By unSeminary: Welcome back to this week’s unSeminary podcast. This week we’re talking with Darrell Roland, from Rock Bridge Community Church. They have six locations in Georgia and Tennessee as well as a Spanish service.

One of the roles of the executive pastor is the management and leadership of the staff, and so today we’re talking about how to help our staff continue to grow as people in their own spiritual life and as a team.

Spiritual health first. // “If you take care of the people, they will take care of the mission.” When Darrell first joined the Rock Bridge staff in 2018, he had the opportunity to read “The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World” by Peter Scazzero and knew he needed to put the focus on the staff and getting them spiritually healthy first. So Darrell spent his time watching, evaluating, and talking with his staff to see what their greatest needs were.Pray about next steps. // At this same time, the church leadership started to hear rumblings from the staff about how the church missed the target in caring for people in the congregation – they didn’t feel like they were nurtured or heard when they reached out for prayer or help. After praying about these comments, the leadership team felt they needed to lead the staff into a time of repentance and prayer. They weekly spent time in chapel repenting, praying and seeking God for next steps. Pursuing emotionally healthy principles grew out of that. The whole staff read “The Emotionally Healthy Leader” and broke into groups to discuss it, plus Rock Bridge Church organized a staff retreat to talk about staff development and dig deeper into the book together.Coaching environments. // As you journey toward spiritual and emotional health with your staff, some members of your team may need professional counseling to help them walk through hurts in their lives. Help them receive the counseling or coaching that they need. Hold them accountable to the emotionally healthy principles the staff agrees to, such as maintaining a sabbath. Have conversations of care and prayer in monthly one-on-one meetings.Redesign your dashboard. // Rock Bridge no longer focuses on Sunday, but rather on the Monday through Thursday that lead into the Sunday. Instead of the executive team dashboard focusing on numbers like attendance, they focus on hours spent in prayer, number of people in prayer groups, and new people recruited and engaged in ministry and outreach. Look at engagement and participation in those areas. Attendance will be a by-product of those things.Put the person first. // The greatest responsibility that God has given us to steward is other people, and when we steward and prepare them well then our ministry will multiply. At Rock Bridge the leadership has regular 15five conversations with each of the staff. These meetings open up focusing on how everyone and their families are doing, and how a manager can pray for them. Really listen to your staff and be present when they share their hearts – don’t simply look at it as a box to check. Ask your team how they are doing with their sabbath. Darrell also recommends using an E4 conversation: enlist, equip, empower, and encourage. Talk with each staff about who they used E4 with that week and what they did. Make your meeting more conversational and relational rather than just a monthly document you put in your files.Changes in leading a team virtually. // These team building exercises and monthly check-ins can still happen with your staff in spite of COVID. Convert things over to a virtual environment to teach the team how to handle the changes. Be more intentional and careful in your planning for the church and development of the team. Make personal calls to the people who attend your church to help reconnect with them and find out the needs that they may not be sharing in the regular church environment. Do some listening tours at your campuses and talk about emotional health, prayer and care. Connectivity in a digital world. // Darrell has offered a free document on relaunching as a remote staff that can help you lead more intentionally and connect in a digital world. It also helps you develop trust in your people and not micromanage what you don’t see.

You can learn more about Rock Bridge Community Church at rockbridge.cc. You can also download some of the resources Rock Bridge uses for their staff onboarding process, 15five coaching and encouragement, annual review prep and annual review template.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Leadership Pathway

We all want millennials and GenZ on our team to reach the next generation. We need them like never before. But the first years of anything is tough.

Reduce turnover, stresses, avoid the pitfalls of quitting or termination with those who are just beginning their journey by engaging a coach for them. Avoid early departures on your team. Young leaders quitting too soon or getting fired is more than just a sunk cost. Don’t wait to get them a coach to help them face the unique challenges of starting in ministry. Visit Leadership Pathway to see how they can help.

