As a leader it is important to align yourself with your church. Leadership alignment will instill a shared set of values, goals and core leadership behaviors. Let’s take some time and discuss key areas of leadership alignment and how to be an effective leader.
What does a healthy member of the Phoenix First Family look like?
1. Member of a Small Group following the weekly FUSION service
2. Attends a weekend Encounter service
3. Giver through tithes and offering
4. Serving in a ministry of Phoenix First
START - REACH – BELONG
APEX- You can jump in any time. 9am Sunday in the Café.
Volunteer at an Encounter Service – SAT 5pm, Sun 9am or 10:45am
Small Group – Following the FUSION service. More info at canopy or the HUB
The “FIVE E’s” of Phoenix First Assembly
1. Exaltation - Philippians 2:8-10
2. Evangelism – Mark 16:15
3. Edification -2 Peter 3:18
4. Employment – Romans 12:6-8
5. Extend – Philippians 4:11-19
Leadership, especially when trying to influence people to live a Christ centered life and change their behavior, will take listening, building relationships, and one-on-one contact. I cannot stress enough the importance of listening to people. If you are going to be a solid leader you must become a good listener.
Years ago when as I was just starting out in the ministry I was told that when people spoke to me I looked as if I was not interested in them. Knowing that I truly cared about people I was shocked. I asked why they would make that observation about me. They pointed out that I appeared to be “glass eyed” just waiting for others to finish talking so I could speak what was going on in my head. After a bit of self reflection I had no choice but to take this to heart.
I was so wrapped up in what I wanted to see done and what I thought a person should be doing that I was not digesting what they were telling me. I was not listening. I thought people would see my blank stares and just think “he is a busy man with a lot on his plate”. The truth is that a good leader should never be too busy to listen and be attentive to a person’s needs. I began to change my habit.
It took some time but little by little I began giving my undivided attention to the people I found myself leading and/or in conversation with. I am sure they felt more appreciated and important but some other beneficial things happened as well. Because of this I became a leader who listened and I benefited in the following areas:
1. I became more effective in recognizing the needs of people in my life.
2. I deepened my heartfelt passion to serve the people God placed in my life.
3. I made decisions that took myself and my “team” in a unified direction in life
By simply listening to others as you lead you can better influence them in a positive way. One on one time is priceless especially when your ears and heart are open to listen. After you have heard you can speak volumes into a person’s life and that will give them an opportunity to be successful in life and the tasks at hand.
There are three main types of communication:
1. Writing
2. Speaking
3. Listening
Most Leaders- It is common for leaders to excel in one or two of the three types of communications. As a small group leader it is important to strive to master all three to some degree. Though it seems like speaking would be the only necessary skill to perfect you cannot discredit listening and writing as valuable tools in leading your small group. The reason Small Group Leaders must be well rounded in all three areas of communications is simple. As a leader you want to connect with your people any way you can but during the limited group time you may not be given an opportunity to form solid relationships with everyone. This is where the skills of listening and writing come in.
Writing! – Take time to email you group and new members. Don’t send a form email but send a heartfelt vision casting email. One that expresses what you feel could be if you all would follow the plan God has for your lives. Use written words to communicate a passion for your group and the people you lead. It is the perfect way to express your heart in a way you may not be able to face to face.
Listening- I am convinced the best way to build a relationship with someone is not to say a bunch of things to them but allow then to say a bunch of things to you. This gives you the opportunity to digest their life story and helps you better understand what makes them tick. Besides, people like to talk about themselves. As a leader you should learn to listen to others and talk about yourself a little less. Less is more and a real leader understands this. Just Listen!
When a leader begins to improve on the writing and listening aspect of communications then the
speaking talents get stronger. Writing and Listening serve to strengthen leaders speaking skills.
be motivated to perfect your writing, listening and speaking techniques. As you do you will see your
leadership techniques improve as well.
The other day in Staff Pastor Luke shared some things from his heart. Three things in particular stuck out to me and I would like to share them with you. His chat was titled “3 Cultures for PFA to Grow”.
1. A Culture of Prayer on our Campus
2. A Culture of Change
3. A Culture of Ministry to Young Families
When it comes to the first point about prayer, my first thought was “well we already have a prayer center that is open 24 hours a day”. This is exactly why he brought this up. He challenged us not to fool ourselves into thinking we have a culture a prayer just because we have a ministry and building dedicated to it. In other words we must develop a culture of prayer in all our ministries that seek the direction from the Lord and where He can take the church if we will let Him. In order to do this we have to raise up leaders that pray in our ministries. Are we doing this?
