All-
I was just thinking - does anyone have any examples of how this class or reading related to it has changed your ministry? The way you approach life and/or other people? In the end, application of knowledge is the whole point, right?
Just curious - see you all tomorrow night.
Tim
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
All-
If you ever doubted the increasing need for strong Biblical leadership, some statistics I ran across reading recently should end all doubt. I know I found it very sobering. The point of the study detailed in the book is how Christians of the younger generation (23-41 in this case) view their faith as contrasted with the older generation.
As a sample, here's the percent of self-described born again Christians who thought the following activities were morally acceptable:
Sexual thoughts/Fantasies about someone: 57% -vs- 35%
Sex outside marriage: 44% -vs- 23%
Using profanity: 37% -vs- 17%
Looking at Pornography: 33% -vs- 19%
Homosexuality: 28% -vs- 13%
Having an abortion: 32% -vs- 27%
The difference in the views of the older and younger generation didn’t strike me so much as how high ALL the numbers were. Imagine – if those statistics hold, over two hundred people who walked into MGEFC last weekend are of the opinion that it is morally acceptable to kill an unborn child and almost that many have no problem with pornography.
A sad twist to all this is the fact that all age groups overwhelmingly agree that using the “f-word” on broadcast TV is wrong with only ~6% of the opinion that it was morally acceptable. Not that it’s OK and all sin is sin, but something has gone horribly astray when swearing on TV rates higher than killing an unborn child.
Tim
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bible Software
All-
If you haven't tried it, it is worth getting the free software and giving it a spin. I broke down several weeks ago and got a really nice (unfortunately, NOT even close to free... ) and while nothing replaces a real book for good relaxing reading, it is an awesome study tool.
BTW - two recent books I found very interesting:
"leadership from the inside out - examining the inner life of a healthy church leader" by Kevin Harney was a very pratical and insightful guide to church leadership. Charles Swindoll's book on Paul was a very interesting biography and a great study of the leadership lessons you can take from one of the greatest Christian leaders in the history of the Church.
If you haven't tried it, it is worth getting the free software and giving it a spin. I broke down several weeks ago and got a really nice (unfortunately, NOT even close to free... ) and while nothing replaces a real book for good relaxing reading, it is an awesome study tool.
BTW - two recent books I found very interesting:
"leadership from the inside out - examining the inner life of a healthy church leader" by Kevin Harney was a very pratical and insightful guide to church leadership. Charles Swindoll's book on Paul was a very interesting biography and a great study of the leadership lessons you can take from one of the greatest Christian leaders in the history of the Church.
Monday, February 25, 2008
e-Sword
All,
Way to go Dave Swan!!! I just downloaded e-Sword with so many references and bible translations I can't name them all. Most of them are free, if they are in the public domain. Others can be purchased for a small fee. But you can take advantage of most of this excellent bible study tool, and be quite happy for free...there is even NT greek and OT Hebrew as well as anti-nicene church fathers , LXX (Greek OT), and numerious commnetaries. Bible study meets the 21st century!!!
http://www.e-sword.net/index.html
Way to go Dave Swan!!! I just downloaded e-Sword with so many references and bible translations I can't name them all. Most of them are free, if they are in the public domain. Others can be purchased for a small fee. But you can take advantage of most of this excellent bible study tool, and be quite happy for free...there is even NT greek and OT Hebrew as well as anti-nicene church fathers , LXX (Greek OT), and numerious commnetaries. Bible study meets the 21st century!!!
http://www.e-sword.net/index.html
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Next Generation Leader
“The Next Generation Leader” was my first taste of Andy Stanley and my my did it taste good.
This is a great examination of 5 qualities that Andy calls “Essentials” and I agree.
They are Competence, Courage, Clarity, Coaching, and Character.
When I worked in a sporting goods store and saw the other managers function,
I saw very clearly the truth behind what Andy is talking about. Each of these qualities is essential for good leadership.
One of the qualities I see most clearly missing from many of the people I worked with is courage.
Without this you are handicap to carryout the rest. Without character you have no compass to guide you in how to empower rather than use people. Without competency you don’t know how or even what to teach people to succeed.
And without clarity you get lost in the millions of details that attack the leader and demand their attention everyday,
then soon no-one around you knows what is going on because of the lack of clear goals and objectives.
As a follower of Jesus Christ there is much to learn in here. I also loaned it to one of the managers I work with who isn’t a Christian, he was one of my leadership coaches, to see what he thought of it.
He really liked the 5 qualities and agreed that those are what you need to be a great leader.
He did have a hard time with some of the illustrations since they were Bible illustrations.
Not that he disagreed with them, they were just foreign to him.
But that spurred countless discussions about how Jesus spent time with and trained his (future leaders) disciples.
This book is a great resource to learn, refine, and articulate leadership lessons, plus it is a great outreach tool.
This is a great examination of 5 qualities that Andy calls “Essentials” and I agree.
They are Competence, Courage, Clarity, Coaching, and Character.
When I worked in a sporting goods store and saw the other managers function,
I saw very clearly the truth behind what Andy is talking about. Each of these qualities is essential for good leadership.
One of the qualities I see most clearly missing from many of the people I worked with is courage.
Without this you are handicap to carryout the rest. Without character you have no compass to guide you in how to empower rather than use people. Without competency you don’t know how or even what to teach people to succeed.
And without clarity you get lost in the millions of details that attack the leader and demand their attention everyday,
then soon no-one around you knows what is going on because of the lack of clear goals and objectives.
As a follower of Jesus Christ there is much to learn in here. I also loaned it to one of the managers I work with who isn’t a Christian, he was one of my leadership coaches, to see what he thought of it.
He really liked the 5 qualities and agreed that those are what you need to be a great leader.
He did have a hard time with some of the illustrations since they were Bible illustrations.
Not that he disagreed with them, they were just foreign to him.
But that spurred countless discussions about how Jesus spent time with and trained his (future leaders) disciples.
This book is a great resource to learn, refine, and articulate leadership lessons, plus it is a great outreach tool.
Welcome to e-Leadership
This blog is for those involved in the e-leadership training at Maple Grove E Free Church. All of you have been invited to be authors so you can post your own comments links and other informative ideas yourself. I (Scott) will moderate and post as well. We can also use this to communicate about the class, schedule, and other administrative tasks. I hope this will prove to be a valuable forum and tool for learning about and applying leadership into our lives and ministries.
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