Blog: IYH 22-37, 502-509; LHMA chapter 20

The basic way to see people for who they are is by looking at the fruit they provide in their lives and by doing so you will learn how to correctly asses others also judge people by the results of their actions. The book on (pg 23) gives the example of how a person was late for work, but it was out of his control because of car accident, however he is still late regardless which is unfortunate. There are circumstances where this process is drawn out and its not for some time before you see the fruit of peoples actions in their lives. Something the books points out on pg. 27 is "the other examples of "trees" and "promised fruit": 1) Parents believe it's important to be with their children, but spend no time with them;(no fruit-question the promise). 2) A friend clams to care for others, and during the week does several tasks such as visiting people in the hospital, baking casseroles for sick neighbors, etc;(very evident fruit-trust the promise). 3) An individual is supposed to be able to come up with new and better ways of doing things, never does so, but always has very good reason for not doing so;(no fruit, great intentions though-question the promise)." One of the harder challenges is assessing people's strength then matching that with the needs as it's not always a clear path for getting their and may take some time before they have a clear understanding of this looks like.

This section reminds me of times in the military when dealing with new leadership specifically officers who had a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove that they new what was best for us. One person comes to mind specifically and he was a relatively new 2nd LT and right away he was a big hit with the younger crowd of enlisted or those who liked to hit the gym, however we started to have issues with him because of fraternization with the enlisted. The senior enlisted warned him of his actions, even our C.O. wrote him up for fraternization, he became a liability later on in the tour as he took favorites, but then the people who were his favorites began to dislike him. He couldn't follow through on the promises or be trusted because he was a liability with how he acted therefore wasn't trusted by many of us. I respected his rank and authority, but not him or his actions as a leader, however he did have some redeeming qualities ie preventing stupidity from rolling down hill on to us.

Pages 502-509 hit on specifically accountability and the need to have someone holding you or you holding them accountable, in fact in businesses this is almost necessary because work needs to get done. Accountability is what I would refer to as a necessary evil because no one likes it, but we all need it regardless of what position we are, and if you're the leader then you need to hold the people who report to you accountable.

Accountability is one of those things where you can save yourself a lot headaches if you do it right the first time when setting it up, my first mentor held me accountable in a way that really challenged me. When we would meet he would ask me like: How's the devotional time or What do you thinking God is speaking to you? In essence it's still in play today when I go through life, but there is one piece I will be honest on and I do believe that I should be putting more time in my relationship with God because he is our source for everything. Accountability sucks because we don't like asking the hard questions especially for guys in terms of purity, I know because I had people who kept me accountable for purity. It sucked asking those questions and it's not easy at all, but completely necessary, the same goes for leaders.

Managing a staff is as hard as you think, as looking at this chapter you see all the different aspects of working with staff from what you expect of them to dealing with terms of pay then mediating conflict between staff members. These are all aspects of managing staff and it's not as glorious as it may seem, there is a lot of work that goes into this and this is when dealing with people you realize how much it sucks.

I've been around enough leaders to see how a good leader manages a staff versus how a bad leader manages a staff or just personal under him. There was a period where I was providing child care for a Women's Bible study and occasionally I would have one or two kids helping me so we would manage working with the children that we had. Occasionally there was conflict between me and the older of the two kids and occasionally I would have to be that authoritative leader/ manager versus my typical style which is here's what I expect, this is what needs to happen, and working with them as a team and individually. It was a great experience because that was one of the first times I was in charge of people outside the military. We handled everything rather well from kids getting fingers slammed on toys to peed pants, and I would 99% we didn't have any issues working together. Honestly it kinda clued me in on parenting kids as well as managing people under you because you find out right away with what works or what doesn't.

