Your Journey Blog

Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader - Part 8

"Mental toughness is essential to success." said Vince Lombardi.  He explains further, "Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action."  I like the phrase, "a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in."  As we continue this series on the Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader we will explore the mental tenacity of a leader. 

8.   Coachable people are tenacious.  

It is no surprise that the words: self-controlled, sober, soundness of mind, vigilant, prudent, disciplined and steadfast find their way in the qualifications of a biblical leader (I Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9; I Peter 5:1-11).  Coachable leaders stick with it even when the going gets tough.  They push through the quitting points with a level head.

During the coaching process, it's common that a leader will “hit a wall” or feel challenged to grow or do something differently. The successful leader sticks with the process until they move through the temporary (and it's always temporary) wall.

In an article on mental toughness, David Yukelson, Ph.D., developed seven helpful insights for elite athletes to strengthen their mental and emotional focus.

1.  Unshakable Belief: "Starts with the right attitude and state of mind (know what your core confidence is all about)."  Confidence in God, His work, His calling and gifting in your life.

2.  Relentless Focus: "Program your mind for success ahead of time with positive affirmations and expectations."

3.  Establish Strong Routines: "Develop a systematic pre-performance routine that clicks on desired mental-emotional state of mind." Every elite athlete goes through a personal ritual before their performance.

4.  Poise and Composure: "Learn how to let go of mistakes quickly if things do not go the way you want. The key part of mental training is about compensating, adjusting, and trusting."

5.  Reframe the Negative Voices: "Remove the stinking thinking. Start with awareness of situations that cause you to get frustrated, rushed, intimidated, lose focus – then reframe the negativity into positive, mentally tough self-suggestions."

6.  See Failure as a Stepping Stone: "The champions approach to overcoming adversity is 'play to win' as opposed to 'fear making mistakes'."  Over his career he missed 9000 shots, missed 26 game winning shots, lost 300 games and Michael Jordan said, “I failed over and over, that is why I succeed.”

7.  Be a Difference Maker: "Step up and deliver a peak performance when it matters the most."

These insights remind me of King David's words to his son Solomon as he set him forward to leading the nation and building the temple.

“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”   I Chronicles 28:9-10

Reflective Questions

• What is the most significant thing that could shake your confidence in your current role?
• What are key ways in which you can be distracted and lose focus?
• What routines are you using to help you maintain a healthy perspective?
• Do you know your emotional IQ?
• Are you aware of the triggers that get you frustrated, rushed, intimated or unbalanced?
• How are you at bouncing back from failure?
• What are the general factors to you delivering a peak performance in your current role?

Download Mental-Toughness by David Yukelson, Ph.D

Next Time: Coachable people possess a constructive spirit of discontent.

Check out the Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader series

 

 

A Prayer for Finishing Well - Thom Rainer

A Prayer To Finish Well by Thom S. Rainer

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

May I, as I draw closer to the end of my earthly life,
Be a man who loves Your Church more than I ever have,
A man who prays for Your Church and Your leaders in the church,
A man who shows his commitment to Your bride in all that I do.

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

May I be a man of greater moral purity,
So indwelled in Your Word and in prayer,
That I am able to resist the temptations of the enemy,
That my life shines as an example for You to the watching world.

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

May I be a man who loves my family more with each passing day,
A man more in love and dedicated to his wife,
A man who loves his adult children even more than I did when they were younger,
And a man who loves his grandchildren and generation to come.

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

May I be a man who loves others more as I grow older,
A man who is less judgmental and more giving of grace,
A man who realizes that the plank in my own eye is large,
And that I should forgive even as You forgive me.

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

May my life have greater joy with each day.
May I see the blessings of life and count them daily.
May I not grow older and more bitter,
But grow older rejoicing in You always.

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

As the day draws closer when I meet You face to face,
May I be a man who was already drawing closer to You,
A man who eagerly anticipated that day,
And a man who left behind a legacy and not regrets.

Lord, strengthen me to finish well.

And then, and only then, can I say that my life was not lived in vain.

Not that I have already reached the goal, or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I have been taken hold of it by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14, HCSB).   HT

Free Finishing Well Download - Dr Robert Clinton

Dr Robert Clinton's Biblical Leadership Commentaries are a must read for every pastor, elder and spiritual leader.