Source: Increasing Prayer, Transparency and Accountability on Your Church Team with Darrell Roland

The post Increasing Prayer, Transparency and Accountability on Your Church Team with Darrell Roland appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Justin Gravitt: Satan uses lies to attack disciples. Not only is he the father of lies (John 8:44) he also accuses disciples day and night (Rev. 12:10). We overcome lies by first uncovering and then standing on the truth. We’ve already uncovered these lies:

1.     I can’t make a disciple, that’s God’s job.

2.     My call isn’t to make disciples it’s to…

3.     I can’t disciple someone because I’ve never been discipled.

4.     We can’t know if we’ve made a disciple.

5.     Disciples are best made by community.

Today we tackle a lie that’s extremely prevalent even amongst devoted Christians. The lie? All growth is God’s growth.

Is All Growth God’s Growth?

Growth is one of the great idols of the contemporary American church. It’s become the end after which churches drive. It’s eclipsed love as the force that drives decision-making and evaluation. To many, if a church doesn’t have growth then it has nothing—no matter what impact they are making on individuals or the broader community. Conversely, churches assume that growth always indicates God’s blessing. It’s not until later—when growth slows or stops—that leaders begin asking questions of effectiveness.

The church’s infatuation with growth has infected individuals. Many Christians can’t get enough opportunities to “grow.” They get involved in multiple Bible studies, Sunday school, small group, a men’s/women’s group, and then work through a couple of books on their own. The message they’ve gotten is that involvement equals growth and growth equals God’s blessing. So, if a person feels like they’re growing from all of this and they want to do it, what’s the problem?

The problem is it’s not Biblical and it’s not working. The growth idol produces ragged disciples instead of robust disciples. Rather than growing in Christlikeness those that buy into this lie soon find that they have grown isolated from the people God has called them to reach. Unfortunately, most don’t seem to notice.

This lie is tricky. When Christians are overcommitted they feel like they are growing. Indeed, they are learning a lot, but it’s normally not what they need to learn and it’s not applied to their life. Such unfocused and unbalanced growth is unprofitable in the Kingdom of God. It distracts us from God’s vision for maturity and the call He’s given each one of us to fulfill. Unaimed growth leads us away from the fruitfulness of maturity, not towards it. It’s a truth that Jesus knew. He told the Sadducees that their study of the Scriptures wouldn’t lead them to eternal life, because they wouldn’t come to Him (John 5:39–40). Paul knew it too. He told the Corinthians, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1–3).

To avoid being trapped by this lie, individuals must evaluate growth opportunities by asking, is it aimed, is it even, and does it strengthen?

God’s Growth Is Aimed at God’s Purpose

When growth isn’t aimed it primes us for pain. A disciple’s growth should revolve around God’s agenda not our own. Jesus had a clear target for the disciples’ growth. It was that they become fishers of men (Matt. 4:19), fully equipped (Luke 6:40), and that they bear lasting fruit (John 15:16).  In nature, the purpose of growth is always survival and reproduction. Wild growth keeps a plant from its potential. Such growth is taken into the hands of a caring gardener and cut-off.

When we believe that all growth is God’s growth, then we are likely to pursue growth that fits our own purposes instead of God’s. Some pursue knowledge so that others will give them respect and esteem. We can expect the Master to find such growth worthless and to prune it. That pruning is painful indeed.

God’s Growth Is Balanced

Unbalanced growth threatens survival and reproduction as well. Growth is meant to be balanced. It’s why Galatians 5 speaks of the fruit of the Spirit not the fruits of the Spirit! Paul used the singular form of “fruit,” because he knew they grew together, like a cluster of grapes. For example, true growth in joy means growth in patience as well.

Imbalance results in weakness; much like a bodybuilder who builds one part of his body and not another. Over time the weak muscles will cause a breakdown to the entire body. Dawson Trotman illustrated this truth in The Wheel illustration. When it comes to the life of a disciple, she is to maintain a balance in the basics. When the spokes get out of balance the entire wheel is at risk of being deformed and not rolling well.

When we believe that growth doesn’t need to be balanced, then we tend to pursue growth that fits with our natural personality or interests. The imbalance results in a weakness much like a bodybuilder who builds one part of his body and not another. Over time the weak muscles will cause a breakdown to the entire body. This happens both in churches and individuals.

