Monthly Archives: October 2018

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Leaders Can’t Stay Quiet

A leader has a voice. The voice is what leads the team, the organization or the group to victory. No voice, no victory. 

Why must a leader not stay quiet?

Here’s why: People are designed to follow AND people have problems. When people encounter problems, they need leaders to show the way. But, even before people encounter problems, even when there are no problems, humans need other humans to help direct, guide and prepare them for what comes next. A leader is most effective when he or she is preparing their followers for what they can expect or what they will experience. 

No matter if you agree or disagree, the truth is humans don’t pop out of eggs. We aren’t born at random times in random places by random circumstances.  Every human is brought into the community of other humans as a completely helpless infant: immature, unlearned and unprepared for life. This is why humans have to have leadership, because, we enter life unprepared, immature and unlearned for what comes next.

A quiet leader prepares no one for what comes next.

Until death, something is always coming next. This is why a leader must have vision. This vision is a combination of understanding where you are now and where you will go next.  A leader peers into the uncertain, murky unknown of the next and proclaims a direction and a future that prepares people for this next thing. This is leadership at its core. If you aren’t preparing others, then you aren’t leading them. And it’s impossible to prepare people you don’t speak to.

A leader’s lack of speaking is demonstrative of passivity. Going back to the Bible, Adam’s passivity was an abdication of his authority and a forfeiture of his position as a leader. He stood by silently (Larry Crab wrote an insightful book entitled “The Silence of Adam”) instead of speaking up to prevent disaster from striking. A leader’s ability to speak into moments of potential crisis when they are tempted to be passive can completely reverse the direction and outcome of what comes next. Adam let another speak when he should have spoken for himself. Leaders who depend on the counsel of others to speak for themselves are subtly both resigning and rejecting the mantle of leadership responsibility they’ve been given. Passivity always means bigger problems. A leader who doesn’t speak into the problem, is giving the problem permission to grow.

“A leader who doesn’t speak into the problem is giving the problem permission to grow.“

A leader never has a position without problems.

There is no leadership position free from problems. Why then do so many leaders think they will arrive at a higher leadership position and not have bigger problems? Because they’ve bought a lie and observed a failing model of leadership. The lie is simply this: the more elevated a leader becomes, the more isolated and insulated he or she is entitled to. This isolation and insulation are really cover for protection. A leader should be out front protecting their people, not having their people out front protecting them. Leaders need to always lead by voice and speak into any and every situation needed. If they are isolated and insulated their voice will (a) never be heard or (b) they will never be truly aware of the need of their people.

Look no further than Jesus’s example. He sat in no tower. He kept no court. he had no cloistered office. He had no security team (and he was a marked man). He walked, sat and ate with the people, his followers. Yes, he would remove himself at times to recharge and rest, but his primary position was in close proximity to those he was leading. A leader is never as effective from a removed command position as he or she can be from a front-line position.

Four Things Leaders Must do to Have an Effective Leadership Voice

I’ve seen that their are four things that really help developing leaders engage their leadership voice with those that they are attempting to lead:

  1. Leaders must stay close to their people
  2. Leaders must speak directly to the problem
  3. Leaders must develop a strong voice
  4. Leaders must have a simple message

Leaders must stay close to those they lead. This doesn’t mean you have to stay on top of people, but you better stay on top of problems. It’s hard to be heard if you are too far and too distant from those who you are leading. Leaders make a mistake when they turn their voice over to someone else. Leaders may have subordinate leaders, but they must echo what they primary leader is saying. Leaders who are too far removed from those they lead create a distance gap that lends itself to communication distortion and delay. Leaders must be close enough to their people to keep the delay out of necessary communication. Lag time in communicating kills initiative, motivation and message. A leader must never allow lag time. A communication lag means to fall behind or work behind the pace. Leaders should be setting the pace, not lagging behind it. 

Leaders must learn to speak directly to the problem. This means, first of all, a leader must rightly understand the problem. Thorough investigation is thorough understanding. Too many leaders draw no conclusion or the wrong conclusion without first gaining understanding. You can never speak with wisdom, unless you first have understanding. The Bible has a wonderful Proverb (4:7), “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Without understanding, a leader will speak around the problem or miss the problem entirely. This sends the wrong message to those who are having to deal with the consequences of the problem.

Direct Voice vs. Delayed Voice

Sometimes, the mission is the problem and the problem is the mission. But, even when this happens: don’t lose direction. Unexpected things happen all the time. A leader must be ready to speak directly to these things. Followers are much more forgiving if the leader is wrong & direct, than right & delayed. Followers need to know where to go. A direct voice provides security, certainty and direction. A delayed voice kills clarity, fosters insecurity and gives allows those in the organization to choose their own direction.

