The Faith of a Leader

Leadership is about control. At least that's the message that the world sends out. Good leaders control the events, people and circumstances around them, and bad leaders don't. But this view of leadership is flawed. It is flawed because there are far more things in the life of a leader that he cannot control than he can.

The measure of the greatness of a leader rests in how he deals with that which he cannot control, not that which he can. This is where the role of faith enters into the leadership equation.

For all the things I can control as a leader, I am forced to admit the numerous things I cannot control:

• The weather,
  
• World politics,
  
• Taxes,
  
• War,
  
• People.
  

People are important. I can think I control people, but in reality, people cannot be controlled. Just look at the recent revolt in Iran over the fraudulent presidential elections. The cleric class can think they control the people of Iran, but given the right set of circumstances (that are out of their control) they can lose control of the people and perhaps even control of the country. Given the right set of circumstances, any leader can, very simply, lose his leadership.

So faith becomes an important quality in the life of any leader. As a pastor I want as many people as possible to come to church on Sundays. But I cannot control the weather. If it rains, not as many people show up. It reminds me that I can't control people either. So I have faith. I lead and do what I do and I trust God to take care of all the things I can't. You see, God can control the weather. God can even control geo-politics, taxes, war, etc. God can even exert control over people if He wants to.

For the Christian, faith in God becomes the trump card in leadership. As long as you have faith in God and trust in His sovereign guidance, you need not fear, or worry, or fret any of the worldly elements that you cannot control. You serve the One who can and does control it all.

Passage for Reflection:

Psalms 9:10 (ESV)
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

"Lord, I recognize my lack of control and I put my faith in you. Amen."

Blessings,

Jeff

Super Summer Camo Style

I have spent the better part of this week at Ouachita Baptist University working with Super Summer 2009. Around 2000 teenagers have assembled at OBU this week for a one of a kind youth camp experience. This is my first exposure to Super Summer Arkansas and I have to say that I am extremely impressed…and it takes a lot to impress me. Randy Brantley is the state youth evangelism director and he has done a bang up job pulling off a top shelf event for the teenagers of Arkansas. My specific role and privilege has been to lead the daily Bible study sessions for graduated seniors. These are students that are just weeks away from stepping into a college classroom. I've included a picture of my group. If they look a little "odd" it's because they are all decked out, and I mean DECKED OUT, in Camo gear. Every Bible study group has a "color" to identify itself and the senior school is the "Camo" school. As you can see, they take this stuff pretty seriously! But I am telling you that these 120+ students are top of the class.

We have had sweet times of worship and serious times of looking into God's Word. Our focus has been the topic of Worldview, something that is very near and dear to my heart. I taught Worldview Philosophy to seniors for almost 10 years when I was on staff at Shiloh Christian School. We have essentially crammed a year's worth of material into 4 days. We've covered major issues and topics such as: secular humanism, socialism, cosmic humanism, moral relativism, atheism, evolution vs. creation, the abortion debate, the homosexual agenda, and a few other things along the way. Tomorrow I will wrap things up with a primer on Islam and then we will do some Q&A.

This is serious stuff we are talking about. These students are about to step onto the frontlines in a war of ideas and a clash of cultures. It is our job to make sure they have the proper gear, ammo, and provisions to fight the battle. The theme we have wrapped the entire Super Summer experience around this year has been, Love God, Love People. And that's what it's all about. We are at war for sure, but our war is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6) but it is a spiritual war. Flesh and blood? We are called to love people just as Jesus did.

I am encouraged this week. Based on my interaction with this fine group of Christian young men and women, I'd say the future is in good hands.

