Leadership is...

So in all the busyness of transitioning to a new church, I am at a leadership retreat for our rising 8th graders and Seniors. We are teaching the students about 3 major topics:
1. Leadership is Influence. As John Maxwell says, 'Nothing more, nothing less.' Our students have to understand that they have influence because of their position but they must gain influence among the students if they want to be leaders.
2. Leadership has accountability. As 1 Tim 3 tells us, there is certain criteria laid out for those who desire a position of leadership. A leader has to be able to lead themselves, among others and among leaders. There is a certain level of accountability that comes with being a leader.
3. Leadership is servanthood. The book of Matthew tells us that those who want to be first must be last and those who wish to be great must serve. Jesus came to serve, not be served. If anybody could get away with being served, it was Jesus. It is our job to be like Christ, we must be servants.

Just thought I would let you in on what we were talking about today.

New Surroundings

So I have been in a new church for the past 29 days. The first week was really slow. After that, it was non-stop until this past Sunday. I have been in a 100 meetings and then we went to camp. My time here has been great. The students are great, the leaders are great and the staff is unbelievable. God is stretching me and I am loving it. My prayer is that God will give me the wisdom to do what is right and the strength to get it done.

Success as a Leader

For the past 5 or so years, I have been reading, learning, trying to figure out what it really means to be a leader. I have attended conferences, sat in meetings, and had discussions about the topic. The weird thing right now is that I am about to find out how good of a leader I have been in the past 4 1/2 years. In my transition to a new church, I leave behind a group of students on the verge of doing something great. There are several college volunteers along with several new graduates who are prepared to take over and hopefully do a better job than I did. The success of my leadership will be dependent on them taking what I have taught them and doing it themselves. I know that God is in control and He will do what He wants to do. These students have the opportunity to do the right thing and see other students come to know Jesus and have a better relationship with Him. I am sad to go, but I am excited about what God is doing here and where I go. To God be the glory, forever.

Changes

So, these past few months have been quite interesting. God has been working in ways that I have never expected. Like my last post, I understand that my faith in God is based upon Jesus and not my circumstances, but this has been a time when I get to put that faith (confidence) to the test.
The thing about change is that it is rarely easy. While I am excited on one side, I am not looking forward to the other side. I know that the emotion is coming but I don't really want to deal with it. I have been expecting the worst each time I have talked about the changes, only the best has come out. That makes me a little more worried about continuing the announcement.
So if you get to read this, just throw a little prayer up to our Father for us.

Understanding Faith

So we have been on the discussion of faith at our church for a while. I have been watching Andy Stanley's new series called 'Faith, Hope and Luck' and it is amazing. Andy does a great job on explaining what faith is and how it is accomplished in our lives. So many times, we connect our faith with our circumstances. If we do the right things, say the magical words, click our heals or give the right amount of money, our faith would be amazing. On the other hand, if times get tough or things don't work out the way we want them to, our faith can be crushed.
Our faith is based on circumstances. That is the problem. Our faith comes from one source alone. God grace given to us through the power of Jesus. The foundation of our faith is Jesus. What he did 2000 years ago is the only foundation for what we believe. If nothing else good ever happens in our lives, we know that God loves us and He sent his Son to die for us. That's it. Not an experience. Not a circumstance. Not a magic formula. The person of Jesus is all we need.
So how does God show this in my life? Let's just say that circumstances are frustrating and life doesn't always seem easy. Just another way for God to remind me that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Just a reminder that when I am weak, He is strong.

Relationships

So I just got back from Norman Park, GA. There is a Georgia Baptist Center down there and I was there to meet with other youth pastors from Georgia. Now if you have never heard of Norman Park, don't worry, neither did I. The Baptist Center is really the only thing in the city. The city is about 30 minutes outside of Tifton, GA.
I knew about 8 of the 30 guys down there. These guys I know are from my neck of the woods and work with me at Impact (the greatest camp on the earth). A lot of these guys were from down south closer to Norman Park. They were very rural and country. I know that I am in the south but most of the guys I know are from the city.
The interesting thing to me is that student ministry is done the same way everywhere. One of our talks was about reaching out to different stereotypes. The main conclusion was relationships. Whether you were like or even liked the stereotype you were reaching out to, the main ingredient is relationship. Understand that you may not ever be like the student you are reaching out to, but realize that they are looking for real relationships. They want to see the real you and you need to show them the real Jesus through you.

Who will confess?

This past week has been exhausting. Here in Augusta, it has been Masters week. One of the greatest golf tournaments in the world is held here. Smart people in Augusta do one of two things. They either leave or work the Masters. For the past 3 years, I have worked the Masters. This year, it was with a group called Velocity Sports who contracts the event for IBM. I worked almost 100 hours in 1 week.
Even if you are not into golf, you have probably heard of the person who finished in 2nd place this year. His name is Tiger Woods and he will probably go down as the greatest golfer when his career is over. He has won the tournament 4 times and has finished 2nd the last 2 years. People (including other golfers) have confessed that he is the greatest golfer of our time.
This past Sunday, our Sunday School class was reading in Philippians 2. It talks about how Christ humbled himself and became obedient to death. He didn't consider his equality with God something to be grasped. When all was said and done, every person will confess that He is Lord. We may be confessing right now that Tiger is the greatest golfer. No one said that 30 years ago and they might be speaking of another golfer in 30 years from now. However, the name of Jesus is timeless. EVERYONE will confess that he is Lord.