Leadership & Change

Today was a great day in church. I thoroughly enjoyed assembling with my brothers and sisters in Christ and worshipping our Savior together. My prayer is that through the message today our church will be more in tune with Jesus during communion. Too many times we diminish that moment in our service. May we grow deeper by looking outward, inward, upward, and forward. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I guess you'll just have to listen to the sermon. www.oakwoodchristianchurch.org/sermons

Leadership is hard sometimes. I was reading an article this week from Leadership Journal that was talking about "Whitewater Leadership". Many leaders are smooth-water leaders. They are great when the going is easy, but when they hit the rapids they drown or jump ship.

Navigating a church through change can be difficult. People, yes even God's people, don't like to change much. It alters our comfort levels. It makes us move when we are much more comfortable staying put. Change is necessary to be relevant to culture. Change is also necessary to become like Jesus. Change is inevitable. You can embrace it or fight it, but no matter your response, change is a coming. God will sustain you as your change things for His purposes. If you are changing to make a name for yourself or for any selfish motives, God's hand will not be in the change. God's kind of changes seem to always be soul-winning changes.

Leadership is hard when you are navigating change. The resistance factor is heightened. You sometimes feel under attack. But when God says to move, well, you better move. Just ask the Israelites.

And if you are changing anything right now in your life: your family, your job, your location or your church and you are feeling the wear of the change, know that you are not alone. And remember these 2 things: 1)Successful pioneers are the guys with arrows in their backs. 2)The highest reward for making a necessary change is not what you get for it, but what you become by it. The Lord is faithful to His servants who serve all over the world. He will always provide what you need to do His work. And He smiles on those who become like Jesus: world-changers!