I have learned that the best way to improve our church is to grow and improve the leaders, and that means starting with me, then EXPECTING else to do the same!

A Christ kind of hope means “confident expectation” (Matt 28:20). Contrary to the worldly hope which is a wish or a “maybe”. As leaders we need to cast a vision of “confident expectation” that in Christ people’s lives is going to be better.

*For principals 1 & 2 see prior blogs

Do you have it? As a Leader it is a must. If you are leading and no one is following…you’re not leading, you’re just taking a walk.
I have found that Charisma requires putting some real effort into 4 key principles. I found it amazing that these principles are aslo summed up in Jesus’ summary of God’s law.

Before I share the first one, let me say this; so many think Charismas is something mystical, or something you are born with. I don’t think so. Sid (our administrator) tells me, “People are just drawn to you.” I guess I see that, however it certainly wasn’t that way for most of my life. In fact, although I had the ability to communicate well most of my life, I had few people, if anyone, that were drawn to me, except my wife. Thank you God for that one.

Now with that said, to make our self a person who attracts others, we need to personify…
1. Loving Life: People love leaders who love life (Mark 12:29-31). I love to be around people who upbeat, positive, and encouraging. I hate to be around people who are grumpy, bitter, and complaining.
One aspect of “Charisma” means having people feeling better about themselves after meeting you.

As leaders, our hearts is to lead in a way that would honor God and grow the people. I have found the biblical way to do that is the way Christ did it, by knowing where people are coming from.

We must be willing to make a real effort to be constantly getting to know people on a more intimate level.
In other words, to lead we must get to know our people, their hurts, their challenges, and their desires.

Let’s start today; make a call, go to lunch, (no email, or texting) with some you don’t know a lot about.

Tomorrow we will be talking about Relationship boundaries. Boundaries define what you are and what you are not, what you are responsible for and what you are not. Boundaries define your very soul (Prov 4:23).This is what I have learned: Boundaries not only set your perimeters they set you free. When we let others set our boundaries, our choices and options are limited. Join us as we look at poisonous relationships

As leaders we should always be looking for ways to imitate our Lord, to bring people closer to God (Our mission at LifePoint: Leading people into a deeper relationship with God). The best way to do that is to search out the barriers that are preventing them from growing closer to God, and then remove them.

That is what evaluating is all about: finding the bearers that keeps people from growing closer to God, and making sure we are not building on those barriers but are tearing them.

At our staff meeting on Tuesday I shared with the staff the importance of evaluating everything we do.
I would give credit to who said it but I can’t remember, anyway it went like this…
If you can’t measure it
You can’t manage it
If you can’t manage it you can’t grow it
Evaluating is never about putting ourselves down, or condemning some one’s effort, it’s about finding things that prevent people from growing closer to God so that we can remove them.

I sure would hate to stand before my Lord and saying “Lord I am sorry, I should have asked that person, “What would it take to get you into fellowship with God”.

How long has it been since you asked someone to evaluate your MINISTRY, your character, or even your speech?
Join me tomorrow when I share how God has given me boldness in making decisions through constantly evaluating all we do in church.

We know way more about God than we living! I hear people say “I want to hear some deeper insights from the teaching on Sunday”. A preacher once preached the same message on giving (almost word for word) for 5 weeks in a row. One of his members asked him, “When are you going to preach a different message?” His reply, “When you start doing something with this one”. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). GET IT?

Yesterday we learned that the Holy Spirit will empower us to share Jesus. As strange as this may seem, inviting people to church doesn’t start with inviting people to church. Jesus always connected in a personal way before He called them to be disciples. Do something that good for you and some else, make a friend today, then invite them to church tomorrow.