Great Stuff from Chuck Swindoll
Just wanted to share these leadership lessons from a guy who’s been around the block a few times.
Success
I wanted to pass on an article that I recently read on the Desiring God blog called The Metrics of Success. This is a theme I find coming up a lot in my life and I am sure it comes up in whatever context you are in. Whether in parenting, our jobs, or our relationships, all of us long to be “successful.” And in many ways this idea of success goes unquestioned in our world today. Who wouldn’t want to be successful?
At the end of the day, measuring success by externals like power, wealth, influence and happiness is folly. Kingdom success and worldly success are like oil and water. Jesus, who must have forgotten to add “Blessed are the successful,” measures kingdom success on different scales: poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, yearning for righteousness, showing mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking and persecution.
The Nines
Just registered for a cool, free, online conference called “The Nines.” Its a pretty cool concept. Tons of pastors, church leaders, and people who love Jesus are given 9 minutes to tell church leaders around the world what they would tell you if they were only given 9 minutes.
It starts at 9am on September 9th. Speakers include: Ed Stetzer, Reggie McNeal, John Ortberg, Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Alan Hirsch, JD Greear, Dan Kimball, Neil Cole, and lots more.
If you’re around on the 9th and have a bunch of 9 minute blocks available, I would HIGHLY encourage you to sign up and listen in. Can’t beat free.
Its Not About “Young People”
There is no better proof than this Leadership Journal article that targeting “young people” with a kickin specific worship service just simply doesn’t work. Not only that, but it seems that the same things that reach older people, reach younger ones too: Authentic, real community living out the gospel.
Being the church and being on mission isn’t about generational ministry, nor is it about one day of the week. No matter what generation we find ourselves in, people can smell hypocrisy a mile away. Whether young or old, everyone is crying out for something real.
Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes of past ministries and churches centered around “Gen-X”, or any other generation.
