On Leadership

The following was cultivated from an FCA Leadership Camp held at Point 11 at Table Rock Lake.
These are simply key take away points and nuggets of truth for everyone to reflect on.

Gospel: Leadership begins and ends with the gospel. That is that we were once separated from God by the penalty of our wrong doings. We could not earn our way to God by any amount of our own goodness so God came to us as the man Christ Jesus. As Jesus, He then died, on a cross, in our place and for our sin. In doing so, Jesus took our penalty, brought forgiveness by His death, and granted us right relationship with God by His resurrection when we rethink our actions, thoughts, and words and trust in Jesus Christ's finished work of the cross. Godly leadership begins and ends with the truth that we are brought near to God to enjoy Him forever when we trust in Jesus Christ. It is not that we have come to accept God, but that God has come to accept us in Christ Jesus when we turn from our own work and effort to trust in Jesus finished work of the cross. It is that Jesus brings us near to God by His work, not of our own. (Titus 3:3-7, Ephesians 2:8-9)

Christian: A person who loves, serves, worships, obeys and enjoys the greatness of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ and instills the greatness of God into others through the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:24, Philippians 3:7-11).

Leadership: Leadership is instilling the greatness of Jesus into others. (2 Timothy 2:1-2)

Integrity: Integrity exists when our actions and our words matchup, not only to each other, but also to the gospel and the Word of God. The integrity of our lives to the gospel and the Scriptures are what make our words worth listening to. Leaders MUST exhibit integrity. Integrity is established through Jesus. He is the source and the provider of godly integrity. It is not worked for, earned or achieved. Integrity is given to us when we choose to follow Jesus with singlemindedness. Jesus develops integrity in us when we take the time to seek Him daily through intentional prayer, disciplined time reading the Word of God, and a willingness to obey and do what God tells us to do. (1 Timothy 4:6-16).

Serving: For a leader, serving is not optional. If you're not serving, you're not leading. Serving motivates others to Jesus when it comes from Christ-like integrity. It is most powerful when it is followed by a sincere connection to Jesus. That is, the actions of our lives (serving) when followed by Jesus-centered words (witnessing) leads people to Jesus. (Philippians 2:5-8). The question of serving is: How far are you willing to go to see people come to Jesus? Are you willing to sacrifice yourself (wants, desires, needs) so that other people can know Christ?

Teamwork: Good leaders are ones who can see the big picture of connecting people to Jesus so they can know and serve God while focusing on the best next step to impacting others for Jesus. Leaders need to be able to motivate people to a common goal while using the talents and abilities of others to work together to achieve it. Leaders must be able to know when to be chief and when to be indian. They must know when to be the primary leader and when to follow the leadership of someone else. The big idea is that leaders must be able to work together with others to help people come to know and enjoy God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Additional Thoughts on Teamwork: Tagteam Evangelism: This concept is that of 2 people sharing Christ with those around them. Many Christian's express a difficulty in sharing Jesus with those who don't know Him. Tagteam evangelism is a teamwork designed to help people share Christ with others. The concept is simple: Two Christian's engaged in conversation with non-Christians simply begin asking eachother about what's going on in their lives. They then honestly talk to one another about Jesus. Non-Christians then hear the message and a door is opened up to talk about Jesus.

Coach Jesus: The first aspect of teamwork is connect yourself to Jesus and let Him be the head coach of your life. Connect to Him daily through prayer, worship and the Word and let your relationship with Jesus be your first team.
Assistant Coaches: Find more mature Christian's who can help point you to Jesus and coach you up in the practical areas of life. Help you grow.
Teammates: Find Christian's of your same maturity level who can help hold you accountable and help impact your campus for Jesus with you. Help eachother grow.
JV/Freshman: Find some not-as-mature Christians that you can coach up in Christ to help them grow into a team mate role so that they can start coaching up others. Help them grow.
Fans and Witnesses: Recongize that there are plenty of people who are watching your actions and words. Remember that sharing Jesus with people is a lifestyle, not an activity. People are either influenced by your actions and words to either follow Jesus or turn away from Him.
(1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, Romans 12)
Final thought on Teamwork: Just because you can't do something doesn't mean you can't find someone else who can. Part of teamwork is being able to identify others who can do things well to continue the mission where you aren't as capable.

Excellence: The concept of excellence is doing your very best in all things, at all times, and in all ways... and then doing a little better. We must remember, though, that we do not do our best to earn God's love for us. We do our best because of God's free gift of love for us. We live lives of excellence because of what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross so that others can come to know Jesus by the conduct of our lives. We must remember that we are made excellent in God's sight because Jesus makes us excellent by His incorruptible life. We live excellently from God's love and grace, not for it. Lastly, excellence, like service, motivates others to Jesus by the conduct of our lives. (Colossians 3:17-23).

The Question of Leadership: If not you, then who? If not now, then when? (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Justification by Affliction

This article was written by Dustin Neeley. Acts 29 Pastor in Louisville, Kentucky.
To view this post from its origin visit: http://www.theresurgence.com/home?page=4

A Confession
Let's start with a confession: I love Affliction T-shirts.
The fleur de lis reminds me of my city. The skulls remind me of my depravity. They are comfortable and hand crafted. I love 'em. But because of their cost, I own only one of them that I bought on clearance at Macy's. Oddly enough, at the risk of sounding girly, I actually think about that one shirt a lot (although the bones do help my case). And it's not primarily for the comfort or the craftsmanship, though it may indeed have something to do with my depravity.
As the thought turns in my mind, the question that haunts me is, "Why did I really want that shirt in the first place?" Is it for the reasons I mentioned above, which seem harmless enough? Or is it for some less harmless reason like, "All the cool kids wear them and I want to fit in?" Hmmm... The plot thickens.
We have just stepped from the dark closet where my shirt hangs into the much darker corners of the soul.

The Lie
All of us have "false justifiers" that we use to try to justify ourselves before God and others, and there are ways we seek false justification that are as nuanced as our own personalities and ministry contexts. For many, what we wear, or at least our appearance, is high on the list. And each time we allow how we appear before others to become more important than how we appear before God, it is stark evidence of our belief in the great Lie that Jesus and the good news that he has spoken over us is not enough.

The Truth
As with any lie, the only way to effectively counter it is with the Truth. When we seek to "clothe ourselves" in the righteousness that the "right kind" of clothing can provide, we must remind ourselves that we are already clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Isa. 61:10). When we seek to find our value in the fact that we can buy something of significant value on earth, we must remind ourselves that we are of great value to God and have been bought at a great price (1 Cor. 6:20) already. We have to counter the Lie with the Truth.

So is it wrong to wear an Affliction T-shirt? No.

Is it wrong to define yourself by what you wear? Yes.

So tomorrow when you reach in the closet for what to wear, stop and ask yourself, "Why am I about to wear what I am about to wear? To honor God or to seek to impress others?" If you find the Lie at work, kill it with the Truth. "I am not justified by what I wear, but by the righteousness that I am now clothed with in Christ." And with the name of Christ written on your soul, it doesn't matter what name is written on your shirt.