Leadership Task - Shepherding

The word pastor means shepherd.  Many times I went to my team members and told them I was their pastor.  Freaky looks, but lots of wonder and then amazement as they saw a different kind of leadership in their lives.

Shepherding can only be successful if implemented with the right attitude - not begrudgingly, feeling compelled to do so, but voluntarily and willingly.

Shepherding should be one of the most desirable and gratifying areas of your leadership responsibilities.

Check out this link - first part of a thesis paper on shepherding leadership -http://gradworks.umi.com/34/25/3425741.html

Dealing Honourably with other Leaders

Relationships with other leaders should be  fraternal, honest, and professional.

It is unethical to destroy their reputation.

Unfortunately, many leaders are the worst gossips around when it comes to passing on word concerning fellow leaders.   Their gossip no doubt arises out of their own feeling of insecurity. 

Frequently, an insecure person tries to enhance their own reputation by tainting the reputations of others.  The insidious thing is that often the  gossip is clothed in spiritual terms. 

What we need today more than anything else are leaders who will be loyal to one another and who will defend one another.  Even when a leader makes a mistake, we should let them know that they we care for them, bleed for them, and are aware that every leader, not matter who we are, will find themselves best by overwhelming temptation at one time or another - there for the grace of God go I.

Developing Leaders

If you are arriving at a place where there is a healthy leadership team in place and you are surrounded by competent team members who understand that they are leaders and are in development - great - have an awesome honeymoon.

If not, not so great and post-pone honeymoon for extended period of time.

I love it when I entered a new place of ministry and found no leadership team, no experienced team members, no structure that supports the development of leaders yet am asked to perform miracles beyond imagination.  To this date that has never happened - I have always developed a team first.  In the long run - for those who can wait - success is always the fruit.

Why, because my first real leadership position was in a church.  I think there were at least 40 different groups raging in all kinds of activities - young to old, sports to marriage, evangelism to prayer.  Guess what - they all wanted me to be part of their group - guess what I said - yes.  Guess who saw the need for change, growth, development - people listen to this - for forty groups!!!  That's right, I never went home until midnight, six days a week, never saw my wife - and then the leadership team had the gull to say I wasn't working hard enough....

From then on, I developed first and moved on and developed again and moved on and developed again.  Much more fun.

One of the first things I do is check out the gifting, then equip based on that.  That includes Myers Briggs stuff, love language, leadership strengths/weaknesses, spiritual maturity etc.

Remember through the entire scenario that it is God who chooses all leaders.  Though we may have the tendency to become impatient with them because of their lack of training, ability and effort, remember to treat them with dignity and respect, trying to be submissive to them where possible just as you expect them to be submissive to your leadership.

God often will surprise us.  The most profound thought may come from the lips of someone we had considered totally inept.  If God is indeed the author of leadership and the chooser of leaders, then He is able to perform His work through the most unlikely candidates. If we doubt that, we who are part of active leadership should take a careful and penetrating look in the mirror.

The Right to be Heard

This is not what you think - I am trying to say that you need to earn the right to be heard - and to do that you need to come into your team and respect each member.

Do not think that any member of the leadership team is "old" or "ignorant" or "retrogressive."

There might be more wisdom there, especially in practical matters. Attach yourself to them.  Ask them questions.  Respect their judgement.  In most cases you will prosper and mature greatly if you do. 

You may not be able to move ahead as fast as you want, but progress will come as you gain credibility and experience and as you begin to emulate more and more the gentleness of Jesus.

Members of your team should be treated with love

When I have taken over a new team there are two things that I concentrate on - love my team lavishly and preach the Word everyday.

Some people are easy to love.  Remember to pray for them.  For those who are not easy to love, you will be spending a lot of time praying for them expecting that God works the greatest miracles of all in the lives of the "unlovely" people.

Develop a one-to-one relationship with your team members - remember to meet wtih them at least once every three months to ensure both of you are successful.

In those meetings ask a lot of questions - key questions about themselves. As a result, you will find yourself  becoming genuinely interested in them.  They in turn will see that you are interested in them.

There are quite a few practical ways of demonstrating love - remember the five love languages so that you will not do a "team" love but more expressions at the time when you meet one on one - although team celebrations are awesome.

Here is a team that "loves" - welcome to the world of auctions--

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh1f4e_show-the-love-to-auction-committee-members-run-your_webcam

Study Life

"Full of God's Word"

In order to give God's Word away to others and see it make a difference in others, we must be studying, interpreting, applying God's Word to our world that we engage with.  To know that Word, means we have to spend time with in it.  We also need to spend time with people, getting to know them and their needs, so that are application of the Word will 'scratch them where they itch."

Here are some thoughts that my prove helpful -

To be authoritative, we need to be aware of the whole scope of Scripture.  Have a plan toread through the entire Bible every year, divided properly into daily segments so that it is not so time consuming - reading it rapidly is okay as it provides a rather big picture scenario or stopping to meditate on some jewel you found in the midst of everything is okay too.

Spend considerable amount of time studying - even consider apply what you are learning as if you would be invited to speak somewhere on the topic you have just found interesting.  If you do at least one outline a week, following closely to what is happening around you in the world you live, you may make small presentations that prove effective in the lives of your listeners - but give the Holy Spirit something to work with.

If you were to obtain a university degree in any subject there would be at least a minimum of 15 hours of study required outside the classroom in order for you to succeed.  Is that the right time to put towards studying? Why not?

Each expressed learning point needs to make a call for some type of decision - hopefully to yourself first and then when sharing, to others.  Make the call for a decsion then you know how your studying is making a differenct in your life and not just in your head.