Rev. Rick Warren- Resurgence Leadership Conference 2013.
Pastor Mark Driscoll has been putting on a conference and this past you conference has been one of the best to date. Rev. Rick Warren teaching can be found Here and to find out more about the Resurgence Leadership Conference click http://theresurgence.com. Pastor Mark invited Rick Warren to share to follow pastors about a lesson that would help each of them.
Summary of the Teaching. Anything I would type does not do this teaching justice. Rick Warren got down to the essence of how and why some people have the anointing on their life and others don't. The four concepts he talked about were integrity, humility, generosity, and faith. He talked about how each of the first three can combat the three attacks that Satan sends to leaders. Rev Warren says, "The last is by which God work, in-through-by-for-to-with you."
Rev Warren continues, "God is looking for people to use and if you are usable, he will wear you out. The problem is most people are not willing to pay the cost. There is a price tag and price tag is a cost of character. Character comes through pain, suffering, criticism, and difficulties. It doesn't come through popularity and ease, or getting your way every time, it comes through conflict."
The three temptations Satan uses he continues to use. The three are the "Lust of the Flesh"-Passion, "Lust of the Eyes"-Possession, and "Pride of Life" Position. Sex, Salary, and Status is another way to put the three.
"Lust of the Flesh" is the temptation to feel. It is the temptation to wanting to feel good. It could be anything we use to make our self feel good. I could be sex, TV, food, drugs, sports, drink, or any kind of pleasure that we use to feel good.
"Lust of the Eyes" is the temptation to have. I see it and I want it. The lust of the eye is greed.
"Pride of Life" the temptation to be. I want to be loved, to be known, to be famous, to be envied, to be worshiped, other people to think that I am better than them.
The temptations of Adam and even Jesus can be seen to fit the three. First Temptation of Jesus is the "Lust of the Flesh", Second is the "Lust of the Eyes", and the last is the "Pride of Life."
First Temptation- You will be tempted to use the gifts that God has given you for your own purpose. To feed yourself, to meet your needs. That is sin. You will be tempted to use your own abilities to meet your needs. This is seen with Jesus being tempted to use his power that God gave him to meet a need he had. Jesus power for not for himself but for the glory of God and the people Jesus was sent too.
Second Temptation- You will be tempted to compromise your message because a deacon in your church has a condo you would like to use or a boat, or someone to pay our dinner. Your being bought off. It is the lust of the eyes. It is the desire of material things or possessions. Jesus was tempted with all the riches and the things in the world. This is the "Lust of the Eyes."
Third Temptation- You will be tempted to show off in your ministry. The temptation to do the spectacular. The temptation to use your ministry to show off. Satan temps Jesus with the possibility of him jumping from the top of the temple and angels saving Jesus. Then people would worship Jesus because of the cool thing that happened. There is nothing wrong with Jesus being worshiped but God intend him not be be worshiped by showing off but by dying on the cross.
The way to combat each of the three are integrity, humility, and generosity.
Integrity- This combats the "Lust of the Flesh." You live your life the same with people and without people. It is doing the right thing and being the same every day. Being real. The moment you change from situation to situation, the more your integrity is weakened. It isn't a piece of the pie, it is the whole pie. One aspect of sin in any part of your life will ruin or destroy your whole life.
Generosity- This combats the "Lust of the Eyes." The only antidote to Lust of the Eyes is learning to be generous. Some people trust God with their salvation but not their money. Every time you give, you break the grip of materialism and you become more like Jesus. You can give without loving but you can't love without giving.
Humility- This combats the "Pride of Life." Humility is not devaluing yourself or denying your strengths, it is being honest about your weaknesses. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses but humility is being honest about both. Their is no growth without pain and weakness. Being humble is about admitting to yourself and to others what that really is.
Reflection-
Rev Rick Warren spoke to me with this message. Far too often, I see myself and other pastors make this small mistakes that starts to make wholes in our character. God wants to use everyone for his purpose but people are not willing to pay the price to be used by God. That is the cost of character.
I see that in ministry, I have bended a little to each of this things and had stood against others. I find myself getting closer and closer to the things I shouldn't do but it is a slippery slope and sometimes you fall a little further than other times. The more you fall the more your character is hurt and you must work twice as hard to repair that character.
It seems so easy to look at each of these temptations and to think it can't be that bad. It can't hurt this one time. It can't hurt me forever. Well Satan uses that lie to get each of us closer and closer to where he wants us and not where God needs us. The lie about the apple from the tree of knowledge was one of it can't be that bad. The lie, everyone is doing it so it can't be that bad, is one that I hear often. But sin is sin, temptation is temptation. God wants our character to shine for him.
