• We had our first newcomers lunch. It was awesome. Arnaldo did an awesome job of organising it and his amazing wife Katherine cooked the most incredibly church meal I've ever had. Thanks guys!!!! We had a bunch of people crammed into our tiny living room and it was just so encouraging to see that. Thanks to all who came. Here is what someone who came said:
• We had a bunch of new people at Resolved last night, invited by Resolved people. Great job at inviting your mates guys. Keep it up.
• The set up boys did an amazing getting set up. Thanks to James, Nick and Bobby. Awesome job guys. Thanks!
• I preached on Job 38-42:6 and asked people to make sure their view of God is the one in the text. The one who is the creator, who is in control and yet who cares. If you want to listen to it you can podcast us through ITunes or you can listen to it here http://resolved.org.au/2010/05/12/who-is-god/
• I was so encouraged by this conversation about the podcast from last nights sermon from guys at Resolved on Facebook!:
Person 1: Wishes the podcast was up tonight.. 20 weeks on suffering... Man we must be crazy..
Person 2: Lol dude! I checked at 5am and was like damn!!!! I wanted to listen to it on the way to work... Seven steady wil do with a jolt of ji packer reading :)
Person 3: you lied!!! I'm on @ 9am and it's not on!!! *cries!*....
Person 4: Hey Guys, the Podcast is up!
Person 5 :sorry guys. my fault it wasnt up by 9am. It's there now :) no more waiting necessary!
Person 3 :LOL!!!.... na! it's not ur fault Person 5!!! I didn't even know the sermon goes up @ 9am until Person 1 told me last night and then i got excited! esp since i missed out on most of the talk!!!....
• I love my church!
Hey Guys Just pray for me as I have been sick for 5 weeks now and It is really annoying!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
What kind of person are you?
I think one of the things some Christians (or some people for that matter) don’t do is ask questions about themselves. But you are probably saying “Hans we live a in a world of self centred people who think about nothing but themselves!” True, but the questions I think we should ask are not the “What can I get?” questions. But the “Who am I?” type questions.
Here are some of the questions I ask myself constantly:
• Am I a generally positive or negative person?
One of the great things about some people is that they are positive people. Positive people are great to be around because they have so much energy and life! They are people who you can rely on to pick you up when you have had a bad day and are always good for a laugh. Negative people on the other hand are hard work. I can’t stand when a person who doesn’t have depression is always looking at the world and saying all of this sucks. (If you do have depression I totally am not talking about you here. People with depression have a courage that I wish I had!) If you were to take a survey of your friends what would they say? Would they say you are positive person or a negative person?
• Do I take constructive criticism well?
Criticism is always hard to take. It is never fun or easy. But one of the things I was taught when I was younger is that if a person will come and give you honest feedback that is generally a sign that they love you. One of the qualities I try to have (this quality is not always there though) is to be a person who accepts criticism because good criticism, administered lovingly, accepted graciously and put into practice wisely will always make me a better person/leader/Christian.
• Am I humble or narcissistic?
As a musician I have met so many narcissistic people. I am afraid to say I have narcissistic qualities too. I want you to read this blog, I want you to come to my church and think it is cool; I want you to tell me how good my preaching is etc. I have found that I need to keep coming back to Philippians 2 and see the humility of Jesus and that I need to learn to be far more humble than I am.
• Have I learnt to love Jesus more over the past year?
One of the things I want as a Christian is to love Jesus more and more each day, each week, each year etc. I have found that unless I grind it out day after day reading my bible and praying this doesn’t happen. I have found that unless I work hard at it my relationship with Jesus gets pushed into the background. I want to love Jesus more and more and I need to make this my number one priority!
• Have I learnt to hate sin more in the past year?
I remember when I was new Christian I felt like I was almost sinless! Now that I have been a Christian for almost 15 years I have seen that the sin I have is far more deep rooted and prominent in my life than I wish it was. I see pride in every thought, decision, action and conversation I have. I hear myself saying things that stretch the truth so I look good. What is very scary is that some of this sin I have grown comfortable with! So, with that in mind, I read the book that Justin Taylor edited called Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen. It is my prayer that I would hate the sin and love my saviour more and more each, day, each week, each month and each year!
• Where is my security?
Is my security found in what people think of me, how big my church, how hot my wife is, how great my guitars are? Or is my security found in Jesus and what he thinks of me? When I find myself having issues with pride or arrogance (which happens so often!) I can see it is a security issue. I need to pray that God alone would be my security and that I would love him the rest of my days and that he would be the one I glorify and not I!
Here are some of the questions I ask myself constantly:
• Am I a generally positive or negative person?
One of the great things about some people is that they are positive people. Positive people are great to be around because they have so much energy and life! They are people who you can rely on to pick you up when you have had a bad day and are always good for a laugh. Negative people on the other hand are hard work. I can’t stand when a person who doesn’t have depression is always looking at the world and saying all of this sucks. (If you do have depression I totally am not talking about you here. People with depression have a courage that I wish I had!) If you were to take a survey of your friends what would they say? Would they say you are positive person or a negative person?
• Do I take constructive criticism well?
Criticism is always hard to take. It is never fun or easy. But one of the things I was taught when I was younger is that if a person will come and give you honest feedback that is generally a sign that they love you. One of the qualities I try to have (this quality is not always there though) is to be a person who accepts criticism because good criticism, administered lovingly, accepted graciously and put into practice wisely will always make me a better person/leader/Christian.
• Am I humble or narcissistic?
As a musician I have met so many narcissistic people. I am afraid to say I have narcissistic qualities too. I want you to read this blog, I want you to come to my church and think it is cool; I want you to tell me how good my preaching is etc. I have found that I need to keep coming back to Philippians 2 and see the humility of Jesus and that I need to learn to be far more humble than I am.
• Have I learnt to love Jesus more over the past year?
One of the things I want as a Christian is to love Jesus more and more each day, each week, each year etc. I have found that unless I grind it out day after day reading my bible and praying this doesn’t happen. I have found that unless I work hard at it my relationship with Jesus gets pushed into the background. I want to love Jesus more and more and I need to make this my number one priority!
• Have I learnt to hate sin more in the past year?
I remember when I was new Christian I felt like I was almost sinless! Now that I have been a Christian for almost 15 years I have seen that the sin I have is far more deep rooted and prominent in my life than I wish it was. I see pride in every thought, decision, action and conversation I have. I hear myself saying things that stretch the truth so I look good. What is very scary is that some of this sin I have grown comfortable with! So, with that in mind, I read the book that Justin Taylor edited called Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen. It is my prayer that I would hate the sin and love my saviour more and more each, day, each week, each month and each year!
• Where is my security?
Is my security found in what people think of me, how big my church, how hot my wife is, how great my guitars are? Or is my security found in Jesus and what he thinks of me? When I find myself having issues with pride or arrogance (which happens so often!) I can see it is a security issue. I need to pray that God alone would be my security and that I would love him the rest of my days and that he would be the one I glorify and not I!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Training vs. Coaching
One of the things I love about the culture of Sydney evangelicalism is that there is a massive emphasis on training. This is because training is so important. In any field, people we lead must have the best training. But one of the other things I have recently been convinced of is our need for great coaching too. Here are my definitions of training and coaching
Training: showing or teaching someone how to do something so that they can do it in the future.
