Bobby Williams Live

Over the last several days I have outlined ways that I grow, get stretched and hone my leadership skills.  In no way are these the definitive ways of doing it.  You may have better resources or your own way of learning and growing.  Someone once told me that being a good leader is as easy as listening to Jesus and doing what he says.  I absolutely agree, that’s why the bible is the main and first resource for everything leadership in my life.  The beautiful part of the bible and all of the resources that I’ve thrown out that I learn from is, they are all accessible to you as well for FREE.

You have the same access to the same resources that I do.  You have the same ability to dive into to learning as I do.  The only thing holds you back from doing so is you.  I have no more time than you do, no more money, no more “special inside tracks” than you do or unlimited access to some leadership book library.  Everything I have learned and everything that I get my hands on happens because I go after it.  I’m hungry.  I WANT to grow.  I WANT to be stretched. I WANT to be better. Don’t say you want to go “deeper” if all you really want is for someone to spoon feed you.  If you want to go deeper, YOU go deeper.

If you WANT it, you can GET it

Finally getting around to finishing this series of posts that I started last week.  You can go back last week and see my path of leadership from fasting from leadership books, the blogs I read and now on to the podcasts that I listen to.

One of the major ways that I’m poured into, learn, grow and get stretched is through numerous podcasts.  In fact, I would say I don’t listen to much music as I used, simply because I’m mostly listening to podcasts on a daily basis.  Here are just a few of the ones that I listen to…

• Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast – Who doesn’t listen to this one?  Andy Stanley started this podcast about a year ago and it’s one of my favorites.  It’s rarely over 30 minutes long and it has some great stuff in it every month.
• Steven Furtick / Elevation Church Podcast- I love to hear pastor Steven bring the heat!  He’s so full of wisdom and the brother shucks the corn like no one else.
• Matt Chandler / The Village Church Podcast- Matt Chandler is one of the smartest and best preachers around.  He has that Texas attitude that I appreciate and dig.  Not only that, he throws out some theological nuggets that get my blood flowing.
• Mark Driscoll / Mars Hill Podcast- I like to listen to Mark simply to see what he’s gonna say next.  Not really, but I really do like to be challenged in my “churchy” thinking when it comes to listening to him.
• Acts 29 Podcast- There are some really great uploaded podcasts from Acts 29 Bootcamps on their site.  I found some amazing things from Chandler, Driscol and others there.
• Francis Chan / Simi Valley Cornerstone Podcast- I’m not sure anyone challenges me in my thinking more than Francis Chan and Matt Chandler.  But Francis Chan really challenges my thoughts in how we do church.
• Perry Noble / Newspring Church – Perry was put here to speak to the religious people of the south.  If there was a southern boy preacher model, he’d be the mold.
• RTS Podcast – On iTunes U, you can download Reformed Theological Seminary classes and listen to them.  I get a great dose of education from these and have really learned a lot in the few that I’ve listened to.

There are others that when I can get hold of them I dive into.  Guys such as TD Jakes, Rick Warren, the Catalyst Podcast, Mark Batterson, Shaun King, Josh Roberts, JR Lee, and Louie Giglio / Passion.

If you are not utilizing podcasts to learn from, you’re missing a HUGE….FREE….way to learn and grow in your leadership.

• Might have been our most charged worship gathering ever on a Sunday.  The spirit was heavy yesterday!
• Had a few volunteers out but everyone picked up the pace and the slack and knocked things out in a hurry Sunday.  They’re becoming pros!
• Adding more back drop this week to our stage set up.  No one will notice but a few of us, but I think it’ll really help fill out our room.  Sometimes the little things can make a big difference in ascetics.
• Come Home starts this week! So pumped about this series!  Invite someone this week!
• Finished up a series of stand-alone messages.  I actually call them house keeping messages, because I hit on some internal points pretty hard….serving and sharing the Gospel.
• Yesterday it was all about sharing the Gospel.  It’s not as complicated as we make it.  God’s given you the opportunity every day, He’s given you the resources (your story) and His favor is with you.  You can’t lose.
• Nehemiah 1 was where I came from….God have Nehemiah a burden…he prayed and acted upon that burden.  He didn’t sit around and let someone else do it.  He saw the need and he met it.
• We are called to share the Gospel…pretty plainly and simply.  And when I say we, I don’t just mean pastors.  It’s everyone’s job.
• When it comes to sharing the Gospel, we have it pretty easy compared to the apostles.  We’re not getting our teeth kicked in for it.
• I really do pray 3 things daily….that my heart will break at the things that break the heart of God, that hope will rise in the city of Oak Ridge and that the lost will come out hiding.  It’s my opinion you should make that your prayer too
• Our band played Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United and I don’t think there was a more perfect song for this moment.
• We closed the service with Tear Down The Walls and I had people come up and write people’s names on our stage that are distant from God, needing awakened to life in Christ.  Maybe your name made the list…..
• We’re not painting over them.  We’ll even add to them.  They’ll stay there and our worship leaders will pray over them when they look down and see them….our pastors will pray over them….and we’ll celebrate them when we look into the crowd and see their hands raised to walk into the light of Christ.
• Watching everyone in the room come up and write names on the stage was maybe the most powerful moment we’ve had at the church thus far.  It was awesome to be part of it!
• My favorite part was seeing people still writing names after the service was over!
• Don’t forget….you have opportunity, resource and God’s favor….invite someone to Come Home this week!

This week I wrote THIS POST and THIS POST about my path of leadership.  Here’s part 3 of the series, talking about what I read outside the bible that stretches me as a leader.