God’s Growth Strengthens the Whole

When it comes to living things, growth is not just meant to be aimed and balanced, it’s also meant to strengthen the whole. This goes hand in hand with the previous two. Since growth is to be aimed at God’s purposes and comes in a balanced fashion, it also strengthens the whole. A body that is strong all over is ready to thrive over the long haul. In order to grow in such a way, a disciple must have awareness of his growth needs. It’s not enough to simply join one study after another or to read book after book. He must take ownership of his development. Most importantly he must apply what he’s learning.

The truth is that not all growth is good. Some growth causes imbalance, some growth leads to pruning. Growth that’s good is growth that’s aimed at God’s purposes of survival and reproduction. That kind of growth is always balanced. That kind of growth always strengthens the whole.

Are the spiritual things you’re giving yourself to leading to that type of growth?

By Justin Gravitt

Used by permission. Originally posted here:

The post Lies We Believe: Growth Indicates God’s Blessing appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: Lies We Believe: Growth Indicates God’s Blessing

The post Lies We Believe: Growth Indicates God’s Blessing appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By unSeminary: Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re honored to have with us today Scott Lindsey, the executive director at Faithlife.

Faithlife is the company which created the Logos Bible Software for digital Bible study. Scott is with us today to talk about Faithlife, how they can help you, and how you can use Logos in your ministry to increase Bible literacy.

The power of 4. // The Center for Bible Engagement performed a huge study of about 400,000 people and explored Bible engagement in North America. The resulting study, Understanding the Bible Engagement Challenge: Scientific Evidence for the Power of 4, found that spending time in the Bible one, two or three times a week has a negligible affect on key areas of our lives. But as soon people are reading scriptures at least four times a week, there is a spike in the positive affect it has in helping people deal with hard times. Specifically the study found that feeling lonely drops 30%, anger issues drop 32%, alcoholism drops 57%, relational issues (especially in marriage) drop 40%, pornography and other sexual sin drops 62%, and feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%. The word of the living God is active, but if we’re not in it and it’s not filling and informing us, it isn’t going to have an affect.Address the pain points. // The number one excuse people use for not reading scripture is time. The other, especially from younger generations, is that they find the Bible intimidating or boring. Logos addresses these pain points by simplifying Bible study with the use of technology. The application will allow you to type in a topic or a passage and in a matter of seconds the software does the work of searching scripture, commentaries and other resources and puts them at your fingertips – research that would take you hours upon hours to find and summarize.Carry it with you. // Having this wealth of resources available within an app on your device of choice removes the need to have to carry a Bible, notebooks and study resources with you wherever you go. Whether you are traveling, on vacation, at work or just on the go, Logos makes it simple to stay in God’s word.More than just Logos. // Faithlife is the other side of the tech that runs Logos. They began by providing software for church membership, online giving and so on. Now they’ve grown to also offer things such as a tv channel, websites for churches, and video courses for seminary. What makes Faithlife unique is that the focus for all of their technologies and services is Bible-centered – even for something like kids check-in. Through this system when parents pick up their kids, they are equipped to engage with them about what they’re learning in the Bible.A customized experience. // Logos has over six million users worldwide and over 160,000 theological titles formatted for its search engine. This vast theological library enables them to provide specific libraries to specific groups and denominations. In addition, the libraries are available in different languages such as Spanish, Korean, Chinese and more.One platform. // Many churches are faced with the problem of piecing together technologies from different sources and trying to get them to work together. Faithlife is the first ministry integrated platform and can help streamline the different aspects of your church or ministry so that you don’t need to have an expert on staff to deal with each area.

You can learn more about Faithlife’s Logos Bible Software as well as get a special discount by visiting logos.com/unseminary.

To explore Faithlife’s integrated platform and all the resources the offer, visit their website.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Chemistry Staffing

Great things happen when the right leadership is in place in a local church… lives are changed and churches thrive.

With all the craziness that has gone on in 2020, we know that many churches are beginning to ask hard questions about what their current team looks like and how ready they are to lead into our new reality. Download Chemistry Staffing’s Restructuring Playbook to develop clarity around where you need to be focusing your time, resources, and team.

