Tag Archives: call
After my last post, “‘Leader’ Does NOT Equal ‘Manager,‘” helenl had a great comment that sets up the final post in the series. She said…
Anyone can dream (you don’t have to be a leader). But if a leader dreams and gets “managers ” to do and supervise the work then goes on to the next dream, it is no wonder “people” get mad. They have every right to.
The truth is… Leaders invest in what they’re leading.
They invest financially, relationally and emotionally. They invest their time and their family. They invest their energy and their sweat. They invest everything.
Before you ask your people to give anything, you make sure you’ve made the first deposit. You make sure you’ve taken the first step. You make sure you’ve done your preparation.
Leaders can’t possibly do everything. But teams who know their captain is taking the first stride and blazing the trail for them will give till it hurts. Teams who are led by uninvested leaders will give up at the first opportunity.
***
Check out the first four posts in this series on leadership…
- Everyone Leads Someone
- Leaders Lead
- Leaders Make People Mad
- “Leader” Does NOT Equal “Manager”
3 comments | tags: adam jones, call, church, invest, lead, Reset, work | posted in Devotion, Ministry, Uncategorized
Jeremiah 37:15
They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.
I marvel at men like Jeremiah and Elijah and Paul, men who were bold enough to look other men right in the eye and speak words that they knew they didn’t want to hear. They stood up and humbly and lovingly proclaimed God’s message no matter what the fallout would be.
They knew that sometimes leaders make people mad.
It’s that simple. Many of us are created with an innate desire to please others, but the fact is… Leaders make people mad.
There is absolutely no way around it. If you lead long enough, you will say something or decide something that offends someone. You’ll choose against their preference or you’ll run with someone else’s idea. It will happen. The trick is handling angry reactions with love, grace and humility.
All leaders make people mad from time to time. Great leaders build integrity into their lives and compassion into their decisions just for those moments.
Don’t wait to react when someone gets mad. Prepare for those moments before they happen. That preparation can be the difference between life and death for your ministry.
***
Check out the first two posts in this series on leadership…
- Everyone Leads Someone
- Leaders Lead
4 comments | tags: adam jones, anger, call, conflict, lead, prepare, Reset | posted in Ministry, Uncategorized
Judges 11:1-3
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.
Jephthah had all the tools to lead but found himself in just about the worst leadership position you could imagine… His family hated him. He was homeless. He was alone.
Jephthah had every opportunity to curl up in a corner and give up. He could have taken his “mighty warrior” skills and hired himself out to the highest bidder. He could have let bitterness and the thought of revenge consume him.
But. He. Didn’t.
He looked around at where he was living, he made a plan, and he led. Granted, he was leading scoundrels instead of noblemen. But he was leading.
Because he knew that leaders lead.
- It doesn’t matter how big or small your influence is…leaders lead.
- It doesn’t matter how high or low your rank is…leaders lead.
- It doesn’t matter how young or old you are…leaders lead.
- It doesn’t matter how much or little you have to offer…leaders lead.
Leaders lead. Regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in. Whether you’re surrounded by a bunch of worthless rogues or an army of knights in shining armor, if you’re called to lead, it’s time to step to the plate.
Stop cursing your current status and start leading into your future potential.
***
Check out the first post of this series on leadership, “Everyone Leads Someone,” here.
4 comments | tags: adam jones, call, jephthah, lead, Reset, scoundrel | posted in Devotion, Ministry, Uncategorized
Numbers 32:1-5
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, ‘If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
Fear is enough to bury anyone. Being afraid of what you don’t know and comfortable with what you have can kill the biggest vision and the best plan.
The Reubenites and Gadites had just spent the past 40+ years following God through their worst nightmare. Hunger, thirst, war, homelessness and plague… You name it, they endured it. All in the name of the vision… “I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” (Exodus 6:8)
Don’t let fear keep you at the edge of the promise. Don’t let comfort limit your potential.
Granted, it’s risky to enter a phase of life you’ve never seen before. But it’s ridiculous to invest blood, sweat and tears in your journey just to quit right before the end.
If you’re gonna put in the hard work along the way, make sure you cross the Jordan and own your potential.
Don’t let fear keep you out of your Promised Land.
1 comment | tags: adam jones, call, fear, potential, promised land, quit, Reset | posted in Devotion, Ministry, Uncategorized
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Everyone has a divine calling.
Whether you’re working to uncover that calling or working to ignore it, it’s there. It’s what you were created for. And there are two levels to it…the general and the specific.
Everyone has the call to go and make disciples by baptizing and teaching God’s Word. It doesn’t matter who you are, man or woman, child or adult. God has set an expectation for your life. He won’t judge success by your finances or your politics or your exploits. His simple test is this… Are you reproducing disciples?
You have a specific call as well… Plant a church. Build homes. Teach children. Feed the impoverished. Clothe the homeless. Treat the sick. Each is equal to the rest. The challenge is to discover your specific call and couple it with the general call of discipleship.
