Scared to Fail?

Fear of failure is a big problem for leaders. In this article John Maxwell gives some tips for how we can handle the failures that will inevitably accompany trying to get stuff done:

Vincent Van Gogh failed as an art dealer, flunked his entrance exam to theology school, and was fired by the church after an ill-fated attempt at missionary work. In fact, during his life, he seldom experienced anything other than failure as an artist. Although a single painting by Van Gogh would fetch in excess of $100 million today, in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only one painting, four months prior to his death.

Before developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein encountered academic failure. One headmaster expelled Einstein from school and another teacher predicted that he would never amount to anything. Einstein even failed his entrance exam into college.

Prior to dazzling the world with his athletic skill, Michael Jordan was cut from his sophomore basketball team. Even though he captured six championships, during his professional career, Jordan missed over 12,000 shots, lost nearly 400 games, and failed to make more than 25 would-be game-winning baskets.

Failure didn't stop Vincent Van Gogh from painting, Albert Einstein from theorizing, or Michael Jordan from playing basketball, but it has paralyzed countless leaders and prevented them from reaching their potential.

Taking the Fall

Today's burning news in the UK is that the ex-boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin, has walked away from his failed bank with a pension pot of £16 million, which will pay him £650,000 a year, every year, until he drops. As he is only 50 and normal life span for a British male is 77 years, that tots up to a cool £17.5 million.

You can read all the sordid details here.

This story makes The Leaders Poole because it strikes me as a leadership issue. If you messed up in your area of leadership as badly as Sir Fred has, would you take the fall, or try and clean up before they booted you out?

What Scares You?

In her book, What Pastors Wish Church Members Knew, Denise George identifies the things that scare pastors and what congregations can do to help alleviate this. The top three 'scares'?

1. Getting fired
2. Spiritual dryness
3. Physical burnout

For more on this, click here.

The Power of Words

Lex Loizides reviews Lost for Words by John Humphreys and recommends it for anyone who ever does any public speaking - especially preachers.

What shape are you in?

CJ Mahaney has been posting an excellent series of interviews with other leaders. So far he has talked to Wayne Grudem, Mark Dever, John Piper and Thabiti Anyabwile.

There is loads of good stuff in these interviews, but one interesting angle CJ takes is to ask each man whether he gets any exercise. Here are their responses:

John Piper

I run on the treadmill 30 minutes Monday, Wednesday and Saturday morning followed by a set of back lifts with a Swiss ball, stomach crunches with the ball, and pushups on the floor. I almost always walk to church instead of driving, 600 paces from door to door.

Wayne Grudem

I exercise on average about four days a week. I run in my neighborhood two or three days a week and lift weights two days a week. Usually I run for 25 minutes, but sometimes if have a bit more time and I’m feeling good I’ll run for 40 minutes.

Arizona has such great weather that it’s possible to run outdoors in your own neighborhood year-round. And I drive to a gym about five minutes from my house and lift weights following the general outlines of a program in the book Body for Life by Bill Phillips. A good friend who is a doctor told me that as I age I will continually lose muscle mass and be prone to injuries and weight gain unless I lift weights in addition to aerobic exercises.

My motivation in exercising is (1) I feel better and (2) I want to stay healthy to be able to serve the Lord effectively as long as I can in this life.

Mark Dever

Elliptical for 30 minutes a day in the morning (often before my quiet time). I watch DVD’s (especially documentaries) while I do this.

Thabiti Anyabwile

You put this question here just for me, didn’t you?

I don’t exercise. I don’t have any good reason not to. At the least, I should find time to go downstairs to the gym beneath my office and shoot around a bit. I rationalize my lack of exercise on two grounds. And these are rationalizations, not real problems.

First, I prefer team and competitive forms of exercise. I hate treadmills. The lowest parts of Hades will be lined with treadmills with CNN and Oprah playing for all of eternity. I need competition to enjoy the exercise.

Second, I don’t want to be away from the family for another evening of the week. Now, that sounds all noble. But the truth is, we could walk together as a family. I could do more with the kids that would include exercise. And a hundred other things.

Bottom line: I need to take better care of my body.

So, what kind of shape are you in?!

Laughing Like Lincoln

There has been a lot of blogging about Lincoln recently, as it is the 200th anniversary of his birth. As this post reveals, Lincoln was a much funnier man than many of us might imagine from the photos of him, and used stories to great effect.

