Titus Email April 2018

WISE INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
TITUS EMAIL
Volume 12, Number 4 – APRIL, 2018

Blessed and Happy Easter to you! Jesus is risen from the dead! He is alive indeed! To think what the women, Peter and John experienced when they found the empty tomb. “Who took the body? How can this be?” To finally realize that Jesus was truly raised from the dead had to be beyond their thinking, that Jesus actually did what He had spoken so often about. We get to celebrate the day but so much more importantly, experience that life changing relationship with Jesus everyday. Please pray with WILD as next week WILD’s four regional directors meet with me! Thanks, Mike

FOLLOWABILITY – PART 2

When you are not the leader, have you learned to obey when you don’t want to necessarily obey. It takes some humility to submit to authority which prepares you well when you are in charge. Life’s experiences can cause you to become a more humble person, dropping the arrogance in our lives that can quickly creep in, especially when we are given power. There is a saying that goes like this, “Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts”. Power is like dynamite in your hands. You can use leadership to develop or destroy.

Ever have a situation where you did all the work and the person in charge took the credit. How did that make you feel? Think about the time you took all the blame when negative things resulted and “it was your fault” because the leader in charge did not have your back, blaming you for the bad results. How did you handle that? These are difficult scenarios to be in. How do you react as a representative/ambassador of Jesus? Some leaders take all the credit and pass off all the blame. Times like these, I have to remind myself that Jesus received the same junk as He was sinless and took on my sin and died for those sins (1 Peter 3:18).

When you are not the leader all the time, you learn to become a better delegator rather than doing everything yourself as the leader. There will be times when you will feel you can do just a good of a job (or better because of your strengths) as your leader or someone who has been given that job. This will teach you to get the right people on your team and then correctly utilize your people in the best positions. This does include the fact that I can perform a job or activity that is not a strength of mine or outside my comfort zone. God can use me wherever He desires.

You can learn that you can be a leader no matter the position given. Your influence does not need to be boxed in by a title. Some of the best leaders we have do not have such a title, but their influence impacts their situations. Be the best follower to respect your leaders. That is called selflessness. Selflessness and selfishness are choices that you get to determine. The choice between the two defines you and how you will live your life for Jesus. Jesus made the choice not to be selfish. He gave everything for us. He was all in when it came to you and me.

What makes you teachable? When you learn to take instruction from people who lead you even if you may not agree with them, teachability is developing in you. Having a humble spirit and realizing you do not know everything yet, helps you immensely. A highly successful college basketball coach who was a Christian, John Wooden (at one point in the late 1990’s he was the winningest college men’s basketball coach ever) said, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts!”

Be growth oriented. Learn something new everyday. Becoming a leader is a process, not a destination. Allow people to speak into your life. Learn from your mistakes. Read more, ask more questions, observe more and learn how God has made you. Working under someone can be frustrating and a test of relationships but pursue excellence on your end. Don’t grumble to others. Seek God’s and godly Christians’ counsel for wisdom.

YOUTH MINISTRY – DANIEL’S UNCOMPROMISING LIFE

One of the first persons I want to meet in heaven is Daniel. The more I read about him, the more fascinating and impacting a person I see. In Daniel 6, a group of government officials who are serving with Daniel in King Darius the Mede’s kingdom, the “top dogs” in the kingdom want to get rid of Daniel because he was trustworthy and totally not corrupt (verse 4). He was making them look bad and all he was simply doing was being an obedient servant to Jesus.

To get rid of Daniel, this group went to King Darius and highly encouraged Darius to sign a decree which basically said that no one could pray to any one or any god (including God) but only to Darius for the next 30 days. If anyone was caught praying not to Darius, they would be killed by being thrown in the lions’ den. That stroked Darius’ ego and so he signed the decree. Why did these men come up with this decree? They knew Daniel’s routine and his devotion to his God. He was nailed!

When Daniel found out about the new decree, what do you think he did? What would you have done? Daniel went home to his upstairs room and as he had done so many times previously in his life, he got down on his knees, leaving the shutters open on his window and prayed right in front of the window (verse 10). By the way he thanked God in his prayers. Now the men were waiting, spying on Daniel and because of the decree that was just published, they had Daniel’s death warrant!

Why did Daniel go pray the day he found out about the decree and pray in front of the window? Two things Daniel could have done were he could have taken a few days off from his regular praying until things cooled down and then he could have returned to praying without the spies watching. One other very simple thing he could have done and one I thought of right away, when he did pray, just move back a little so the spies would not have seen him or at least closed the shutters, so no one would know.

Daniel knew he would get thrown into the lions’ den so simply change up his routine just a bit. Maybe he was getting in too much of a routine that it was not as fresh as it once was and besides, a little change is good. Plus changing the routine did not keep him from praying. He did none of that. Then he thanked God as he always had. I would have been tempted to pray complaining to God that it was not fair Darius had issued that decree or that God should bring judgment onto the heads of his accusers.

Daniel was a man of integrity and true faithfulness to God. He never compromised his faith and beliefs even though he served four foreign, heathen kings. He did not change his standards or compromised because circumstances changed. Daniel was not ashamed of his God and lived his life representing Jesus to the fullest. He served God with a clear conscience and was able to live in a world of corruption and not become corrupt himself. How he lived his life changed how the most powerful kings of that time lived their lives.

It was not easy for Daniel to live that way. It would have been so much easier to fit in and be one of the “guys”. It would have been easier to compromise his faith just a little and not face the lions’ den. Godly leaders do the right thing not things right. As a young person, you can impact your world for Jesus by being willing and obedient to what the Bible says and having the courage like Daniel to live an uncompromising life.

ILLUSTRATION – FOLLOWABILITY

The logic goes something like this: leaders need to understand the role of followers. Know the dynamics of how and why people follow, and you will be a better leader. . . . A powerful thing happens when leaders don’t view themselves in distinction from followers, but see themselves as leader-followers. Consider this: no one really wants to follow you, per se.. . . . They want to know that, by following you, they are really following a higher principle, a transcendent truth. In spiritual followership, people want to know whether they are being led by and influenced by God. . . . The best way influencers can teach people how to be lifetime followers (and then, perhaps, leaders in their own right) is to model dynamic followership. [pp. 42-43]
Spiritual Influence – Mel Lawrenz