Blog: IYH 440-455; LHMA chapter 10

LHMA chapter 10 is really getting at how a church finds the right pastor and how the process really refines the candidates because they need to know who they are looking for in a pastor. It's ultimately a matter of prayer in aspects, but honing in on possible candidates who you believe would be a good fit for your church/ministry. It seems strange, but in some ways I took a similar process when choosing where to attend college when I fully understood God was calling me to be a pastor, there was a lot of time spent looking, communicating, and figuring out what is going to help me succeed. In the end it came down to two schools: North Central and Northwestern; it is obvious who won out and for many reasons I am glad that North Central was my choice because there are people, resources, and peace with where I am at here. There will always be a process when searching for the right person or place at times and we really need to pay attention to what is important not only to us, but God.

IYH 440-455 outlines the needs for two very specific aspects in an applicant, candidate, or recruit and that is being teachable and integrity, both would be paramount when entering the work force regardless of what you're doing. These become a major factor in searching for the right people who you want to bring a long on the journey or into a position of importance because you along with your coworkers need to know that you're willing to learn from others and they can count on you. In my life people have often described me as these, it is rather humbling hearing that from pastors, friends, and counselors. We had to be teachable and integrity was a trait that was rewarded in the military because it meant your leadership knew they could count on you to get tasks done. So now at 31, this is something that needs to be in my life constantly as it helps me in many aspects of who I should be versus what isn't needed in this world.

BLOG: G2G 13-17

This section is rather interesting as a reader because not only does it talk about how to transform a situation and people, but the challenges in getting there because the steps are difficult, but in the end it is worth, The first example is Roger Briggs and what he did when he became a teacher in Boulder, Colorado and how he transformed the school he was teaching at, but also finding great teacher to partner with him on this journey. Then there is Wendy Kopp, a Princeton graduate who wanted other graduates from high end universities to teach low-income kids for their first couple years after graduating. She began gathering support and reaching out to recent graduates and began filtering the good from the great because she knew what it was going to take in order for this process to be successful. Both these people had to convince others that it was worth filtering out, holding to the strict standards that have been set, and willingness to commit to a long term project.

 The hardest part of moving from good to great is the process because as Christians we are to be more like Christ and less like ourselves, but the only way we do that is the process. It's like the refiners fire or the potter's hand shaping us into what we are meant to be. Often as Christians we get content with where we are at and forget that we are to look more like Christ and less like ourselves; you see this is the same transition from good to great. A great leader in the church will motivate you as a follower, he will challenge you, and at times test you with how far you are willing to go with your relationship with Christ. You see in the New Testament there is constant language talking about being transformed which means to look like Christ, to throw off everything that entangles us and run the race marked out for us. However we need to remember we have the greatest teacher and that is Christ himself, he is the perfect example of how we should be striving to be greater than who we are now. People give up along the way, get content, or get scared that God might ask them to do something beyond what they are comfortable doing and for whatever reason people just stop right there, Sometimes the journey is was separates the good from the great, not the number of messages preached or how popular they became with the culture. To be great you don't need to have a huge impact, just look at Roger Briggs he started small and made a huge impact on the students where he taught.

Blog: G2G 9-13 Issue Two

From the start of this section of the book Good to Great right a way we see is a picture of what leadership should look like in a cooperate office as "Frances Hesselbein was named CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA.(G2G9) " She goes on to explain that she is not at the top of cooperate ladder for her orgaization, rather she plays an integral role as she makes people aware of the realities facing younger girls such as teen pregnancy and alcohol use which helped bring a realization of what they are facing in our society. This whole sections focuses on what makes a level 5 leader and how we as becoming leaders can avoid making the mistakes. The big focus is on the level 5 leader who is at the top of the pyramid and defined by, "someone who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." The essence of a leader is different than the use of power, a leader is someone who inspires you to do something while power can be used to force you to do something that you may or may not agree with.


This book has a lot of ways that a person can become a better leader and by doing so they go from good to great; not overnight though as everything is a process. It is often easy for me to see the good leaders who want to improve versus those who are content with where they are at. If we are going to good leaders for our churches then we need to be willing to improve and become something better than before, emulate Christ. Leaders don't sit behind the desk and wait for their staff to do what they ask, but out front with their people working with them. That is something I always appreciated in the military was most of our leaders were there before and knew what was expected of us, they understood the challenges we faced. Sometimes people have false expectations, humility, and accountability which causes failings whether morally or ethically.