Do you remember your first car, first kiss, first job?  Firsts are hard to forget because they’re so special.  The emotional impact of “Firsts” create deep seeded memories in your mind.  “Firsts” leave a lasting impression.  That’s why as leaders we must intentionally plan some” Firsts” in our lives that will impact our continual spiritual growth.

Many people develop bucket lists, things  they hope to accomplish before they die.  Typically this is a list of “Firsts” that bring us satisfaction.  That’s not a bad thing but today I want so suggest you have a second type of bucket list as well.  A lists of things that you want to do that will stretch you and produce growth in your walk with Christ.  This is a list of things that are oriented around serving rather than satisfaction. 

One of the “Firsts” that I wrote down on my SERVE bucket list two years ago was to teach leadership on six of the continents of the world.  In the past couple of years I’ve had the privilege of training leaders in North America, South America and Asia.  And now this week I experienced my first opportunity to teach leadership in Africa and it proved to be a transformational experience for me.  While I came as a teacher, I leave a student.  I have never seen such struggle, desperation and hopelessness.  Yet I have never witnessed such faith, courage and sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.  The lifestyle of the believers here has left me humbled and hungry to know God more.   This is a “First” I will never forget and pray has forever changed me.

What are some “Firsts” you can put on your Serve Bucket List?

A few weeks ago we asked Reggie Joiner, President of Rethink, to speak at our Seacoast Leaders Conference.  The focus of the conference was on how to cast vision in your home, market place and ministry. Knowing about his strong passion for family we asked Reggie if he would talk to us about vision casting as a mom and dad.  Watch this 10 minute video then scroll  below for some action steps to further your learning.

Leadership Conference – 2010 – Reggie Joiner from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

ACTION STEPS

1.  Watch Reggies Video and write down the key concepts

Three Dials we’re constantly turning as a parent…

• Relationship with _____________ – The Wonder Dial
  Nothings more important than someones relationship with God.
• Relationship with _____________  - The Discovery Dial
  Help your child to understand their identity is not in a job, a relationship or anything else.  Their identiy is in Christ.
• Relationship with ______________ – The Passion Dial
  Jesus was a living example of giving our lives for others.  If Jesus is in your and he came to give his life to others then doesn’t it makes sense that He wants you to give your life for others?  We must teach our children to live with a sense of mission. 

2. Set aside an hour this week and write down the vision you believe God has for your family.  After writing it down share it with your children and get their input and perspective.

3.  As a family discuss an activity that you can all do together to live out an aspect of your family vision.  Make it an adventure that will create some special memories. 

4.  Write each of your children a personal letter expressing your belief in them and how you see God at work in their future.

5.  Read one of the following articles from Focus on the Family and discuss it with your spouse. 

• A Parent’s Challenge Click HERE
• How Your Teen is Wired Click HERE
• Why Have Kids? Click HERE

Check back next Tuesday for Ray Snyders talk about How to Cast Vision in the Marketplace.

Are you looking for some new leaders?  All of us are.  If you have pressing leadership needs maybe it’s time to rethink your recruitment strategy.   

Many leaders are knocking themselves out trying to find new talent.  Being a solo talent scout is extremely exhausting, not to mention limiting.  If I’m scouting for leaders by myself I’m limited to my scope of influence.  If I know 20 people, my pool for recruiting new leaders is limited to those 20 people.  But think of what could happen if you had a team of talent scouts.

I have a friend who is a scout for the Atlanta Braves Major League baseball team.  But that’s not his fulltime job, he’s actually a fulltime pastor.  He’s one of many part-timers who serve as a scout in a specific region of the country for the Braves.  The Braves management realize they have limited scope, but if they employee more eyes they have greater chance of discovering greater talent.

Talk to your current leaders and empower them to help identify and recruit new potential leaders.  If you continue to do it all on your own  you’ll be limited to the people you know and the potential you see.  So release your current leaders to be leadership scouts and you’ll soon start finding some exciting new talent. 

This Weeks Leadership Challenge:  Ask three or four of your leaders to be leadership scouts and help you identify and recruit potential new leaders.

