Tag: leadership

5 Tips for Becoming a More Disciplined Reader

On By pastorjonathanIn books2 Comments

So you haven’t done so well at finishing a book once you start.  Or you are a little sporadic in your reading.  Here are a few tips to help you become a more disciplined regular reader.  Whether you are reading a book a day or a book a year, hopefully these tips will help drive you further along in the process.

1. Set a realistic deadline.

I found the syllabus in college very helpful in providing a daily or weekly schedule of reading.  If you have trouble starting and finishing a book, why not take a few minutes, flip through the book you want to read and set out a realistic reading schedule.  Maybe a chapter a day or a chapter a week.  Figure out a deadline and work your way back from there.  When you find yourself getting behind, double up until you have caught up.

2. Read at a set time.

Maybe you have time in the morning before work or Tuesdays at Lunch or for an hour on the treadmill in the gym.  Find a time and place that work best for you and fit into your regular schedule and start reading.  Incorporate reading into your daily routine

3. Read good books.

Check out a few book reviews before you read a book.  See what other readers thought after reading the book.  Try and find both favorable and unfavorable  reviews to read.  Once you have found a good book that still piques your interest after reading the reviews… read it.

4. Don’t move on until you have finished.

If you are an undisciplined reader, don’t start a new book until you have finished the last book you were reading.  This will help you press on through the later chapters of the book once you have already been well introduced to the topic.  Otherwise you will end up with several half-read books.

5. Have a reading list at least 2 or 3 books deep.

This will motivate you to finish the book in front of you.   Go ahead and plan the next book or two out.  That way when things begin to lag, you will have an incentive to finish the book you are reading to get to the next book that you are highly interested in.

3 Christmas Meditations on Being a Parent (Part 3)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, Family, parentingLeave a comment

3. Mary and Joseph knew that their son would be hated and rejected (Matthew 2:1-18).

Among other things the passage referenced above mentions the wholesale slaughter of all the children born in Bethlehem under the age of 2.  In the wake of this magnificent birth, angels singing on a hillside, and  a visit from the magi comes a horrific massacre.  It is only through a dream that Joseph knows to flee with his family and misses the impending destruction.

I am sure that the reality of caring for a wanted child set in as they traveled to Egypt.  Everyday they awaited the news that Herod had died and it would be safe to return to their beloved homeland.  Even when that news came, they made their way to Galilee to avoid Herod’s vicious son.

Now there may not be a king or president intent on killing my children, but I have no doubt that there are sinister forces in this world that would seek to destroy the lives of my children.  The forces of darkness were not silent at the birth of Christ and they are not silent today.  There are too many who die needlessly.  There are too many who are abused or injured.  In my line of work we used to see and counsel the statistic that one out of four girls are raped or molested by the time they are the age 18.  Sadly that number has increased to one out of three.

All around the world children are starving while we gorge ourselves on Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts.  Darkness covers our globe and we pretend in merriment that our houses provide protection.  We pretend that we even have the power to protect our kids. 

What if we saw the darkness and instead of running from it, we asked God to send us into the midst of it?  What if we were willing to get our hands dirty and aim our children strategically into the darkness so that by the time our grandchildren arrive, the world is a little less dark and the brilliant light of Christ can be seen more clearly.

The truth is that Jesus came into the world to destroy the darkness.  That same darkness destroyed the lives of many children in the town of Bethlehem.  But it could not keep them.  He would one day go to the cross and bear our sins, die a horrible death, and be resurrected 3 days later.  He promised to return.  His resurrection gives us hope that we will one day be raised too.  The darkness can not win.

3 Christmas Meditations on Being a Parent (Part 2)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, Family, parentingLeave a comment

2. Mary and Joseph Knew they would have to let go.

I wonder if knowing the destiny of Jesus (at least vaugly) effected the way that Mary and Joseph went about parenting? In a very real way they were forced to come to terms with letting him go.  Letting go can be one of the hardest parts about parenting.

