Great leadership insights from Harvest Fest

I could talk about all sorts of leadership areas that I saw at this year's Harvest Fest! I want to take note on two leadership insights that I had little to do with and came from two leaders that have never worked a Harvest Fest. These two leaders happen to be my parents. Yeah I know, I recruited leadership from afar this year; Pennsylvania to be exact. They were perfect candidates for leading a local church event!

My dad just jumped in and where there was a need, he met it. You can teach this; but it is very hard to produce this in your leaders. Reminds me of when I go into the YMCA as a member. If I see a sweat towel on the ground, I leave it there because I know that the Y pays people to pick it up. Though, now as a YMCA employee if I go into the Y as a member and see a sweat towel on the floor; I pick it up. In reality nothing changed within the circumstances of me being a member and the towel being on the floor. What changed was my perspective and taking ownership! In leadership, this is key. Perception for the leader must be changed in order for them to take ownership and lead!

My mom showed another way of great leadership! She was intentional and communicated that she cared. Though she was only here for a weekend, she made people feel welcomed and got to know people personally. One family in particular that she connected with shows us a great example of this. My mom introduced them to me by name, told me a little about their family, and made sure they connected with a pastor. Remembering names has been monumental in making a difference in someone's life; it makes them feel important. Even better yet is when you recall important details about their life and pass it on to another person. It shows that you care. One other important factor that she did was invite them to be there the next morning for church. Guess what, they were there! I can't remember if this has happened at Harvest Fest, where I saw a personal invite and saw that family in church that next Sunday. That means that there was a good connection made and the invite was worth the family visiting. Once again this is a matter of perspective and hard to teach. Though, once intentional living and healthy communication is lived out; impactful change and results appear.

What an honor!

"What!!!!!!! I am on a youth ministry conference brochure! What an honor!"

My journey through youth ministry has been an awesome ride! I have done a variety of internships, camps, community volunteering, boarding school, and student pastor positions! I also spent 6 great years earning two degrees from Liberty University and sitting under great youth professors like; Dr. Vandegriff, Dr. Vukich, and Dr. Brown! All throughout those times; I never thought that I would find myself listed on a youth ministry brochure. It has been a big encouragement to keep doing what you're doing and go big while doing it!

Maturity

Right now, I am holding my baby boy Nathaniel! It's almost 5 in the morning which he is sleeping in my arms while Mom is trying to sleep. He doesn't do too much; sleep, cry, poop, and move around. I wonder when will he sit up? When will he crawl? When will he walk? When will he talk to me? All future thoughts, of course.

You would probably think I was a crazy Dad, if I started telling people "there must be something wrong with this kid! I tried to get him to walk, but he just laid there." Or maybe you walked in the room and heard me talking to Nathaniel "Son, get up and walk over to me right now! Everyone else walks, I walk, Mommy walks and you should be walking." In this case, I would not make a great dad. It's pretty much the same thing when a lost person gives his life Jesus.

I think people are crazy when they expect a new Chrisian or a young Christian too act like they do! I want to turn to them and say: "how many years did it take you to get to place here you are? 20, 30, 40 years? Don't expect them to talk like you, tithe like you, act like you or "dress" like you! Granted, chances are I hope they don't turn out like you because we should want them to turnout like Jesus!"

For me to be a great dad, I need to teach and encourage Nathaniel at the right time. If I were with a new believer; I would have him start reading John and be with him in the growth process. There's a word for that it's called DISCIPLESHIP and it's simple! We teach people what we know about God, the Bible, and how we walk as a Christian. 

Is God involved?

I was thinking about churches moving forward into projects, outreaches, Bible studies, etc. without talking to God before diving in. Reminds me of the boyfriend who doesn’t ask permission from the girl’s father before proposing to the girl! The only thing worse than this would be asking the father for permission, not getting an answer, and still proposing to the girl. Do we do this in our churches? I think it happens more than we would think!