Besides books on leadership, which I haven’t read at all this year but 1, I really dive into blogs.  I understand for some of you, blogs are so 2007….which would leave me to the question, why are you freakin’ reading this?  Ok..moving on.  Blogs to me are a great resource for leaders and at times, can really be much better than entire books.  One thing I love about a blog is that most are very short posts and are focused on just one topic.  I dig that because I have a short attention span.  I usually only read one or two chapters of a book in one sitting.  So blogs really help me stay focused and therefore there’s a deeper impact on me.

Here a few blogs that I read regularly that push me in my leadership….

• Perry Noble – Perrynoble.com | Like him or not, pastor P knows how to lead churches in the south and the pastors that are called to lead those churches.
• Steven Furtick – Stevenfurtick.com | Pastor Steven is a guy that I highly respect because of his bold leadership and ability to speak into the hearts of all different kinds of leaders.  Some of the most memorable leadership quotes I have ever heard have come from him.  For example…Be Ruth’s Chris, not Golden Corral.
• The Resurgence - Theresurgence.com | Guys like Matt Chandler and Mark Driscol and Dr. Tim Keller along with others have regular posts here about all different kinds of topics on leadership in the church.
• Craig Groeschel – Swerve.Lifechurch.tv |  Best thing about the Swerve blog is I get a huge nugget of the good stuff and it usually only takes about 60 seconds to read the post.  Love it!
• Mark Batterson – Evotional.com |  Mark Batterson can say more in one sentence than I can explain in an entire book!  Brother is smart!  And his posts are generally very thought provoking and short as well.
• Tony Morgan – Tonymorganlive.com |  This guy knows his stuff!  His posts are usually pretty short and spot on when it comes to leading other people and issues leaders in the church face.

I know, I didn’t mention guys like Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, Seth Godin as well as others.  There are a lot of other ministry leaders and pastors and business folk that I learn from as well, but I’d be here all day if I mentioned them all.  I’ll talk more about Andy Stanley and Rick Warren later too.   If you’re not plugging into blogs, then I encourage you to set up a feed ( like Google Reader) and subscribe to some good blogs and learn from others!

Yesterday I started a new post series called The Leadership Path, based off of this quote….

“Leaders are learners. Learners are readers.”

I never want to stop learning from people.  The moment I stop being teachable is the moment I stop being a leader.  Then I would just be a dictator.

My leadership path has changed over the last year.  A little over a year ago, I seemed to learn mostly from leadership books.  I was a book junkie.  If it was a book on leadership or how to be better at the craft God called me to, I was reading it.  I have a library of books that would make a seminary professor feel inadequate.  I was reading as much as I could, any time I could.  One problem; I wasn’t reading the best book on  leadership available to me as much as I could, the bible.  So last year, I made a decision to not read any books on leadership or church things for a period of time until I felt like I was constantly thirsty for the word to satisfy my longing to be a better leader.  I didn’t just want the words in the bible to wash over me.  I wanted to be consumed by the Holy Spirit, led by His hand to be better at what He called me to.

So for the last year, I have read only one book besides the bible and I’m currently reading one E-Book right now.  I feel like it’s been a very sobering journey for me and I feel more thirsty than ever for the word of God, wanting it more than any book on leadership.

Now this doesn’t mean I don’t read ANYTHING, because I still read some things like blogs, and I’ll talk about that tomorrow.  If you’re spending more time reading books about God instead of THE book that is word of God, then I challenge you to change your perspective.

Several years ago, a fellow pastor said a phrase to me (from which came from someone else, but I had never heard it) that I have not forgotten or have not put aside to be useless.  It was a pretty simple, “why didn’t I know that?” kind of moment…

“Leaders are learners and learners are readers”

Dur.  It’s almost too simple of an equation.  But it’s so pregnant with implication.

If you want to kill your influence, or stop being able to lead others effectively, then simply stop learning from others.  Basically, if you become the know-it-all, don’t tell me how to do it kind of person because you think you have all the answers, then you’ve already lost.

I’m not the leader that I could be or should be yet, but I’m constantly trying to learn and read as much as I can to be a good leader to the people that God has entrusted me with.  Only those that I get to lead can say if I’m making progress.  Self proclaimed good leaders have to proclaim it themselves because no one will proclaim it for them.  That’s a problem.

Over the next few days I’ll tell you how God is stretching me, who and what he’s stretching me with, and how I’m continually striving to do well at leading well.

Today I just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to all the veterans out there that have served and are serving our country, so I can have the freedom to write things such as this, for all the world to see.

However, a special thanks goes to one of my best friends.  A guy that truly knew what it meant to sacrifice, not only for this country, but also to God.  What most people do not know about Daniel Morris, is that while he was on mission in Iraq, he carried bibles with him in his pack to give to the Iraqi people as he traveled town to town.  He had a soft place in his heart for the people there, that they might hear the Gospel.  I think if you would had asked him, he would tell you that their true freedom would not be given to them by the US military, but their true freedom would come from the redemption through Christ.

Daniel is a special kind of guy that gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country.  Earlier this year, the town of Clinton, where he grew up and lived, placed a bronze bust of Daniel in front of the courthouse.  Here’s a short video of that bust that I took after they placed it this summer.

What are you committed to?  We all have commitments in our life.  Some are important, but most are probably pretty trivial, but somehow take up important “space” in our lives.  We commit to things like….

• gym memberships
• boat/RV  payments
• sports teams
• soft drink brands

Let’s be honest; we don’t have a commitment problem. We “commit” to all kinds of things.  The problem is that we are committing to things that have very little earthly value and ZERO eternal value.

This may be why so many pastors and ministry leaders bash their heads against the wall trying to understand and see why there is a shortage of people committing to serving in the local church.

Take a survey of your life.  What are your commitments?  Do you have more earthly commitments that have little value at all, or are you committed to building the value of His Kingdom and committed to truly, with reckless abandon, following Jesus?