often very passionate about what they're doing and why -- but it's a passion that's redirected away from self-interest to the interest of others. Driven leaders…
Read More
I recently started reading "Leading at a Higher Level" by Ken Blanchard and associates. It's about how to create high-performing organizations. They outline the flow of leadership this way: self-leadership > one-on-one leadership > team leadership > organizational leadership. Here's my quick run-down ... Without self-leadership, the other levels of leadership will break down. Self-leadership is the ability to "practice what you preach." At this level, leaders develop an internal compass that forms the backbone of decisions and actions. While it's possible to assume greater levels of responsibility without self-leadership, it's not sustainable. In positions that require a high level of trust, a leader who lacks an internal compass will not do the things that foster trust and respect. One-on-one leadership is the ability to effectively lead another person towards a specific end or goal. This requires the ability to adapt your leadership style to the needs of the individual. …
Read More