Making Ideas Happen

Have you been one of those people or on a team where plenty of ideas are presented but there never seems to be execution?  Scott Belsky published a book called "Making Ideas Happen" Here are some tips from his book that may help you or your team follow through.

1. The way you organize projects, prioritize, and manage your energy is arguably more important than the quality of the ideas you wish to pursue.

2. Extremely productive and accomplished people and teams capitalize on the power of community to push their ideas forward.

3. Putting one person in charge of managing next steps tends to not work.  When tasks are written in your own handwriting, in your own idiom, they remain familiar and are more likely to be executed.

4.  You need to say "no" more than you say "yes" and you need to build a team and culture that helps kill ideas when necessary.

5.  The process of creation is deeply consuming and lined with narcissism.  We fall in love with our ideas and become both certain and protective.

6.  Accountability, one of the most crucial benefits of engaging with your community, is what binds you to the relentless pursuit of your ideas.

Let those creative juices flow!  But remember.  The name of the game is execution.

The Power of the Towel

The one thing that divides people in a church, a marriage, or family is a lack of servant leadership.  A servant's heart is the divine requirement for gaining the power of leadership.

I have been reading a wonderful book called "Firestorm".  It is a must read.  In it there is a chapter on servant leadership.  It clearly expresses through the illustration of Jesus washing even his enemy's feet that servant leadership is where the power is.

So what does it take to be a servant leader?

1.  It takes preparation.  Somebody once said that, "Character is the product of a lifetime and not an instant gift."  God teaches us over time that self-effort doesn't cut it.  The only legitimate authority is divinely bestowed.  That can take a lifetime of sifting and shaping.

2. It takes broken boldness.  There is a plaque that says, "No Cross, No Crown".  Before anybody can be exalted to leadership there must be learned obedience through suffering.  Jesus was exalted after he went to the cross.  Boldness is not arrogance.  It is finding the the surety of the Holy Spirit not in yourself.

3. It takes confession and repentance.  A servant leader must always first look within.  We must first defeat satan in our own hearts before we can defeat him in the conflicts of relationships.

Washed any feet lately?

Friendly or Hospitable?

There were many times that I would talk to people who attended our church for the first time who would say that we were a friendly church.  That was really encouraging to me.  However friendly doesn't necessarily mean hospitable.  Romans 12:13 tells us that we are to "practice hospitality".  

Hospitality goes beyond friendliness.  It is a word associated with strangers and extends to us the thought of going beyond a hand shake or a smile.  The good Samaritan demonstrated true hospitality when he went the extra mile, crossing over ethnic barriers.

First the verse tells us to practice hospitality.  That is not a command only for those who are extroverted and are willing to take risks.  In many cases it takes practice.  Some folks are better at it than others, but we all need to work at it.  Remember the saying, "practice makes perfect".

Secondly hospitality means particularly to  those who are new or strangers.  This means getting out of our comfort zone and reaching out to those who are new to our group, not in our same social strata, or ethnic mix.  There is nothing more debilitating than to go to a church and see all the cliques enjoying one another and sending a message to an outsider that they don't fit in.

So many churches complain about the revolving door syndrome.  People come and they go.  Why don't they stay?  I wonder if it is a lack of hospitality.

Maybe if the church would stop being just friendly and everyone took hospitality seriously, we might stop the revolving door?

How about next Sunday you get out of your comfort zone and invite a stranger in your church out for lunch?