Category: Leadership

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Stay in the Boat by Judah Smith

This is the message by Judah Smith from the New Spring Leadership Conference I attended several weeks ago. The actual title was “Matters of the Meantime” but the overarching theme of the message was “Stay in the Boat.” I was following Judah on Twitter, but I had never heard one of his messages. I was kind of blown away by his attire, I had never seen a man wear leotard before (okay they were skinny, skinny jeans), but he preaches the Word with boldness and blew me away with his message, so he can wear leotards if he wants 🙂

Check out more videos from the New Spring Leadership Conference.

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God, Hurry Up!

I loved today’s entry from Oswald Chambers. I find myself too often wanting God to hurry up and fulfill the vision he’s given me, whether it be for my family, for my church, or for myself personally. I’ve had a new hunger and longing lately, one that I’ve never had before and today, I think I see that it is God getting me into shape for the goal he has for me. I’ve heard similar things from some of our New Passion team. They are longing for God to show up in a fresh and powerful way; first personally then corporately. I’m excited that God has us on the same page and I cannot wait (although he wants me to wait) to see God continue to unfold his plan in us and through us.

Check out the devotional from today:

Visions Become Reality

The parched ground shall become a pool . . . Isaiah 35:7

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.

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Ten Signs a Leader Is “Losing It!” By Perry Noble

perry-noble1Ten Signs a Leader Is “Losing It!”

By Perry Noble

My friend Latasha posted a link on Facebook to Perry Noble’s blog post from earlier today. This post is 100% spot on. Perry absolutely nailed it. If you have ever experienced a leader who has “lost it,” you’ll easily recognize these ten signs. Most importantly, these serve as a warning sign to each of us as leaders, when our ministries or organization become more about us and more about our success than Jesus’, these signs will start popping up in our own lives. I believe when this happens, we either have a choice to repent and turn from these ways or hide them and continue to pretend that we’re making it about Jesus, when in reality, it’s all about us. Check the ten signs out:

I’ve been reading through the OT lately and have been challenged by the downward leadership spiral that Saul went on…here are TEN signs from his life that point to a leader “losing it.”

#1 – The ministry he leads moves from being about the name of God to the name of the leader. (Compare I Samuel 14:35 with I Samuel 15:12!)

#2 – He gets impatient with the process that God is taking him through and thereby tries to “make something happen” rather than waiting on God’s timing. (I Samuel 15:5-10)

#3 – He makes self centered leadership decisions that slow down the people he works with rather than empowering them. (I Samuel 15:24-notice the references to himself in this verse.)

#4 – He refuses to completely obey God because it places him in uncomfortable situation. (I Samuel 15:1-9)

#5 – He allows fear of man to trump his fear of God. (I Samuel 15:24)

Click Here to go to Perry’s original post to read signs 6-10

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How Did Jesus Lead?

leader_colored-peopleWe had our first PassionKidz meeting last night to start a conversation about our next steps in our Children’s Worship Environment at New Passion. We opened the night looking at 4 ways Jesus led His movement while on Earth, check them out, and then join the conversation by adding your thoughts:

1. Jesus Mobilized (Mark 1:17) Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me…”
Jesus invited others to join him on his mission. At New Passion, that is part of having a passionate relationship with Jesus. When we are passionate about the things Jesus is passionate about, we’ll do the things Jesus did. One of the ways we aim to increase our partners in ministry is to invite others to be a part of what Jesus is doing. Relationships are the key. We want to start by inviting those we are the closest to.

2. Jesus Taught (Mark 1:17) “…and I will show you how to fish for people!”
Jesus didn’t call the fishermen to come join him on his mission so he could throw them to the wolves (or the Pharisees) to be eaten alive. Jesus called them and said he would show them how to fulfill this mission. I think too often the church finds someone who breathes oxygen and has blood running through their veins and thinks they found a solution to their volunteer problems. The church must be about equipping its leaders and volunteers to fulfill the mission Jesus has them on. Our goal at NPC is to equip and teach our people, so we are all running together.

3. Jesus Empowered (Mark 6:7) “And he [Jesus] called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority…”
Jesus had a specific mission he was here to fulfill, but part of that mission did not include him staying here physically to fulfill every role himself. He empowered and trusted the people he mobilized to join him to carry the mission out. He gave them all the authority they needed to accomplish the mission he called them to. I think the deadliest problem in the church today is “leaders” who micromanage every detail of the church. They have to know everything that’s happening and they have to have their fingerprints on it. Jesus gave his people the ability to carry out his mission without standing beside them holding their hand…and yes…they failed and they messed up…but he kept teaching them and preparing them for the day they would not have him. At New Passion we desire to empower our leaders & volunteers to fulfill the role we entrust to them.

4. Jesus Reproduced (Matthew 28:19, 20) “…Go and make disciples…Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”
Jesus told the disciples to Go and make disciples. When we make a baby, we reproduce ourselves. Jesus had already reproduced himself into the life of the disciples, he now was telling them to go and reproduce him [Jesus] into the life of others. He said, “Teach these new disciples…” He didn’t tell them to bring the disciples back to him so he could teach them, he told his reproduction to continue to reproduce. Once again, it goes back to Jesus empowering his followers. At New Passion, we hope our people become so passionate about the mission Jesus has called us to and our vision of leading people to a passionate relationship with Jesus, that they cannot help but reproduce themselves into the life of the people around them. Life change produces life change…and that’s how God will use NPC to change the world. Life Change.

Join the Conversation…What’s Your Additional Thoughts?

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Revolutionary Change through Water

blake-mankinI visited Iamsecond.com today thanks to my friend Dan who tweeted about a video for Sam Bradford from the Oklahoma Sooners. As I was surfing around the site, I found a video for Blake Mankin. Honestly, I’ve never heard of him, but keeping with Sunday’s theme from New Passion and Monday’s blog post on Revolutionary Change through our local and global influence, I liked what I heard. Here’s a little bit about Blake…

In 2007, Blake started Hope for Africa at his school. The club raised more than $6,000 by selling buttons during homecoming. The money paid for two wells in Southern Sudan that now provides more than 10,000 people with daily access to clean water.

It all started with Blake asking a friend “What If?” – I wonder how many people are creating revolutionary change around the world because of those two words? “What If?” – I love that Blake said he believes “Jesus is the Ultimate Thirst Quencher.” Blake is not driven for change based on a desire for personal fame, rather he is out to create revolutionary change so that Jesus might be made known to those who are far from him.

Go check watch Blake’s video on Iamsecond.com HERE. You can also follow Blake on Twitter HERE. You can help Blake create Revolutionary Change through Water HERE by donating to his fundraiser!

Join the Conversation…Who do you know that’s creating revolutionary change either locally or globally?