I see parents who are clinging to their children and holding on too tight.  Sometimes this comes from a natural desire to protect their children from harm (there are other reasons).  No one wants to see their children hurt and or know that their child could be in danger.  Yet, some parents take this to an extreme by hampering their children from being able to  spread their own wings.  Sometimes we grow so accustomed to making decisions for our children, that we forget the goal of parenting is to train our children to make their own decisions.

Just like an archer has to let go of the arrow before it sails into the air and finds its mark, Parents are called on to release their children.  I think this happened in a very real way for Mary and Joseph.  They knew their was something special about Jesus from the start.  How do you raise the savior?

How would we parent differently if we knew the destiny of our children?  What if God called them to the heart of darkness a world away?  Would we be prepared to send them? Guide them? even direct them? My prayer is that he does call them there and that we are willing to let go and even send them.

To be honest each day I function on the edge of insanity.  Every time the road is wet and my wife and kids are in a car somewhere without me, I keep the phone close, praying that they are ok.  I could easily become compulsive about the safety of my children.  “No” could easily become the most dominant word in my vocabulary for no other reason than that “No” is safe.  But the joy of parenting isn’t found purely in seeking safety but in the risk of providing direction and  letting go.

7 Leadership Lessons from the Life of Alfred the Great

On By pastorjonathanIn leadershipLeave a comment

Okay So I read this amazing book about the life of Alfred the Great this weekend an wrote a short review that you can find here.  Then it came time for me to find a spot on my shelf and I started trying to figure out which section of my shelves it needed to be stored under and three categories came to mind.  Obviously historical biography because that is the genera in which it is written, but Alfred also demonstrated unwavering Christian Character and sought to evangelize viking leaders who were tearing into his territory and then there are the amazing leadership principles I gleaned from reading the book.  In the end I put it in the leadership category due to the amazing leadership characteristics that I saw displayed in Alfred throughout the book.

7 Leadership Lessons from the Life of Alfred the Great

 

1. Never give up on what really matters.

Even when he was betrayed by some of his countrymen and forced to flee to the swamp with his family, Alfred sought out ways to demonstrate that he was still the king and would defend his homeland.  He never completely abandoned hope, gave up, or ran away.  He stood his ground despite dismal circumstances.  He rallied troops to come to his aid and eventually fought back the viking hoards and won victory. Yet even in fighting back the vikings, he demonstrated a noble and Christian character in dealing mercifully with a savage enemy.

2. Don’t Ask People to do What you are Not Willing to do.

Alfred lead his troops to battle time and time again.  This was normal practice for an Anglo-Saxon king.  He demonstrated valor in the midst of battle.  He asked his men only to go so far as he was willing to go himself.  This was true both on and off the battle field.  Even in the sweeping reforms he would make concerning literacy in his nation, he first modeled by taking it upon himself to learn Latin as an Adult.  Furthermore when it came time for his scholars to translate Latin works into Anglo-Saxon, Alfred was the final translator.

3. Learn from your Mistakes.

Alfred made a few mistakes early on.  One was not pursuing the vikings once his men had them on the run.  The vikings soon learned that they were not being pursued, regrouped, came back and attacked Alfred’s celebrating troops and won the victory.  Never again did Alfred allow his troops to celebrate before they had definitively routed the enemy troops.

4. Raise the Level of Leadership around You.

One of the main concerns for Alfred was the enforcing of the law.  He was discouraged to know that many of the men in positions of power under him were illiterate and unable to read the laws of the land.  Alfred insisted that every leader learn to read.  Those who learned well were honored and given gifts.  Those who were not able to learn surrendered their posts.  Alfred also revised the laws and did his best to ensure justice was done.  He placed a great deal of importance on keeping an oath.

5. Pass on Leadership  Lessons to the Next Generation.

Alfred’s sweeping reforms also provided that children would learn to read.  He also provided ample opportunities for his sons and daughter to see his leadership in action.  His son assumed the throne and carry his father’s initiatives forward.  Alfred’s grandson would eventually route the vikings completely and send them all home saving his motherland from their onslaught.  Alfred’s daughter would outlive her husband and benefit the people of her subkingdom by leading them out to battle against the Danes.