“Unexpected things happen all the time. A leader must be ready and able to speak directly into these things.”

Leaders must develop a strong voice. A strong voice is a clear voice, a common voice and an unwavering voice. A strong voice means that when the leader speaks, the words matter and they can be trusted. Too many leaders sit silently instead of speaking up or they speak and then reverse course as soon as they get push back. A strong voice withstands pressure and pushes through when push back is giving.  A strong voice resonates throughout the organization. This is a leader who makes a memorable impression on all those in the organization, or at least, all those who are actually following.

A strong voice is never developed through lack of use. Developing a strong voice is like developing a strong muscle. It is uncomfortable and often painful at first. But, strength is developed over time, not in one conversation or act of communication. The voice must be common. If followers find the sound of your voice strange, then you are too far and too infrequent with your communication. Your voice must also be common enough to be recognized because the frequency at which you communicate. Finally, your voice must be unwavering. When you speak to something, you must stand for that same thing. An unwavering voice gives those that follow great confidence in the one they are following.

Leaders must keep the message simple. Too many words can complicate things. Yes, leaders must err on the side of over-communication, but regardless of frequency, the message must remain simple. Too many consultants and counselors make messages too complicated. Every great organization started by doing one thing better than any other organization. Every great communicator started by communicating one message better than anyone else. Your leadership voice has to contain a simple message. Why? Because a simple message is easy to remember when pressure, confusion and complexity increase. A complex message in a complex environment is a quick recipe for a quick fail. Your followers are being bombarded by information. Your voice must be clear and your message must be simple. Simple messages are easy to follow.

Remember, not everyone is a leader. Not everyone can or will develop a leadership voice that is worthy of following. But, to be effective as a leader, you must have a voice, because it’s your voice that will lead your team to what’s next, through problems and into victory. People follow people. People have ears. Speak to them.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27).  The leader’s voice builds the relationship between the followers and leader. If a leader doesn’t have a strong relationship with their followers, then it is their fault for not having their voice heard enough.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Stop Calling God’s Name in Vain

If you are a Christian, please stop taking the Lord’s name in vain. This means please stop saying, “Oh, my God!” without actually crying out to God.

A Good God has a Good Reason to be Called on

If you believe in God, then by all means call on his name. But, do so with reverence, respect and at the appropriate time. I think most of the people that just blurt out “Oh my God” don’t even think about what they are actually saying or who they are actually addressing. If you are a parent, and your child incessantly for no real, good reason says your name like a thousand times, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy” it probably bothers you just a little. In honesty, it probably annoys you greatly and your response is probably not all that it could or should be. But, my point is this, if it bothers you to have your name called for no, good reason, then shouldn’t it bother us if we call on God’s name for no good reason? If you don’t have a good reason to call on God by name, then keep your mouth shut or say something else. God is good. His name is good. Have a good reason to call on his name.

I find people that don’t take God’s name serious, normally don’t their relationship to God very serious.

Stop for a minute and think about the most devout, most holy or most Christ-like people you know, do they say “Oh my God”? I doubt it. I think using the name of God and Jesus so casually is reflective of the casual form of Christianity that is practiced in our culture today. Stop for a minute and ask yourself: When did it actually become okay to take the Lord’s name in vain? It didn’t, but as our relationship to God has become more casual than formal, culturally we began to accept calling God’s name without purpose, which actually means in vain.

I am thankful that when I was a boy my parents took their relationship to God seriously. So seriously, that if we were watching a television show and someone took the Lord’s name in vain, that show was turned off and would not be turned on again. You didn’t hear a lot of people using the Lord’s name in vain. Among Christians it wasn’t acceptable. And no matter how much our culture changes, for Christ’s followers it will never be acceptable.

Trading Formal for Casual

We have traded formal Christianity for casual Christianity. This was never the call. The call is to a personal relationship. Christians have somehow started accepting a casual form of Christianity instead fighting for relational Christianity. We’ve thrown out formal and replaced it casual. Casual means relaxed and unconcerned. Yikes! If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, then you definitely don’t want a relaxed or unconcerned relationship with the God of the Universe. Jesus Christ wants an authentic relationship with you. Great relationships always take great work. Why then are we so largely unconcerned with our relationship to God through Jesus Christ? There are probably many reasons, but at the bottom of all of it we have seemed to accept that we can be a Christian, yet not be serious about Christ and his Kingdom. This is a great error and it explains why we are unable to produce serious disciples, we, ourselves aren’t serious enough.

God does want you to think of him seriously, reverently, but also with approachability–relationally.

