This month I have been writing to you about some essential aspects of being a pastor and leader.  If you don't get these areas right for yourself, they won't get right.   We have to:

--Always be growing in your mind. - Learn...Read...Listen.  
--Guard your attitude. - Have you ever wondered how a skunk deals with its own smell?  Some of us live with the stench of a foul attitude and I wonder how we can't smell it?  "Do everything without complaining."
--Take care of yourself emotionally.  Remember that Superman is a fictional super hero that doesn't exist in real life.  In other words, you aren't him!  Take care of your body and spirit so that you don't have an Elijah moment where you burn out.


Let me tell you a couple of stories of why I take these areas so seriously.

About a year ago, a few pastors visited the Lakeland, Florida, Church of the Nazarene.  This is one of the fastest growing congregations in our denomination.  But it isn't just growing in numbers.  They are seeing incredible spiritual victories won.  They are doing ministries that touch the hurting and needy, they are growing people deep in the faith, and they are passionate about holiness.  

Their pastor is a man after God's heart and wants others to be the same.  Because they believe it's so important to reach the lost and disciple believers they won't let anything stand in the way.  And the message I heard over and over from the Pastor was this-"As the Pastor of your church, never be the lid."  That was said in some variation probably 100 times.  It got through to me.  It convicted me.  "Am I the lid?"  Is my faith the lid?  Is my spirituality the lid?  Is my personal growth the lid?  Is my emotional health the lid?  (If you're not sure what the "lid" is that I'm talking about, look at John Maxwell's book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, and read, "The Law of the Lid.")

I prayed and committed to the Lord that with His help, I would never be the lid.  Leadership is critical.  If great things are going to happen for the kingdom, we need leaders who are like Nehemiah and Joshua and create victory.

I can't guarantee 100% that if you are growing as a leader your church will grow.  But I can guarantee you 100% that if you are NOT growing as a leader your church WON'T grow!

Okay, second story.  The other night I was driving home from a board meeting and I was talking to a friend on the phone.  I enjoy talking to him because he usually teaches me something.  He told me about a book he was reading and said that I should read it also.  Then he said, "Every pastor on your district should read this book!"  The title is, Above the Line, and it's by Urban Meyer.  I'm not a Buckeye fan so immediately I said I wouldn't read it!  After he got done talking about it, I agreed I would read it but with the compromise that every time Meyer writes "OSU Buckeyes," I'm replacing it with "Florida Gators." 

My friend said this is what Meyer said in the book:

"Everyone talks about how people need to know the goal.  What is the stated goal?  Or we fail because we don't help people know the goal."  He went on, "I don't believe that.  My players all know the goal.  Win the game!  At the end of 60 minutes we want more points than the other team!  Everyone knows the goal.  The breakdown happens in how we achieve the goal.  How do we make that happen?  What we need is a process to get us from point A to point B." 

A process is like a recipe for creating a meal.  It's like driving directions that take us from home to our destination.  It's the lack of the process that often holds us back.

My mom handed me her phone the other day and said, "I have pictures of the snow storm.  I'd like to put one on Facebook.  I have no idea how to do that."  She understood Point A and Point B.  Take a picture.  The picture is on Facebook.  It was the process that held her back.

If you have ever said, "How do I...?" then you understand the necessity of process in our life.

So, let me put my two stories together and make a point.  If I am going to see significant victories happen for the Lord in my church, I can't be the lid.  How do I keep that from happening?  By living in a process that keeps me growing and moving in the Spirit of the Lord.

The first step in the process is being the servant/leader God has called us to be.  It's growing our minds, guarding our attitudes, and generating health in our body, spirit and heart.  The first step is not looking at what's wrong with others but it's creating wholeness within ourselves.  This is not the only step in the process but it is the first and there is no detour around it.  

I encourage you to go back over the last few weeks of articles and seriously take some inventory of your own life.  Is there an area you need to grow or find health in to be the leader God wants you to be?  Let's own this and live it.

Refusing to be the Lid,

Dave Lutz


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Canaan Acres website is back!  New design, helpful information, online contributions, interactive photo gallery, videos, contact information, printable brochure, camp map and more!

Check it out at www.canaanacres.org

 

Molly Davis

44733 Heck rd

Columbiana, Oh 44408

9:00  Opening Worship @ Columbiana Nazarene

9:30  Youth Break-out sessions and Youth Leader Training

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Thank you again for your support of this wonderful event!

Tom Duncan

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Registration will be available soon. Visit http://www.mvnu.edu/churchrelations/LEAP/wallace.asp for more details.

 

Church Planting Essentials (CPE) is a three-day church planting "basic training."

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