6. Seek Expert Help on New Projects, (even if it means going outside the organization).

Alfred sought the help of naval experts outside of his Anglo-Saxon kingdom to build a navy that would eventually patrol his shoreline.  He also sought scholars from beyond the border of his kingdom when he set his heart to learn Latin and to prepare Latin works to be translated into the Anglo-Saxon tongue.  Alfred got the help he needed from the experts rather than trying to start something from the ground up.

7. Meet Challenging Goals with innovation and Invention.

Alfred created a system that allowed a standing army to be ready year-round.  He developed fortified cities with in a days travel of one another.  He developed larger boats for his navy to combat the viking forces before they ever landed on Anglo-Saxon soil.  When he set his heart to trying to raise the piety of the people in his kingdom he realized that Latin would be forgotten within a generation and set out to translate the Latin works into English.

Alfred the great was truly an amazing man and an amazing leader.  I encourage you to get the book.  You can read my brief review here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review: “The White Horse King” by Benjamin Merkle

On By pastorjonathanIn books, leadership1 Comment

The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great
by Benjamin Merkle is an amazing book filled with great detail about the awe inspiring life of Alfred the Great.  Alfred was the fifth son of AEthelwulf  king of Wessex (AD 839 – 858) and by all accounts was unlikely to ever assume the throne.  Yet, through a series of unfortunate events aided by the viking raids on the Southern kingdoms of what is now called Britan, Alfred found himself wearing his father’s crown and tasked with finding a way to forge peace and prosperity for his people in the midst of viking rampage.  Alfred was eventually not only successful in repelling the viking onslaught but was able to initiate several military, cultural, and societal reforms that have set the baseline for Western civilization.

Admittedly I did not know much about Alfred the great before I picked up this book, I was just looking for an inspiring and challenging biography.  I found that and so much more in this book.  I was greatly blessed to glean several leadership and life lessons from how this noble Anglo-Saxon and decidedly Christian king handled adverse situations, dealt with his enemies, inspired a literary revolution, and raised the quality of leadership in his kingdom.

This is one of the best and most inspiring historical biographies I have read to date.   The White Horse King is an amazing book. The retail price is $14.99 (Paperback), and is available at places like Amazon.com for $11.24. I gave it five stars (and would have given it more if I could).

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as part of the BookSneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Here are some other book reviews:

3 Keys to a Good Disciple Now Weekend (Part: 3)

On By pastorjonathanIn discipleship, leadership, student ministryLeave a comment

The Follow Up

Ok.  Here is perhaps the most important part of the whole Disciple Now weekend, Follow Up!  It begins as soon as the students head home after the morning service.  There are generally three major areas that I like to follow-up with as quickly as possible (to help keep the events of the weekend fresh).

1. Leaders

I typically enjoy having lunch with all of my leaders or scheduling another time to meet with them.  I like to discuss the event while it is still fresh in their minds.  Each leader gets an opportunity to discuss challenges the weekend posed for them, opportunities for further ministry (as they see it), and an evaluation of the whole weekend.  I treasure this time as it provides for me a great opportunity to coach my leaders through processing the event as well as provides me with another perspective on leading our students.

2. Host Homes

I usually try to follow-up with host homes casually on an individual basis in the week after the Disciple Now weekend.  I also like to give out a brief survey on things that went well and things that we can improve before the next Disciple Now weekend.  Though they did not make it to my big 3  list for a successful Dnow weekend, host homes are crucial.  Getting key insight from adults who have just spent a weekend in their home with your students is never a bad idea.