Source: Using Tech to Increase Bible Engagement at Your Church with Scott Lindsey

The post Using Tech to Increase Bible Engagement at Your Church with Scott Lindsey appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: New Churches

In Episode 501 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed discuss what thriving looks like and the importance of spiritual and emotional health.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

How church leaders are seen as second and third responders
Why creating sabbath rhythms are important

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“The work we are in is crisis prone work.” – @edstetzer
“I don’t know of a crisis where we are not as church leaders second or third responders where we are there to help, providing for needs for people who are hurting and struggling.” – @edstetzer
“What can we do now so that we can build up more healthy systems of prevention so that there is not so much intervention personally as pastors?” – @danielsangi
“If you are not in crisis mode, I think ultimately it is a question of building the type of structure that can support you in the downtimes.” – @edstetzer
“We want you to find a team of people who will commit to praying for you every day.” – @danielsangi
“This is not a sprint. This is a marathon and we cannot be burning the candle at both ends.” – @danielsangi
“You need to have healthy daily and weekly rhythms. What does your sabbath look like?” – @danielsangi

Recommended Resources:

Read “Darrin Patrick’s Death, His Love for Pastors, and How We Need One Another”
Learn more about ResilientChurchLeader.com
Learn more about Soul Care

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

The post Episode 501: Thriving in Leadership appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 501: Thriving in Leadership

The post Episode 501: Thriving in Leadership appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: The Underestimated, Secret Power of Humility

The post The Underestimated, Secret Power of Humility appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: How to Have the Anointing of God on Your Life

The post How to Have the Anointing of God on Your Life appeared first on Passion for Planting.

How to Overcome Your FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Once and For All

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by Brandon Cox: FOMO (the “fear of missing out”) is a real thing, and it’s more intense than ever. We’re afraid we’ll miss out on all the cool stuff. We’ll miss out on doing something significant with our lives. But God has a purpose for every one of us – a unique pathway to walk. And he also sets the pace for us to walk that pathway.

This post is adapted from a recent sermon at Grace Hills Church. You can watch the video below, or read the article version. You can also get free access to my preaching notes, sermon series graphics, and transcripts from this and other sermons.

Watch

Read

The FOMO is real! We’re surrounded by influencers and constantly exposed to a stream, via social media, of words, images, and videos showing us all of the amazing experiences other people are having. We have a lot of social and cultural heroes, and that’s a good thing, but it definitely feeds our fear of missing out.

I feel this as a parent. I’m afraid my kids are going to miss out. I grew up in the ’80s, before they invented parental supervision. We just ran around on our bikes all over the neighborhood, and our parents assumed we’d come home at night. But today, there are  so many things to sign up for – structured, scheduled things with practices and weekends and traveling leagues in 17 different sports, plus music and academics.

We don’t want to miss out. We don’t want our kids to miss out. And it’s okay to experience things. The problem is that we’re so afraid that we’ll miss out that we run our minds ragged trying to do it all.

I believe the 23rd Psalm actually addresses our FOMO pretty powerfully.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

– Psalm 23 NKJV

I love how personal Psalm 23 is. Our culture is very individualistic, but the ancient culture in which this psalm was written was far more communal and tribal. Yet the psalm is written in a very personal and individual tone.

When you follow God, when you come to know Jesus as the Great Shepherd, and you come into a relationship with him, he has a very personal, one-on-one, heart-to-heart relationship with you as his child. You’re adopted into his family. He parents you and personally looks after your life in a very individual way.

This is important to remember when you feel that you’re going to miss out on living a life of significance and purpose. Your purpose is personalized.

I want to give you two big words of encouragement.

#1. When you follow the voice of the shepherd, he leads you in his pathway for your life.

God has a particular pathway for you to follow, and his pathway is always significant. I know that because he leads us in “paths of righteousness for his name’s sake,” and his name is great. God exists to amplify his name. He brings glory to himself through our stories, right? He uses our lives. He uses our brokenness and our healing, our experiences of pain and recovery, our experiences of sin and repentance and forgiveness and washing and cleansing. He uses all of that to bring himself glory.

