Leaders Always Ask the Right Questions

Never stop asking the right questions.

Elevated Expectations

In the Dickens classic Great Expectations, it is said that Pip is destined to become a "man of great expectations." Imagine such an elevated expectation of a young man from such humble beginnings.  Now put yourself in a similar situation.

What level of expectation do others have of you?

Are you a picture of the epitome of success? Or, are you sadly falling far below expectations?

If you meet or exceed expectations, now is the time for you to start exploring and engaging in new relationships on a professional level.  You may have outgrown your current level of success and require a new set of challenges to keep your drive going.

When you venture into new territory, you are bound to experience some new levels of elevated expectations.

Meet the challenge and embrace it.

Remain Positive

He who walks with wise men will be wise,

But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

-Proverbs 13:20

Why suffer needlessly? It's senseless.  It's foolish.  It's totally unwise.

In midst of all of this foolishness that may come your way, I suggest that you remain positive.  Norman Vincent Peale wrote The Power o f Positive Thinking many years ago and it still generates fans to this day.  Keep yourself positive.

How?

Keep a positive perspective on things.  Be an optimist.  Winston Churchill once stated: "The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Maintain a positive perspective.

Stick with positive people.  Don't fall in with the wrong crowd at the copy machine or water cooler.  Keep yourself surrounded by people who will build you up and lift your spirits.

Stay positive.  We all know that bad things still happen to good people.  That's still a reality.  Let's maintain our own positivity in the midst of the storms of this life.  hink about the folks who survived Hurrican Sandy and who were so thankful to God for sparing their lives and the lives of their loved ones.  That's how to stay positive in the storm and beyond.

Get Busy Growing

In The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren stated: "If the church isn't growing, it's dying." That is enough to shock and stun some pastors, even petrify others.  Yet, the ones who read those words and take proactive actions to set their church to growing tend to see results.  Others who dare not do anything different seem to be doomed to see their church see very few results.

If you want to see some growth in your church, you need to get growing.  Get busy doing the things that grow the church.  Don't simply pay attention to who you have in attendance.  Get in touch with those who are not in attendance.

What do you do about those who:

• Stopped coming to Sunday school?
• Quit serving in ministry?
• Never signed up for anything at church?

Get a team together to work on reconnecting with such people as soon as possible.  Work with that team on how to reach people in a variety ways.  Develop a plan for getting in touch with these people.  Schedule when to execute the plan.  Start bringing the plan to life.

Once you get that going, bring another team together and see how to reach those within the community.  Plan outreach activities where you can reach people through the Word and your good works. 

Jesus fed folks, healed some, and taught others.  He used parables many times rather than laying out a exegesis of the Scriptures through a sermon. 

Don't trip.  God has already gifted both you and your team with what you need to reach others.  You just got to get busy growing.

Three books that can help you grow:

• The Habits of Highly Effective Churches: Being Strategic in Your God Given Ministry- George Barna
• Twelve Keys to an Effective Church- Kennon L. Callahan
• When God Builds a Church - Bob Russell

Living by Saintly Standards

According to 2008 U.S. statistical data from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), 34,169 people claimed "no religion." That includes atheists and humanists.  That is almost 5,000 more people than in 2001.  In 2008, according to the same survey, over 173,000 people identified themselves as "Christian." That's over 13,000 more than in 2001.

Obviously, Christianity grew and expanded during this period.  That sounds good.  However, the adult population surveyed increased by approximately 20,000 during this period.  We gained 13,000 and the "no religion" folks gained 5,000.  That means 2,000 people became Muslims, Jews or some other religion.  Or, the same 2,000 just did not dare claim any religion at all.  Either that or it is some mix between the two of them.

The world has its own standard.  It may not be one that we, as Christians, desire to follow but it exists.  It is alive and well within the world.  That's suitable for those who do not know the Lord.  It works for those who live in the darkness of unbelief.

It doesn't work well for Christians.

For us, things are just a little different.  We answer to a higher calling in Christ Jesus, seeking to mature in Christ as we walk with Christ.  We are to live by a different standard than the world.

So what is this standard of living for Christians and where does it come from?

• The Lord sets the standard.  He lays it out based upon His supreme reign over all things as the Creator, the Maker and Elohim.  He answers to no one.
• The Lord shares the standard in the Scriptures.  Christians have the upper hand because we have been provided the play book.  We can read it.  We can reference it.  It is for our consumption.  The Lord gave it to us.
• The Lord demonstrated the standard.  The Word became flesh.  He dwelt on earth and dealt with some serious troubles like being born to poor parents and living in a society where foreigners ruled over His people.  He showed us the standard and expects us to live up to the standard.

Live it up.  Live a life of influence that inspires others from interacting with you and your business.  Live up to Christ's standards as you work, as you play golf and as you go to and fro.  Handle your business and live up the Lord's standards.