Coaching: Observing a person doing a set task and giving them specific feedback on how they are doing and how they can improve.
At Resolved, I have given people leadership in areas and what I have noticed of late is that I need to coach them if they are to get better. I have started coaching more of late and I have been noticing that people are really enjoying getting specific feedback.
Here are things that I go over in every coaching session:
• How are you doing? I care for the people I coach and so knowing how they are doing is paramount for me to being their coach!
• How do you think your chosen area is going? I want to get their mind in the game because I know they are closer to the action and therefore their insights will be more significant.
• What things I have in their leadership and/or area of leadership that I have loved. I had a guitar student who told me that critiquing was only saying the negative things. This is untrue critiquing is giving critical feedback. Saying what a person has done well is so significant because you want to be balanced and you want the person to know that you see them doing a great job!
• The things they can improve upon. Here is the area that we have to tread with care. Un-thought out words here can be damaging. Help a person see what needs to improve by asking questions, getting feedback etc. But there will be times to give direct specific feedback so I have to make sure I have thought through how I will say it not just what I will say.
• Is there anything I can do to make your job easier? This is a crucial one, make sure you ask this question. It makes them know you are on their side and makes them know you want to help them.
• Final encouragement. Especially if you have been talking about areas of improvement you need to encourage them. I always let the person know that I am I am there for them and I am glad they are in this position of leadership.
• Pray. Commit their leadership and ministry to God in prayer
• Follow up. If you have set goals or standards for their leadership see how they go and have another meeting and repeat the steps outlined above.
I have never read a book on coaching per se. Does anyone know of any good books on coaching?
Training: showing or teaching someone how to do something so that they can do it in the future.
Coaching: Observing a person doing a set task and giving them specific feedback on how they are doing and how they can improve.
At Resolved, I have given people leadership in areas and what I have noticed of late is that I need to coach them if they are to get better. I have started coaching more of late and I have been noticing that people are really enjoying getting specific feedback.
Here are things that I go over in every coaching session:
• How are you doing? I care for the people I coach and so knowing how they are doing is paramount for me to being their coach!
• How do you think your chosen area is going? I want to get their mind in the game because I know they are closer to the action and therefore their insights will be more significant.
• What things I have in their leadership and/or area of leadership that I have loved. I had a guitar student who told me that critiquing was only saying the negative things. This is untrue critiquing is giving critical feedback. Saying what a person has done well is so significant because you want to be balanced and you want the person to know that you see them doing a great job!
• The things they can improve upon. Here is the area that we have to tread with care. Un-thought out words here can be damaging. Help a person see what needs to improve by asking questions, getting feedback etc. But there will be times to give direct specific feedback so I have to make sure I have thought through how I will say it not just what I will say.
• Is there anything I can do to make your job easier? This is a crucial one, make sure you ask this question. It makes them know you are on their side and makes them know you want to help them.
• Final encouragement. Especially if you have been talking about areas of improvement you need to encourage them. I always let the person know that I am I am there for them and I am glad they are in this position of leadership.
• Pray. Commit their leadership and ministry to God in prayer
• Follow up. If you have set goals or standards for their leadership see how they go and have another meeting and repeat the steps outlined above.
I have never read a book on coaching per se. Does anyone know of any good books on coaching?
Monday, May 10, 2010
What I have learnt about God in the past year
I am not sure I have learnt anything new about God intellectually in the last year but I think I have had old things come to me in fresh ways. These are some of the things I have been taught:
• God is Sovereign
I have seen God bring people to know him in the last year in the most unlikely circumstances and it has confirmed to me (again!) that God is sovereign. I have seen people come to Resolved and when they tell me how they ended up at Resolved I am left speechless! I have seen how he has used 5 young men (the Resolved Elder Board) in extraordinary ways in people’s lives. I have seen pastoral issues resolved (including some which there didn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel)!
God’s sovereignty has been comforting for me as I have seen my dad battling with cancer, it is awesome to know that God is in control of all bad things that happen including my dad’s cancer! I love to know that God is sovereign in everything!
• God uses people and circumstances to humble me
If we haven’t met I am a man with a lot of pride. But God has been using people to humble me. Some days after church, when I feel like I have preached an “awesome” sermon and I am waiting for Piper to call me to invite me to speak at the next Desiring God Conference, I ask someone what they thought of the sermon and they will be like, yeah it was good but..... And then they give me a bunch of stuff I need to work on. But what God was really doing was humbling me. Then there are other times when I preach a sermon that is so bad that not even the Holy Spirit can do something with (joke!) and that is usually the week where I get a bunch of people say how much God did through the sermon. That just teaches me that God doesn’t need me! I love having friends around me who will point out pride in my life and humble me by pointing me back to Jesus!
• God builds his church I merely deliver the mail
Following on from the last two points, seeing people come to know Jesus or come to Resolved in a variety of circumstances just shows me that God is building his church. I need to pray, work hard and point to Jesus in every sermon and God will bring people to himself! I am happy being a person who delivers Gods mail every week, it is such a privilege!
• God Loves people more than I do
I spent over a year preaching through Luke and I was reminded week after week how much Jesus loved people. Whether through conversations or through the healings Jesus‘ love for people came out in every page, in every paragraph. When I look at Resolved and I look at the people who are here, the people that have come, the people that I want to know Jesus and the people who are hurting, I am convinced of the fact that God loves these people more than me. Knowing that gives me confidence to tell them about him knowing that he loves them and wants them to come to him. It also should drive me to my knees in prayer and ask the God who loves them so much to open their eyes to him or help them praise him through pain or learn more of what it is to be a passionate follower of Jesus! So pray for me that it would drive me to pray!
• God has cursed the Golden State Warriors: The Golden State Warriors are my favourite basketball team in the NBA and I am sure God has cursed them! Okay, I don’t know this for sure but they suck! I mean, they need to fire their coach and get a new one and they need to get a new owner. I hope Larry Ellison buys them! It is plain embarrassing when I talk basketball with some people and they are like “Who do you go for?” and I say “The Warriors” and they are like “They suck” and I say “Yeah I know”. Sometimes they were so bad they couldn’t even throw a tennis ball in the ocean! How long oh Lord will my team suck?
Hey guys I started this blog up again because a lot of people said they got stuff out of it. If there are any questions or topics you want me to blog about email me at hans@resolved.org.au.
• God is Sovereign
I have seen God bring people to know him in the last year in the most unlikely circumstances and it has confirmed to me (again!) that God is sovereign. I have seen people come to Resolved and when they tell me how they ended up at Resolved I am left speechless! I have seen how he has used 5 young men (the Resolved Elder Board) in extraordinary ways in people’s lives. I have seen pastoral issues resolved (including some which there didn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel)!
God’s sovereignty has been comforting for me as I have seen my dad battling with cancer, it is awesome to know that God is in control of all bad things that happen including my dad’s cancer! I love to know that God is sovereign in everything!
• God uses people and circumstances to humble me
If we haven’t met I am a man with a lot of pride. But God has been using people to humble me. Some days after church, when I feel like I have preached an “awesome” sermon and I am waiting for Piper to call me to invite me to speak at the next Desiring God Conference, I ask someone what they thought of the sermon and they will be like, yeah it was good but..... And then they give me a bunch of stuff I need to work on. But what God was really doing was humbling me. Then there are other times when I preach a sermon that is so bad that not even the Holy Spirit can do something with (joke!) and that is usually the week where I get a bunch of people say how much God did through the sermon. That just teaches me that God doesn’t need me! I love having friends around me who will point out pride in my life and humble me by pointing me back to Jesus!