The following free download covers the daunting task of finishing well. In his introduction Clinton writes,

"A repeated reading of the Bible with a focus on leadership reveals four crucial observations fraught
with leadership implications:

• Observation 1. Few leaders finish well.
• Observation 2. Leadership is difficult.
• Observation 3. God's enabling presence is the essential ingredient of successful leadership.
• Observation 4. Spiritual leadership can make a difference.

And what is true of Biblical leaders is equally true of historical and contemporary leaders. It is the first
observation to which this article speaks. Identifying the fact that few leaders finish well was a breakthrough warning for me. This led to further study. Why do few leaders finish well? What stops them? What helps them? What does it mean to finish well? This article identifies six characteristics of those finishing well."

Six Characteristics of Leaders who Finish Well.

• Characteristic 1 - They maintain a personal vibrant relationship with God right up to the end.
• Characteristic 2 - They maintain a learning posture and can learn from various kinds of sources—life especially.
• Characteristic 3 - They manifest Christ-likeness in character as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.
• Characteristic 4 - Truth is lived out in their lives so that convictions and promises of God are seen to
  be real.
• Characteristic 5 - They leave behind one or more ultimate contributions.
• Characteristic 6 - They walk with a growing awareness of a sense of destiny and see some or all of it
  fulfilled.

Six Major Barriers Identified to Finishing Well

• Barrier 1. Finances—their Use And Abuse
• Barrier 2. Power—its Abuse
• Barrier 3. Pride--which Leads To Downfall
• Barrier 4. Sex--illicit Relationships
• Barrier 5. FAMILY--Critical Issues
• Barrier 6. Plateauing.

Five Factors That Enhance Finishing Well

• Enhancement 1. Perspective.
• Enhancement 2. Renewal.
• Enhancement 3. Disciplines.
• Enhancement 4. Learning Posture.
• Enhancement 5. Mentoring.

Download 3FinishWellArticles

These articles by Dr. J. Robert Clinton comes from the Clinton Biblical Leadership Commentary. This commentary is available from the Clinton Resources.

It is all about people by Seth Godin

Do you have a people strategy?

Hard to imagine a consultant or investor asking the CMO, "so, what's your telephone strategy?"

We don't have a telephone strategy. The telephone is a tool, a simple medium, and it's only purpose is to connect us to interested human beings.

And then the internet comes along and it's mysterious and suddenly we need an email strategy and a social media strategy and a web strategy and a mobile strategy.

No, we don't.

It's still people. We still have one and only one thing that matters, and it's people.

All of these media are conduits, they are tools that human beings use to waste time or communicate or calculate or engage or learn. Behind each of the tools is a person. Do you have a story to tell that person? An engagement or a benefit to offer them?

Figure out the people part and the technology gets a whole lot simpler.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

One life, one soul, one pastor, one leader, one father, mother, son or daughter. One person needing encouragement, one sinner needing salvation or one person needing a friend.

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone." I Timothy 2:1

Hard to imagine a consultant or investor asking the CMO, "so, what's your telephone strategy?"

We don't have a telephone strategy. The telephone is a tool, a simple medium, and it's only purpose is to connect us to interested human beings.

And then the internet comes along and it's mysterious and suddenly we need an email strategy and a social media strategy and a web strategy and a mobile strategy.

No, we don't.

It's still people. We still have one and only one thing that matters, and it's people.

All of these media are conduits, they are tools that human beings use to waste time or communicate or calculate or engage or learn. Behind each of the tools is a person. Do you have a story to tell that person? An engagement or a benefit to offer them?

Figure out the people part and the technology gets a whole lot simpler.

Ten Keys for Spotting a Potential Leader

All of us have distant mentors.  Those who have influenced you through their writings or speaking.  Fred Smith, a business leader and regular contributor to the Leadership Journal, greatly influenced me during my 30's.  The following article had a profound affect on me as I sought to invest in the next generation of leaders. HT

Here are his 10 signs for spotting potential.

1. Leadership in the past. The best predictor of the future is the past. When I was in business, I took note of any worker who told me he was superintendent of a Sunday school or a deacon in his church or a Boy Scout leader. If he showed leadership outside of the job, I wanted to find out if he had some leadership potential on the job.

2. The capacity to create or catch vision. When I talk to people about the future, I want their eyes to light up. I want them to ask the right questions about what I'm talking about.