Sometimes we think of God’s purpose or pathway as this unique individual career path, or a certain school, or a certain spouse. We boil “God’s will” down to particular choices and potential decisions. We have this romantic, cultural idea that we have a soulmate out there and I have to somehow bump into them at the right moment and find them because there’s no one else on the planet who could tolerate me.

But it isn’t so much about the things that you do or the things that you achieve or the success that you find. It’s much more about him leading you in paths of righteousness. Meaning, his pathway is more about who you are becoming than it is about what you’re doing. When you follow the voice of the Shepherd, his pathway for you is that you become more like Jesus, that you grow in holiness and righteousness, and that you get to know him and go deeper in your walk with him.

A Great Book on This Subject: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, by Phillip Keller

If you’re following the voice of the Shepherd; and you’re walking in the paths of righteousness that he has laid down for you; and you’re becoming what he wants you to become; and you’re getting closer to him; and you’re recognizing the voice of the shepherd more and more, you don’t have to make all the right decisions in life. You don’t have to know ahead of time and be able to predict the exact course.

If you’re following the voice of the Shepherd, there will be moments when things will happen to you that you didn’t choose, and yet God is going to use those moments in his purpose, and his purpose is to make you more like Jesus Christ.

If you’re committed to following his voice, it’s as if you’re blindfolded put your hand on his shoulder so that the One who created the world leads you through all the darkness and confusion, through the valleys and the hard times.

What does that have to do with FOMO? With the fear of missing out?

First, if you follow him, you’re not going to miss his purpose for you. God is bigger than all of your biggest mistakes and wrong turns. He is powerful. He’s in charge. And he knows where he’s taking you. And he moves you along the pathway to get there.

Second, his pathway for you is personal. God isn’t going to look at me someday and ask, “Okay, Brandon. How did you do running Billy Graham’s race? How did you do running Rick Warren’s race? or Greg Laurie’s race? How did you do running the race of some other pastor?”

Instead, he’s going to evaluate the pathway he plotted out for me to walk and the resources and relationships he provide for me, and he’ll evaluate whether I was a faithful steward of those things or not. And it’s very personal.

You don’t have to run the race of any celebrity on Instagram. You don’t have to run the race of the super mom whose kids are involved in 19 different things, and they’ve got all the ribbons and awards.

You have your race to run, and your race is sometimes on a crooked pathway. And the pathway has some rocks and valleys. You’re going to get sore from running your race at times. You’re going to get tripped up at times. That’s going to happen because you are human.

You’re made in the image of God. You’re redeemed in your relationship with Christ. He’s given you his Holy Spirit. You have all the power and the instructions that you need. You have his company. But, the pathway is still not easy. It looks different for every one of us.

There’s still a second big truth that we need to understand, because in pursuing his purpose we still try to get in a hurry, right? The fear of missing out drives us to scramble, to hustle, to grind, to keep going at as fast a pace as we can go

#2. God not only leads you in the right pathway, he leads you at the right pace.

We feel a sense of panic if we don’t see and fulfill his purposes for our lives as fast as possible. Notice that the Shepherd doesn’t just lead me, he leads me beside still waters.

Ever feel like life is level five rapids through the Colorado River in the bottom of the Grand Canyon? That’s how it is sometimes.

Yet we follow a shepherd who finds ways to give us breaks along the way.

You can divert daily by finding a few minutes every day that you can get alone with God. You can withdrawal weekly by taking a day off out of your seven days each week. You can abandon annually by getting away and spending some time every year resting.

God builds rhythm into our pathway. The idea of sabbath is woven throughout the Old Testament and through the life of the Jewish people. In the New Testament, Jesus becomes our sabbath so that we don’t have to observe a particular day or a certain ritual, but you do need to honor the principle that there is a rhythm to life, and that there are seasons to be busy and seasons in which to rest.

I saw, on Instagram one day, a mom had posted a picture. She said she had this very special place to get away and to find alone time. Some people call it a bathroom. She goes in there and locks the door to get away. And the picture she had posted was of the door in front of her, and several little toddler fingers sticking under the door as if to say, “I’ve found your one quiet place of rest, and I’m trying everything I can to invade that space too!”