• God builds his church I merely deliver the mail
Following on from the last two points, seeing people come to know Jesus or come to Resolved in a variety of circumstances just shows me that God is building his church. I need to pray, work hard and point to Jesus in every sermon and God will bring people to himself! I am happy being a person who delivers Gods mail every week, it is such a privilege!
• God Loves people more than I do
I spent over a year preaching through Luke and I was reminded week after week how much Jesus loved people. Whether through conversations or through the healings Jesus‘ love for people came out in every page, in every paragraph. When I look at Resolved and I look at the people who are here, the people that have come, the people that I want to know Jesus and the people who are hurting, I am convinced of the fact that God loves these people more than me. Knowing that gives me confidence to tell them about him knowing that he loves them and wants them to come to him. It also should drive me to my knees in prayer and ask the God who loves them so much to open their eyes to him or help them praise him through pain or learn more of what it is to be a passionate follower of Jesus! So pray for me that it would drive me to pray!
• God has cursed the Golden State Warriors: The Golden State Warriors are my favourite basketball team in the NBA and I am sure God has cursed them! Okay, I don’t know this for sure but they suck! I mean, they need to fire their coach and get a new one and they need to get a new owner. I hope Larry Ellison buys them! It is plain embarrassing when I talk basketball with some people and they are like “Who do you go for?” and I say “The Warriors” and they are like “They suck” and I say “Yeah I know”. Sometimes they were so bad they couldn’t even throw a tennis ball in the ocean! How long oh Lord will my team suck?
Hey guys I started this blog up again because a lot of people said they got stuff out of it. If there are any questions or topics you want me to blog about email me at hans@resolved.org.au.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Monday morning Recap
• Even though it was Mother’s day we had a great turnout. People are still pumped to hear about suffering and as usual the volume at which we sung to Jesus was amazing!
• As part of our series we have been preaching through Job, yesterday we looked at of Elihu (Job 32-37). Elihu is a young man who is and arrogant fool. Out of his youth he loves to say what he wants to say and like a lot of young men he is absolutely wrong! We saw how what he and Jesus say about suffering is totally different. I have already been told how God used this message to powerfully impact people’s lives! Praise God! If you want to listen to the talk either grab the podcast through iTunes or listen to it here:
http://resolved.org.au/2010/05/06/the-sufferer-is-rebuked/
• Under our Men’s Pastor Pete Hodsdon’s great leadership we have trebled the number of men coming to our Men’s weekend away compared to last year! We are looking at not wasting our lives and I am unbelievably pumped about this weekend! If you go to Resolved and you want to go to the camp email Pete at pete@resolved.org.au ASAP!
• I was amped to see new people serving on welcoming and setup! Thanks guys for your service at Resolved!
• We sung an amazing new song by Phil Wickham called “Because of your Love” You can listen to this great song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekrKOYRZC0I
And this is the songwriter teaching the song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6j_Qa-erE8
• Andrew Sellen gave us an awesome financial report and it was great to hear how God has sustained us financially and it was great to be reminded what we are trying to do with our future financially. We are so blessed to have a talented young man Like Andrew looking after our finances. If you are at Resolved and looking to contribute financially please email Andrew at andrew@resolved.org.au and he will give you the details you need. If you are not at Resolved please pray for us financially.
• I was pumped when I saw this status update on Facebook from Mez: Had the best night at resolved and Kellys afterwards for chips,pool and just awesomely amazing people :) I love to read stuff like this on Facebook!
• Make sure you check out tomorrow when I will be blogging about “What I have learned about God in my last year.”
Cya tomorrow!
• As part of our series we have been preaching through Job, yesterday we looked at of Elihu (Job 32-37). Elihu is a young man who is and arrogant fool. Out of his youth he loves to say what he wants to say and like a lot of young men he is absolutely wrong! We saw how what he and Jesus say about suffering is totally different. I have already been told how God used this message to powerfully impact people’s lives! Praise God! If you want to listen to the talk either grab the podcast through iTunes or listen to it here:
http://resolved.org.au/2010/05/06/the-sufferer-is-rebuked/
• Under our Men’s Pastor Pete Hodsdon’s great leadership we have trebled the number of men coming to our Men’s weekend away compared to last year! We are looking at not wasting our lives and I am unbelievably pumped about this weekend! If you go to Resolved and you want to go to the camp email Pete at pete@resolved.org.au ASAP!
• I was amped to see new people serving on welcoming and setup! Thanks guys for your service at Resolved!
• We sung an amazing new song by Phil Wickham called “Because of your Love” You can listen to this great song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekrKOYRZC0I
And this is the songwriter teaching the song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6j_Qa-erE8
• Andrew Sellen gave us an awesome financial report and it was great to hear how God has sustained us financially and it was great to be reminded what we are trying to do with our future financially. We are so blessed to have a talented young man Like Andrew looking after our finances. If you are at Resolved and looking to contribute financially please email Andrew at andrew@resolved.org.au and he will give you the details you need. If you are not at Resolved please pray for us financially.
• I was pumped when I saw this status update on Facebook from Mez: Had the best night at resolved and Kellys afterwards for chips,pool and just awesomely amazing people :) I love to read stuff like this on Facebook!
• Make sure you check out tomorrow when I will be blogging about “What I have learned about God in my last year.”
Cya tomorrow!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
What have I learnt about myself in the last year as I have lead Resolved?
This last year has been great for me as I have sought to lead Resolved as best I can. I have learnt a lot about ministry and God in this time but I think I have learnt most about myself. Here are only a few of the things that I have learnt about myself:
• My chief sin is pride. I have found that a lot of the times this year when I have sinned, it has been rooted in pride. When I am ungrateful it is because I think I deserve more. When I am jealous of another person’s ministry it is because I think I need more success or deserve more success. I think, in the end, these are matters of pride. One of the evidences of God’s grace I have seen is that I have a church full of people either keeping me accountable or helping me not to take myself too seriously by humorously by ripping me off! I have seen these two things weakening my pride. But I know I need to live for Jesus and His glory and not my own - I guess that is the true answer to my pride issues.
• I may be a Calvinist in my theology but I find that hard to live out. When I preach a crap sermon I find myself thinking ‘What was the point of that?’ I need to see that God has, and will, call people to himself regardless of how winsome my sermon is. I preach the doctrines of grace but I find it hard to live out practically in my preaching.
• I hate playing the bad cop. As a leader, I need to hold people accountable and sometimes, in rare occasions, I need to ask some people to step down from ministry. I have found this hard to do, not because I hate confrontation but because I want people to like me. This in the end is pride!
• I am disorganized, but getting better in that. As a leader, I need to be organized and I find that because of my spontaneous side, I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of guy. I have seen how damaging this can be for my church and for people around me who need things to be organized and communicated well. I have been getting better by keeping a diary, making sure I come through on stuff, etc. Also my wife has been helping me get organized!