Over the past weeks I’ve posted Session 1,  Session 2, Session 3 and Session 4 of our Small Group Leader training.  This is the fifth and final session in this training series.  Please feel free to take these and use them with your leaders. If you see something that you would change…let me know.  Working together we can make each session better.

Where’s the Apprentice?

Welcome to Session 5, Where’s the Apprentice? During this session, you will learn how to identify and develop an apprentice.  An online journal has been provided for you to record your notes and thoughts, or feel free to use a notebook of your own.  Be sure to bring your notes when you meet with your mentor.
Part 1
Our Group Edutainment Video
“The Group Outing”
Watch Episode 4 of the video series, “Our Group” where Doug and Michelle hand over the leadership to Chris.  As the group serves together we see different group members taking on different leadership roles.  When you have finished watching the video, reflect on the following questions:

Episode 5: “Where’s the Apprentice?” from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

• What stood out to you the most from this episode of Our Group?
• Why is it important to give other group members leadership opportunities in your small group?
• What keeps leaders from sharing leadership roles in their group?
• What challenges do you face when you share leadership among group members?

Part 2
Video Teaching with Josh Surratt
Apprenticing new leaders

During this session, Josh shares practical steps for mentoring a new small group leader.  Watch this video teaching and then answer the questions below.

Mentoring Your Apprentice from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

• What do you look for in a potential apprentice?
• Which of Josh’s principles come easiest to you?  Which one will be the most difficult for you?
• What are some ways you can share leadership within your small group?

Part 3 Explore

Read the following Bible passage, 2 Timothy 1:1-11, and reflect on the questions

• What do you learn about Timothy from these verses?  What challenges did Timothy seem to be facing?
• What do you learn about being a good mentor from observing Paul?
• What are some general principles for a good mentoring relationship that you see in this passage?

Part 4  The Challenge
1.  If you don’t have your own small group yet make a list of people you could possibly invite to start a new group with you.

2.  If you have your own small group share the name of one or two people you could potentially mentor as future group leaders.

3.  Make a list of leadership possible leadership positions in your small group (ex: prayer leader, serve leader, social leader, etc).  Recruit people from your group into these various leadership roles.

Today I’m boarding a plane  for Togo Africa.  I’m excited about this amazing opportunity to do leadership training with a group of pastors who are serving in a very tough territory.  I’d like to ask you to pray for us during this trip.  Here are a few specific requests:

• Pray that the pastors we’re training will be encouraged, inspired and learn practical leadership skills that will increase their leadership influence.  For several years now Seacoast Church has partnered with Pioneers Togo to support their efforts of planting churches for unreached people groups.  These pastors are truly on the front-line of ministry and our desire is for God to use us to energize and encourage these men.  Pray for those accompanying me @jasonsurratt our Missions Pastor and @ernestsmith our Young Adult Pastor.
• Pray that God will direct us to one or two specific communities that He wants to do a special work in.  As part of our mission we will be identifying a couple of communities that are in need of clean water.  Water Missions International Kenyan Country Director will be joining us to help assess where the greatest need may be.  Once the community is identified we will work with the local church there to install a water system so they can use it as an opportunity to share Christ with their community.
• Pray that God will keep us safe and protect our health.  We’ve had our 5 shots and are ready to go.  
• Pray for open doors of opportunity for God to do what He wants to do.
• Pray for Pastor Francis who heads up Pioneers Togo.  Francis is one of the most amazing leaders I’ve met who has a passionate heart for God and the gospel.  Here is a video where he shares more about his ministry.

In the early years of my faith journey I was fortunate to be surrounded by people who loved Jesus and did their best to live like Jesus.  I watched my mother faithfully dig deep into God’s Word.  I observed my father consistently make integrity based decisions.  I witnessed my  Jr High Sunday School teachers ability to show unconditional love.  I looked on as my High School English teacher practiced relational evangelism.   From their examples I learned to live like Jesus.