The founder of Jefferson Standard built a successful insurance company from scratch. He assembled some of the greatest insurance people by simply asking, "Why don't you come and help me build something great?"

A person who doesn't feel the thrill of challenge is not a potential leader.

3. A constructive spirit of discontent. Some people would call this criticism, but there's a big difference in being constructively discontent and being critical. If somebody says, "There's got to be a better way to do this," I see if there's leadership potential by asking, "Have you ever thought about what that better way might be?"

If he says no, he is being critical, not constructive.

But if he says yes, he's challenged by a constructive spirit of discontent. That's the unscratchable itch. It is always in the leader.

People locked in the status quo are not leaders. I ask of a potential leader, Does this person believe there is always a better way to do something?

4. Practical ideas. Highly original people are often not good leaders because they are unable to judge their output; they need somebody else to say, "This will work" or "This won't."

Brainstorming is not a particularly helpful practice in leadership, because ideas need to stay practical. Not everybody with practical ideas is a leader, of course, but leaders seem to be able to identify which ideas are practical and which aren't.

5. A willingness to take responsibility. One night at the end of the second shift, I walked out of the plant and passed the porter. As head of operations, I had started my day at the beginning of the first shift.

The porter said, "Mr. Smith, I sure wish I had your pay, but I don't want your worry."

He equated responsibility and worry. He wanted to be able to drop his responsibility when he walked out the door and not carry it home. That's understandable, but it's not a trait in potential leaders. 

I thought about the porter's comment driving home. If the vice-president and the porter were paid the same money, I'd still want to be vice-president. Carrying responsibility doesn't intimidate me, because the joy of accomplishment-the vicarious feeling of contributing to other people-is what leadership is all about.

6. A completion factor. I might test somebody's commitment by putting him or her on a task force. I'd find a problem that needs solving and assemble a group of people whose normal responsibilities don't include tackling that problem. The person who grabs hold of the problem and won't let go, like a dog with a bone, has leadership potential. This quality is critical in leaders, for there will be times when nothing but one's iron will says, "Keep going."

Dale Carnegie used to say, "I know men in the ranks who will not stay in the ranks. Why? Because they have the ability to get things done." In the military, it is called "completed staff work."

With potential leaders, when the work comes in, it's complete. The half-cooked meal isn't good enough.

7. Mental toughness. No one can lead without being criticized or without facing discouragement. A potential leader needs a mental toughness. I don't want a mean leader; I want a tough-minded leader who sees things as they are and will pay the price.

Leadership creates a certain separation from one's peers. The separation comes from carrying responsibility that only you can carry. Years ago, I spoke to a group of presidents in Columbus, Ohio, about loneliness in leadership.

One participant, president of an architectural firm, came up afterward and said, "You've solved my problem."

"What's your problem?" I asked.

"My organization's always confused," he said, "and I didn't know why. It's because I don't like to be lonely; I've got to talk about my ideas to the rest of the company. But they never know which ones will work, so everybody who likes my idea jumps to work on it. Those who don't, work against it. Employees are going backward and forward-when the idea may not even come about at all."

Fearing loneliness, this president was not able to keep his ideas to himself until they were better formulated. A leader must be able to keep his or her own counsel until the proper time.

8. Peer respect. Peer respect doesn't reveal ability, but it can show character and personality.

Trammell Crow, one of the world's most successful real estate brokers, said that he looks for people whose associates want them to succeed. He said, "It's tough enough to succeed when everybody wants you to succeed. People who don't want you to succeed are like weights in your running shoes."

Maxey Jarmen used to say, "It isn't important that people like you. It's important that they respect you. They may like you but not follow you. If they respect you, they'll follow you, even if perhaps they don't like you."

9. Family respect. I also look at the family of a potential leader: Do they respect him or her?

Fifteen years ago, my daughter said, "Dad, one thing I appreciate is that after you speak and I walk up, you are always attentive to me. You seem proud of me." That meant a lot to me.

If respect isn't there, that's also visible. At a church-growth conference, a well-dressed preacher approached me after I had spoken. A few steps behind him trailed his wife. He said, his chest swelling, "How would you like to come to my church and speak to a thousand people Sunday night?"

I couldn't resist saying, "I would have liked that in an earlier day, but I've given up speaking to smaller groups."