• I need to be far more thankful for what God is doing in other ministries. I sometimes find myself looking at other people and their ministries and being bitter. For example, I see the way God is blessing the whole RICE Movement, and early last year I was very bitter - so much so, I joked about how I am going start an evangelistic movement just for white kids and call it ‘Cracker’! I need to keep reminding myself that it is not MY TEAM or BRAND that I am building, but God’s team and therefore when God is doing amazing things in other ministries, I need to give thanks to God for the way He is working!
• I am thankful that I have read so much theology! I read heaps and I have seen the benefits of that this year. When I have sat down across from people who have significant pastoral issues, I have had a theological background on which to call when needed. I have been called back to God’s sovereignty in salvation when either there have been heaps of people at Resolved or there haven’t been as many as I would have liked. I have been comforted by the sovereignty of God when I have seen my dad struggle with cancer. I know God is in control of my dad’s cancer and so I can trust Him.
• I am a saved sinner. Preaching week in and week out, I have seen my constant need for a Saviour, and how Jesus and His death is far more glorious and far more worthy of glory. This year, I have seen the cross as far more glorious as I have been seeing my own sin more clearly!
• My chief sin is pride. I have found that a lot of the times this year when I have sinned, it has been rooted in pride. When I am ungrateful it is because I think I deserve more. When I am jealous of another person’s ministry it is because I think I need more success or deserve more success. I think, in the end, these are matters of pride. One of the evidences of God’s grace I have seen is that I have a church full of people either keeping me accountable or helping me not to take myself too seriously by humorously by ripping me off! I have seen these two things weakening my pride. But I know I need to live for Jesus and His glory and not my own - I guess that is the true answer to my pride issues.
• I may be a Calvinist in my theology but I find that hard to live out. When I preach a crap sermon I find myself thinking ‘What was the point of that?’ I need to see that God has, and will, call people to himself regardless of how winsome my sermon is. I preach the doctrines of grace but I find it hard to live out practically in my preaching.
• I hate playing the bad cop. As a leader, I need to hold people accountable and sometimes, in rare occasions, I need to ask some people to step down from ministry. I have found this hard to do, not because I hate confrontation but because I want people to like me. This in the end is pride!
• I am disorganized, but getting better in that. As a leader, I need to be organized and I find that because of my spontaneous side, I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of guy. I have seen how damaging this can be for my church and for people around me who need things to be organized and communicated well. I have been getting better by keeping a diary, making sure I come through on stuff, etc. Also my wife has been helping me get organized!
• I need to be far more thankful for what God is doing in other ministries. I sometimes find myself looking at other people and their ministries and being bitter. For example, I see the way God is blessing the whole RICE Movement, and early last year I was very bitter - so much so, I joked about how I am going start an evangelistic movement just for white kids and call it ‘Cracker’! I need to keep reminding myself that it is not MY TEAM or BRAND that I am building, but God’s team and therefore when God is doing amazing things in other ministries, I need to give thanks to God for the way He is working!
• I am thankful that I have read so much theology! I read heaps and I have seen the benefits of that this year. When I have sat down across from people who have significant pastoral issues, I have had a theological background on which to call when needed. I have been called back to God’s sovereignty in salvation when either there have been heaps of people at Resolved or there haven’t been as many as I would have liked. I have been comforted by the sovereignty of God when I have seen my dad struggle with cancer. I know God is in control of my dad’s cancer and so I can trust Him.
• I am a saved sinner. Preaching week in and week out, I have seen my constant need for a Saviour, and how Jesus and His death is far more glorious and far more worthy of glory. This year, I have seen the cross as far more glorious as I have been seeing my own sin more clearly!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
How is Resolved going after our first year?
In one word, Resolved is going awesome! God has blessed us so richly! Here are a few things that are happening, in which I can see God’s grace:
• God has been bringing people (who previously didn’t know Him) to know Him, through the ministry of Resolved! I love that He uses our feeble attempts at communicating His word to bring people to Himself!
• The Elder Board is really working well. We meet up once a month and discuss where the church is at theologically, pastorally, practically and spiritually. It is one of the highlights of my month. God has blessed Resolved with a group of guys who, although young, have got a strong grip on who He is and what He is doing and who are open to correction and rebuke. They are intelligent and are great leaders! So please pray for Sellen, Bobby, Paul, Pete and myself as we lead Resolved!
• I love the fact that my wife is at Resolved! My wife, Kate, is a beautiful woman inside and out and she is such an encouragement to me and to a lot of girls whom she meets up with. She also pastorally oversees our elders’ wives/girlfriends and she does an amazing job in doing this! I am blessed to have her as my wife!
• I love the student ministers we have! Steve and Anna have been doing a great job! Anna is our Women’s Pastor and has been meeting up with girls and looking after the female leaders of our community groups and has been doing as great job! Steve is our pastor-in-charge-of-evangelism and he organized awesome outreaches over Easter! Also, they are both in these roles and doing these things without getting paid by Resolved! Thanks guys so much!
• We are doing a sermon series called “When I’m hurting, God is...” which has been getting a lot of traction, not only with the people who have been coming to Resolved for a while but with new people too! Pray for the non-Christians that are coming along, that they would see their need for Jesus! It has been a massive evidence of God’s grace that people have been amped for this series!
• I am thinking through a lot of stuff to do with social media and how to use it effectively and it has been really exciting to think through this stuff. I will be sitting down with Andrew Sellen to think through this more but it is very exciting!
• We are going on Man Camp again this year, and under Pete Hodson (our Men’s Pastor) we have trebled the number of men that are coming from last year!
• We have changed our community group teaching strategy to sermon-based community groups. How it works is this: The preacher preaches on a text on Sunday and writes a Bible study on that same text, for that (following) week’s community groups. So you hear the sermon and then you get a chance to talk about it and explore and apply the text more deeply in your community group. When I outlined this new way of doing community groups, the leaders said ‘Let’s go for it’! I love these guys!
This is just the tip of the iceberg - God is doing amazing things at Resolved! Pray for me, as the Pastor, that I will work hard in humility and worship to Jesus, and that He would be glorified and I would be forgotten!
Hans
• God has been bringing people (who previously didn’t know Him) to know Him, through the ministry of Resolved! I love that He uses our feeble attempts at communicating His word to bring people to Himself!
• The Elder Board is really working well. We meet up once a month and discuss where the church is at theologically, pastorally, practically and spiritually. It is one of the highlights of my month. God has blessed Resolved with a group of guys who, although young, have got a strong grip on who He is and what He is doing and who are open to correction and rebuke. They are intelligent and are great leaders! So please pray for Sellen, Bobby, Paul, Pete and myself as we lead Resolved!
• I love the fact that my wife is at Resolved! My wife, Kate, is a beautiful woman inside and out and she is such an encouragement to me and to a lot of girls whom she meets up with. She also pastorally oversees our elders’ wives/girlfriends and she does an amazing job in doing this! I am blessed to have her as my wife!
• I love the student ministers we have! Steve and Anna have been doing a great job! Anna is our Women’s Pastor and has been meeting up with girls and looking after the female leaders of our community groups and has been doing as great job! Steve is our pastor-in-charge-of-evangelism and he organized awesome outreaches over Easter! Also, they are both in these roles and doing these things without getting paid by Resolved! Thanks guys so much!