But somewhere in that process of learning to live like Jesus something switched.  Discipleship took on a different dimension for me.  It didn’t just happen one day, in fact I can’t tell you when it happened, all I know is it happened.  My growth journey went beyond learning to live like Jesus to learning to lead like Jesus.  Suddenly there was a greater recognition that my life wasn’t about me.  There was a strong awareness that God wanted to use me to influence the spiritual journey of others.  I don’t know that anyone clarified this distinction for me, it came from simply watching and catching the spirit of the leaders around me.

As spiritual leaders we must help others experience that switch.  Yes, learning to live like Jesus is a lifelong never ending process.  But at some point we have to challenge people to that level of surrender that expands the influence of their lives.  We must challenge them to lead like Jesus.

Who are the mature believers in your life that need to be challenged to learn to lead like Jesus?

In Janurary Seacoast Church hosted a Leaders Conference for the leaders from all 13 of our campuses on one night via webcast. With over 1200 leaders attending together we learned how to catch and cast vision for our family, workplace and ministry.  The video below is the first portion of the Leaders Conference featuring Pastor Greg Surratt who talked about “What I know About Vision”.  Watch the video and follow the steps below to help you apply these principles. 

Every Tuesday for the next 4 weeks I will be posting one video from the different conference speakers which included:  Reggie Joiner (How to Cast Vision for your Family), Ray Snyder (How to Cast Vision in the Workplace), and Steven Furtick (How to Cast vision as a Ministry Leader).  Enjoy!

Leadership Conference – 2010 – Greg Surratt from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

ACTION STEPS

1.  Watch Pastor Greg’s teaching on Vision and take notes in the space below

What I know About Vision

• A clear vision _______________________ in your life.
• A clear vision ________________________ to keep moving forward
• A clear vision ________________________________
• A clear vision _______________________________ of other people

How to Get a Vision

• Create _________________ in your life to listen to God.
• Ask God to _______________________ in the process.
• Keep a ________________________
• Write the _____________________________ of what the future looks like.
• Set ___________________ so every day you get closer to the vision.

2. Set aside several hours and write “the story” of the future for your family, work and/or ministry.  Follow the five steps Pastor Greg listed in his talk.

3.  Identify the major distractions that are keeping you from being lazer focused on your vision.  What adjustments do you need to make in your schedule to gain greater clarity and focus?

4.  Buy a good book on vision and read it over the next 30 days.  Here are a few good reads…

• Making Vision Stick, Andy Stanley
• The Power of Vision, George Barna

While they may not say it out loud, many leaders feel like they don’t have time to develop the people they work with.  This underscores a fundamental misunderstanding of leadership development. Developing leaders doesn’t always necessitate long hours of teaching and instruction. 

Every day we’re surrounded by small golden opportunities to develop the leaders around us.  But if we aren’t looking we’ll miss them. They come in the form of a short conversation in the hallway, a quick pop in the office Q and A session, or a casual exchange in the middle of a ministry event.  These “teachable moments” can take place every day if we simply take the time to look for them.

So how do we recognize them?  Teachable moments tend to come when someone is struggling with a task, project or person.  These struggles create feelings of fear, anger, frustration, disappointment or discouragement.  And there’s no doubt people are most teachable when they’re experiencing these types of heightened emotions. So when you see their struggle engage their emotions by asking questions that stir thinking.  Ask, listen, then carefully provide the coaching they need to help them get past the barriers they’re facing.  For example ask:  What’s causing your frustration?  What have you done about it so far?  What’s not working?  What are your options?  What’s your next step?  These types of questions help them wrestle through their situation.  Then follow up by asking:  What’s the leadership lesson we can learn from this experience?  In these golden moments of opportunity you identify their challenge, coach them in how to handle it and reinforce a leadership principle, and often times this can all be done in a matter of five minutes.

While I may not be able to remember the specifics of the circumstances I do know it was in emotional moments like these that key leadership principles were branded into my mind.

This Weeks Leadership Challenge:  Look for and sieze one of these 5 minute  teachable moments with someone you lead.