Blessings,
Jeff

Leadership… for such a time as this

Consider the times in which we are living…

Iran just re-elected the madman, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to another term as president. We are told that he won by obtaining 63% of the vote. In reality, we may never know what the "real" vote count was. The decisions in Iran are made by the cleric class led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and they were the ones that announced the election results. The bottom line is that the president will be who they want it to be. The announcement caused mass riots in Iran to protest the election results. Will it matter? No. This is Iran we're talking about, not a democratic nation. And the anti-Israel Ahmadinejad remains in power, vowing the destruction of Israel, and continuing to seek a nuclear weapon. What is really terrifying is that President Obama has changed U.S. policy and resigned himself to a nuclear Iran. In short, we will be doing nothing to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon that they can then use or sell or give to another country or terrorist organization to use against Israel.

North Korea is steaming full speed ahead toward nuclear weaponization. Their leader, Kim Jong-Il, is perhaps more unstable than Iran's leader. North Korea is showing no regard for the international community, and it is threatening war with any nation that attempts to blockade its supply ships. Kim Jong-Il's motives are unclear, but it is believed that he had a stroke 10 months ago, his health is failing quickly, and he may be trying to go out in a blaze of glory. North Korea has successfully tested missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to both America's east and west coasts.

In the middle of these two very serious international problems, our nation's economy is at its weakest point since the Carter administration and perhaps even the Great Depression. The government has stepped in and assumed control of banks and car companies and is making aggressive moves to nationalize heath care. The power of the dollar is so low that in a recent trip to China by Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner to assure the Chinese of the dollar's strength, he was laughed at. America's ability to come to the world's rescue is stalled for now and perhaps at an end. We may be seeing the twilight of the United States as THE world power.

In such a time as this, people can grow faint-hearted. In times like these we need leadership – strong, godly, Jesus-centered leadership – more than ever.

As a Christian I do not worry. I do not worry because…

1. God is in control. We can never forget this. Man is certainly not in control and the world may look like it's spinning out of control, but trust me my friend, God is in FULL control. Christians need to remind the world of this.

2. God has a plan. God's control always follows the direction of God's plan. There is no aimlessness to what we are seeing. It is not chaos. The events of the world are unfolding exactly as God has willed it.

3. God is the only sure thing. In a world where we do not know what is around the next corner, where we do not know what tomorrow will bring, God has given us one sure thing. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. We can always count on the love and protection and shielding of Christ. That does not mean we are immune from the evils of the world, but it does mean we are secure in our place in eternity.

Passage for Reflection:

Psalms 97:1-5 (ESV)
¹ The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
² Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around.
⁴ His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

"Lord, may I boldly lead with confidence in such a time as this. Amen."

Blessings,

Jeff

Christianity, Islam, and America

I blogged last week about my upcoming mission trip to Tanzania, Africa. I am leading a group of three other men to assist IMB missionary, Scott Ward, as he endeavors to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to an unreached people group in the Pare mountains.

What I did not mention last week is that although the Pare people are new to Christianity, generations ago, Islam came through the area and converted the population. The vast majority of the people we will encounter will tell us they are Muslim. BUT the reality is that Islam has left them spiritually bankrupt and empty and they are essentially only cultural Muslims. This means they are ready for Jesus! And that begs a critical point in mission work. All other systems of belief, Islam included, lead to despair, emptiness, lack of fulfillment, fear, and I could go on and on. Only Christianity offers hope, love, forgiveness, and life.

Yet, amazingly Christianity in the United States is more than ever the target of ridicule and persecution. We are seeing a dangerous shift in attitudes about various religions in America. While Christianity is under attack, virtually every other religion and belief system gets a pass…or an endorsement.

As I have already blogged about in detail, Islam is on the move. We already have the immigration issue where Muslims are moving into western countries in great numbers and reproducing in great numbers. They are threatening to seize the culture just through sheer population domination. But now we have the words of our own elected leader. President Obama declared in Turkey back in April that we Americans "do not consider ourselves a Christian nation…." And then just two weeks ago in Cairo, Egypt, President Obama asserted to the world that if you considered the number of Muslims in our country America is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

These two statements by themselves are shocking but taken together they are frightening. You see, as the leader goes, so go the people or a nation. Let's put this in perspective.