When I hear someone say, “I just don’t know what God has called me to do,” I assume they’re looking for the specific task God has given them. And I’m always excited to join in the search but I toss this out this consideration…
If you’re not fully engaged in making disciples, don’t waste time worry about God has specifically called you to do. Make disciples first, then search for your unique role. Discovering and answering your specific call alone will make you a great citizen. Answering your entire call will make you a missionary. Disciples make disciples, they don’t simply check tasks off a list.
And God loves citizens but He’s called them to become missionaries.
Be a missionary. Embrace your calling. Your entire calling.
7 comments | tags: adam jones, call, citizen, disciple, missionary, Reset | posted in Devotion, Uncategorized
Ecclesiastes 1:13-14
What a heavy burden God has laid on the human race! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
God puts a heavy burden on His people…
- Preach the Gospel.
- Baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- Make disciples of all nations.
- Plant and reproduce churches.
- Care for widows and orphans.
- Fight poverty, hunger and corruption.
- Be the light in a dark world.
But too many of us choose to chase after the wind…
- Build personal wealth.
- Live for sports glory.
- Crave the safety of our comfort zone.
- Bring fame to our own name.
- Use the church to grow our own network.
- Care more for tradition than effectiveness.
- Work to blend into both the world and the church.
If the Kingdom’s going to grow, it’s going to be because the Church embraces the burden and ignores the wind.
- The Gospel will always be more important than your fame.
- The Kingdom will always be bigger than your personal influence.
- The Mission will always be more significant than your job, sport or hobby.
- The Call will always demand a choice between being in the light and being in the dark.
Embrace the burden and ignore the wind. Yes, it’s harder, but it will always be worth it.
Leave a comment | tags: adam jones, burden, call, church, commit, ecclesiastes, kingdom, mission, Reset, wind | posted in Devotion, Uncategorized
Dreams are great. They are necessary for forward motion to take place. They are inevitable if you’re chasing God’s Will. Dreams show us what could be. They inspire us to achieve our potential and embrace our circumstances.
But no matter how great your dreams are… Sooner or later, you always have to wake up.
No matter how perfect the dream is, it’ll never satisfy you on its own. It’ll never fulfill you on its own. It’ll never be enough on its own.
God has given you a dream. But He’s called you to a reality. What are you doing to see your dream realized? God gets the glory. God remains the center. God brings the power. But you supply the legwork. You put in the hours. You deliver the effort.
Your dream inspires your reality. But it’s your choices coupled with God’s power that define your reality.
So… What are you doing to see your dream realized?
Stop living in a dream and start letting God create a new reality through you.
Leave a comment | tags: adam jones, call, church, dream, future, Ministry, reality, Reset, vision | posted in Devotion, Ministry, Uncategorized
Judges 6:11-15
The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Jesus sees you as you’re supposed to be. He looks at you and sees the potential He created in you. He’s more interested in your future than in your past.
The only problem is we often see ourselves as we currently are. We see our failures, our weaknesses and our faults. Our present obscures our future.
When God calls you, He knows you can handle the pressure because He created you for just this moment! He has given you the strength, the skills and the season to accomplish the task He created for you.
You’re not the least member of the weakest clan of a tiny tribe of God’s chosen people. You are a treasured, cherished, Great Warrior called and adopted by God.
Stop viewing yourself like your culture defines you and start viewing yourself like Jesus defines you. If you want to discover and tackle God’s call on your life, you have to KNOW this…
Your past doesn’t define you… Jesus does.
1 comment | tags: adam jones, call, define, future, past, potential, present, Reset | posted in Devotion, Uncategorized
I’m a smart guy. And, chances are, so are you. Unless of course, you’re a smart girl. :)
The point is, if you’re the kind of person who reads blogs, then you’re likely someone who is chasing success. You’re probably working to improve yourself and your relationships. No matter what direction your life has taken, you’ve shown initiative to grow and to lead and that means something.
But, chances are, you’ve already committed the cardinal sin of leadership…
If you spend more time talking about God than you do talking to God, you are on the fast track to failure.
It’s so easy to do… I personally spend so much time telling everyone else that “God says this” and “God says that,” that I often catch myself slipping into the self-appointed role of God’s mouthpiece. But if I’ve forgotten to keep my mouth connected to God’s heart, I end up being nothing more than a fool bluffing a bad hand and hoping I don’t get caught. Eventually, even the best bluffers lose all their money.
If you’re truly chasing the life God has called you to, make sure you’re spending more time listening to God than you’re spending talking about Him. Get that backwards and you will lose control, burnout, and collapse in a very public, very painful and very humiliating crash.
Leave a comment | tags: adam jones, burnout, call, crash, fail, listen, Reset, success, talk | posted in Devotion, Ministry, Uncategorized
It’s difficult to balance the insecurity and brashness of youth with the humility and confidence of speaking God’s words. But if God calls you to do it, He believes in you! And, honestly, He’s really the only opinion that matters.
Jeremiah 1:4-19 (italics mine)
The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
The word of the LORD came to me again: “What do you see?”
“I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”
The LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah. I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
Leave a comment | tags: adam jones, call, confidence, jeremiah, prophet, Reset, youth | posted in Devotion, Uncategorized