Prayer is huge in ministry! Asking God or even better the Holy Spirit to be involved in our decision making is a must. At the same time, we have to be careful not only to pray; but also be listening for an answer. Now I must say, there are times where we say “Let’s pray about this” and then never do anything about it. This is dangerous! Sometimes the reason the opportunity is right in front of us is because God placed it there and if we don’t act upon it, we miss it. This is    why a continued prayer life is so important because when those opportunities come up; we are ready. Also if we feel God saying do it and we choose to say we will “pray about it” we are sinning against God after the told us to do it. 

The take aways: 1. Work on a continual personal prayer life. If you are part of a ministry team work on a continual team prayer life. 2. Ask the Holy Spirit to be involved and then wait and listen. 3. If you know God is telling you to do something; then do it and ask Him to help you along the way

The good ole days or the good new days?

We have heard it before, talk of the good ole days! In fact, the older you get; you have probably have done it quite a bit. I believe there is nothing wrong with looking back on those days. They tell us how we became who we are and where we came from. I have done this a lot in my life. My problem is when we get stuck and focused on reliving the good ole days.

Problem number one with reliving the ole days is that we don't move forward. We get stuck! Problem number two, which is bigger than problem number one, is that we focus on what God did in the past that we miss jumping on board with what God is doing in the present! It sort of reminds me of a passage of Scripture in Ezra: 

“When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.” Ezra 3:10-13

During Ezra's time, God's temple was being rebuilt! God's people had gone a long time without a place to worship. When the foundation was built, it brought many emotions into play. The older generation that had seen the original temple, they wept. Some might say that they wept from joy; but in all reality once a foundation is laid, one would know what the end picture will look like. This temple was not going to come close to magnificance of the the temple that King Solomon had built. They wept because they were recalling the good ole days. The younger generation emotions were opposite of the older generation and they were shouting for joy! They had grew up hearing about the temple and how it was a place to go for the forgiveness of sins and to worship God. They didn't care what the structure looked like, they were excited to be able to come and worship God.

My Titus 2 Principle would work here! What if the older generation took the younger generation under their wing? Told them the wonders of King Solomon's temple. Talked about God's people falling into sin, being overtaken by their enemies, and the temple was destroyed. But God didn't forget about His people! God rescued us and brought us back here. Now we are rebuilding His temple with the focus to worship God and live for him. Wow, that would be powerful! 

Let's go the other way. What if the younger generation searched to understand more of how they got there and sat under the wisdom of the older generation? What they learned from the older generation could save them from making the same mistakes and falling back into sin! It could teach them that worship and the forgiveness of sins is important! The younger generation would have been equipped to move forward! 

This pumps me up! What would have happened back then, well yeah; but what would happen today if this would be happening on a day to day basis?!?! 

Let me handle one speed bump. The good ole days of the church, God's church; is not the ole days you know! I don't think there are very many Christians that would want to live in the good ole days of the church! Why? For one, they didn't have air conditioners! It's funny, the people that have problems with adding technology and new things to the church; probably didn't think about at one time there was no air conditioning! Should we go back to those ole days? How about your chair or pew seat? The early church stood for the entire service and if they sat down it was on the ground! Should we go back to those ole days? How about persecution? I am not talking about someone saying something mean to you because you love Jesus; I am talking about losing your life for loving Jesus! Could we honestly say we want to live in the good ole days? 

To be completely honest, the good ole days of the church you grew up in, those churches made decisions to change and adapt to their culture. Churches in their days were condemned for singing hymns; especially hymns accomplied with instruments. The piano, air condition, the projector, the tv screens, pews or chairs; all were new at one time and caused controversity in the church. Granted, we don't have problems with these things today! Well; unless the piano is out of tune, the air condition isn't adjusted to our comfort or we are not singing the music we want...then many times we have controversity in our churches.

For the good ole days, it propels me into the good new days. I am excited to see what God is doing today and tomorrow! I do love seeing what He did in the past as well, but I never want to be so focused on the past that I am no good for the future. God is going to do big things in His church, He will continue to have us change and adapt to our culture to be relevant, and He wants you and me to be part of this. Change is good! As long as it doesn't conflict with God's character, His will, His direction for you, and His truth - the Bible! Are you willing to take what you learned from the ole days and be ready for the best to come in the good new days to come? The choice is up to you