The fact is, God sometimes wants to lead us by still waters.

What we want in life is to go and go and go, and then to recharge quickly! We need an energy drink, or three, or six to get through the day. And then nighttime comes and we still have more to do.

Sometimes God just wants you to stop and find some time to be quiet. This is not a guilt trip about finding more time to be quiet. It’s just a matter of making different choices about the time we have and taking five minutes to rest in God and to recharge.

Psalm 23 isn’t so much about what to do. It’s about whom to follow. The psalmist wants us to understand the identity of the shepherd and to know what he is like. When you respond to him, he will lead you beside still waters. When you lean into him and depend on him, he will restore your soul. He does that through his word, through his spirit, and through his people.

Are you on God’s pathway? Are you going at his pace?

That is the kind of life that will lead you to meaning and purpose. That brings him glory and it brings you joy. That’s the pathway.

Photo Credit: Neil Thomas

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Source: How to Overcome Your FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Once and For All

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by Downline Ministries: That is a question that quite honestly haunted me for a very long time. To be fair, I could give you the cliché Christian answers of who I am in Christ, quote some trite Bible verses at you—but none of that was penetrating my heart or emotions, or really changing the way I lived on a daily basis. While these verses were true and full of meaning, I still found myself facing a minor identity crisis or questioning my worth based on silly things. It all turned in to a sick game of comparison, like a never ending emotional game of chutes and ladders; if I accomplished what I wanted and got the attention I felt I deserved, I was climbing the ladder. If not – I fell down a chute and landed in a pit.  How I felt internally depended on how people perceived me externally.

I’ll save you the sordid details, but I imagine some of you may be able to relate to parts of my story and my struggle with codependency. This sin of idolizing the opinion of others slowly crept in to my life unchecked. Eventually, I began to think back and try to figure out why I wasn’t secure in my identity in Christ. I mean, I knew all the verses. I had even memorized some. I believed in Christ and thought I was trusting in Him to be my identity, but it didn’t feel like my identity had any roots. It was affected by my circumstances pretty easily- so what was I missing?

What I surround myself with matters.

There is a physical component to spiritual warfare, and one of the first things the enemy wants to attack is our identity – the very essence of who we are. He does this in a number of ways, and for me many of them start with what I am surrounding myself with. What I view, what I listen to, what activities I do  – all of those affect my mood and how I see myself.  Many times I am subconsciously taking in the lies of the culture surrounding me and I slowly begin to believe them. If I am not taking care of my body physically, oftentimes my mind and emotions follow suit. When I am taking care of my body and intentionally stewarding it for the glory of God, I notice that this affects my spiritual life. It all seems to flow together more easily.

However, when I spend my time listening to love songs, I begin to find that I am not content in my relationship status. As I watch TV, I am less content with my body image, my house, my lifestyle, and how “cool” my social scene is. As I listen to advertisements, I think that I do need more in my life to really be satisfied.
But all of those are lies!! When the Lord saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, he made a helper fit for him. God didn’t just bring Adam a dog and convince him that it would meet his needs – He made an entirely new creation for him. God knew how he made Adam, and he knew what his needs were.

Often times I focus so much on the circumstances and things surrounding me that I fail to look to God. I must surround myself with His Truth before I can ever hope to believe it.

What I trust in will make me hopeful or hopeless.

If I am trusting in things of this world, I am trusting in a mere shadow. Creation was never meant to give me purpose or identity; it cannot bear the weight of my idolatry.  If I am trusting in a job promotion to make me feel worthy, I am going to be sorely disappointed and spend my life jumping from idol to idol to try to find value and meaning.

When my hope is in Christ and in being everything He has created me to be, life will look so different. Now my roles, seasons, and callings are a way for me to glorify God using the passions, talents, and abilities that He has uniquely gifted me with in order to express my identity. And that brings me hope. This hope is eternal and resting in something bigger than myself and my mundane daily activities.

