Women of Worth

On my last post I wrote about the Bigger and Better game and how a little thing can become a big thing.  I’ve been thinking about that and had some thoughts I wanted to share.  Many years ago when I was a single staff with The Navigators I had the privilege of having breakfast with Lorne Sanny who at that time served as president of the organization.  Mr. Sanny was a godly ole grandfather type man with incredible wisdom.  We talked about many things that morning in Myrtle Beach, SC but something significant happened in that 2 hour breakfast that was a defining moment for me.  Toward the end of our meeting we spent just a couple minutes discussing ministry funding and he asked me if I was in debt.  I immediately replied no and we went on to another subject.  No sooner were the words out of my mouth that the Holy Spirit convicted me of my lie.  The truth was I was in debt.  I had a credit card that I did usually pay off monthly but the truth was I did have a debt at that moment.  Mr. Sanny left to go the meeting room where he was the keynote speaker that morning and I sat in my chair debating the Lord on whether or not it was a real lie since it was a monthly card.  After doing everything I could to justify my lie I confessed it to the Lord.  Immediately the Holy Spirit convicted my heart that I should confess to Mr. Sanny asap. I was horrified. Oh, good grief.  Why bother the man? He is so busy and in such demand at an event like this, etc. etc.  There was a sense of urgency in my heart that I must do this so I hurried to the conference room, pulled him aside and confessed that I had lied to him about the debt.  Mr Sanny responded…You did the right thing by quickly responding to the Holy Spirit.  Always keep short accounts with the Lord.  It is so important to respond to what may seem like a little thing before they turn into a big thing. Because it is usually the little things that will trip us up. His response to this situation impacted me more than anything else at the entire conference.  Actually it was a life changing moment for me. Mr. Sanny spoke from Psalm 119:176 that morning and challenged those of us in Christian leadership to pray that we would not wander away from the Lord.  The truth of the matter is a large number of us don’t finish the race well because we fall way from God.  How does this happen?  When we allow a little thing to grow into a BIG thing.  Is there any “little thing” in your life that you need to deal with today?  Any big thing?  The longer we delay the larger it will grow until it eventually has control over us.

Have people ever expected you to be a superman or superwoman, doing spectacular things in the name of ministry?  The model marriage, model children, model walk with the Lord to start out with. Followed by ministry in the church, the community, and maybe on a national level. What about career success? Sometimes as a leader we can fall into this temptation and then we can’t stop talking about what WE are doing in these areas.  And when new opportunities come to be spectacular we can’t wait to share.  When we receive glory from people we can also give glory to people.  As I read about Jesus in the Bible I see that our purpose is to show Him off.  And glorify Him in all that we do.  The bottom line is anything worthy of praise is because of Him. Even my love is tainted and He enables me to love. I don’t even love God on my own…We love because he first loved us. Every person that I lead to Christ…No one comes to Christ unless he first draw them.  When I am tempted to be spectacular I pray I will remember Isaiah 42:8 “I am God.  That’s my name.  I don’t franchise my glory.”    Have you ever seen this in your own life or another?

Yesterday I shared how I have been reflecting on servant leadership.  When I experience this Biblical principle in action it catches me off guard. Could that be because it is a contrast of what we often see lived out?  Last week Todd called a couple of pastor friends to see if they might know of some available folks in their church who could help unload a huge truck.  On the day that the truck arrived we were very surprised that the two pastors (Rev. David Tubbs of Good Shepherd & Rev. Barry Dunn of Master’s Way) Todd called showed up.  It is a rare occasion that I am ever speechless but I was on that day.  Not only were other volunteers brought but the leaders came themselves.  Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers.

Henri Nouwen said Jesus has a different vision of maturity.  It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go.  After Peter had been commissioned to be a leader Jesus confronts him with the hard truth that the servant leader is the leader who sometimes will be led to unknown, undesirable, and painful places.  Biblical leadership is not about power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which Jesus is glorified.  This is not a psychologically weak or passive leadership but a leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love.  I believe this is true spiriltual leadership.  Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life is not referring to people who are wimps and have no spine and let everyone make decisions for them. This is referring to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, trusting that in him we will find the life we are told to seek after.

I’ve often wondered what it is about Grand Central that I love so much. I wondered if it was how “grand” the terminal is, the wide variety of good food, the excellent coffee or Junior’s which was voted best cheesecake in NYC.  Yesterday as I was running through the terminal to catch a train it hit me. I love all the mass of people that are going after their dreams.  I love the determination of people who have vision and goals. I like people with passion and focus. Met a man yesterday from the Caribbean who recently moved to NYC.  I asked him What do you love most about NYC?  He replied that he came here to live out his dream.  When I asked him how that was going he said Great. He was hired to apprentice for his dream job under the owner of his dream company.  I’m happy for him. He took a risk and moved to a huge city with a dream and determination. He decided it would be better to risk and fail than never to try at all.  This man represents what I see when I am in Grand Central.  What dream is planted deep in your heart?  If someone could help you achieve it would you go after it?

There are few books that I read a second time but Leadership Gold is one of them.  At the beginning of the year I think about my personal growth and development and write down a plan for the year.  This book is on my list for 2009 even though I read it last year when it first came out. As I read LG a second time I will write down discussion questions to use with people I am coaching.  I have also added this book to my Deborah’s Women curriculum.  This is a group of growing leaders that I mentor for 12 months. We meet once a month as a group and on occasion one-to-one.  Emerging leaders will love the foundation that Leadership Gold provides.  Experienced leaders will love gleaning from a leader who has trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. I love learning from a leadership expert who loves Jesus.