After listening to this, I have a stronger drive to have God's full anointing in my life. I will try to preserve and grow the character I need to do the things that God wants me to do. I will keep integrity, humility, and generosity in my life so that one day, I hope that God will say "well done" to me.
Till next time.
Benjamin Marc Grenier
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
First Topic: Simon Sinek- Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Good
If you don't know a man by the name Simon Sinek, you should check him out. I was first introduced to him while listening to EntreLeadership podcast. Since then have watched his TED Talks on www.TED.com and have found him very useful from a ministry stand point. Simon Sinek made waves with his "Start With Why" TED talk and since then he has written books and recorded videos that are more made for the business world but can be applied to church leadership. (I will be posting about "Start With Why" in the near future)
In his recent TED talk, Click Here, Simon Sinek does a 12 minute speech titled "Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe." In the video, he brings up the idea how does soldiers get to the point where they are willing to give up their life and themselves for someone else. He tells a story of a captain that willingly put himself in danger to save a sergeant and injuries solders. Simon states, "In the military, they give medals to people that are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. In business, we give bonuses to be people that are willing to sacrifice others so that we may gain." He continues with the question "What makes them like that? Are they better people? Are they attracted to what the military means and thus ended up there?" He reasons it is the environment that effects these men and can make any man or woman just like these soldiers. They are surrounded by men and leaders that are willing to give up their life for each of them. They have developed a relationship of trust and corporation. So where does that come from?
Simon continues the thought by talking how humans where designed. In the world we are surrounded by danger, things trying to kill or hurt us. Eventually we became reliant on our social circle or village/tribe for survival. Their was a trust that in a community one could sleep because they trusted the person on watch would warn them if something happened.The world is filled with danger, people wanting to attack and hurt our opportunity of success. These are constants, meaning they don't change. They will always be there. However the thing that changes is the organization we are involved with. Today is the same. Simon says, "That is where leadership matters. It is the leader that sets the tone. When the leader makes the choice to put the safety and lives of the people inside the organization first, to sacrifice comforts and tangibles results so the people remain and feel save, remarkable things happen."
He then tells a story about a person who doesn't feel safe and doesn't trust their leaders. When they don't trust or feel safe, they then spend their time trying to defend themselves from others. This weakens an organization. When we feel safe and trust an organization we will apply our talents and abilities to face the dangers outside instead of inside.
Simon says that the reason we hate corporations are that most of the leaders care only for themselves and would rather sacrifice company well being or even the people in the organization for self preservation. He then bring us two companies that are counter to this idea. One has a do not fire policy. If you mess up or not doing well, they will coach you and train you till you succeed. The other was a manufacture company that lost one third of it business overnight. Instead of laying off many people the CEO of the company addressed the people saying, "It is better for all of us to suffer a little than anyone to suffer a lot." Moral went up instead of down. They implemented a company wide policy that saved all of their jobs but it hurt each of them a little, however people supported the decision. They trusted and cooperating with the organization and worked to make it better.
Simon then states, "Leadership is a choice, not a rank." Their are people in an organization that might be on top are not leaders, they might have authority, but they are not leaders. We do what they say because of their authority but we will not follow them. Likewise, there are people in an organization that are on the bottom that are leaders because they have chosen to look after the people to the right of them and to the left of them. This is what a leader is.
Simon concluded about a story of a Marine. As the tradition when food is served to the Marines, the officer ate late. Well on this one day when all the troops were served there was no more food left for this officer. After they left, his men gave their officer some of their food. "We call them leaders because they go first, We call them leaders because they take the risk before anyone else does. We call them leaders because they choose the sacrifice so that their people will feel safe and protected so that their people will gain. And when we do, the natural response is that our people will sacrifice for us. They will give us their blood, sweat, and tears to see their leaders vision to come to life. When we ask them, why would you do that, why would you give your blood, sweat, and tears to that person, they all say the same thing, they would have done it for me. Isn't that an organization we would all want to work in?"
My Refection:
As I watch this video, I was reminded on how this could be implemented in our churches of today. Businesses and churches have a few things in common. They deal with people, safety is required, and trust is required among many others items. The leader of the church really sets the tone for the church. Just like the CEO and the Officers in the stories Simon Sinek talked about, the leader needs to lead his people and set the example. If a leader is not willing to put his personal goals and self aside for the sake of his people, then his people will not feel safe and not trust him. The people will be more worried about themselves and protecting themselves then helping the organization to succeed. Jesus lived this model too. He lived his life in service to the people who he was bring up to lead once he was gone. He washed their feet, taught them, and loved them. They trusted him and felt safe.