Mentoring as Your Ministry

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

- Titus 2:1-8 (ESV)

Paul shares some sincere instructions with Titus.  He urges Titus to not simply preach the Good News.  He encourages the man of God to teach what accords with sound doctrine.  In doing so, Paul also urges Titus to engage others to teach others by example.  He shares how the church is an intergenerational conglomerate of men and women of various ages who need to show each other and see each other, even their pastor, as a pattern of good works.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us

Let mentoring serve as part of the foundation of your ministry.  People come into the church all sorts of ways.  They accept Christ at special events or during outreach efforts.  They accept Christ as their Lord and Savior on street corners or during worship services.  People come to Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit, but they come to understand their new life in Christ through the mentoring and discipleship provided by the church's leadership and laity.

The Lord instructed His disciples to make disciples.  That was the basis of the Great Commission.  He did not say for them to recruit members or stand in judgment of people.  He said for the church, His body, to make disciples by teaching and admonishing new converts in what He had taught them.  That's what happened after Pentecost.  The people continued in the doctrine of the apostles.  That means that they accepted and applied the teachings of the apostles into their own daily lives.

Let's mentor more.  Let's model more.  Let's make more disciples.

"We do not consider soul winning to be accomplished by hurriedly inscribing more names upon our church-roll, in order to show a good increase at the end of the year." - C.H. Spurgeon

Growing in His Word

“Don’t wait to fast, read, pray, or to do anything else.” – Charles Finney

Use the Good Book to get back on track.

Let truth show you the way.

You need to pray over some things.  You just need to get into some deep prayer and let loose.  I have one word of advice for you, though.  You do not have to hurry when praying, but you surely need to hurry up and pray.  Allow God to draw you in nearer and nearer, closer and closer.

Spend some time connecting with the Lord.  Go to the Word.  Read and hear the Word of God.  Listen to sermon podcasts and the Bible dramatized on iTunes. 

Take some time to make things work for you, especially as you work towards serving God daily.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. - Colossians 3:16 (KJV)



Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.- Romans10:17 (NIV)
 
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. -ColossiansNIV)
 
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.- James 5:13 (KJV)

Each One Reach One

⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. ⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus. - John 1: 40-42 (NIV)

Imagine if we sought to grow our ministries one member at a time.  What if we sat aside the church growth theories that say otherwise for a moment? Think about what the Bible says about reaching others.  Take a look at Andrew's example.  Each believer can reach someone else.

I believe that everyone is not connected to everyone else, but every one of us is connected to someone.  We all know somebody who we could reach for Jesus and share about our personal experience and encounter with Jesus.  That's genuine growth.  It's based on relationships.

Train your members to reach out to other people.  Challenge each member of your congregation or your small group to reach twelve other people.  Make it doable.  Tell them and train them how to reach another person each month and bring them to your Bible study, prayer meeting or Sunday school class.  That's just one person per month.  That's three people per quarter.  Challenge them to do it based on their relationships.  If you have ten people in your ministry, you could potentially have 120 people touched by your ministry within the first year.  Imagine how much more that you could do through your people once they get comfortable doing such a mighty work.

Room for Growth

Incorporated self-employment is 37% of total self-employment. In January, for example, there were 14.5 million self-employed workers in the U.S. with 5.2 million incorporated and 9.3 million unincorporated.

- Small Biz Labs

If you are in business or thinking about going into business for yourself, there is good news.  There is still room for you.  With 14.5 million self-employed Americans, there is still room for you.  There is still room for growth.


Why All of the Optimism?

I believe that the average American possesses the ability to start and sustain a small business on his or her own, with the help of family or friends, or in an LLC or partnership.  You can franchise it or start it up from scratch, but you need to get the mindset that you can run a small business.  In fact, in your pursuit of happiness, along with life and liberty, it should be among one of those patriotic things that you list for yourself to do as a contribution to society and your personal bottom line.

The Internet Opportunity

Small business is no longer about hanging out a shingle and calling it a day, awaiting foot traffic and catching the eye of the passerby.  No way, buddy! You have to go where the people are today.  You need to get connected online.  in fact, simply having a website alone can be the equivalent of letting your business go to pot.  You have to engage people online in order to get their attention and get them attracted to what you have to offer.

The brick and mortar business is almost dead unless you have the type of product or service that cannot be mobilized and made virtual with a webinar or a podcast, even an e-commerce storefront.  The real estate bust should tell us how these markets have been consumed by Google, Facebook, iPhones, iPads and the like.  The modern-day consumer has shifted from browsing the shelves to browsing web pages and portals, comparing prices with a click of a mouse.

Start Simple:

• Use eBay or similar sites to shop products to consumers
• Get as much Google in your daily diet as possible... blogs, calendar, docs, YouTube, RSS feeds, Checkout,  apps for business, and you name it (they got it!) And, of course, you need some Gmail
• Get on Twitter and at least see who's tweeting about what that may be of interest or related to you... check out @mashable or @google
• Make a consumer-conscious appeal* with every keystroke

*Your consumer-conscious appeals will reach the average consumer and cause them to at least consider taking some form of action on your site or fan page... sort of like Facebook's "Like This" button or Twitter's retweets and #'s