If you actually know someone and you care about them, it is rare that you would misuse, slander or use their name as a curse or casual expression of exasperation.  If you really know someone, then you actually use their name when you are addressing them or speaking highly of them. If you know them, you can approach them. God wants to be approached by his people. But, just as a respectful child approaches his father, so much more should we approach God, our Heavenly Father.

It’s easy to say whatever, whenever about whoever if you don’t actually know them and don’t fear any retribution from them. You know why? Because the speaker can’t be heard. People who think they are out of earshot or out of hearing are much more free to speak what’s in their heart, thinking they will not be heard.  But, let me let you in on something that you might have forgotten: God hears and records everything, including every time you have misused his name. Nothing is hidden from God (Hebrews 4:13).

What does it mean to “take the Lord’s name?” and is it still relevant today?

Isn’t it offensive to you for someone to lie about you and misrepresent your name? Of course it is. God feels the same way. How do I know this? Because the first time that God clarified what he expected from man (so that man was without excuse) God said (Exodus 20:7),

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

This expression “in vain” means “with emptiness,” “nothingness” or “falsehood.” So, when someone takes the Lord God’s name in vain, they are saying his name as nothing and simultaneously denying his character. A lot of Christians say the Lord’s name in vain. They have heard it said so much and they themselves have said it so often, that they don’t even hear themselves saying it.  Hearing God’s name used in vain (or Jesus’s name) should make you cringe, especially if it comes out of your own mouth! It should be like nails on a chalkboard to your soul. You know why? Because, if you are a Christian, God’s Holy Spirit, the Third Member of the Trinity, lives in your soul. He doesn’t like to hear his name misused, misrepresented or misspoke. It is offensive to him. It grieves him.

Your words matter. Someone will argue that we are in now in the New Covenant and that we are under grace, so it really doesn’t matter what we say. Well, they would be flat wrong. Jesus said (Matthew 12:36-37),

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Old Covenant was not thrown out like expired milk, although some would have you to believe that. We just now understand that we wipe the foam off the top to get to the whole milk underneath. The power behind/under the principles that were revealed under the Law certainly remain. Yes, we are under grace, but grace is not to be cheap or wasted. We are to be serious in our understanding and not stay as children with immature understanding and careless, unconcerned habits. We must grow more serious the more wicked our world becomes.

Think before you Speak

How do we sing God’s name in one breath and then use it as an exasperation with the next breath. The same person that will sing songs to Jesus in worship in the sanctuary or in their car will the very same day say “Oh, my God!” when they are cut off by another car in the church parking lot or spill their coffee in their car. Think more about Jesus and you won’t accept his name being misused coming out of your mouth. I think most Christians today haven’t been taught not to misuse his name. The world will always misuse his name, but we shouldn’t. We are called into God’s family, why then would, we, ourselves use the name of our Most High Father with anything but reverence?

“Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148:13

Don’t take his name. Don’t use his name. Don’t curse his name.

Praise His name.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Called to Good Work, not Guess Work

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10

Jesus doesn’t just want to just work in you, he wants to work through you.

Jesus works in you so that he can work through you. But, if you live always doing what you want, Jesus will always just be working on you. A poorly treated car will spend more time in the shop than it does on the road. Jesus wants you on the road to go where he prepared for you to go and do what he prepared for you to do. But, if you are always trying to crank the car or take it where you want to, you’ll constantly end up with the mechanic and not on the mission.

Prepared for good works, not guess work.

I want you to know that God, through Jesus Christ, has actually prepared things for you to do. These things are called “good works,” not guess work. These are not good things that you choose or you guess, but works that are ordained by God himself. Too many Christians follow Jesus like it’s bunch of guess work. And when this is the case, then you simply are too far away from Jesus. Those that are close to Jesus don’t have to guess what he is doing or guess what he has prepared for them to do.

I do not want you to think of these good works like some huge, giant-slaying work like slaying Goliath. But rather, a series of good, simple steps that transpire every day of your life. This happens in your home, your office, your car, on your errands, with your spouse, with your kids and as you do life.

Don’t walk toward or away from Jesus, walk in Jesus.

When you guess for Jesus, your guess takes you away from him. Too many Christians are walking toward Jesus when they should be walking in Jesus. There is a supreme difference. Jesus wants to be with you. This is why he made you. Jesus loves companionship. He loves intimacy and fellowship. In fact, listen to these verses from the Gospel of Mark (3:13-15):

“And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.”

