Leadership

The mistake many leaders make is to delegate responsibility without giving the proper authority needed for the recipient to develop and grow.  The word for this is discretion. For younger leaders to learn how to lead, they'll need the discretion to make decisions.  By making decisions, they're learning to how exercise discernment and what it means to live with the consequences.  By drawing the boundaries too tightly, we are actually encouraging them to follow instructions rather than create and implement ideas. Rather than develop leaders, it may actually result in developing one of the following: hack, n. ... 2. a professional who renounces or surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc. in return for money or other reward in the performance of a task normally thought of as involving a strong personal commitment: a political hack.  drudge, n. 1. a person who does menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work. 2. a…

One of the greatest needs of every generation is to have leaders with vision. An even greater need is to have mature leaders who can help younger leaders catch God's vision for their life. Buried in a list of men who joined David's army are these guys: "men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do ..." (1 Chronicles 12:32).  We need men and women of Issachar who understand the times and seek God's direction. As we work with younger leaders, it's important to see the need to have a vision that is larger than life.  This is not some pie-in-the-sky, Pollyanna wish for things that will never come true.  A God-given vision is one that understand the current realities and sees a God-enabled future. We need to catch emerging leaders at the intersections of life when they are making decisions that will continue to unfold…

A few days ago I wrote about how a critical part of developing emerging leaders is to spend time with them.  In order for influence to rub off, we must spend time with those we wish to influence. Another important aspect of developing leaders is understanding the importance of questions.  Many leaders are good at giving answers.  We also need to be good at asking questions.  But not just any questions -- the right questions. Here's a short list of good questions to ask an emerging leader: What kind of person do you hope to become? What are you doing to build your relationship with Jesus? How can I help you build a better relationship with Jesus? What are the three most important things in your life right now?  Are you spending the right amount of time on them? What new skill do you need to master in order to…

When it comes to developing the leadership capacity of younger leaders, much of it is simply a matter of spending time with them.  No agenda.  No curriculum.  Just time. Over time, relationships develop.  Over time, thoughts and feelings are share.  By spending time with a younger leader, you're allowing them to hear your dreams and to voice their own. Did you know that over 50 percent of  Jesus' teachings were instigated by someone else?*  It was a person asking a question or a father asking Jesus to heal his daughter.  In other words, Jesus let other people set the agenda more often than not. When you spend time with a younger leader, you'll find yourself sharing some of your best teaching nuggets in response to a life situation they are facing. * This is from "Inductive Preaching" by Lewis and Lewis.

Back in 2001, God placed a clear call on my life when he answered my prayer for life goals with three very specific items: To be a part of a church planting church. To help reach my generation for Jesus. To invest myself in the next generation of church leaders. Those three over-arching goals set in motion a series of events and decisions that radically altered the course of my life.  We planted LifePoint Christian Church in San Diego in response to the first of those life goals.  Since then, we have joined up with Mountainview Church in Denver to help them live out the vision of adding new churches and campuses. But it's the third goal that I've been thinking about lately: to help develop the next generation of church leaders. There was a time in my life when I was the next generation of church leaders (I'd like…