His wife's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Her body language revealed what she thought of her husband's egotism. The family's feelings toward someone reveal much about his or her potential to lead.

10. A quality that makes people listen to them. Potential leaders have a "holding court" quality about them. When they speak, people listen. Other people may talk a great deal, but nobody listens to them. They're making a speech; they're not giving leadership. I take notice of people to whom others listen.   HT

 

 

Five Reasons for Doing a Natural Church Development Survey

How can the Natural Church Development Survey help your church? 

1. The survey will close the gap between lay leaders and pastoral staff.

Pastors who are sold out to the cause of Christ think about ministry 24/7.  How much time do your committed lay leaders think about ministry in the local church?  As a lay person in my church I now know the answer to that question.  Not as much as the pastor thinks!  This alone can cause a gap of misunderstanding.  What the pastor feels are the needs of the church are not necessarily what the congregation perceives.  NCD Survey is a great way to close that gap of misunderstanding and bring more harmony and health into the church constructively.

I can't tell you how many times pastors have said, "My staff and I thought we knew what the weak systems were in our church but we were completely caught off guard by the results.  If we had gone in our own direction we would have wasted so much time, created confusion and addressed only our felts needs as staff and not the real needs of the congregation."

2. The survey will help you identify the weak system that needs to be addressed in your ministry from the perspective of your key leaders.

I am a big proponent of systems theory.  Too often we think we have a people problem but we really have a systems problem. I define church systems as reproducible and interconnected processes by which the church actualizes its values and achieves its mission.

I believe every healthy church values leadership, evangelism, spiritual formation, service, loving relationships and small groups. So the question is, do you have a reproducible and interconnected process that:

• empowers leaders into the harvest?
• insures inspirational worship gatherings?
• encourages evangelism throughout the community?
• stimulates spiritual passion in every believer?
• promotes healthy relationships in your community of faith?
• connects people in healthy small groups?
• deploys people into ministry?
• builds organizational health?

The Natural Church Development Survey will help pinpoint the underdeveloped system that needs attention. Thus it gives you a starting point in your strategic planning process.

3. The survey reveals the real morale and needs of your key leaders and influencers in the church.

The quality side of ministry is so soft and subjective because it is based on peoples attitudes, feelings and perspectives. The NCD Survey can give you a true read on the morale of your key leaders.  For a church that scores a total average score in the 50s it has an above average morale.  For the church that scores below 50 they have a below average morale.  In my work the highest score I have seen is 77...not only is this church one of the fastest growing churches in our region but also has a high level of optimism that fuels the growth.

From this sample profile we see that the key leaders and influencers in the church feel that the church is a great place to be with an average score of 57, this is an above average health score which means that the quality of the services are in a healthy range.  They might be experiencing some level of numerical growth but probably plateaued and are facing a growth barrier. NCD International reports that a church whose average score is 65 or over above is experiencing numerical growth.

What else can we learn from this snapshot?

Areas of Strengths: We see here that the leaders felt their church has a strong worship experience, high level of relational harmony, great sense of spiritual passion and good systems and structures. 

Areas for Focus: Here we see that the leadership system needs to be developed more fully.  What your leaders are communicating through this score is a need to be empowered for ministry, spiritual development, better delegation, clearer goals, stronger communication within the leadership structure, and more support in their ministries through coaching.

Quality growth is measured by the attitudes, feelings and perspectives of your key leaders towards the programs, people and progress of the church.

4. The survey provides a measurable process for improving the quality of your ministry.

There are two ways to measure the health of your church.

1) Quantitative Growth is built around key numbers and thier percentages.

• New Visitor Ratio: How many new visitors do you need in an average month to grow your church?
• Baptism Ratio: What is a healthy percentage between the average worship attendance and the number of baptisms annually?
• Giving Ratio: What is a healthy dollar amount given per person on an average Sunday?
• Serving Ratio: What is a healthy percentage of average attenders and those engaged in a ministry?
• Small Group Ratio: What is a healthy percentage of those attending on an average weekend and those engaged in a small group?
• Membership Ratio: What is a healthy percentage of those attending on an average weekend and those who are committed members?
• Leadership Ratio: How many new leaders are added to your leadership community annually?

2) Qualitative Growth is measured through the attitudes, feelings and perspectives towards people, programs and the progress of the church.