1. Jesus called you so he can be with you. 

This sounds kind of crazy, but it is absolutely true. Jesus calls you so that he can be with you. He loves you. And those he loves he wants to be with. Don’t you long to be with those you love when you are apart? Doesn’t your heart ache and yearn to be reconnected to those in who you are apart from? This is how it is with Jesus. God said that Jesus, the Messiah, would be called Immanuel, that means “God with us.” And when he is with us we don’t have to guess.

People Jesus doesn’t want to be with he doesn’t call. Those whom he calls, he keeps calling. You can’t un-call yourself from being called by Jesus. He calls whom he wills. He wills whom he calls. Your first concern before doing the will of Jesus is to ask yourself “Am I with Jesus?” You need to be with Jesus before you try to do things for Jesus. The greatest rest and the greatest delight your soul can ever truly experience is to be in Christ Jesus, that is to be with him. It is invisible, but it is real. When you are with Jesus your soul both soars and sinks.

Your part of being with Jesus is to (a) repent to him of your sins & keep yourself from sin, (b) spend time with him in prayer, (c) thank him & praise him with your lips, (d) read his word, the Bible, (e) spend time with his people, the Church and (f) meditate & memorize his word throughout your day.  Ask yourself if you are really doing these things. This is a list of relationship builders with Jesus.

2. There is no self-appointment in Christ’s Kingdom.

There are too many Christians today who have not learned to listen to Jesus. Instead, they are listening to themselves. When you listen to yourself you learn to appoint yourself–you guess. You learn to pick what you desire and do what you desire. You attach the idea that what you are doing is good and most often you miss Christ entirely. See, Jesus calls those whom he desires, so that they will do what he desires.

When you join the military you do not get to pick your rank. You simply enlist. You then immediately belong to the military. You are given a rank. You are given a position and it doesn’t matter what you desire. Your job is to do what you are told to do. There is no self-appointment in the army. You don’t join at 18 or 19 years old and say, “Well, I think I’d like to be a general. This being a private or a lieutenant is for the birds. I’m tired of being told what to do. I’m ready to tell someone else what to do.” You simply are trained to say “Yes sir.” This is because you don’t appoint yourself.

The reason so many Christians are disappointed is that they are living in self-appointment.

Disappointment has a way of discouraging you or frustrating you. Christians should not live in discouragement or frustration. Discouragement is fertile soil for doubt. Doubt never produces the will of God. So if you are living in doubt, you will not be living in a place of fruitfulness for Christ. Frustration is simply soft anger. We don’t want to admit that we are angry, but we say that we are frustrated when really we are angry. Anger always has to be placed somewhere. We get angry most often when we don’t get our own way. A great sign of spiritual immaturity is to get angry when you don’t get your way.

3. Jesus doesn’t send you to places he hasn’t prepared for you.

Not once in the Bible can I find an instance where Jesus sent someone he called to do something he hadn’t prepared them for or the place for them. Jesus has to not only prepare the person he has to prepare the place. Don’t hear Jesus’s call and then try to do the work in your strength. But, this is exactly what is seen over and over again in the life of God’s people.

Jesus doesn’t send you anywhere he doesn’t go before you.

This is a wonderful, soul-securing truth of Scripture. Jesus does work we never see to produce fruit we can see. But, the problem for so many Christians is they go to places that Jesus didn’t call them to do work he didn’t prepare for them. To make matters worse, many Christians also don’t stay long enough to produce all that Christ has prepared for them. Jesus doesn’t call you to places he isn’t already working in. You may feel alone. You may not see many or any friends. But the work Jesus prepared for you is not dependent on how you feel or what friends you make. Sometimes, Jesus just wants you to depend on him and be with him. You have to learn that He is enough.

We are the products of Jesus Christ not the projects of Jesus Christ.

Christians are not projects, we are products. A project is planned enterprise with an uncertain outcome. A product is something that is made for a definite purpose. You are not Jesus’s project, you are Jesus’s product. He has made you to be with him, to look like him and to bear fruit like him. You are made for a specific purpose to accomplish a definite outcome. This means you can try anything, but you can only truly succeed in what you were made for.

Jesus doesn’t do bad work. Bad work comes from guess work.

Jesus is doing great work in you to do good work through you. The best work you will ever do is the work that Jesus prepared for you to do. The worst work you will do for Christ is the work you guessed he wanted you to do and you guessed wrong. It will feel like a good thing, but it will leave you empty. Good works have a fulfillment that guess works never do.

Be more concerned about the input than the outcome. Be more concerned with what you are putting into your relationship with Jesus than what you are producing out of it. So much of what we produce, we didn’t actually produce. He did. And then we take credit for it. Learn to love being with Jesus, because he loves to be with you. Then as you walk in him, he works through you. Your best work will always be to do that which he prepared for you to do–and that’s no guess!