Carrie Prejean states in the Miss USA pageant that she believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. Period. Now remember, she was asked what she believed. Her opinion was solicited. Carrie Prejean is a Christian and she expressed a Christian position on marriage. The result? This woman has been beat to a pulp in the media. She has been cut open and roasted on the fire. And the attacks continued unabated leading to the loss of her crown as Miss California.

This same media that mercilessly skewered a Christian, virtually ignored the MAJOR news story of Private William Long who was gunned down in front of an army recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas two weeks ago. In fact, Charles Gibson of ABC news and Katie Couric of CBS news said not one word about the shooting. That's right…not a word. It was totally and completely ignored by the ABC and CBS news departments. Could the reason have something to do with the fact that the shooter was a radical Muslim performing an act of Jihad and proclaiming proudly to the AP that more attacks are on the way?

And while ABC and CBS totally ignored a religiously motivated shooting on US soil of an America solider by a Muslim extremist, they have run ad nauseum, story after story proclaiming the injustice of three Muslims terrorists (responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans) who were water boarded THREE YEARS AGO.

As the leader goes, so go the people…or a nation.

It is open season on Christians, and Islam gets the official pass…and even an endorsement.

Our President has said so…

Blessings,

Jeff

The Committed Leader – Part 3

Last week I shared with you the inspiring story of Thomas Edison. But the story I shared has an ending that many people have never heard.

That Edison was committed is not in doubt, but that commitment was tested when he was 67 years old in an incident surrounding his world-famous lab in New Jersey. This impressive 14 building complex spanned the length of three football fields. The complex was Edison's crowning jewel and he truly loved the place. It was commonly known that Edison would often fall asleep on a lab table, perfectly content and feeling right at home.

But in December of 1914, this beloved research lab caught on fire. And given the materials contained in such a facility, this was not just any old fire. The impressive flames lit up the sky for miles around. It would be natural to think that Edison would be crushed by such a disaster, especially at his age. But on the contrary, on the night of the fire, Thomas Edison was quoted as saying to his children, "Kids, go get your mother. She'll never see another fire like this one!"

Edison would go on to rebuild his lab facility and work for another 17 years before retiring. "I am long on ideas and short on time. I expect to live to be only about a hundred," he would say. Edison would not live to be 100 but died, instead, at the age of 84. And what he packed into his 84 years surpasses most of us. Why? Because the man understood commitment.

Consider for a moment what Jesus was able to pack into his 33 years on earth. He accomplished no less than the salvation of mankind. In the process, he founded the Church which has withstood the changing winds of time and become the number one instrument of God to change the world.

Jesus Christ knew commitment. He knew how to practice it and to identify it in others. In his journeys, Jesus would encounter four types of people when it comes to commitment.

1. Cop-outs – people with no goals and who do not commit

2. Hold-outs – people afraid to commit: the rich young ruler

3. Drop-outs – people who start but then quit: Judas

4. All-outs – people who set goals, commit and pay the price: the disciples

So, which one are you? How do you measure your commitment as a spouse, parent, worker, Christian…leader?

Proverbs 16:3 (ESV)
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

"Lord, I commit my work to you…all out. Amen."

Blessings,

Jeff

Mission Tanzania

In August, I will have the opportunity to lead a group of three other men from our church on a mission trip to Tanzania, Africa. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this trip for lots of reasons. One of my former associate pastors, Scott Ward, left our staff about two years ago to accept an appointment with the International Mission Board as a career missionary to Tanzania. Scott had visited the country several times on other mission trips and God laid on his heart the Pare people. The Pare are an unreached people group located in the Pare mountains in northern Tanzania. God paved the way for Scott's appointment and so he, along with his wonderful wife, Jennifer, and three boys, have all relocated to Same, Tanzania. As you can imagine, it's quite an undertaking to relocate an entire family, learn the language (Swahili) and prepare to plant churches in an area of the world that has never seen Christianity. This past spring, Scott finally reached a point where he was ready to start hosting small groups of volunteers to help him work the mission.