3. Students

After having an opportunity to gather as much information as possible after the event from leaders and host homes it is important to use that information to engage students.  Sometimes this comes in passing information on to LIFE group leaders (the real everyday hero’s in student ministry) in discussing how to better minister to individual students.  Sometimes this provides great opportunity to follow-up with a student who was asking questions at Disciple Now weekend.  Other times the information is applied to working on group dynamics.  As a Student Pastor or Student Ministry Leader you will be uniquely equipped to figure out the best strategy to take the information you have gathered and shepherd students.  The goal is to help move students along in process of becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.  Not just to hold a successful event.  Events are just tools that we can use along the way to develop disciples.

Review: Five Who Changed the World

On By pastorjonathanIn books, MissionsLeave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet a few gentlemen from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  I was looking down the road a few years and trying to figure out what doctoral work would look like.  In the process of conversation the representatives of Southeastern were able to share with me in great detail about the seminary and their president, Daniel Akin, and offered me a copy of his book, “Five Who Changed the World.”

Finally last week I had the opportunity to read through the book.  While I am greatly familiar with Christian biographies (I’ve been reading them since I was 16 and helped found and sponsored the Christian Heritage Conference that we held in Mobile for several years), I was blessed to read Akin’s book.  Originally each chapter was a missions message delivered in the chapel at Southeastern.

These five messages now written down and combined in book form are challenging and motivating.  Though these messages do not contain a great amount of biographical detail they are very motivational and challenging.  I was blessed to be drawn to the heart of worshiping God through mission.  Each chapter details the life of a missionary (William Carey, Adoniram and Ann Judson, Bill Wallace, Lottie Moon, and Jim Elliot) combined with a passage of Scripture that each missionary illustrated throughout their life.

You can find the book in hard cover on Amazon.com for $15.  You can find our more about Daniel Akin and resources he has written and produced here.  The original sermons that have been recorded in print in this book can also be found free of charge here on his site.

I highly recommend this brief book to anyone interested in understanding Christian mission.  It is a quick read and highly motivational (I was drawn to tears over and over again).  I give it 5 stars.

3 Keys to a Good Disciple Now Weekend (Part: 2)

On By pastorjonathanIn student ministryLeave a comment

The Leader

The second key to planning a great Disciple Now weekend is the leaders.  Once the theme is figured out, it is time to figure out who will be leading your small group bible studies in the homes.  I used to get college students from the local Christian University or BCM (Baptist Campus Ministries) group to help me out on this one.  However, as I have had opportunity to be a youth pastor in one church for an extended period of time, I have enjoyed having kids who have come through the program start leading small groups once they have hit college.  Its great for the younger students to see a student who has come all the way through the student ministry and its good for the leaders to be able to give something back to the group they came from.  On top of that, I get to test the kids who have been under my teaching and provide them with further opportunities for growth and experience.

Wherever you get your leaders, the key is that they exhibit a growing relationship with God.  At the end of the day you want someone who will reinforce what it looks like to grow and mature in a relationship with God.  I like the idea of college students because it gives your students a good role model for their next steps on the journey.

Even though I generally know my leaders before they come lead the Disciple Now weekend.  I generally like to sit down with them a month or two before the weekend and brief them on the Theme, the idea of what kids will be in their group, and the material they will be teaching through.  I also like to catch up and find out how things are progressing at school and what God is teaching them.
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3 Keys to a Good Disciple Now Weekend (Part: 1)

On By pastorjonathanIn discipleship, student ministryLeave a comment

Ok are you ready?  I am about to share the three keys for an awesome Disciple Now weekend.  This might surprise some of you, but I am not about to say, “The Band, The Speaker, and the T-shirts,” though those may be important in their own right.  There are 3 other things that I have seen bring about more lasting change than any band, speaker, or T-shirt has ever done.  In my estimation, if you can get these 3 right you can make up for a bad band or t-shirt (its really hard to make up for a bad speaker so we’ll make him the unofficial 4th key to a good D-Now Weekend).

www.mrg.bz So1lxO

1. The Theme (go large view over small view)

When designing a D-Now Weekend I like to start with the theme.  Generally speaking there are a lot of good and average themes out there (and I’ve done some of them).  You have your run of the mill, “back to the basics,” “true love waits,” etc, etc…  truth be told these are not bad themes.  They just lack the substance I am looking for.  If I’m going to invest the man hours that it takes to pull of a great disciple now weekend I want a theme that my students see practically 8 months down the road. (meaning they remember the theme as well as the event, and more importantly apply it to life.)