 

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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What Kills Your Calling

There is an element that if allowed to be loose in your life or your organization will absolutely kill your calling.

Well, kill may be too strong of a word. But this element will absolutely destroy, distract and delay you from fulfilling and walking in your calling. It will decrease your effectiveness so severely that one day you will look back and say, “How’d I get here?” or “How did this happen?” This element is deceptive, familiar and diabolical. This element that will disrupt, destroy and distract you from your calling is simply pride.

Do not think that even the littlest bit of pride is good.

Can the littlest bit of poison kill you? Can the tiniest germ make you sick?

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

(Romans 12:3)

1. Pride is actually an unguarded and self-guided life.

Pride pushes you to say yes and conditions you to want to hear yes from others. Does a little child need to hear yes every time? Of course not. Why? Children are inherently selfish. They have to learn to share and learn to not get their way. This tells them, you are not the center of the universe. You are an important piece with a valuable purpose, but the world does not revolve around you. So, it is immaturity where we always want to hear yes. Maturity, which is impossible without humility, is where we learn to listen and be told no. Hearing no is good. A calling tells you “no, that is not for you” and “No, stay out of that.” A calling not only guides your life but it guards your life. An unguarded life will soon be a destroyed life.

Pride works to kill your guard and kill your guide.

Pride pushes you away from a “safe life” into dangerous living. Christians today must understand that it is dangerous to live and operate independently of Jesus Christ.  To think “with sober judgment” means to think under self-control. Self-control is a life that is guarded. Humility makes a great guard. It is absolute arrogance to think that you can accomplish, keep or maintain anything apart from the grace and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can’t be led by Jesus and led by your pride at the same time. Pride is sin. Pride always leads you to disgrace, downfall and destruction.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)

2. Calling guards your life

Humility is a great guard. It is only in humility that we learn to say no. No to ourselves, no to our pride and no to others that would exploit our pride. When you let go your humility, you down your guard. There is only pride or humility. One will be active in your life. Both cannot. You are always either one or the other. Have you ever issued a half-hearted apology? It means half-your heart wasn’t really apologetic. There is no half-humility. It is either total or lacking. A vacuum of humility is always filled instantly and immediately with pride.

Humble people keep their calling

It takes humility to keep you in your your calling. It takes wisdom to walk in your calling. If Jesus has called you, then he will also equip and resource you to excel, thrive and execute that calling. A calling is a serious thing to Jesus. And Christians must take their calling as serious as they take anything in their lives. There are far too many Christians who are living far too comfortably and far too casually in light of their calling. It is pride that causes us to focus on ourselves, our wants and our pursuits. It is pride that pushes us away from our calling. The only way to keep from killing your calling is to stay humble and walk humble.

Pride causes your self to swell up like a balloon. A swollen self is useless in Christ’s kingdom. Humility is like a gentle pin prick that lets the air out of the balloon. Have you ever had your pride checked? It’s often more like a kick than a prick, but a humility check knocks the air out of you. Why? because you are too full of yourself.

Called to Spiritual Success not Worldly Success

Christian, you must never think for one second of one minute of one hour of one day that you are capable of living your life apart from Jesus Christ and experience any modicum of true spiritual success. You must first learn to value spiritual success over worldly success. Pride always pushes you toward the pursuit of worldly success. Spiritual success can only ever be discovered as you stay humble, as you go lower. If you experience worldly success, push it away from your heart. Don’t listen to the praise of the world. Humble yourself and praise Jesus.

Jesus didn’t show you your need for salvation, deliver you and then cut you loose to live however you want. He did all of that and simultaneously has called you to live a holy life, an obedient life, a life in service to others for him and a life that has been given an invitation that gives your life the deepest, most truest meaning you could ever gain. Every Christian has a calling, but not every Christian will live, discover and fulfill their calling. You can know Jesus and miss your calling. Pride is the #1 culprit that will cause you to miss the fulfillment of your calling.

What is a calling?

A calling is an invitation or a summons that once received has to be entered into. You must think about a calling as an irrevocable invitation. A calling is not something that you give yourself, because an invitation is not something you give yourself. In order to be invited, it has to come from another.

A calling is an invitation and every Christian has been given an invitation from Jesus Christ, but not every Christian will open that invitation. When you open your invitation, you are opening your life to your calling. A calling is not always understood perfectly at first, but what is understood is who called you. This means, who sent you the invitation. Pride will keep you from your calling, because pride keeps you from opening your invitation. Or pride keeps you from going back to your invitation once opened.