The people that go to a church or more important the people that are like the workers of the church,(lay workers and paid workers) both need safe environment and trust. The main difference with churches and business is most of the workers in a church are volunteers so they don't respond well to people forcing them to do stuff due to positional power. So that make it even more important to work with them and to give them a place to succeed. If someone doesn't feel safe or trusted they either look for a different leader to serve or don't excel at their current ministry because like Simon said above, they will spend most of their time taking care of their own needs.
So what are some tangible results that a pastor may sacrifice his people for? Money and Fame are two that come to mind. Sometimes decisions that are made in church are to keep some tithes. While this sometimes seems necessary, I have seen it hurt many people. If doing something would effect the trust and the safety of the church, then it would be better not to do it. Now with fame, some pastors are only looking out for themselves. They will preach and do things where they get the credit. Sometimes it is better to pass the credit to your team or the people around you. If your team sees you taking credit for the things they do, they will lose trust in you. Also with fame, there is a huge temptation to do something so that it gets you more complements or attention from your piers. This decision and actions will not be the best for the church. When the dust settles, people will either not feel safe or not trust the pastor to make the right decision in the future.
When Simon was talking about danger, for churches the danger they face is from multiple places. False teaching, the devil, sin, "wolves", and many other things that would seek to tear someone away from their place in a community. If someone comes into a community and feel safe, or at least not fear the people they are around, they will grow and thrive. However, if they fear people around them and/or leadership, they send their time guarding themselves from attacks and possible look for another community to be apart of.
In the Bible, their is an idea that Jesus taught that we should all be servant leader. He demonstrated this teaching many times but the most prevalent example is when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. What this showed the disciples when he did it was that he want them to know he might be their leader but at the same time he was leading and serving each of them at the same time. He then went to the cross and die. He gave and scarified of himself for them. We see this worked in teaching his disciples because each of them gave their blood, sweat, and tears just as Jesus gave his blood, sweat, and tears.
So what can we take away from this video.
1) As leaders, we need to be servant.
2) Leadership is a choose.
3) Healthy organization help the people feel safe and trust the leader.
4) People that can trust their leader will perform better and want to stay.
Till next time,
Benjamin Marc Grenier
If you don't know a man by the name Simon Sinek, you should check him out. I was first introduced to him while listening to EntreLeadership podcast. Since then have watched his TED Talks on www.TED.com and have found him very useful from a ministry stand point. Simon Sinek made waves with his "Start With Why" TED talk and since then he has written books and recorded videos that are more made for the business world but can be applied to church leadership. (I will be posting about "Start With Why" in the near future)
In his recent TED talk, Click Here, Simon Sinek does a 12 minute speech titled "Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe." In the video, he brings up the idea how does soldiers get to the point where they are willing to give up their life and themselves for someone else. He tells a story of a captain that willingly put himself in danger to save a sergeant and injuries solders. Simon states, "In the military, they give medals to people that are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. In business, we give bonuses to be people that are willing to sacrifice others so that we may gain." He continues with the question "What makes them like that? Are they better people? Are they attracted to what the military means and thus ended up there?" He reasons it is the environment that effects these men and can make any man or woman just like these soldiers. They are surrounded by men and leaders that are willing to give up their life for each of them. They have developed a relationship of trust and corporation. So where does that come from?
Simon continues the thought by talking how humans where designed. In the world we are surrounded by danger, things trying to kill or hurt us. Eventually we became reliant on our social circle or village/tribe for survival. Their was a trust that in a community one could sleep because they trusted the person on watch would warn them if something happened.The world is filled with danger, people wanting to attack and hurt our opportunity of success. These are constants, meaning they don't change. They will always be there. However the thing that changes is the organization we are involved with. Today is the same. Simon says, "That is where leadership matters. It is the leader that sets the tone. When the leader makes the choice to put the safety and lives of the people inside the organization first, to sacrifice comforts and tangibles results so the people remain and feel save, remarkable things happen."
He then tells a story about a person who doesn't feel safe and doesn't trust their leaders. When they don't trust or feel safe, they then spend their time trying to defend themselves from others. This weakens an organization. When we feel safe and trust an organization we will apply our talents and abilities to face the dangers outside instead of inside.
Simon says that the reason we hate corporations are that most of the leaders care only for themselves and would rather sacrifice company well being or even the people in the organization for self preservation. He then bring us two companies that are counter to this idea. One has a do not fire policy. If you mess up or not doing well, they will coach you and train you till you succeed. The other was a manufacture company that lost one third of it business overnight. Instead of laying off many people the CEO of the company addressed the people saying, "It is better for all of us to suffer a little than anyone to suffer a lot." Moral went up instead of down. They implemented a company wide policy that saved all of their jobs but it hurt each of them a little, however people supported the decision. They trusted and cooperating with the organization and worked to make it better.
