Write it Down

What are you dreaming about? Not necessarily when you go to sleep and dream you just blocked Blake Griffin's shot as he went up for a dunk. But what are you dreaming about in your leadership? What are you wanting to see done in your area of ministry? What do you want to see accomplished in your life? Where do you want to go?

I know that every second of everyday you are not thinking about being the next Craig Groeschel or Steven Furtick. That's ok, you need some you time. However make sure your you time and leader time are balanced. There are plenty of people out there who are more worried about their you time than leading...that's why you are different. That's why you are reading this blog.

So how do you go from dreaming to seeing those things happen? If I knew that I could probably have written a book and be rolling in the benjamins right now...but Im not. However, I do know what works for me. Somedays we dream something absolutely amazing (in my case that happens while sitting in a class at college) only to later forget all about that dream. Those countless minutes/hours we spent thinking and dreaming are gone...G-O-N-E.

What works for me is simply writing my dreams down. Once they are written down, they are there forever and as I write new dreams down I am reminded of past dreams that I have yet to accomplish. Reading through your list of dreams weekly refreshes you and keeps you motivated to see these dreams happen, there is no better dream than marking off a dream because it has now become a reality. So whether it is a way to be an effective leader, getting help in your area of ministry, building a stage design, going on tour with a band, planting a church, growing a youth ministry, going on vacation to Europe, learning to play guitar, being able to retire...whatever it may be write it down and be motivated to see it happen. A dream forgotten is a dream that never existed. Dream big.

A good read for those interested in how powerful a dream can be and a way to see dreams really happen I challenge you to read The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.

peace be the journey.
///tres

Resource Friday.

Resources are amazing. That is the phrase that best describes a resource. I remember when I began leading my ministry I drove about 2 hrs north of my house to visit a friend student pastor and he loaded me down with resource after resource. Literally it was more than I could carry and we loaded the trunk of my car with them.

I cannot express how much that meant to me, and how helpful it has been in the two years I've been a student pastor. This being the first friday of the blog I will explain what resource friday will consist of.

I will post one resource per Friday that will help you develop as a leader. Some fridays in may be a book, other fridays it may be a sermon, the other fridays it may be a website with great things to help you. Some will be based for student pastors, others music, others kids, and others for all leaders in general.

With that said, this will be the longest post ever for a resource friday. Here is the first resource. Every young leader needs to read The Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. You can find it on Amazon here. It's a great read that will help you focus your leadership and take some stress off of you.

Read it and tell me what you think about it.

peace be the journey.

///tres

Faith > Air

Today we have a special guest poster. It is part of the vision for this blog that leaders from every aspect of leadership from all over the country post and share insight with you young leaders.


Jamie Witte is a great friend of mine. She is the Worship Pastor at Church 29:11. If you don't know her, well you should find a way to do that. Add her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @jamie_sue. Just like all of us, she is a young leader as well but with plenty of experience under her belt. Enjoy.

Faith ≥ Air

Air. We can’t live without it. 

Take a second to think about the importance of your next breath. Without it you would be lifeless. Faith is spiritual air and without it you can’t survive. When it comes to ministry, faith is everything. I’m not just talking about faith in the context of believing in God (which that is an obvious requirement if you want to be involved in ministry). I’m talking about faith that can move mountains. I’m talking about faith that requires trusting in God when all seems impossible. 

Do you have that kind of faith?

There is something so excruciatingly intimidating but incredibly exhilarating about being in a place where you have no choice but to rely on the fact that you know God works all things out for the good of those that love him. We as humans have a tendency to be control freaks. We want to know exactly how everything is going to work out and how we need to make it happen. For you young leaders who find you relate to that last statement – you’re in for the ride of your life. 

I could share story after story of the times that I had to let God lead me blindly. It was uncomfortable. It was scary. But when he finally removed the blindfold to show me where he brought me, I stood amazed. God proved himself every time. 

You need faith. 

There will be times when you feel like giving up because it’s easier than having to take a chance. You will be faced with one decision on a regular basis as a leader and that decision is simply this: will fear or faith own me? 

A life fully lived is void of fear. When you have God on your side what do you have to fear? God even promises in his word that if we put our hope and trust in Him, we will not be put to shame. (Psalm 25:3) 

So learn to recognize his voice. Let him speak to your heart. Follow his direction and he will reveal to you a life full of amazement. Don’t allow discouragement in your life. Surround yourself with other leaders that can share stories of faith. Let God show you how powerful he truly is and through it, be a testimony to his greatness. 

<3 Jamie

Fear

When you begin to lead one of the first things that creep into your mind is fear. Even as I type this post fear comes to mind, who's going to read this? what if no one visits this blog? Questions like that will creep into your mind in any aspect of leadership but what makes you a leader is what happens after the fear enters your mind.

Prayer works, and is of most importants when fear comes to your mind, the sad thing is that sometimes success is measured on numbers and not on impact. The challenge is in your prayer life. Express these fears to God, share with Him your thoughts of fear and then listen. As I spoke with God this morning I expressed my fears for this site and while sitting in silence it clicked in my mind, if only one person reads this then this blog has served it's purpose. Now don't take the mindset that "well Im leading 1-3 people in my ministry so Im just gonna be good with it". Notice that my fear is gone based on this idea of serving just one person is good enough. The leadership that comes out of you is the hunger to expand your leadership and grow those one or two to leadership and then find some more.

Fear will happen, but I ask you to push through the fear of failure. Sometimes we fail and learn from mistakes (in some cases failure is a learning tool) but the ones who never fail are the ones who let fear overtake their leadership.

peace be the journey.
///tres

Find Someone.

What interests you? What motivates you on a daily basis? Stop reading this post right now and answer those two questions. 

Now that you have thought about it, lets break them down. The interests you have should be the things that motivate you. If I was interested in playing golf but had zero motivation to play...well then I would be completely terrible. Become motivated in the things that interest you. Where does this line up with being a leader? To stay interested in the area of ministry you are called you must stay motivated or you will be burned out before you even get things going. 

I have been around student ministry my entire life. My father started in student ministry when I was in the third grade. From that point on it became my life, and now I have followed in his footsteps and started my own journey in this area of ministry. But one day I did not wake up and drive to a church and tell them I wanted to be their student pastor, no it took steps. (For those of you already in an area of ministry, just skip this part and re-read the paragraph above this one before going any farther). Whatever area of ministry you feel you are called, I challenge you to find someone in that ministry at your local church and ask if they will adopt you for a short while (Figuratively, don't google adoption agencies). More than likely they will love the help from you and while you are helping their ministry succeed they will be pouring into you something more valuable than anything you can ever read. They will be pouring into you time, ministry skills, experience, and more than anything love. A love that you will need to make your ministry personal and Christ centered one day.

Your ministry doesn't begin when you get your first position, find that leader that is paving the way for you and take every ounce of knowledge he has to offer. Find someone in the area that you are motivated by your interest whether it be a student pastor, worship pastor, lead pastor, small group leader, parking lot greeter, media pastor, youth worker, kids pastor...just find someone.

The same is said for young leaders already in ministry somewhere. Find someone that can share their triumphs and failures. I have a group of friends (that happen to be student pastors) that I eat lunch with weekly and we pick each others brains. Our ministries have gained so much more from these lunches than any conference we could ever go to. I stress the word friend because only leaders you call friends can really understand and know you, and when they know you they can give advice you need that second and minister to you when you need someone to lay everything out on the line with.

find someone.

peace be the journey.

///tres