Let’s say you receive an invitation in the mail. The hand-writing looks familiar. But, you are busy and distracted, so you forget to open it. Some time later you look at the invitation and finally decide to open it. You only pull the invitation out of the envelope a fraction and then decide you don’t really want to read all of it, because if you read it, you then become responsible. This is pride. Why is this pride? Because pride says, “I know best.”  Pride keeps you from being all that you can be, because only as you live out your calling can you ever truly be all that Christ has called you to be.

3. Calling guides your life

Living in your invitation to follow Jesus keeps you from straying off course and staying on course. Every life, every family and every organization has a course. There is a humble track and a proud track. Lives, families and organizations that live on a proud track are headed for a humbling. This is why the mighty fall, they get on the wrong track. A Christian can live successfully on no other track than the one Christ has called them to. Pride pulls you of track. You must look back and see where you got on, where you were called. You must never forget who called you. You must never forget to whom you were called. You are never called by yourself to your self. If you are truly called, then you are called by Christ to others. He gives the assignment. He lays the track. Pride will cause you to get off track. The only way to get back on track is to look back to where Jesus called you and then humble yourself to go back there.

Once on track you can’t give it back. Kill your pride before it kills your calling.

 

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Calling Gives You Confidence

As a Christian, your calling comes from Jesus Christ. And your confidence comes from your calling.

Peter was called to follow Jesus Christ. A calling is not always clear or understood at first. A calling requires a response to Jesus by faith. But, a calling from Jesus requires humility, yet releases confidence into your life. It is a great juxtaposition that a Christian can simultaneously be both humble and confident. It is only through knowing Jesus Christ and holding to his word in your calling that you can live and exude this humble confidence. We are humble with our own ability, but confident in Christ’s ability.

Jesus had an interesting way of calling Peter. To call someone you have to get their attention. You never grow more confident if you are living in distraction. Peter was distracted. Jesus got his attention…

“And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5:4-7)

In Luke 5, Jesus met Peter on the shore. He was putting his nets away. Peter was tired from a long night of fruitless fishing and empty toil. But, Jesus got in his boat. I believe he got in his boat because he already knew him. Jesus already knew Peter because he had already called him once before. This happened in John 1:40-42, where Peter’s brother Andrew heard Jesus and went and got his brother, Peter, and brought him to Jesus. However, it is my conclusion that Peter after meeting Jesus did not immediately follow his call, but at some point went back to fishing, went back to his old life.

Peter’s inability to grasp his calling revealed is insecurity and independence from Christ.

See we lose our confidence when we lose sight of Jesus and when we lose sight of our calling. Remember, later Peter would walk on water. There are only two men to ever walk on water: Jesus & Peter. Jesus was the sinless, perfect Son of God and well, Peter was very much sinful, but called by the Son of God. But, he wasn’t there yet.

When you fail to grasp your calling, you fail to grasp confidence.

Confidence is security of purpose and position. When you know that you are where you are supposed to be with Jesus, your confidence remains. When you are not where you are supposed to be, whether you are drifting or you are running from God, then it is impossible to be confident in Christ. Sin erodes your confidence. Because sin is an act of rebellion. When you sin, it creates a temporary disconnect with God, not from God to you, but from you to God. God doesn’t disconnect from us. But, we can disconnect from him.

When you disconnect from God, you disconnect your confidence.

Peter went back to his old habits. Old habits never inspire confidence, they inspire comfort. We will accept the wrong things in our lives because they are familiar and comfortable. Jesus made Peter uncomfortable. A calling will make you uncomfortable, because if you are going to live in your calling you are going to have to live and exercise faith. Not faith in your own ability, but faith in Jesus Christ and his ability. Jesus told Peter to take his boat back out in the water. Jesus was no fisherman. Peter surrendered to Jesus and obeyed.

You can’t follow Jesus without surrender.

Peter had to surrender what he thought, what he wanted and what he believed. He had to allow Jesus the first place in his heart, in his mind and in his strength. You can’t follow Jesus without loving Jesus. Otherwise, all you are doing is following his principals not his person. Confidence comes into a relationship through love. Jesus loved Peter, but Peter didn’t love Jesus enough yet, because he wasn’t broken enough yet. But, when the thing that Peter trusted in, his nets, began to break, Peter’s heart broke and look at his response (Luke 5:8-9):

“But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.”

Going deep with Jesus strengthens both your humility and your confidence.

Peter obeyed Jesus and rowed back out into the deep water. Peter had been sitting in the shallows. And this, Christian, is a major problem with Christianity in America today: we are too shallow. We have too many shallow services, shallow songs and shallow disciples. We have too many preachers preaching a shallow faith, a shallow following and a shallow Jesus. Jesus is more than a self-help guru or a good guide. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, King of kings and Lord of lords. And to more fully know Jesus, you have to go deep with him. You can’t sit in the shallows of your faith, of your Bible or of your calling and expect to have any sort of confidence. We are like grown ups playing in a kiddie pool. Grown ups need to be jumping of the diving board and swimming in the deep end of the pool.