In doing the NCD Survey every year you can see the measurable results of your teams work in improving that weak area of your ministry and how that affects all the other ministry areas.  Here is an example of one church's journey.

This church put significant energy in improving the structures or systems which resulted in a increase of 14 points.  They improved the overall quality of the ministry by 20 points.  Meaning, they significantly raised the morale of its leaders.  Six out of the eight areas had a positive growth.  Only two areas slipped in quality which could be interpreted as people feeling that there was too much focus on structures and systems that spiritual formation and relationships took a hit.   In addressing their new area of focus, which is need-oriented evangelism, they will need to give attention to the "how to" by strengthening that area with a greater sensitivity to relationships and a deeper dependence on God in the process.

Doing repeated surveys will not only help you raise the quality of your ministry but it will also help you in tackling it in a more constructive and sensitive way.

5. The survey helps the pastor and leaders think of ministry in terms of process.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul wrote, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."  (Ephesians 4:12-14)

When Paul speaks of equipping he is talking about a training process.  A process that the KJV refers to as perfecting the saints for ministry.  NCD helps the church think though and answer the following questions:

1. What is our process for multiplying leaders throughout the church?
2. What is our process for equipping people in evangelism?
3. What is our process for stimulating spiritual formation in our new believers and faithful followers?
4. What is our process for promoting healthy relationships throughout the church?
5. What is our process for launching small groups?
6. What is our process for deploying people into ministry and service?
7. What is our process for insuring that our worship services are inspirational?

Bonus Reason for Embracing NCD

Most churches have a weakness that they tend to ignore; they want to grow further in the area of their strengths.

To say "build on your strengths" as a universal rule is misleading. A church must build on its strengths and deal with its weaknesses. No church can do without any of those eight quality areas.

A church's weak area may be evangelism, for example. If they are good in prayer, they tend to go on with prayer. But they should direct more spiritual energy towards evangelism.

It's like a human body. If you have problems with your heart and need surgery, the doctor cannot say, "You have a nice voice. Focus on singing." You need heart surgery first. Then you can build on your strengths. Building up your weak points is the only healthy rule.  HT

To learn how to get started with Natural Church Development and enjoy the May Discount choose one of the following options.

NCD Starter Package

NCD Advance Package

 

Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader - Part 7

Peter Senge said, “Reality is my friend.” As we continue in this series on being a coachable leader we discover that these leaders get better and better at telling the truth to themselves and to those who are coaching them. The Apostle Paul describes this as 'sober judgment' when he wrote, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you" (Romans 12:3). Sober thinking includes both over-estimating and under-estimating our value in God's economy.  If a leader can embrace reality of themselves then they can better embrace the reality of their current leadership situation.

7. Coachable people embrace reality.

One of the best lessons a leader can experience is defeat. In facing a spiritual set-back or outright defeat a leader discovers who they are, their coachability and their leadership grit. In Joshua 6-7 we discover some of the best lessons on how a leader embraces reality and leads through a spiritual defeat.

Through these chapters we see God speaking very directly to Joshua on showing him how he was going to recover from this defeat and how he was going to lead the people of God forward to fulfill the mission God had given them.

• Clearly define the situation. “But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord 's anger burned against Israel.” (Joshua 7:1)

• Own the defeat personally and corporately.  Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. (Joshua 7:6-7)

• Embrace the defeat without shame The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep." (Joshua 7:10-11) 

• Deal with the issue openly and rigorously. ‘Go, consecrate the people’ (Joshua 7:13-26)

• Move forward with courageous confidence. "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.'” (Joshua 8:1)

Reflective Questions:

One helpful way to discover the current reality of your situation is to do a SWOT analysis.(Downloadable SWOT Charts)

• Strengths: What is working well?
• Weaknesses: What is missing or needs improvement?
• Opportunities: What opportunities do we see?
• Threats: What threats have you identified?
  

Max Dupree said it well, “The first act of a leader is to define reality”.  Leaders who embrace the reality of their own strengths and weaknesses can better embrace the reality of their current leadership situation. 

Next Time: Coachable people are tenacious.