• We are doing a sermon series called “When I’m hurting, God is...” which has been getting a lot of traction, not only with the people who have been coming to Resolved for a while but with new people too! Pray for the non-Christians that are coming along, that they would see their need for Jesus! It has been a massive evidence of God’s grace that people have been amped for this series!
• I am thinking through a lot of stuff to do with social media and how to use it effectively and it has been really exciting to think through this stuff. I will be sitting down with Andrew Sellen to think through this more but it is very exciting!
• We are going on Man Camp again this year, and under Pete Hodson (our Men’s Pastor) we have trebled the number of men that are coming from last year!
• We have changed our community group teaching strategy to sermon-based community groups. How it works is this: The preacher preaches on a text on Sunday and writes a Bible study on that same text, for that (following) week’s community groups. So you hear the sermon and then you get a chance to talk about it and explore and apply the text more deeply in your community group. When I outlined this new way of doing community groups, the leaders said ‘Let’s go for it’! I love these guys!
This is just the tip of the iceberg - God is doing amazing things at Resolved! Pray for me, as the Pastor, that I will work hard in humility and worship to Jesus, and that He would be glorified and I would be forgotten!
Hans
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Leadership: Energy
We all love people with energy. We like people who seem to do a lot of things very well because they seem to have boundless reserves of energy. We all would love to be people that have this energy but can we all have it?
I think the answer is yes and it is all about changing our attitude and doing less not doing more.
Attitude
How do you see your life? Are you grateful for all the opportunities in your life God has given you? Many of you have the opportunity to be at least one of the following: parent, spouse, teacher, leader, lawyer, pastor, musician, nurse, student, friend, activist, blogger, preacher, etc. You get to go for walks with those you love, work in an air conditioned environment, watch movies, read books, play sports, learn, cook great meals, go out to eat meals, etc.
Do you thank God for all of the things you get to do? Because of your place in the west you are privalleged more almost all the world so is your day filled with thankfulness?
Attitude is so important, if we have an attitude of thanks for the great things God has put in our lives we will enjoy life more and when we enjoy things they give us energy!
How is your thankfulness?
Do less not more
One of the problems we have in our fast paced culture is that we feel we need to do more and more and more. But the result is we do things that we hate and that drive us down or we do things we love doing but we take too much on and then we are despondent when we know we are doing a sub par job on most of the things we are doing.
The thing is we need to do less but do what we do better. We also need to choose the things we do better.
What are your main responsibilities? Do they get the lion’s share of your time?
How many things do you do each week that energize you?
How many things do you do each week that drain you emotionally?
How many things do you do that you could get other people to do?
If a leader lacks energy, he or she will not inspire people.
If a leader is not inspirational are they really a leader?
I think the answer is yes and it is all about changing our attitude and doing less not doing more.
Attitude
How do you see your life? Are you grateful for all the opportunities in your life God has given you? Many of you have the opportunity to be at least one of the following: parent, spouse, teacher, leader, lawyer, pastor, musician, nurse, student, friend, activist, blogger, preacher, etc. You get to go for walks with those you love, work in an air conditioned environment, watch movies, read books, play sports, learn, cook great meals, go out to eat meals, etc.
Do you thank God for all of the things you get to do? Because of your place in the west you are privalleged more almost all the world so is your day filled with thankfulness?
Attitude is so important, if we have an attitude of thanks for the great things God has put in our lives we will enjoy life more and when we enjoy things they give us energy!
How is your thankfulness?
Do less not more
One of the problems we have in our fast paced culture is that we feel we need to do more and more and more. But the result is we do things that we hate and that drive us down or we do things we love doing but we take too much on and then we are despondent when we know we are doing a sub par job on most of the things we are doing.
The thing is we need to do less but do what we do better. We also need to choose the things we do better.
What are your main responsibilities? Do they get the lion’s share of your time?
How many things do you do each week that energize you?
How many things do you do each week that drain you emotionally?
How many things do you do that you could get other people to do?
If a leader lacks energy, he or she will not inspire people.
If a leader is not inspirational are they really a leader?
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Leadership: Passion
You can see what a person is passionate about.
Take some ministers to the footy and they will scream their lungs out. Put them in the pulpit and get them to preach about the cross and it sounds like they are reading from a shopping list.
You can see what a person is passionate about
We are in a time where people are more concerned with how you say it rather than what you say. This decline in our culture is unfortunate at best and downright dangerous at worst. But it says to the leader that they need to figure out how they will communicate what they need to communicate. In short the communicator needs to be visibly passionate.
This especially goes for preaching. If you want to preach and be engaging be visibly passionate.
Tips on communicating passion:
1) Make sure what you are communicating hits your heart. If you want to be communicating with passion are you passionate about what you are communicating? My worst sermons have been when I have not taken time for the message to freshly inspire, correct or rebuke me. I find that if the text has done work on me I will communicate the text far better than if I hadn’t.
2) Choose your words carefully It always cracks me up when I hear some ministers talk about their wives. Because their description of their wives are the worst advertisement for marriage ever!
This is a direct quote from a minister about his wife. (I have changed her name though) “This is my wife, her name is Wanda and we have been married for 15 years now and she has been really helpful as a ministry partner. The way she organizes our family is really commendable.”
This quote communicates no passion at all because of the words he chose. Words like helpful and commendable aren’t even okay when you are talking about a book let alone your wife! Also, notice how there are no words which display affection. The words love, like, beautiful, etc. are replaced with helpful and commendable which are just boring and tepid. (By the way if anyone calls something I do “helpful” I really find it hard to know where I am going to hide their body!)
If we want to communicate passion we need to choose our words carefully.
3) Speak with passion. Use your voice to show you are angry/sad/scared/happy/etc. If you speak in a monotone it will make people switch off.
4) Prepare, prepare , prepare. I have found that when I am really confident with what I am communicating I am more passionate. However, when I am not confident passion is the first thing to go. So to be passionate I need to prepare whatever I am communicating well. In fact the more I prepare the better I communicate with Passion.
So what things this week do you need to communicate with Passion? How will you prepare yourself and your message to passionately communicate?
Take some ministers to the footy and they will scream their lungs out. Put them in the pulpit and get them to preach about the cross and it sounds like they are reading from a shopping list.
You can see what a person is passionate about
We are in a time where people are more concerned with how you say it rather than what you say. This decline in our culture is unfortunate at best and downright dangerous at worst. But it says to the leader that they need to figure out how they will communicate what they need to communicate. In short the communicator needs to be visibly passionate.
This especially goes for preaching. If you want to preach and be engaging be visibly passionate.
Tips on communicating passion:
1) Make sure what you are communicating hits your heart. If you want to be communicating with passion are you passionate about what you are communicating? My worst sermons have been when I have not taken time for the message to freshly inspire, correct or rebuke me. I find that if the text has done work on me I will communicate the text far better than if I hadn’t.
2) Choose your words carefully It always cracks me up when I hear some ministers talk about their wives. Because their description of their wives are the worst advertisement for marriage ever!
This is a direct quote from a minister about his wife. (I have changed her name though) “This is my wife, her name is Wanda and we have been married for 15 years now and she has been really helpful as a ministry partner. The way she organizes our family is really commendable.”