Shallow Christians have shaky confidence.

Humility comes as you learn to listen to Jesus. Reading your Bible and learning to trust God’s word as supremely and absolutely authoritative solidifies your calling and strengthens your confidence. When you learn to dive deep, the pressure is intense and the risk is great. When you come back up, you are humbled by the experience. But, you are also more confidence because you learned more about Christ and more about yourself.

Faith tested is confidence.

Peter throws his nets back in to the deep. He had just enough faith to do it. But, all he need was a little faith. A little faith placed in the right direction will return to you great confidence.  See Peter’s little bit of faith returned to him nets that were full and breaking packed with fish. Peter didn’t have faith in his own ability, he had faith in the word of Jesus Christ. When your faith is tested and you cling to your calling in Christ, you will come through stronger, more humble and more confident that Jesus Christ is always able to do what he says he will do.

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1, NLT)

Christians do not gain confidence from the world or from their own ability. They can assurance and confidence as they walk humbly with Jesus Christ in greater understanding of their personal calling to follow him all the days of their lives. They must hold fast to the word of God which as been kept and recorded for us as Holy Scriptures in the pages of the Bible.

Confidence is gained as calling is maintained.

 

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

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Stop Wasting Your Time Trying to Develop Leaders

Character development is more important than leadership development.

We live in a world full of leaders who are empty of character. We’ve got more leaders, more leadership positions, more leadership titles and more frustration because we actually have less leadership. Virtue is dead. Character is on oxygen. Ethics have been removed.

If you want to make a difference in your organization, in your community, in your home and among your followers, then focus on developing character in those around you. But, your the character you are seeking to build better first be evident in you. Integrity is on life-support in our world today.

Work harder to build great people than you do great leaders.

There’s all this pressure in our world and nearly every organization (including the Church) today to build great leaders. It’s not healthy. Don’t be a leadership development organization. This is silly. How many leaders can you actually have? Everyone. No, everyone is not a leader and can’t be a leader. The sooner you make this clear in your organization, the more focused your organization can be. It’s too easy for organizations, teams and groups to have “leader fever.” Leader fever is an ailment that plagues organizations that try to create and turn everyone into a leader.

Let me speak directly to Christians for a moment:

Did Jesus ever say to make leaders?

No (emphatically). He said that the Church is “to make disciples.” A disciple is a learner, a student and a follower. We are not to make leaders. So when we try to make leaders, we are making a mistake. You can no more make a leader than a leopard can change its spots. You can no more make a leader than dirt can turn into water. Church leaders, your job is to make followers of Jesus Christ, not leaders for your organization, ministry teams and committees. Stop thinking about the Body of Christ like a Fortune 500 company. It’s not. True leadership is organic (more on that later)–organic being natural, innate or born.

Don’t do death by leadership development. I see more wasted money, more wasted time and more wasted energy trying to develop people who aren’t leaders into great leaders. I’ve seen more frustration, more pressure and fewer leaders developed. I’ve seen leader after leader kill themselves, blow up their organization because of some new book they’ve read, some podcast they heard, or some seminar they paid out the whazoo to get a golden nugget. So they go back and change everything and all they create is more frustration, more pressure, not more leaders.

Wake up and eat this nugget: leaders are born not made.  We used to believe that until we turned into a world where everyone is supposed to be a winner. Go back to your childhood. Leaders were always born–born in a moment and born for a moment. You can’t teach charisma. You can’t coach drive. You can’t make some be self-disciplined. Transcendent leaders have one foot in this world and one foot somewhere else. They are driven by a force no one around them can see and have an energy that no one around them can manufacture. But, they have a character that can be emulated. A natural born leader has a spark, or fire that no one put there and that no can put out. Everyone else who is not born a leader is trying to find that spark, trying to find that fire. Leaders have it. It’s in their eyes. It’s in their soul. Everyone else is trying to find “their passion.”

If you can’t develop leaders that’s your fault. So, stop trying and just work on building really great people. Somewhere this vision of the “super” leadership developer organization sprang into our world as someone who we must become. We’ve been sold to invest more resources to get better leaders. I tell you, invest in more relationships and you’ll get better people. Then, the leaders will come. Great leaders don’t like working with bad people. Stop trying to find great leaders and just work on building great people into a great team.

