5 Ways Leaders Can Kill a Team

by Daryl Crouch (crouchdk)

Enable others to slack off

As a church leader it is easy to jump in to get the job done. After all you want it done right. As a pastor I have noticed that in the church you have an 80/20 scenario. 80% doing little or nothing and 20% doing most of the work. Now be careful, it is not because the 80% doesn’t want to do anything. The 20% is usually doing so much that they are enabling 80% to do little or nothing.

Morguefile  http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/694504

It is crucial for a healthy church to empower its people. As Leaders in the church we need to permit people to learn and grow. This is scary to most because we want everything to be just right. The how to’s will be another blog later on. We are going to do a series on discipleship. Getting back to the point. By allowing individuals to move forward and even fail we are allowing them to grow.

Try and Second Guess  

I have done this myself. You are working together with a team and make the assumptions that you know what the thoughts, agendas, and motivations are. When this happens you are in trouble. The trust and ability to work together begins to breakdown. The malfunctioning disintegrates slowly and before long you have team members bailing out.

Don’t Listening to others

Communication is essential to the health and welfare of Leadership. An important principle that is paramount to the cohesiveness of the church is good listening skills. To communicate well we simply need to listen!

Look out for your own interest

The best example is to look at Jesus’ life. Do we have the best interest of others at heart? Christ whole life was for others. He laid aside Himself to do for others. Read Isaiah 53.

Lack of Community

A Church needs to have a sense of community. With community you are not forcing work on each other but working together for a common good. A community sets up a situation that invites everyone to be involved.

Though this list is not exhaustive it represents some of the killers that is prevalent in our churches.

What else can you add to the list? What do you think can be the main killer in church leadership?

"With: Reimagining the Way you Relate to God" by Skye Jethani

Reviewed by Philana Crouch

Many Christians desire a closer relationship with God, but feel like they are missing something. They follow the formulas and read the Christian Living books found at their local Christian bookstore. They read their Bibles and pray their prayers and know something's missing. But what? Skye Jethani proposes in his book With that what's missing is how we relate to God.

Four Postures

Jethani delves into four postures or ways we relate to God that are unhealthy and definitely unbiblical.

• Life From God - people desire things from God, but have no interest in God Himself.
• Life Over God - if you do the "right things" God will have to do what you want.
• Life For God - the focus is on doing lots of things for God.
• Life Under God - live a righteous life and everything is supposed to go well.

A Fifth Way

Jethani proposes that what is missing is Life With God, where the focus is on desiring and treasuring God. He describes it powerfully by connecting it the Book of John.

The opening verse of John’s gospel is one of many texts in the Scriptures that support the Christian belief in a trinitarian God. The Trinity, the notion of one eternal God existing in three persons (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) is a foundational, and admittedly mind-twisting, doctrine of Christianity. But it is also where LIFE WITH GOD finds its origin. The Trinity reveals that we worship a relational and personal God. He is not an impersonal force as some Eastern philosophies teach, nor is he a disinterested creator as Enlightenment deism has advocated. The Christian God is a personal deity who exists in eternal community with himself. (pg. 13)

Life With God is based on desiring that personal relationship with the Creator...a return to the Begininng...to Eden! It's a journey worth taking!

Purchase Kindle eBook

Purchase Paperback

 

Posted with Blogsy

5 Ways to turn Your Life Upside Down

by Daryl Crouch (@dkcrouch)

We Think we are heading in the right direction only to find out we really don’t know where we are. We are Lost! Jeff Goins in his book Wrecked says this, “Most people don’t know who they are—sounds trite, but it’s true...They’re struggling to find meaning in their lives. They’re floundering, lost in a cloud of insignificance and mediocrity.”

Morgfile http://mrg.bz/9NLU5L

Is that you? Are you only satisfied with mediocrity. With living a status quo life? Here a 5 ways to turn you life upside down. You will not be the same.

1. Upside Down Start

Oh No! I slept through the alarm! I’m going to be late to my appointment! Sounds familiar? One morning I had an appointment to meet with a couple to regarding a crisis they were facing. I slept in because of a late night church board meeting. As I was driving to meet with the couple it hit me. As a pastor I was dealing with something that is critical to this family. It turned my life upside down. I had to do something different to be effective. I had to try something different.

Try something Different

Instead of jumping up and racing off l find if I spend a moment in quite reflection - I change. This change is accomplished by spending a quite time with God. Reflecting and talking with Him. This helps me to be more effective in dealing especially in a time of crisis.

Prayer is of the utmost importance to the life and attitude of an individual. Begin your quite time by asking God to open your eyes to people you come across. To see, hear, and feel people like Jesus did. Then with compassion reach out and touch a life.

 2. Upside Down Approach

It is easy to be critical about people. I have evaluated someone and when I understood their situation I discovered I was originally way off base. None of us appreciates someone judging us. With an upside down approach we genuinely care for individuals without any strings attached. We accept them at their point in there journey.

Did you know Jesus showed us how to let others know we are His follower? John 13:34-35. I like how the NLT puts it. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” For further reading on this check out: 1 John 4:7-8, 1 John 4:19-21.

Our life begins to shift when we look differently at people. We begin to stop pursuing our own selfishness.

3. Upside Down Ideas

Try to help alleviate suffering. “To Alleviate is to make something easier to endure.” Try some of these ideas.

Volunteer:

• Food Pantry
• Soup Kitchen
• Mentoring someone else
• Tutoring
• Hospital
• VA
• Homeless Shelter
• Senior Citizen Center

Get involved:

• Get involved with a small group ministry
• Local church
• Start a ministry
• Community projects

4. Upside Down... Forgiveness

This is a hard one. Probably because we don’t understand forgiveness. In Micah 7:18 we see God’s Forgiving Grace. “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” (Micah 7:18, NIV)

We have a God who delights to extend His mercy and grace to us. No matter what you have done God will forgive you. What about forgiving others? Luke 6:37 gives us three fold guidance. One do not judge others. Condemn ... Second forgives others. The result would be we are forgiven.

Imagine someone has just done something wrong against you. They are expecting you to come unglued. Instead you forgive them. That’s turning your life and their’s upside down.

5. Upside Down End

Close the day as you begin. Spend a quite time with God. Part of my quite time is reflecting on His Word. Read the Bible and applying it to my life.

What are some of the ways your life is turned upside down?