This quote communicates no passion at all because of the words he chose. Words like helpful and commendable aren’t even okay when you are talking about a book let alone your wife! Also, notice how there are no words which display affection. The words love, like, beautiful, etc. are replaced with helpful and commendable which are just boring and tepid. (By the way if anyone calls something I do “helpful” I really find it hard to know where I am going to hide their body!)
If we want to communicate passion we need to choose our words carefully.
3) Speak with passion. Use your voice to show you are angry/sad/scared/happy/etc. If you speak in a monotone it will make people switch off.
4) Prepare, prepare , prepare. I have found that when I am really confident with what I am communicating I am more passionate. However, when I am not confident passion is the first thing to go. So to be passionate I need to prepare whatever I am communicating well. In fact the more I prepare the better I communicate with Passion.
So what things this week do you need to communicate with Passion? How will you prepare yourself and your message to passionately communicate?
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Leadership: Candor
“That was very helpful”
“You are being inappropriate!”
What the hell do these sentences mean?
Nothing
One of the biggest issues Christians face is a lack of candor, I define candor as:
Clearly communicating what needs to be said when you need to say it.
I think we lack candor because we want to be nice and we do not want to hurt the other persons feelings.
This is gutless.
And not loving.
Loving people means saying the hard things, whereas being nice means you will make them feel good.
If you want to love people be candid.
Candor is not just used when you need to say the hard thing, it is also used in giving specific feedback.
We could say “that sermon was very helpful/lovely/etc.” and thereby not really say anything about the sermon. Or you could say “What I really dug about the sermon is that you made me clearly see X by showing me Y. I also loved your illustration about the dog it worked because of A. Also, what your application did was highlight this area of weakness in my life by applying what was aid in verse 6 this way.” See how this communicates far more but requires far more thought from us.
In short, candor informs better, it communicates more, it allows people to have their say and it if you start using it people will be candid with you which will help you make better calls.
How candid are you?
“You are being inappropriate!”
What the hell do these sentences mean?
Nothing
One of the biggest issues Christians face is a lack of candor, I define candor as:
Clearly communicating what needs to be said when you need to say it.
I think we lack candor because we want to be nice and we do not want to hurt the other persons feelings.
This is gutless.
And not loving.
Loving people means saying the hard things, whereas being nice means you will make them feel good.
If you want to love people be candid.
Candor is not just used when you need to say the hard thing, it is also used in giving specific feedback.
We could say “that sermon was very helpful/lovely/etc.” and thereby not really say anything about the sermon. Or you could say “What I really dug about the sermon is that you made me clearly see X by showing me Y. I also loved your illustration about the dog it worked because of A. Also, what your application did was highlight this area of weakness in my life by applying what was aid in verse 6 this way.” See how this communicates far more but requires far more thought from us.
In short, candor informs better, it communicates more, it allows people to have their say and it if you start using it people will be candid with you which will help you make better calls.
How candid are you?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Leadership: Communication
Hypocrisy alert! One of the things that my team is constantly telling me to work on is communication, so I feel hypocritical blogging about communication but I think good leaders communicate so here it goes:
Here is why communication matters:
Communication says that you matter. If I forget to tell you the things I needed to tell you or should have told you this communicates something. It communicates that you are not important enough for me to tell you what I need to tell you.
Communication lets everyone know where the team is at. If I very rarely communicate I run the risk of people getting off mission or just plain thinking that what they are doing does not matter to the rest of the team. I try to communicate once every two weeks to every volunteer that what they do is Important and how grateful Resolved as a church is for them helping out. I also remind them of where their contribution fits in at Resolved.
Communication shows I am willing to say what needs to be said. A person whom communicates is far more likely to have the hard conversation that no one likes having but we all know needs to happen
Communication allows the leader to hear how their people are going. If I do not talk with my people How can I be their leader/pastor? So I need to be communicating with them
Things I am trying to do to communicate more effectively:
Replying to every text, voice message, email, facemail, twitter message even if it is just replying with “Cool” or “I got it” or “Paul Liao is not part of the Christian Music scene he is the Christian Music scene!”
Writing a list at the start of the day of people I need to communicate with for that day and designating the best form of communication (email, phone call, face to face meeting, etc.) to communicate what needs to be communicated and then communicating!
Every phone call or meeting I have I write out what I want to say on piece of paper and if possible have it in front of me when I am having the phone conversation or the meeting. This is so that I do not miss out on anything I wanted to say or ask. Now I do not do this in pastoral situations where a person needs to chat. But in those situations I do write down what I want to talk about before hand (if there is anything) just so it stays in my head. I also write down anything I need to do after the meeting is done.
I pray before and after ever significant bit of communication. I tend to screw things up so I always ask for Gods help in leading me to say the right things especially when difficult things need to be said or talked about.
Have you got any tips for me on how to communicate better?
Here is why communication matters:
Communication says that you matter. If I forget to tell you the things I needed to tell you or should have told you this communicates something. It communicates that you are not important enough for me to tell you what I need to tell you.
Communication lets everyone know where the team is at. If I very rarely communicate I run the risk of people getting off mission or just plain thinking that what they are doing does not matter to the rest of the team. I try to communicate once every two weeks to every volunteer that what they do is Important and how grateful Resolved as a church is for them helping out. I also remind them of where their contribution fits in at Resolved.
Communication shows I am willing to say what needs to be said. A person whom communicates is far more likely to have the hard conversation that no one likes having but we all know needs to happen
Communication allows the leader to hear how their people are going. If I do not talk with my people How can I be their leader/pastor? So I need to be communicating with them
Things I am trying to do to communicate more effectively:
Replying to every text, voice message, email, facemail, twitter message even if it is just replying with “Cool” or “I got it” or “Paul Liao is not part of the Christian Music scene he is the Christian Music scene!”
Writing a list at the start of the day of people I need to communicate with for that day and designating the best form of communication (email, phone call, face to face meeting, etc.) to communicate what needs to be communicated and then communicating!
Every phone call or meeting I have I write out what I want to say on piece of paper and if possible have it in front of me when I am having the phone conversation or the meeting. This is so that I do not miss out on anything I wanted to say or ask. Now I do not do this in pastoral situations where a person needs to chat. But in those situations I do write down what I want to talk about before hand (if there is anything) just so it stays in my head. I also write down anything I need to do after the meeting is done.
I pray before and after ever significant bit of communication. I tend to screw things up so I always ask for Gods help in leading me to say the right things especially when difficult things need to be said or talked about.
Have you got any tips for me on how to communicate better?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Leadership: Vision
When Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Washington monument and said I have a dream the World stopped.
And the world still remembers
But why does the world still remember?
Was it his eloquence? Sure
Was it the time in history? Definitely
Was it geographic location? Probably
But I think it was one thing more than all these. Martin Luther King’s famous speech is still remembered and quoted today because of His vision.
He is some of his speech:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
Did you notice what he was saying? He was talking about a dream that in the future America could be a a different place.
He had a vision.
One of the things some leaders lack is vision. Vision is just a a picture in your head of where your church or organization will be in an allotted amount of time.
If you don’t have a vision you are just treading water.
Without a vision the the diffeent things that happen in your organization don’t have any unifying purpose.
What is your vision?
Can you say it one clear sentence?
Do the people around you know the vision?
Do you have a Dream today?
And the world still remembers
But why does the world still remember?