You need leaders. Every organization needs leaders. But before you need leaders you need great people. Stop hiring for leadership and start hiring those who will let you speak into their lives while they work really hard for you and demonstrate loyalty. Better a lot loyal with a little quirk then a not loyal with no quirks!

Leaders Have Vision

I find that many “leaders” today lack real vision that inspires those in their organization to stay. People stay for vision. Why? Because people have always and will always follow a leader with a compelling vision. People stay when they are energized and inspired. If you can’t sit down and speak to someone’s heart and paint a picture of where you are going, then you lack the ability to inspire others. You don’t have to be the most gregarious, but you better be the most grounded.

Grounded People: Foundations & Facelifts

Grounded people have great character. Grounded people build foundations, not give facelifts. I find that modern leadership development is focused on giving facelifts, not giving foundations. Foundations get ignored. Facelifts get attention. Work harder to build foundations in your life and the lives of those around you. Don’t give them a facelift. A facelift is a temporary stretching to cover a wrinkle a blemish or a defect. Character development is foundation building. Leadership development has become like a facelift.

The greatest leader ever, Jesus, spent no time in leadership development, and all his time in character development of those following. He picked twelve. Of the twelve, he had three: Peter, James and John.  And of the three, there was one. Peter.  In fact, the one time we read about when his followers jockeyed for a leadership position, he smacked them down for focusing on the wrong path. There was never anyone more grounded than Jesus. He spent three and a half years developing the character of those who would carry his message far beyond his feet.

To the Aspiring Leader

Let’s say that you’ve read this far and are an aspiring leader. Here’s my word for you: Stop trying so hard to be a great leader and work even harder to have great character. Be the most “beyond reproach” individual that you know. Be the most humble. Be the most energetic. Be the most encouraging. Take the most initiative. Be the most responsible person you know. Stay longer, work harder and give more than anyone else you know. Stop worrying about being recognized. Great leaders know where their great followers are and are not. God knows where you are. Rest in the fact that the Almighty knows exactly where you are and learn to be content, yet hungry. Learn to be humble, yet confident. And learn to have character not be a character.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018

 

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Redwall Leadership Thought of the Week: Busyness

Redwall Leadership Thought of the Week:

Busyness Brings Emptiness

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”

~Socrates

Busyness is a lively, yet largely meaningless activity. It is easy for a leader to get busy and stay busy. Because, if you are like me, you would rather be busy than bored. If you don’t protect your time, then no one in your organization will. Now, protecting your time does not mean you are unavailable or unengaged. Protecting your time means that your preserve your time for the functions and facilitation that are the greatest investment of your time. The larger your team, your organization or your endeavor, the greater need to protect and preserve your time you will have. The larger the organization, the more demands on your time.

It’s absolute arrogance to try to be everything for everybody, just as much as it is complete arrogance to be be nothing to nobody.

Busyness often happens because you don’t let others help you. It’s easy in leadership to suspect the motives of others. Discernment is certainly important. However, there comes a time where you must ask for help and receive help that is offered. I struggled with this for years for two reasons: (1) I thought if it was done right, I should do it myself (arrogance) and (2) I thought it made me look weak to ask or receive the help of others (insecurity). Arrogance and insecurity are two sides of the same coin of pride. It was through humility I became less busy, because I became willing to ask others to help me do what they could do better than me.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Barrenness is what happens to your soul when you get busy if you are not careful. A barren place is an empty place. There are a ton of leaders who are crazy busy, yet completely barren. I don’t call this “me time” I call this boundaries. Your time has limits. You have limits. You can’t do everything. You can’t serve everyone all the time. The greater the scale and scope of your leadership responsibility, the bolder the lines of your boundaries must be. This does not mean you disappear from the scene, vacate your responsibilities or leave your followers wondering where you are and what your doing.

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28

Busyness often reflects not only poor boundaries, but the absence of them. Everything of value must be protected. This includes your time. Your time is only as valuable as you make it. Don’t over value your time, like “my time.” It has more to do with your calling. Jesus was the greatest leader to ever walk the earth and he had crystal clear boundaries, yet he spent a tremendous amount of his time with others. But, he didn’t let the work drive him, he drove the work.

How did he do this?

A clear calling makes a simple life.  A simple life is a less busy life.  Jesus’s  calling was clear.  He knew when to say yes and when to say no. He knew when to dive in and when to walk away. A clear calling gives you clear boundaries. The clearer my calling becomes, the more focused I can be. I am called to be a husband. I am called to be a father. These are more valuable and give more meaning to my soul than any amount of business success or recognition I can ever receive. The right relationships help restore the emptiness of your soul. The right relationships always have the right boundaries and they are simple.

 

(c) Alex Vann, 2018