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch"….
We had already determined at Grand Avenue Baptist Church to assist Scott and Jennifer and be involved with the mission work among the Pare, but God has been at work to expand the resources that will be available. To begin, First Baptist Church, just down the street from our campus, jumped on board and made a commitment to help Scott reach the Pare as well. Greg Ford is the mission pastor at FBC and a GREAT guy. I have known Greg for years and he and I are "old" friends.

Next, God sent to the River Valley of Arkansas a man named Jeff Thompson. Jeff arrived about a year and a half ago to lead the association of 60+ southern Baptist churches here in our area. God put the Pare on Jeff's heart as well. And so last year at our associational meeting, we, as a group of over 60 churches made the move to adopt and commit to the Pare people. That means that Scott Ward now has the collective resources of over 60 churches working together to help him bring Jesus to Tanzania. For all the naysayers who complain that churches only fight against each other and that churches can't get along, I'd like to invite them to come check out the cooperation happening in the River Valley of Arkansas.

Back to Tanzania…
FBC just returned a couple of weeks ago from their first trip to Tanzania, led by Greg Ford. They will be sending another team in July followed by the team I will be leading in August. These are small teams designed to be highly mobile and move quickly through the mountains from village to village, mostly on foot. Our goal is to meet the village leaders, gain favor and permission to meet and talk to people paving the way for Scott to return. Scott's goal is to ultimately lead individuals to Christ and start indigenous churches.

We have another God resource in Tanzania as well. God has provided a man named Fanuel as a native Tanzanian and Baptist pastor to work with Scott. Fanuel is also training several other young "preacher" men to become pastors as well. I cannot overemphasize how much of a blessing this is to the mission effort to the Pare. Fanuel and his team provide credibility for Scott and our teams from the U.S. They will serve to interpret and introduce us to the culture.

I have not met Fanuel yet, but he is my brother in Christ. I can't wait to meet him face to face in August and tell him that I have been praying for him daily.

With all of this as backdrop, I want to share with you the words of Scott Ward who sent this update to Greg Ford just last week as a follow-up to what God is doing since FBC's trip:

Hey Greg,

I wanted to update you on the stuff happening in Mwembe (actually Mwembe is the whole region – we were in the village of Bangalala in the section of Vudee). We have just finished showing the Jesus Film for the third night in a row. Tonight was the last night. Each night, we have averaged over 200 people, and they have come as far away as on top of the mountain. It has been mostly women who have come (maybe 80%), but there has been some men on the fringes. Fanuel assured me that this is how it works. Many people have been "saved." Actually, at these events almost everyone "accepts" Jesus. This is why volunteer teams can leave here saying that they had 500 people accept Christ. The truth is that culturally everyone wants to make sure they don't offend you, so they go along with the motions even though they don't mean anything. During the days, we have just been going house to house sowing the Gospel.

So, in a nutshell…

1. About 5 weeks ago three people accepted Christ through Alison's (one of Fanuel's students) testimony.
2. About 2 weeks ago you guys came and softened the soil and did some more seed-sowing.
3. This week, we have come in with full permission of the district and local governments and did a lot of seed-sowing using the Jesus Film, preaching, and just plain 'ole talking.
4. Many people have responded in some way.

Now the future plan…

Fanuel will return to Mwembe on Saturday to rent a small house for 1 or 2 months (maybe $20 total). I will provide him with posters advertising a Baptist Church meeting on Sunday's and a men's Bible study on Wednesday's (Fanuel said that this is the way to get the men – they want to come, drink chai, and discuss.)

1. We will see this month how many people actually gave their lives to Christ and begin in some kind of Bible study. Hopefully at the end of a month or two we will have out first baptism service. I am planning on leaving the Proclaimer with them there so that they can use it to study the Bible.

2. If this goes as well as we think it will, Alison will move to Mwembe in a couple of months to be a pastor under heavy accountability through Fanuel and myself. We will then have the official launch of the new Baptist Church in Bagalala (the first all-Pare church).