Was it his eloquence? Sure
Was it the time in history? Definitely
Was it geographic location? Probably
But I think it was one thing more than all these. Martin Luther King’s famous speech is still remembered and quoted today because of His vision.
He is some of his speech:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
Did you notice what he was saying? He was talking about a dream that in the future America could be a a different place.
He had a vision.
One of the things some leaders lack is vision. Vision is just a a picture in your head of where your church or organization will be in an allotted amount of time.
If you don’t have a vision you are just treading water.
Without a vision the the diffeent things that happen in your organization don’t have any unifying purpose.
What is your vision?
Can you say it one clear sentence?
Do the people around you know the vision?
Do you have a Dream today?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Leadership: Do you do what you say you will do?
How many times have you heard someone say they will do something and then not deliver?
One of the easiest ways for a leader to lose credibility is to keep saying that they will do something and it doesn’t get done.
When was the last time you said you would do something and it didn’t get done?
Have you apologized for this oversight?
Ask the people around you are you one who can be relied upon to do the things you said you would do or are you a person who can talk a good game but cannot walk it?
Because people are looking for a leader that does what they said they would.
One of the easiest ways for a leader to lose credibility is to keep saying that they will do something and it doesn’t get done.
When was the last time you said you would do something and it didn’t get done?
Have you apologized for this oversight?
Ask the people around you are you one who can be relied upon to do the things you said you would do or are you a person who can talk a good game but cannot walk it?
Because people are looking for a leader that does what they said they would.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Leadership: Character
I love Larry Bird! Partly because he is white and I am white and it gives me hope as a basketball player!
My favorite story of Larry Bird is when his team, the Boston Celtics, were at Seattle playing the Seattle Supersonics. The Celtics were two down with six seconds to go and they had the ball. They called a timeout.
Larry walks to the huddle and says ‘Guys, here is what we are going to do. You get the ball to me, get the hell out of the way and we will win!’
The Coach, KC Jones said ‘Hey Larry, I am the coach I call the shots! Ok guys here is what we are going to do. Get the ball to Larry, get the hell out of the way and we will win!’
After the timeout, Larry walks over to the guy who was marking him, Xavier McDaniel, a guy who was 6’7 and who could go bear hunting with a twig and come back with seven carcasses. Larry looked McDaniel in the eye and said ‘X we both know what’s going to happen, I am going to get the ball here I am going to fake left dribble right and shoot a three in your face. It will go in swish and I will look you in the eye and say I told you so!’
The ref blows the whistle, Larry gets the ball, he fakes left dribbles right and shoots a three in McDaniel’s face. It goes in swish and he looks McDaniel in the eye and says ‘I told you so!’
After the Game KC Jones is asked is he ever nervous when the Celtics are in that situation? There are a few ticks of the clock left down by two and Larry is taking a shot that will either make or break the whole game, is he ever nervous?’ KC Jones smiled and said ‘ No, cause Larry always comes through’
I think the essence of Character is someone who always comes through. Who always does what they say they the will do. As a leader, character is essential, the Bible speaks of leaders of the church having great character (1Timothy 3). So what about you have you got great Character?
Do you always come to places on time?
Do you confront people or talk behind their back?
Do you own up for your own mistakes when it is your fault?
Do you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you look after your family well?
Are you accountable to people?
Do you work hard or bludge a lot?
Do you always do what you say you will do?
As a leader Character is essential!
My favorite story of Larry Bird is when his team, the Boston Celtics, were at Seattle playing the Seattle Supersonics. The Celtics were two down with six seconds to go and they had the ball. They called a timeout.
Larry walks to the huddle and says ‘Guys, here is what we are going to do. You get the ball to me, get the hell out of the way and we will win!’
The Coach, KC Jones said ‘Hey Larry, I am the coach I call the shots! Ok guys here is what we are going to do. Get the ball to Larry, get the hell out of the way and we will win!’
After the timeout, Larry walks over to the guy who was marking him, Xavier McDaniel, a guy who was 6’7 and who could go bear hunting with a twig and come back with seven carcasses. Larry looked McDaniel in the eye and said ‘X we both know what’s going to happen, I am going to get the ball here I am going to fake left dribble right and shoot a three in your face. It will go in swish and I will look you in the eye and say I told you so!’
The ref blows the whistle, Larry gets the ball, he fakes left dribbles right and shoots a three in McDaniel’s face. It goes in swish and he looks McDaniel in the eye and says ‘I told you so!’
After the Game KC Jones is asked is he ever nervous when the Celtics are in that situation? There are a few ticks of the clock left down by two and Larry is taking a shot that will either make or break the whole game, is he ever nervous?’ KC Jones smiled and said ‘ No, cause Larry always comes through’
I think the essence of Character is someone who always comes through. Who always does what they say they the will do. As a leader, character is essential, the Bible speaks of leaders of the church having great character (1Timothy 3). So what about you have you got great Character?
Do you always come to places on time?
Do you confront people or talk behind their back?
Do you own up for your own mistakes when it is your fault?
Do you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you look after your family well?
Are you accountable to people?
Do you work hard or bludge a lot?
Do you always do what you say you will do?
As a leader Character is essential!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Leadership: do you have the right people?
I once had a dinner with a very well known leader who had just retired as the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world ever. Here is a brief part of the conversation:
Me: Leadership is hard
Him: It is
Me: It is lonely being at the top
Him: Hans you aren’t a leader
Me: What? Why?
Him: Because a lonely person is not a leader. A leader is a person who gathers a team and leads them somewhere. If you are alone you have no followers and therefore you aren’t a leader!
These words floored me! Partly because an oft quoted leadership maxim ‘It is lonely being at the top’ is seen for what it is: absolute crap.
If a leader is someone who, through influence and example, inspires, motivates, rebukes, trains and teaches a group of people to reach a goal or destination.
It is all about people and who you have around you.
Would Michael Jordan have won all those championships without his teammates?
Without Scottie Pippen and his all round play?
Without Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman providing the muscle down low?
Without the three point shooting of Kerr, Paxson and Kukoc
Without a coach like Phil Jackson who mastered the art of taming fragile, overpriced egos?
I think not
You show me a great leader and I will show you a person who can pick the best people for then job, motivate them, train them and inspire them to be the best they can be for the organization, church, team or whatever they are a part of.
What kind of people do you want?
Jack Welch the CEO of general electric said he looks for people who have four E’s and one P
Welch says he wants people with Energy, people who have the ability to Energize those around them, those people who Execute and get things done and those who have the Edge to make tough calls under fire. All these are useless if they don’t have Passion that is the P.
I am blessed with the right people around me in my church plant. People who love me enough to say the hard things to my face, who execute on things we need done and who are passionate people with energy.
Have you got the right people around you? Or do you just get the first people who put their hand up for the job? If you get the right people your job will be made mostly easier but if you get the wrong people you will probably go nowhere.
As a leader, who is surrounding you?
Me: Leadership is hard
Him: It is
Me: It is lonely being at the top
Him: Hans you aren’t a leader
Me: What? Why?
Him: Because a lonely person is not a leader. A leader is a person who gathers a team and leads them somewhere. If you are alone you have no followers and therefore you aren’t a leader!
These words floored me! Partly because an oft quoted leadership maxim ‘It is lonely being at the top’ is seen for what it is: absolute crap.