The things of this world, the chasing of the “American Dream” leads me to feel spent, hopeless, and ultimately empty because they were never meant to satisfy. I have a longing for something that will only be satisfied in eternity – when my identity is flowing from that, it gives me hope and security. This hope is secure because God is secure – Scripture calls this hope an “anchor for our soul” – it keeps us rooted, not tossed to and fro with the waves. We stay grounded because this hope in Christ, that what he says is true, because he is unchanging.

Our identity is in Christ and brings unity amidst diversity.

My identity is only rooted in what God says is true of me—nothing else. Now, don’t hear me say that nothing in this life affects us, it does! But, the temporary seasons, roles, callings, and times of this life serve to give me a platform to express my identity. They don’t define me. I am the same woman single or married, parent or not, employed or unemployed, rich or poor. Paul belabors this point in Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Notice here that he is arguing for our unity in our identity. Our identity in Christ leaves no room for prejudice, judgment or division. We are Christ’s workmanship, created in him for good works.

Not for our own glory.

Not to be the best at everything.

Our identity rests in the fact that we are created in God’s image, to be his image bearers to this world and to walk in the manner worthy of the calling that we have received. Lord, I pray that I will choose to believe that each day.

—Downline

Downline Ministries exists to strengthen and elevate biblical discipleship in and through the local church by strategically partnering with church leadership to equip men and women to make disciples in their home, church, and community for the glory of God and exaltation of Christ among the nations. Learn more about Downline Ministries here.

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Source: Who Am I?

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by Leadership Network: As you journey into developing as a leader, you will find so many great resources. From podcasts to books to conferences and beyond, there are tons of materials out there, many of which we recommend and use ourselves. With all of those tools right at our fingertips, however, it is easy for us to become somewhat mechanical in our development. Our nature lures us towards “5 Steps to…,” or “6 Ways to Become…,” etc. Those things are bad, per se, but I want to talk to you today about the status of your heart.

Where is the Holy Spirit in the process of your development as a leader?

The most important factor in your development as a leader is your relationship with God (the complete trinity). You’ve likely read and preached on scriptures like Matthew 6:33 which says, “But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [all that you need for life] will be given to you as well.” Take a little personal inventory. Have you allowed these passages to lose their luster in your life? Have you become complacent in this area of seeking Him first? If so, realize you are not alone. Ask the Spirit to give you a new revelation of these passages.

Are you truly spending time with God and growing?

There are so many ministry leaders who read the Bible for the sole purpose of creating their message for the week or in preparation for the weeks ahead. Worship leaders fall into this trap as well. You get caught in the trap of listening, singing, or playing worship music for the sole purpose of finding the next song you’re going to introduce to your congregation. Am I right? Understand that your personal time with the Spirit has to be set apart from your church preparation. It just has to. Your intimate relationship with God is the first thing!

Is the Spirit flowing through you?

As a leader, you likely have several spiritual gifts and many talents as well. I’m going to tell you right now that you can use those gifts and talents and hold steady. But ask yourself, do you genuinely want a move of the Spirit in your church, or are you ok with emotionally manipulating your congregation to get a particular response? I know that’s is a difficult concept to wrap your mind around, but think about it. If you are leading on empty, you might just have enough charisma to keep people coming back and listening to you. But genuine spiritual growth may not take place in the lives of those you lead, and you will eventually burn out from leading through your own power and not His.

The far better alternative is keeping your eyes and your heart tuned into the Spirit. You will grow in your love of God. His Word will be like a fire in your heart just ready to burst forth, not only on Sunday but all week long! Just imagine the possibilities if you decided to truly partner with the Spirit in everything you do! Your church, family, and other relationships will be forever changed.

What does it really mean to seek first?

Ultimately, it all comes back to those spiritual disciplines: prayer, studying the Word, fasting, giving, etc. You have to get back to practicing those things regularly apart from ministry preparation time.

I want to encourage you to get this right. No matter what you have to do, whether it means setting your alarm 15-20 minutes earlier or going to bed earlier to be fresher in the morning, refuse to allow another thought to enter your mind until you put your mind on Him. Seek Him first by praying even before your feet hit the floor if you have to. Surrender the day and your time to Him at the beginning of the day and throughout it. And get some precious moments alone in His Word. Choose days to fast and make it about spending time with Him.