Secondly on the culture of change….. He said and I quote “In order to grow we have to change”. Do I agree? YES! Is it always easy? NO! But the bottom line is “it is not about me” it is about souls! We have to value change! And truthfully I have to say that change seems to be a major value of PFA. Let me challenge you to commit to this value of change. It will make life more enjoyable and relevant in your pursuit of souls.
And that third point about young families being a culture focus of ours is great! I understand that every lost soul should be focused on as it is our job to “Preach the gospel to all of creation”. I get that! I really do! At the same time you look some statistics and the data shows %80 of people who know Christ came to him before the age of 18. Not that we should only go after that age group but we should have a culture of heavy concentration to reach as many of that age with the message of Christ as possible. Pastor Luke said this… “We must pour out our best resources into the area that are most likely to touch the most lives”. I agree. reach them all but make it a priority to reach the young families in order to better reach the world!
There may not be anything profound in my writing today but the three points Pastor Luke Barnett has made are rich with vision. I challenge you to grab the vision and run with it if you attend Phoenix First Assembly. If you attend another house of worship then I challenge you to reach out to your Pastor and see where He desires to lead you and your church. Remember what the Bible says “The Harvest is plenty but the labors are few”.
On the surface, the difference between a step and a stumble seems obvious.
But in life, plotting long and hard to climb into a leadership role often is indistinguishable from inadvertently falling into one. The fact is, whether you take a deliberate step toward an objective or immediately trip on a shoelace, you may end up in the same spot. Put another way, many people who have a laser focus on getting to the top make it there no faster than those who have a leadership opportunity thrust upon them.
Yet knowing the difference between thoughtful leadership and the kind that happens seemingly by accident is critical—not only in your ability to grow and develop as a leader, but to establish a pattern of success that’s deliberate, not miraculous.
Herr are seven right attributes that separate genuine leadership from leadership that’s more a matter of chance:
1. Real leadership means leading yourself. Passing out orders is as easy as passing out invite cards. But a prudent leader also knows how to lead himself or herself—not merely to provide a genuine example to others, but to become a working element of the overall machinery of your group. “It’s important that leaders have the ability to focus and motivate themselves as they motivate others”.
2. Don’t be a monarch. Be careful not set up a throne room in the process. Accidental leaders often inadvertently establish a system of guidance that’s unnecessarily restrictive. Guide people, but don’t implement more parameters than are absolutely necessary.
3. Be open to new ways of doing things. One potential land mine of a prosperous small group is to repeat anything that proves successful. It’s hard to argue against that, but an inadvertent leader will put far too much stock in sticking with what always works. By contrast, thoughtful leadership acknowledges success but also recognizes there are always ways to do things better.
4. Establish a genuine sense of commitment. I don’t have much to expound on this. It is simple. Decide to stay committed.
5. Finish the job. Many people yak about their complete game, but how many actually finish what they say they’re going to start? A thoughtless leader who never genuinely finishes anything loses the confidence of clients and customers. That lack of follow-through isn’t going to be lost on his or her people, either.
6. Show genuine appreciation. Thoughtless leaders must have forearms like Popeye’s, what with all the back-slapping they do. That’s fine, but good performance requires a more substantive response. Leaders with an eye to the future hand out praise but augment it with real rewards: promotions, thankfulness, cards of appreciation, and other tangible tokens of love. That motivates your people, not only to apply themselves with enthusiasm but to stick around your group or church longer than they might otherwise.
7. Know that leadership skills come from learning, too. Far too may people believe leadership skills stem from some sort of wondrous epiphany or other such flash of insight. Sure, great ideas can come to any of us, but being a bona fide leader also means study. Read books on effective leadership, and pick the brains of other leaders to see what works for them. It can be a long education, but one with rewards that multiply with the more knowledge you have under your belt.
This is not a JOKE even though it is funny -
Take a look and then post a video on you facebook page. I think this is hilarious!
the Table Project is so cool. -
Look at this video then join my gourp on the table project if you go to Phoenix First.
Aaron Dunn
WOW.... Watch out what you eat. But man do I love the breakfast! -
This is a wakeup call.
2 times in a lifetime! OUCH! -
This is heart breaking when you realize that this not only happened to Leon Lett once but 2 times. WOW! Bummer for him. DON’T GO CHASING THEM THERE WATERFALLS!
This is so funny. look at this site but also click the links in Kevin’s corner and see him in the news. So So Funny!