If a leader is someone who, through influence and example, inspires, motivates, rebukes, trains and teaches a group of people to reach a goal or destination.
It is all about people and who you have around you.
Would Michael Jordan have won all those championships without his teammates?
Without Scottie Pippen and his all round play?
Without Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman providing the muscle down low?
Without the three point shooting of Kerr, Paxson and Kukoc
Without a coach like Phil Jackson who mastered the art of taming fragile, overpriced egos?
I think not
You show me a great leader and I will show you a person who can pick the best people for then job, motivate them, train them and inspire them to be the best they can be for the organization, church, team or whatever they are a part of.
What kind of people do you want?
Jack Welch the CEO of general electric said he looks for people who have four E’s and one P
Welch says he wants people with Energy, people who have the ability to Energize those around them, those people who Execute and get things done and those who have the Edge to make tough calls under fire. All these are useless if they don’t have Passion that is the P.
I am blessed with the right people around me in my church plant. People who love me enough to say the hard things to my face, who execute on things we need done and who are passionate people with energy.
Have you got the right people around you? Or do you just get the first people who put their hand up for the job? If you get the right people your job will be made mostly easier but if you get the wrong people you will probably go nowhere.
As a leader, who is surrounding you?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Leadership: do they love you?
‘A leader always touches a heart before he asks for a hand’
John C. Maxwell
I once went into a meeting with a bunch of youth group leaders at a previous church I was at, I was the student minister responsible for running the youth group and I had a brand new vision that was going revolutionize the way we did the youth ministry. In fact, because of this strategy, so many people were going to come to youth group that we would have to hire a fulltime youth minister!! That is how good the plan was.
I gave my spiel and then asked them what they thought.
‘I think its crap!’
‘What’s wrong with the way we do it now?’
‘Dude, you are only here for a year, what do you care anyway?’
I am not sure how good the strategy was (I don’t even remember it), but that was the day I learnt that no one would follow me just because I had a title. The biggest reason people were going to follow me is if they loved me. If I wanted people to buy into a vision they must first buy into me. They must first love me and trust me.
Have you got a vision?
Do you think people will buy into your vision?
Firstly have they bought into you?
The minister at my home church is a great example of the buy in. From what I was told, when he got there he did not make any grand plans or sweeping strategies.
He loved them.
He ate with them, he cried with them, he laughed with them, opened the bible with them, helped them with anything he could, opened his house to them, etc.
Now my friends at my home church will follow him almost anywhere, because they have bought into him.
Have your people bought into you? Have you wept, listened to, apologized to, laughed, ate, drank, played, sat, read, helped, sung, danced, xboxed, warcrafted, footballed, watched movies, went to bands etc. with them?
Have you shown by your time that you love them
Do they love you?
‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’
John C. Maxwell
John C. Maxwell
I once went into a meeting with a bunch of youth group leaders at a previous church I was at, I was the student minister responsible for running the youth group and I had a brand new vision that was going revolutionize the way we did the youth ministry. In fact, because of this strategy, so many people were going to come to youth group that we would have to hire a fulltime youth minister!! That is how good the plan was.
I gave my spiel and then asked them what they thought.
‘I think its crap!’
‘What’s wrong with the way we do it now?’
‘Dude, you are only here for a year, what do you care anyway?’
I am not sure how good the strategy was (I don’t even remember it), but that was the day I learnt that no one would follow me just because I had a title. The biggest reason people were going to follow me is if they loved me. If I wanted people to buy into a vision they must first buy into me. They must first love me and trust me.
Have you got a vision?
Do you think people will buy into your vision?
Firstly have they bought into you?
The minister at my home church is a great example of the buy in. From what I was told, when he got there he did not make any grand plans or sweeping strategies.
He loved them.
He ate with them, he cried with them, he laughed with them, opened the bible with them, helped them with anything he could, opened his house to them, etc.
Now my friends at my home church will follow him almost anywhere, because they have bought into him.
Have your people bought into you? Have you wept, listened to, apologized to, laughed, ate, drank, played, sat, read, helped, sung, danced, xboxed, warcrafted, footballed, watched movies, went to bands etc. with them?
Have you shown by your time that you love them
Do they love you?
‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’
John C. Maxwell
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Leadership: Do you love them?
I had a conversation with a friend who was trying to lead a bunch of people at his workplace through a difficult time. He said he tried everything to get them onside but it hasn’t worked and then he dropped the bombshell. This is how the conversation rolled
Him: ‘I guess I just don’t like them.’
Me: ‘You don’t like them? What do you feel towards them?’
Him: ‘Good question! I guess not much at all. I don’t really like them and I don’t feel anything for them.’
Me: ‘Do you love them’
Him: ‘Hell no.’
Me: ‘Would you do anything for them outside of your job?’
Him: ‘Hans, you are the pastor I am just an engineer!’
I said to my friend that he could never lead this group of people, because Leadership is all about relationships of service.
If I don’t love I will never lead.
That doesn’t mean you have to like them and want to hang out with them. I have lead teams where I wouldn’t consider the people in those teams friends but I have loved them and have tried to show them this.
What’s the difference? The Bible says this ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers’ Notice how practical the definition is? The laying down of your life constitutes the very heart of love that you are showing towards a person.
If you want to lead you will love.
So,
Do you communicate well to your followers?
Do you ask them how they are and really want to know how they are?
When was the last time you sat down with someone and did nothing but listen?
When was the last time you lovingly said something hard to someone because they needed to hear it?
When was the last time you held the people around you up in prayer?
When did you last weep with the people around you?
When did you last do something like go to the movies with them on your day off?
I am asking myself these questions. Because I think if I communicate with, weep with, listen to, pray for, rebuke gently, Give my time to my followers I am loving them and I am showing that I love them. So my friend who I was talking to might not have been able to like the people around him but he could have loved them.
What about you? Do you love the people you are trying to lead?
Him: ‘I guess I just don’t like them.’
Me: ‘You don’t like them? What do you feel towards them?’
Him: ‘Good question! I guess not much at all. I don’t really like them and I don’t feel anything for them.’
Me: ‘Do you love them’
Him: ‘Hell no.’
Me: ‘Would you do anything for them outside of your job?’
Him: ‘Hans, you are the pastor I am just an engineer!’
I said to my friend that he could never lead this group of people, because Leadership is all about relationships of service.
If I don’t love I will never lead.
That doesn’t mean you have to like them and want to hang out with them. I have lead teams where I wouldn’t consider the people in those teams friends but I have loved them and have tried to show them this.
What’s the difference? The Bible says this ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers’ Notice how practical the definition is? The laying down of your life constitutes the very heart of love that you are showing towards a person.
If you want to lead you will love.
So,
Do you communicate well to your followers?
Do you ask them how they are and really want to know how they are?
When was the last time you sat down with someone and did nothing but listen?
When was the last time you lovingly said something hard to someone because they needed to hear it?
When was the last time you held the people around you up in prayer?
When did you last weep with the people around you?
When did you last do something like go to the movies with them on your day off?
I am asking myself these questions. Because I think if I communicate with, weep with, listen to, pray for, rebuke gently, Give my time to my followers I am loving them and I am showing that I love them. So my friend who I was talking to might not have been able to like the people around him but he could have loved them.
What about you? Do you love the people you are trying to lead?
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