Simon then states, "Leadership is a choice, not a rank." Their are people in an organization that might be on top are not leaders, they might have authority, but they are not leaders. We do what they say because of their authority but we will not follow them. Likewise, there are people in an organization that are on the bottom that are leaders because they have chosen to look after the people to the right of them and to the left of them. This is what a leader is.
Simon concluded about a story of a Marine. As the tradition when food is served to the Marines, the officer ate late. Well on this one day when all the troops were served there was no more food left for this officer. After they left, his men gave their officer some of their food. "We call them leaders because they go first, We call them leaders because they take the risk before anyone else does. We call them leaders because they choose the sacrifice so that their people will feel safe and protected so that their people will gain. And when we do, the natural response is that our people will sacrifice for us. They will give us their blood, sweat, and tears to see their leaders vision to come to life. When we ask them, why would you do that, why would you give your blood, sweat, and tears to that person, they all say the same thing, they would have done it for me. Isn't that an organization we would all want to work in?"
My Refection:
As I watch this video, I was reminded on how this could be implemented in our churches of today. Businesses and churches have a few things in common. They deal with people, safety is required, and trust is required among many others items. The leader of the church really sets the tone for the church. Just like the CEO and the Officers in the stories Simon Sinek talked about, the leader needs to lead his people and set the example. If a leader is not willing to put his personal goals and self aside for the sake of his people, then his people will not feel safe and not trust him. The people will be more worried about themselves and protecting themselves then helping the organization to succeed. Jesus lived this model too. He lived his life in service to the people who he was bring up to lead once he was gone. He washed their feet, taught them, and loved them. They trusted him and felt safe.
The people that go to a church or more important the people that are like the workers of the church,(lay workers and paid workers) both need safe environment and trust. The main difference with churches and business is most of the workers in a church are volunteers so they don't respond well to people forcing them to do stuff due to positional power. So that make it even more important to work with them and to give them a place to succeed. If someone doesn't feel safe or trusted they either look for a different leader to serve or don't excel at their current ministry because like Simon said above, they will spend most of their time taking care of their own needs.
So what are some tangible results that a pastor may sacrifice his people for? Money and Fame are two that come to mind. Sometimes decisions that are made in church are to keep some tithes. While this sometimes seems necessary, I have seen it hurt many people. If doing something would effect the trust and the safety of the church, then it would be better not to do it. Now with fame, some pastors are only looking out for themselves. They will preach and do things where they get the credit. Sometimes it is better to pass the credit to your team or the people around you. If your team sees you taking credit for the things they do, they will lose trust in you. Also with fame, there is a huge temptation to do something so that it gets you more complements or attention from your piers. This decision and actions will not be the best for the church. When the dust settles, people will either not feel safe or not trust the pastor to make the right decision in the future.
When Simon was talking about danger, for churches the danger they face is from multiple places. False teaching, the devil, sin, "wolves", and many other things that would seek to tear someone away from their place in a community. If someone comes into a community and feel safe, or at least not fear the people they are around, they will grow and thrive. However, if they fear people around them and/or leadership, they send their time guarding themselves from attacks and possible look for another community to be apart of.
In the Bible, their is an idea that Jesus taught that we should all be servant leader. He demonstrated this teaching many times but the most prevalent example is when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. What this showed the disciples when he did it was that he want them to know he might be their leader but at the same time he was leading and serving each of them at the same time. He then went to the cross and die. He gave and scarified of himself for them. We see this worked in teaching his disciples because each of them gave their blood, sweat, and tears just as Jesus gave his blood, sweat, and tears.
So what can we take away from this video.
1) As leaders, we need to be servant.
2) Leadership is a choose.
3) Healthy organization help the people feel safe and trust the leader.
4) People that can trust their leader will perform better and want to stay.
Till next time,
Benjamin Marc Grenier
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Day One- Purpose of this Blog.
My name is Benjamin Grenier. I been wanting to start a blog to put down the things I learn so that I and other people may benefit from this information in the future. I try to stay informed with podcast, books, videos, and other blogs. When I post, I will attach whatever material I am using to start the conversation and reflect on it. My passion in life is to train and equip people to be the best that God wants them to be.
If you are reading this or other post feel free to dialogue with me. Also if you know of a great resource, share it with me.
My name is Benjamin Grenier. I been wanting to start a blog to put down the things I learn so that I and other people may benefit from this information in the future. I try to stay informed with podcast, books, videos, and other blogs. When I post, I will attach whatever material I am using to start the conversation and reflect on it. My passion in life is to train and equip people to be the best that God wants them to be.
If you are reading this or other post feel free to dialogue with me. Also if you know of a great resource, share it with me.
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