Daryl Strickland

“The longest distance between two points is a shortcut” - John Maxwell

Make sure you do things right and with integrity.

What you feed grows! (I know, thank you captain obvious) This is has been so true in my life. Let me give you some practical examples:

• When I start digging into my Bible, I become so alive and I want more. I feel so dumb for slacking off.
• When I go to the gym, I have more energy and I am inspired to get fit. Again I feel dumb for slacking off.
• When I spend time on organization I get more done. Again, I feel ignorant for neglecting this aspect of my daily routine.

Can you see a pattern? The things in life that are good for me, actually invigorate me when I do them. So why in the world would I not do them more often? The simple answer is self discipline but there is more to it.

I have two appetites that I have to manage in my life and how I manage these make all the difference in the world.

One appetite is for those things that are healthy for me. My family, my faith, my productivity, my health. The other appetite is those things that pull me away from the first set. I will call this an appetite for destruction. Let me get real vulnerable on this one, this is stuff like lust, over eating, laziness. These things work just like the good list, if you feed them, they grow and not only do they grow but they cause the good list to suffer. If I look at the opposite sex in the wrong manner those desires will grow. If my mind is racing to the next meal my waste line grows. If I fuel laziness it affects my whole schedule.

So here is the game plan:

• Identify the positive appetites in your life (God, Spouse, Kids, Work)
• Feed the positive appetites (time, energy, resources)
• Identify the negative appetites in your life (sin, time wasters, health busters)
• Starve the negative appetites (cut them off cold, no time, not thoughts, no resources)

This was part of blog post from Perry Noble that spoke straight to me. You can read the whole post here.

Be who God called you to be…take risks…pray “stupid” prayers…ask people for commitment…believe in those no one else dared to believe in…PREACH JESUS…listen to the Holy Spirit…give everything your best…spend time BEGGING God to change lives…understand that God wants your church to grow more than you do…stop trying to make people happy…take some time for yourself…hire the people God tells you to hire…LEARN DAILY…spend whatever amount of money you need to spend to grow…develop your strengths, delegate your weaknesses…ignore your critics…STOP trying to be someone else…HONOR GOD’S GIFTING AND CALLING ON YOUR LIFE!!!

Read Perry’s notes from PDC at Saddleback.

link

Do you know what is better than a strong leader? A strong leader with soldout followers. I think what you are getting ready to read is one of the most effective things you could do for your pastor or team leader.

God has opened my eyes as to how many opportunities the church has missed because of lack of support of their leaders or worse: undercurrent that works against the house . I have viewed this first-hand in every area of leadership that I have ever been in.

We see all through scripture how God gives a person a vision and the ability to lead and then He sends people to support that vision. The more people that cheer on their leader, lift load off of their leader and support their leader’s vision, the greater the impact the leader and the church has.

A beautiful example of this is geese flying in the V formation. The lead goose is working his tail feathers off leading the way and his leadership reduces turbulence for all the others. Research shows us that because of this setup, geese can fly 71% further in this formation than alone (that’s crazy). But the best part is what the other geese do, they honk like crazy affirming the lead bird’s efforts and this encourages him to keep it up!

I am going to say this as clearly as I can. If you can’t support your leader 100%, get off the team now (99% doesn’t cut it when souls are on the line). Lack of support will cause one of the following things to happen: 1) No Growth In Your Ministry, 2) Slow Growth In Your Ministry, 3) Leader Burn Out In Your Ministry. The above mentioned things all effect your church’s ability to reach people that are destined for hell.

If you find yourself in this spot, resign today. It doesn’t mean you are a bad person, but maybe you’re in the wrong ministry. Or perhaps you have some issues that you need to deal with personally. Either way, don’t slow down growth because of selfishness; lives are on the line and this is serious business.

If you’re in the V formation and you’re honking loud to cheer your leader on, keep it up!! Continue to lighten their load by helping out with anything you can! Continue to encourage and cheer them on! Focus on your leaders’ strengths instead of their weaknesses. Don’t bring them problems, bring them solutions. If you do this, watch out, your church will be positioned to reach it’s potential!

Here is a cool phone conversation with Steven Furtick and Perry Noble. If you are a pastor or staff member at a church this is a cool conversation to here these leaders hearts.

A couple of things that stood out to me in the conversation were:

• Church planters focus so hard on what others have that they miss what God has given them.
• We should be thankful for what God has given us and pray as to how we can go to the next level.
• You won’t be judged on what you did but rather on what you were called to do!!

I am going back through Developing the Leader Within You from John Maxwell and John is not only a leader but a huge encouragement. It is encouraging to know that most leadership traits are learned. This opens the door for all of us to become better leaders, to develop our skills, to learn as much as we can from everyone that we can.

Yes, there are natural born leaders and I cheer them on but for the rest of us, there is hope. We have great examples to follow and if you have the drive it takes to lead… lead diligently and grow your leadership daily!!!

I was reading my devotional tonight and this rang out loud and clear:

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Unless God remains at the center of your efforts, you labor in vain.

This is my biggest fear in life. I never want to be a part of something that God is not in (been there, done that) and I don’t want to lead anyone in a direction that God doesn’t want them to go.

So how in the world do you stay relentlessly centered of God? Read this post it’s a good start.

I am a conference junkie and I know good conferences and bad ones. This is a good one and here is why:

1. God is doing something is my heart here.
2. God is growing and rounding our team here.
3. God is building a network of pastors that are generous, loving, creative, strong and the list goes on

All I can say is that this has been an incredible two days for me. Here are some one liners from day one and two:

1. For churches under 100, be faithful, God wants to reach people more than you. - Billy Hornsby
2. Anytime you decide to take territory, there will be a fight. - Chris Hodges.
3. The devil doesn’t care what your theology says about him, if you take territory, he will mess with you. - CH
4. We are slaves by choice to Christ. - CH
5. When blessing increase, temptation increases. CH
6. Three things that will help you win the fight against the kings that you will face: Humility, Honesty, Holy Spirit.
7. Discouragement is an occupational hazard in ministry. - Greg Surratt
8. A cheap temporary fix replacement for the Holy Spirit is Mt. Dew, Antihistamines, and Red Bull (taken in that order). GS
9. Four things to make it in ministry by Dino Rizzo. 1. Relational servanthood leaders, 2. Acknowledge and celebrate what others are doing (especially in your city), 3. Protect your intimacy and passion for Jesus, 4. Enjoy life - All Of It!!!
10. We are not honored because we have not given honor. DR
11. Find out what your heart is and guard it, because it can be stolen. DR
12. On being loyal to your staff. You reap what you sow. DR
13. Transition people out when they are blocking progress (whether they are paid or unpaid). Stoval Weems.
14. On what current trends bother you in church. Anger of current generation, work ethic of current generation, dishonoring of current generation. DR  Lack of parental involvement with kids. Scott Hornsby.
15. Like finding a combination to a safe, if you want the combination to your city, you have to get close to it. DR
16. One of the signs of growing old spiritually is that you don’t see God in things like you used to. You don’t hear him as good as you used to. Brian Houston.
17. Move not only toward what used to be (when it was good) but what has never been.BH

I had a blast at UNLEASH last week and the good news is now you can too!!!

The videos of the main sessions (including music) are online for free right here: UNLEASH

There is also notes from all the breakouts on there (NewSpring your the junk!!)