So what does that look like?  Take the “True Love Waits” theme and think about it.  Is that really the big issue?  What do you want to teach your kids? “Don’t have sex until you are married? Waiting for Sex is good?  Purity is better than impurity?”  Nothing overtly wrong with those statements, but what if you had the chance to cover the whole “don’t have Sex until you are married” theme put it in a positive light (give the kids something to strive for… rather than something to strive against) and at the same time lead your kids toward maturity in Christ?

How do you do that?  You take it a step deeper.  God didn’t just make you a sexual being he made you to be a man or be a woman.  The questions now isn’t, “will you wait?” But what kind of man or woman will you be?  The challenge changes from waiting to being.  As a pastor I am not so much interested in behavior modification as I am in leading students into a growing relationship with Jesus.  While “If you love them, you will wait” is not a bad theme, it is a small goal compared to God made you for a purpose as a man or a woman.

The bigger theme we went for in DNow last year and several years ago was “Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.”  The point was to help kids understand who they were in God’s eyes even down to their gender, realize how men and women compliment one anther, challenge our guys to be men, free our girls to be women, and help them to know how to encourage one anther in ways they will receive it.  While true love waits was part of it, it wasn’t all of it.

So now months later I can ask our young men to filter a thought our an action and do it along the terms of biblical manhood.   It doesn’t mean they all drank the cool-aide and are running around using the lingo, but it does mean we have introduced a filter to a world view that will help them evaluate their actions according to what kind of man or woman they are becoming.  This year we are going to do it all over again with the theme of Servant Leadership.

I realize that this idea Biblical Manhood and Womanhood may be new to many of you, so I have included a link to a previous post throughout this article.
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Where has the Time Gone?

On By pastorjonathanIn Time Management1 Comment

When I was little Ifreeimages.co.uk photos of objects used to imagine all the free time I would have when I was a grown up and didn’t have homework.  I dreamed of all the places I would go, movies I would watch and fun I would have with all my extra free time.  I thought life would be easier as an adult.  Then came college and I quickly found my self busier than ever and I couldn’t wait to graduate.  Then I graduated and was a full-time student minister at a small church and I couldn’t wait to get married.  Then I got married and couldn’t wait to have kids.  Now I have a kid and one on the way and I remember the days of high school and college when I thought my life was busy. Now school, a half-dozen clubs, a few sports programs and a part-time job look like easy street and I wonder what I did with all my spare time.

I guess I have always had the same 24-hours in a day that every one else has had, it’s just that my responsibilities have multiplied.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  I have a beautiful wife that I love more than words can express.  I love my daughter and love to teach and train her in life.  I enjoy my job (well its really a calling to shepherd students and families).  And I really don’t have a desire to go back to high school or college.  I just remember when life was simpler and my priorities seldom ever came into competition with one another.

You see, it’s not really time that I am worried about.  It is the priories and responsibilities that compete for my time.  I don’t want to drop the ball as a husband, father, or pastor.  Really dropping the ball in any one of these areas can have a damaging effect on the others.  I guess the key is balance in spending the right time in the right area’s of my life so that I know I have given my best to God, my wife, my children and those I am given charge over.

These next few days I will be blogging on time, responsibility, and balance from a my perspective.  I will share some of the tips, insights, struggles and resources I have discovered along the way.  I realize life is a journey and I haven’t arrived yet.  Feel free to comment and share how you use the time, care for your responsibilities, balance your life or resources that you have found helpful.  I look forward to learning as well as sharing.

Grace,

Jonathan

http://www.twitter.com/pastorjonathan