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