 

Free Spontaneous Baptism Kit from Pastor Steve Furtick

Want to increase your evangelistic impact and baptism rate?  Check out this Great Post and Free Resource from Steve Furtick (HT)

Just one month ago, we saw 2,158 people get baptized through our spontaneous baptism series, Follow. It was one of the most deeply meaningful events I’ve ever experienced. I got to watch 30 minutes of highlights of the whole experience this past weekend and I had chills the whole time.

I’d like to challenge and encourage all of the pastors and church leaders who read this blog to consider leading your church through spontaneous baptisms. Obviously we certainly don’t believe that the format is right for everyone. But I truly believe that if it fits your church’s culture, the impact it could have would be incalculable. We’re still receiving stories of life change, and I’d love to see the same thing happen in your church.

I am so inspired by what God did in our church through the process of the Follow series, and so proud of the processes that our staff and volunteers have put together that I’d like to offer all of our baptism resources to you for free on the Sun Stand Still website.

You’ll have access to everything from the sermon I preached during the opening weekend along with a transcript of it, to the logistics of how we baptized over 2000 people in 2 weeks at 4 locations…really, everything you need from a practical standpoint to set the stage and pull this off.

You’ll be surprised how comprehensively our staff has broken it down. If we can help save you the hundreds of hours that this type of detailed planning involves, we’re glad to do it.

All of this is free of charge.

I pray that hundreds of you will take the plunge and do this. It has created more momentum and fervor in our church than you can possibly imagine. And I believe it will do the same for yours.

Visit the baptism resource page on sunstandstill.org.

Thanks Pastor Steve for the Great Challenge and Tremedous Resources

How I Used the Spiritual Journey Guide Last Easter

I received the following great email from Pastor Bruce Fosdick at The Rock Southwest in Littleton, Colorado which made me reflect on Jesus words, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  (Luke 19:10)

Hey Gary,

I wanted to send you an encouragement.

Every Easter at The Rock of Southwest we would have 100s of new people for Easter, but when it came to decisions for Christ, our numbers were very low.  An example was last year we had 6 people receive Christ within a day that had over 1200 adults in church service.   We're an outreach church and see 100s come to the Lord throughout the year, but Easter always seems to be low numbers, especially considering the amount of new people who attend that day.

At the church planter's and coaches training in Arizona last August, you handed out the "The Spiritual Journey Guide" pamphlet.  I read through it and then I wrote myself a note that said:  "This may answer our Easter Sunday conversion issue.  Order 2000 and go through it step by step during the service".  So, this year we decided to do exactly that as part of the sermon.  I told the congregation 3 weeks earlier to pray for me that I could give a very clear call and that people would respond.  They invited the people and I delivered the message.

We had 1400 people and we gave a pamphlet to every person.  In the last 10 minutes of the sermon I read
through all 7 types of people from "Searchers" to "Followers".  I challenged everyone to to pick which one was closest to their relationship with God.  I added some fun stories but still had them go through the "Moving Forward" and Faith Commitment.   It ended up being a great challenge and people responded very well. 

Though we don't have a perfect system of knowing exactly how many people actually receive Christ, we had 110 people lift their hands to receive our "New Believers" bags at the end of the service. To have us go from 6 converts to 100 is very amazing to us.   In fact a few Elders actually said this, and I quote:  "The decision to go through that pamphlet step by step was probably the wisest sermon decision you've ever made"

I know such stories are good to hear.  So, I wanted to pass on to you. 

Thanks for the encouragement,

Bruce Fosdick,
The Rock of Southwest
Littleton, Colorado

You can download Bruce's Easter Sermon 

Download 4-24-11_Easter 

Find out more about The Spiritual Journey Guide

The Making of a Leader J. Robert Clinton - Free Summary Download

No other leadership book has impacted my life like J. Robert Clinton's The Making of A Leader

Robert Clinton identifies the patterns God uses to develop a leader. By studying the lives of hundreds of historical, biblical, and contemporary leaders, Clinton has determined the six stages of leadership development, and he establishes checkpoints to clarify where you are in the process. God’s major work in leaders is not developing fruitfullness through them, but working IN them. Ministry flows from what’s inside a leader.

This summary will help you in the following ways:

1. Identify those with leadership characteristics
2. Direct the development of maturing leaders
3. Recognize where you are in the development process
4. Counsel those who are experiencing periods of trial or frustration.  HT

 Download the summary here: Download The_Making_Of_A_Leader_-J_Robert_Clinton