These are all things you likely know already, but we have an enemy who doesn’t want us to do incredible things to build the Body of Christ. If he can get your eyes focused on anything and everything besides Christ, he will. He wants you to be distracted, frustrated, and distraught. But he is not your King and Master, and God has given you the ability to overcome!

This week, in particular, as we come to Good Friday and Easter, focus on Jesus and His resurrection power! Many of you will be telling that story on Sunday. For the next few days, tap into the reality of the Gospel–the incredible truth that our Father loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place. We know the story doesn’t end there. Three days later, Jesus’ lungs fill with air and His heart begins to beat again, and for 40 days He revealed is resurrected self to the world around Him. And because of all of that, we become the adopted, chosen children of God!

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“The gospel of self-reliance is always bad news because it always leads to more anxiety.” – Steve Cuss

by Leadership Network: Does anxiety get in the way of your ability to be an effective leader? Is your inability to notice when you and those around you are anxious keeping you “stuck” in chronic unhealthy patterns? In Managing Leadership Anxiety, from Leadership Network NEXT/Harper Collins Christian Publishing Book Series, pastor and spiritual growth expert Steve Cuss offers powerful tools to help you move from being managed by anxiety to managing anxiety.

You’ll develop the capacity to notice your anxiety and your group’s anxiety. You will increase your sensitivity to the way groups develop systemic anxiety that keeps them trapped. Your personal self-awareness will increase as you learn how self gets in the way of identifying and addressing issues.

Managing Leadership Anxiety offers valuable principles to those who are hungry to understand the source of the anxiety in themselves and in the people with whom they relate. Readers will be empowered to take back control of their lives and lead in mature and vibrant ways.

The following is an excerpt from Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs

I believe leadership anxiety is generated when we think we need something in any particular moment that we don’t actually need.

When I began as a hospital chaplain, I would get anxious walking into a room because I believed I needed to know what to say or what to do. As much as I believed I needed that, it wasn’t true. As I progressed in my awareness, I was able to walk into a room not knowing what to say, not even knowing what I was walking into, because there was a larger truth at work beyond what I believed. I believed I needed knowledge to be okay; I believed I was required to say just the right thing to make things better. As I dug in deeper, I later learned that I believed I had to appear smart to be okay, so when I didn’t know what to say, I was managing my own feeling of inadequacy rather than connecting with the people in the room.

The greater truth was that God was present in those situations; God was in the room before I walked in, and God would guide me. I did not, in fact, need to know what to say. The more I depended on needing to say the right thing, the less effective I was as a chaplain.I was managing my own anxiety rather than paying attention to God. What is this dynamic, and why did I believe I needed it so strongly? Of course, I write in the past tense, but I still get anxious today in leadership contexts, and much of the time it is because the situation is putting pressure on what I think I need that I do not actually need. The situation is also blocking my capacity to notice and trust God in those moments.

Anxiety shrinks the power of the gospel because it presents a false gospel—one of self-reliance rather than reliance on God. The gospel of self-reliance is always bad news because it always leads to more anxiety. But if I can learn to notice it, eventually name its source and triggers, and move past it, I encounter the actual good news of Jesus, the gospel of grace, which always leads to freedom. The consistent witness of the New Testament is that freedom and life come when we deny, crucify, and are wary of something inside us that shrinks the gospel. What is it inside us that gets in the way?

Order your copy of Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs today.

After growing up in Perth, Western Australia, Steve eventually moved to the United States for where he married his wife Lisa. Together they have two sons and a daughter. He currently serves as Lead Pastor of Discovery Christian Church in Broomfield, Colorado, where he has been since 2005. He holds a Master of Divinity from Emmanuel Christian Seminary and has a varied and accomplished ministry background.

“Talking about it brings transformation faster than just reading about it. Before MLA was a book it was a class where people interacted, shared stories, tried things, made changes. The video course starts where the book leaves off and gives a group a way to interact with the book together in 12 sessions. It has everything you need including facilitator guide, schedule, templates and pdfs as well as the videos.”

For more information and to sign up, go here.

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