Blueprints: Working the Vision
In the beginning, God creates the heavens and the earth. He organizes this earth, and ensures that everything is working and functioning properly. This great big God then makes humankind in his image and likeness and calls this first man Adam… For our purposes today, it is worth focusing on Adam’s role as the first human being to receive a vision or plan from God.
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Blueprints: Organize, Organize, Organize!
In my last devotion, I underscored the need for clarity at the beginning of our pursuit of God’s vision for our lives. When you turn on the lights at the infancy stage of your project, you can clearly see what you have. Resources are made visible, and inadequacies are often highlighted. So what do we do once the lights are on?
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Blueprints: Handling the Genesis Stage
When we look closely at the account of creation in Genesis, we see that the earth God created was formless and dark… Before God separated the waters, surfaced the land, made the plants and animals, and even created people, he said four important words: “Let there be light.” In essence, he was bringing forth clarity. How do you bring light into your genesis phase?
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Blueprints: Introduction
In Luke 14, Jesus begins to discourse with the people about the cost of discipleship. During this dialogue, he presents the idea of someone building a tower without counting the cost—drafting a detailed plan and accurately assessing what it would take to complete the task… While Jesus was talking about counting the cost in following Christ, the same principle applies to leadership.
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Transformational Leadership Conclusion
My hope is that this series on transformational leadership has inspired you to take your leadership to the next level and to the next generation… My prayer is that you would leave the indelible mark of Christ on every work that you touch, and that God’s work through you would transform the systems of this world throughout the ages.
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Transformational Leaders Understand the Power of Sacrifice
For Christian leaders, our end goal is to please the one that commissioned us—Jesus Christ. Christ’s redemptive sacrifice is sometimes referred to as the great exchange. He sacrificed his life so that we might live eternally. However, we sometimes fail to realize that there is another part of the bargain—an exchange of wills. The perfect exchange therefore was Christ’s life for ours, and our will for his.
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Transformational Leadership Introduction
Our nation and the world are asking for transformational leadership. It has always been the domain of Christ’s body to rise to the occasion every time direction is needed. This series on transformational leadership will explore ways that we can gracefully and confidently step into the role that God has called us to hold.
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The Need for Control
My name is Breon and I am a recovering control addict. I don’t need to be in control of other people, or even the leader of any group that I work with. No, my addiction is subtler than the average brand of control. It is the type of addiction that allows me to declare my submission to God verbally, while underhandedly making mental calculations on how I will fulfill my desires and achieve my own goals.
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Steady Confidence
As Christian leaders it is easy to become overwhelmed with the busyness of life. There’s not enough time in a day to accomplish every task. Not enough space in one lifetime to complete the Great Commission. As a Christian, I often feel overcome by the pressures of trying to reveal Christ’s character to the world on a daily basis. Am I fulfilling my call? And do I balance being truly present in the lives of my family members on a consistent basis? How do I accomplish all of my tasks before the 5pm deadline? These thoughts bombard my mind constantly, increasing my anxiety. Most days, time feels like a commodity that constantly eludes my grasp. Yet in the midst of this calamity, I often hear a still small voice that says, “Be still”. When I am feeling pushed to take more action, join more movements, or pursue more ideals, I hear again the quiet whisper to “Be still”.
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The Big Reveal (Faith & Work Integration Finale)
I would however like to offer a different perspective on the main goal of marketplace ministry. Could it be that God’s plan is to simply provide irrefutable evidence in the most public spaces of his Sovereignty, which would give every person and system the ability to clearly choose or reject his Lordship?
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God of the Boardroom (Faith & Work Integration, Part 4)
As marketplace ministers and leaders, we have the distinct privilege of knowing the God of the boardroom. This powerful God knows how to manifest his kingdom in the most unexpected places and seasons. God has never needed our witty ideas, our professional context, or even our schemes that compel men to acknowledge him. All he needs are obedient vessels who are willing to take God outside of the box of religious and traditional limitations that we have placed him in.
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Work as Ministry (Faith & Work Integration, Part 3)
Like Moses, we must all assess the various ministry tools at our disposal. Are you a wordsmith, who uses the tools of communication? Perhaps you are an athlete, actor, writer, lawyer, doctor, politician, engineer, or artist. No matter what the tools, when you function in these roles as a way to glorify God, you are a marketplace minister.
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Whom Do You Serve? (Faith & Work Integration – Part 2)
Whom or what do you serve? What is the person or thing that has the strongest influence in the decisions of your life? This is a tough introspective question that every Christian must answer, and definitely everyone called to the marketplace. The reality is that this contemplation gets right to the concept of motives. It exposes our heart’s thoughts…
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Work as Worship (Faith & Work Integration – Part 1)
As Christians, we know that the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord (Psalm 24:1). We confidently understand that God created all things by, through, and for Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:16). These two scriptures alone build the context that we need in order to realize that there is no sacred vs. secular for the believer. God is God in every facet of this earth, and we are to exist as his children in every space of our lives. This includes our work. Under this context, we are able to understand that God will indeed use us, not just in the church, but also in our jobs, our daily work.
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Sacred v. Secular (Faith & Work Integration Intro)
God reminded me that Adam and Eve never knew the concept of sacred vs. secular. These premier human beings just existed in perfect harmony before the God that created them. Every action that they took was worship unto their King.
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