The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve
We had a several hour workshop this afternoon with Dr. Lori O'Dea on Transformational Leadership. It was excellent. I've heard her speak before and appreciate her insight so much. I'm glad to share it here with you for all of you friends who couldn't come to the conference. This is not every single thing she said (I have about 10 pages of notes) but I am going to try to condense. The whole thing was based on I and II Timothy.
Here we go:
- Real change will not occur without the presence of women.
- Paul never "hedges" in his encouragement to Timothy...always communicates, "you can do it!"
- There are options in ministry. And, God has NO LIMITS!
- There are obstacles already in ministry -- don't add more! Stop negative self talk.
- Transformational leadership occurs when people and organizations are changed in form and character to reflect the nature of Christ and the church.
- "Our transformation is never for ourselves alone. It is always for the sake of others." - Ruth Haley Barton.
BE TRANSFORMED:
- Commit to the call
- Get over yourself. (potential slowdowns are shame and suffering; guaranteed accelerants are saving grace, the Resurrected Saviour, Divine Appointment.)
- Build leadership strength - multiply leaders, Participate fully in your place of ministry; don't skip the hard stuff; don't make end runs - play fair; Don't opt for the stands - get your hands dirty. The farmer (who gets their hands dirty) gets the first of the crops.
- Practice Reflection - build space in your life. Ask yourself, "what have I learned? What is God saying?
- Journal - someone once said, "Thoughts disentangle themselves when they leave the mind and come out through the fingertips."
- Keep focus - example - Billy Graham; once entertained the thought of the presidency but stayed the course and stayed focused.
- Focus killers = an unchecked need for approval; the need to be right; the need to belong.
- Crave leadership character.
- Leadership black holes are: inner neglect; forest blindness; ego tending, security deprivation; insanity defense; alignment problems, Hurdle imitation.
- Learn to navigate the storms of conflict - be a student on this subject.
- Avoid the stupid stuff. This is beneath your leadership.
- Teach for positive change.
TO TRANSFORM:
- Manage hope - a function of the leader is to keep hope alive.
- Cast vision that - embraces truth, and embraces real needs.
- Point out the truth to people and help them see the way out.
- Leadership blinders are - form without power and selling out to the hopeless.
- Practice discernment - lack of discernment leads to deception of self and others, depravity, indecision. We are susceptible to being paralyzed by indecision.
- Discernment is required for vision casting, leadership multiplication; and reading the room while in a meeting.
- How do we get discernment - stay full of and seek the spirit.
- Eliminate "postponed" thinking. Have an understanding of the current situation and act accordingly.
- Maintain balance - healthy solitude - transparency.
- Balance the hard stuff and the blessings.
- Balance fitting in and being yourself.
- Balance over-reacting and detachment
- Balance pressure and rest.
- Be sensitive in times of transition.
- Don't over-react to bad news.But also don't stay so detached that they think you aren't real.
- Learn to love pressure. To do that you have to dedicate yourself to constant improvement.
- Learn more - immerse yourself in the Word, trusted teachers, reading widely, cross discipline studies (can you learn something from Pizza Hut? Absolutely) experience, and ongoing formal education.
- Communicate effectively - to say there are "high stakes" is an understatement; Gods Word trumps yours; preparation is a lifelong endeavor (listen to yourself speak on CD - evaluate and ask others to evaluate.), offer a balanced diet.
- "How" matters as much as "what" -- communication is 7% of what you say.
- Hold loosely to your ministry. How? Comprehend; Obey, Anticipate, Trust
- Success without a successor is a failure.
- Lead in community. When doing so you have better organization, better leadership, better participation and better performance.
- The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni) Absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.
- Do you have a gender problem? Can you work well with women? And men? Commit to INTENTIONAL inclusiveness.
- Women become a negative force if they are a natural born leader and they are not serving. They can't help but lead, so what do they do? Rise up and lead a rebellion in your church... Help them learn to lead without the negativity.
- Community has the potential to hurt you...forgive.
- The benefits of this outweigh the harm.
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