Of course, everyone is extremely excited about all of this here. People are really beginning to catch a vision for the mountains, because they have seen such a need and hunger.

Everyone loves Jeff's (Thompson) commitment not to shave until we baptize 100 Pare and start 5 churches. Fanuel asked me to make a poster to put in his church so everyone will remember Jeff's suffering. He hasn't stopped laughing.

On a side note – We went to Mwanga today and Fanuel's office had been broken into. All that was stolen was a small cooking stove and a radio. He thinks they were looking for his motorcycle. We got some good new locks. The good thing out of this is that he is feeling more urgency to move to Mwanga now.

I'll be gone all next week to a meeting in Nairobi, but I should still have email.

Scott

Latest Update!

As I was walking out of morning worship this past Sunday, I got a text via Scott that said:

"We had 25 attend our first service in Mwembe!"

Folks, God is moving. He's moving fast and He's moving big and I can't wait to jump on the wave in August.

Blessings,
Jeff

Monday Morning Leadership Devo: The Committed Leader – Part 2

Last week I asked what commitment means to you. Today, I want to dissect commitment a bit further. In my years of ministry experience, I have observed three things about commitment that I want to share with you.

1. Commitment starts in the heart.

It was Michael Jordan who said, "Heart is what separates the good from the great." Jordan certainly understands something about commitment. But it was Jesus that said,

^"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45 (ESV)

It all starts with the heart. You have to "want" it. Do you remember the Rocky movies? I love the character of Rocky Balboa. He is everyman's hero. If you'll recall, the third movie was titled The Eye of the Tiger. The movie begins with Rocky as the champion of the world. But a young and arrogant fighter, Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T), was obsessed with taking Rocky down. He was hungry, and beating the Italian Stallion was the focus of his heart. When he finally got his chance, he pounced and soundly defeated an unprepared Rocky. In the fallout, Rocky's best friend, Apollo Creed, gets in his face and tells Rocky what has gone wrong. "You've lost the eye of the tiger," he says. What he was really saying was that Rocky had lost heart. And when he tells Rocky that he has to get the eye of the tiger back, what he means is that Rocky has to find the heart of a champion again. You can't be a world champion without commitment, and commitment begins in the heart.

2. Commitment is tested by action.

Saying and doing are not the same. Anyone can talk the talk, but commitment enables you to walk the walk. Remember how Michael Jordan used to wag that tongue as he was going up for a slam dunk? If you're going to wag the tongue you better be able to deliver. Back to our Rocky movie, Clubber Lang ended up being all talk. His fists could not back up his mouth. Rocky, on the other hand, did very little talking (in all of the Rocky films!) Instead, Rocky was all about action.

Jesus Christ was a man of action. As I read back through the gospels, I notice that Jesus did very little talking in the hours leading up to and through his execution. What little he did say was focused on other people. Jesus instead was focused on sacrifice, his sacrifice to save the world. Such a sacrifice required commitment, tested by action.

3. Commitment opens doors to real achievement.

Commitment born in the heart, and tested by action, will eventually open the door to real achievement. I have always loved the story of Thomas Edison. Edison is most known for his invention of the light bulb which changed everything for all of us. But Edison was about SO much more than most realize. He was once named by Life magazine as the number one man of the millennium. Besides the light bulb, he invented 1,092 other items and ended up holding more patents than anyone in the world. He essentially invented something new every year for 65 consecutive years. So what have you done to change the world this year?? If you think Edison must have just been some extra-gifted individual that none of us could ever match up to, consider his own words, "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. If we did all the things we were capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves."

Edison was all about hard work, commitment. It took him over 10,000 tries to get the incandescent light bulb to work correctly. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up," he was noted as saying.

So how's your heart? What about your action? What about your achievement? It all goes back to commitment.

Passage for Reflection:

Psalms 37:5 (ESV)
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

"Lord, may I commit my heart and feet to you and your ways. Amen."

Blessings,

Jeff