Some notes from discussion with Greg Surratt and Dave Smith in Q & A at @leadnet gathering Read ‘The Triumph Of Christianity’ – Rodney Stark – Traces the Jesus movement through to now. Describes how the demise of the church in Europe was because it became a lazy church. The answer to the demise is church planting. The most important person in the church for it to be effective is the church leader. And if that’s true… The next most important person is… Who? His or her PA. Who should help you only do what only you can do. Let other very capable people lead other things. You can’t start with complete delegation on day one, but you have to learn to delegate more and more. You are never going to lead anything big and still enjoy life without good systems that free you up. Be ruthless on what do I really need to know? What do I really need to do. Virtual Assistants can be very helpful.
Tag: leadership
A True Pioneer – Gerald Coates
http://vimeo.com/83298504 Just made time to watch this fascinating video detailing the life and something of the contribution of my friend Gerald Coates. My contact with Gerald, his infectious big vision, encouraging faith and informal mentoring made a huge difference when I was in Surrey. Watching this show highlights a key figure God has used in our generation for the good of His church. No history of the UK church in our generation would be complete without including (and honouring) him.
STOP PLANNING, START PREPARING
(Thanks to Dan Reeves for working on the blog – looks a lot better now!) Jesus indicated that it is more important to be ready than know what’s going to happen. During World War II General MacArthur called one of his engineers and asked, ” How long would it take to throw a bridge across this river?’ ‘Three days’ the engineer told him. ‘Good,’ said the general, ‘have your draftsman make drawings right away.’ Three days later the general asked the engineer how the bridge was coming along. “It’s all ready Sir,’ he was told. ‘You can send the troops across right now, that is if you don’t have to wait for the plans – the plans aren’t done yet.” Look at the world around you with open eyes. The only thing that’s certain is that we live in a world of radical and acute uncertainty, so we need to be ready to see what’s working and what isn’t working, to adapt and change and be flexible and if it doesn’t work one way we go, go another – or […]
WHAT MORE COULD HE HAVE DONE FOR US?
(This is from last Sunday night’s talk at the Ivy AGM – Awesome Gratitude Meeting) One of my favourite author/ speakers died last year – his name was Brennan Manning. If you have ever read ‘Ragamuffin Gospel’ you’ll never forget it. I have read lots of what he’s written and listened to many of his talks, but it was only this week I heard the amazing story about how he got the name “Brennan.” Because his real name was Richard Xavier Francis Manning – a good Irish catholic name, to be sure. While growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: went to school together, bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated, and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together and fought on the frontlines together in the Korean War. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the trench. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, […]
Life’s 3 Options #bgbg2
One of the things I have often been challenged about by God, and it draws close to me every day in terms of what I worry about or get concerned about, is the issue of WHO IS MY PROVIDER going to be? Who do I see as responsible for providing for what I need? Your answer to that will have you living in one of three ways. You’ll be a BEGGAR, A DIGGER, OR A GIVER. Jesus told a parable, a story with meaning, in Luke 16:1-13. It’s a bit of a weird one about a man who suddenly finds himself in financial difficulty. The major point, which it’s always safest to go with in parables, is that he thought he’d always have enough, but now the future’s closing him down fast. And the internal dialogue the guy has with himself there leads me to these three ways to live. Have a read yourself. He says ‘I’m too proud to beg, and I’m not strong enough to dig,’ so he ends up getting very creative in the area of generosity […]
LEFTOVERS vs FIRSTFRUITS #bgbg2
Do you ever wonder, “What’s the least I can give, and it still be okay with God?” Be honest.
Why God Uses Shepherds – Nativity Lessons And More
Preparing for next Sunday’s talk, which we’re filming soon, I found a great deal of interesting detail from various sources. SHEEP IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL Large Numbers of Sheep in Bible Times From the days of Abraham right through to modern times, sheep have been abundant in the Holy Land. Arab peoples of the region have depended heavily on sheep for their livelihood. The Jews in Bible times were first shepherds and then farmers, but they never completely left the shepherd life. The sheer number of sheep is seen in examples like: Job having 14,000 sheep (Job 42:12) Solomon sacrificing 120,000 sheep at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 8:63) Fat-Tailed Sheep The most common type is the fat-tailed sheep. The large, fatty tail acts as a reserve of energy, much like the hump of a camel. When the animal is butchered, the tail is valuable and may be bought separately to use for frying. This kind of sheep was already in use in Bible times: “Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the […]
Leadership Network Interviewed Me…
about our experience of connecting to their High Capacity peer learning group for Europe, which has been fantastic; their notes from our telephone interview have just been posted widely and I reproduce it below. In September 2014, Leadership Network will launch a High Capacity peer learning group in Europe. Anthony Delaney, Team Leader of Ivy Manchester (UK), tells his story of participating in Europe’s Rapid Growth Leadership Community. When Anthony Delaney took over as leader, Ivy was known as ‘Ivy Cottage’ and he reflects, “I saw great potential, but we needed to move out of the cottage and into the city.” With the help of Leadership Network, that’s where Anthony has been leading Ivy over the past five years. In this time they’ve planted three churches and started several missional projects. For Anthony it began when his friend Andy Hawthorne (founder and director of The Message) invited him to join a Leadership Network Leadership Community. Within a few months Anthony was at his first meeting. It was at these meetings that he began to make great friendships and was introduced […]
Jessie Jo Jacobs – Revival of love
Everything we want to do comes out of love. Jesus sets a very high bar; don’t look at her with lust, she’s your sister Don’t look at him with anger; he’s your brother The fasting he requires is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, loving those that have nowt. He asked Simon Peter: do you love me? Yes Feed my lambs then If you love me – love them What else can save the world, our cities, but this love. A people caught up in love. The bible is a love story Not a rule book Matt 13:3-9 parable of the sower 19-23 unpacks and explains it. Jesus is sowing seed on planet earth Some – hard ground; ‘I just don’t and won’t believe that love story.’ Some had no root; shallow relationship. The first joy of the first date. No depth to the relationship. And some – it’s wealth that gets in the way. The cares of this world, consumerism is choking out the gospel in the world. Britain is full of rich young rulers who won’t give up […]
Love Takes Action
Love Takes Action – Bob Goff @bobgoff (This guy is a force of nature, I’m buying his book!) We all want to lead strong, but we get our signals wrong. We can memorise the Bible and learn more and more stuff. We stalk Jesus. Find out all kinds of facts about him. It creeps him out. Stop stalking Jesus. Learn from him. 1 John 3:16-18 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Do the stuff so you will know. What? Who you are, what you’re here for. Love your enemies so you can be perfect. Next time someone asks how you’re doing, Tell YOURSELF ‘I;m trying to be perfect like my awesome dad.’ Love God Love People and DO […]