Though he carried a great burden, he used stories and jokes to persuade people and to break the tension. He enjoyed sharing an anecdote, a joke or a story with nearly everyone he came into contact with. Battle correspondent Henry Villard recalled that “None of his hearers enjoyed the wit—and wit was an unfailing ingredient—of his stories half as much as he did himself. It was a joy indeed to see the effect upon him….A high-pitched laughter lifted up his otherwise melancholy countenance with thorough merriment. His body shook all over, and when he felt particularly good over his performance, he followed his habit of drawing his knees, with his arms around them, up to his very face.”

Christian leadership also requires the ability to use humor to lighten burdens. Churches should be full of laughter, as well as making space for tears.

Not Afraid to be Average

This is a provocative article by Larry Osborne...

As a young pastor I had the idea that God calls every Christian to do great things. My faith heroes were all mountain-moving, charge-the-hill spiritual warriors. I assumed full submission to Jesus would transform anyone into a spiritual Braveheart; kicking-butt for Jesus and marshalling a battalion of others to do the same.

It sounded good. It was motivational. It was pure baloney.

Worse, it was spiritually dangerous. Not just for me, but for my flock. It filled me and the rest of our leaders with pride. It overwhelmed my congregation and non-leader types with unrealistic and unreachable standards of spirituality. And, I'm pretty sure, it ticked God off.

Click here to continue reading.

5 Reasons Why Churches Don't Grow

Five observations from Bill Tenny-Brittian:

Number 5: Ineffective Attendance Tracking
Number 4: Lack of Guest Follow-up
Number 3: Lack of Hospitality
Number 2: Ineffective Assimilation/’Discipleship
Number 1: Worship Services that aren’t Worth Shouting About

Click here for the whole thing.

The Prize

Jockey Tony McCoy yesterday reached the incredible total of 3,000 winning rides, a record that sets him far apart from any other jockey in history.

I don’t know much about racing, but I know that a record like this can only have been achieved through the most incredible focus and self-discipline. Jockeys, especially jump jockey’s like McCoy, have a tough life – early starts, all weathers, a starvation diet to keep weight down, regular falls and accompanying injuries. I’m sure McCoy has made some money from his efforts, but it certainly hasn’t been the easy way.

Church leadership often feels a bit like being a jump jockey. It takes a lot of discipline to keep going, a lot of focus and determination. It is costly, and involves many bumps and bruises. There is always another obstacle to jump, another challenge to face.

This is why the Apostle Paul uses the analogy of the athlete and boxer to describe his ministry (1 Corinthians 9:34-37). You don’t win many races from an armchair.

There must have been many times when the armchair looked the better option – to Paul and to McCoy – but real leaders love to win, and are sure that the prize is worth the price.

Keep on racing!

10 Questions for Leaders: Bryan Mowrey

Bryan leads the City location of Jubilee Church, St Louis and blogs here.

I got to know Bryan through John Lanferman who started Jubilee Church and oversees the Newfrontiers churches in the USA. I am planning on visiting the States in March and hoping to catch up with Bryan then – something to look forward to.

Here are Bryan’s 10 Questions…

Who is your leadership hero? Why?
John Lanferman because he is always seeking God for what's next and has the courage to follow Him and because at the age of 61 he is still taking big risks. I hope that over my lifetime I take the risks he's taken.

How long have you been in leadership?
I have been in "full-time" leadership for 4 years and lay leadership roles for 10 years.

What was your first leadership role?
Embarrassing as it is, my first leadership role was overseeing the decorations committee for a square dance. I know nothing about decorating and can't stand square dances. But it's an experience that has helped me to encourage other young men to take on any leadership experience they can get their hands on.

How long have you been in your current role?
Four years.

How long has your church been established? Did you start it?
The church got started 12 years ago with 22 adults by John Lanferman.

What has been the growth curve of your church?
Our 5 year average has been 15%. This past year we've grown by 30%.

What has been your biggest leadership challenge?
Fully understanding myself and the people around me.

What has been your greatest leadership success?
Helping to transition the church from the county to the city two years ago. It was a huge culture shift. But it was God and it paid off.

How are you developing new leaders?
Primarily by investing one on one time and giving them responsibility. I also gather four young men monthly as a group for "Elders in Training".

How are you continuing to develop your own leadership gifts?
By learning to trust God more and getting around guys with more significant gifting as much as possible. Good books are always helpful.