In the past weeks I’ve posted Session 1,  Session 2 and Session 3 of our online Small Group Leader Training.  Next Friday I will post the final session of this series.  Please feel free to take them and use them at your church. If you see something that you would change…let me know.  Working together we can make each module better.

Dealing with Difficult Situations
Introduction

Welcome to Session 4, Dealing with Difficult Situation. During this session, you will learn how you how to effectively handle difficult group situations as they emerge.  An online journal has been provided for you to record your notes and thoughts, or feel free to use a notebook of your own.  Be sure to bring your notes when you meet with your mentor.

Part 1
Our Group Edutainment Video
“The Group Outing”

Watch Episode 4 of the video series, “Our Group”.   During a group outing, Chris learns about the different personality’s of the group members.  When you have finished watching the video, reflect on the following questions:

Episode 4: The Group Outing from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

• What stood out to you the most from this episode of “Our Group”?
• Which of the personality types would be most difficult for you to deal with?  Why?
• What are ways you have seen these different difficult personality’s express themselves in the context of a small group?

Part 2
Video Teaching with Josh Surratt
Dealing with Difficult Situations

When relationships deepen in your group, conflict is often bound to arise.  During this session, Josh discusses the importance of Biblical practices in handling difficult group situations.  Watch this video teaching and then answer the questions below.

Dealing With Difficult Situations from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

• What are some examples of difficult situations you may face as a Small Group Leader?
• What could possibly happen in a group when a group leader doesn’t address the problems that come up with various difficult people?
• Review the following key concepts that Josh discusses.  Which of these principles do think you will need to work on the most?
  o Commit to telling the truth
  o Deal with issues quickly
  o Always speak positively about group members
  o Seek to understand the need of the difficult person
  o Clear the air – don’t let resentment settle into your group
  o Act in a loving way toward each group member
• Reflect on a difficult situation that you have been involved in either at work, as a small group member or with a friend.    How did the experience make you feel? How could the situation have benefitted from the application of the conflict principles that Josh discusses?
• What would your strategy be for managing the following types of group conflict:
  oIf someone in the group constantly turns discussion into debate?
  o If someone in the group is too needy?
  o If someone in the group dominates the discussion?
  o If someone in the group never participates in group discussion?

Part 3
ExploreRead the following Bible passage, Ephesians 4:25-32, and reflect on the questions below:

• How would you describe what was going on in Ephesus?
• List four or five of the basic principles Paul mentions in this passage about dealing with difficult people.

Part 4
The Challenge
1. Ask your mentor/group leader how they have handled each of the various kinds of difficult people?

2. Faciliate group discussion and have your mentor observe you and give you feedback on how you handled various people.

3.  Look for an opportunity at home, work or small group to practice one or more of the principles from Ephesians 4.  Journel the interaction, then talk with your mentor about the experience.

Isn’t it frustrating when people don’t get your vision.  You share it eloquently, convincingly and passionately yet within 24 hours someone asks you a question or makes a statement that indicates they just didn’t get it.

Being a visionary is patient business.  However the irony is most visionaries aren’t patient people.  I was struck with this truth recently when I was having lunch with a staff person who said, “You know you’ve been talking about leadership development here for years.  I’ve always heard what you’ve said, but I’m just now really beginning to understand.”  (Okay, you’re saying, “Mac is a lousy vision caster so I probably shouldn’t read any further“…but stick with me for a minute)

As leaders we have this misperception that a vision caster is like a carpenter who nails or duct tapes his vision in people’s minds and it’s supposed to stick.  But the truth is visionaries are more like artists who etch, sculpt and paint on the canvas of people’s minds until they see the image of what’s in the artist mind.  Vision isn’t something that STICKS immediately, it’s something that’s SHAPED over time. 

So don’t get discouraged when people aren’t getting it.  Vision casting takes time.  The artist knows when people need to hear it, see it, feel it, experience it, or share in it.  All of these are tools the visionary artist uses to bring the vision to life in the minds of their followers. 

How are you going to share and shape vision in the minds of your followers this week?