Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts

This Little Thing Called Love


Shane Sanchez
What's getting in the way of God's love in your life?

Do you hide behind Bible study materials, a hearty to-do list, or volunteer opportunities because they make you feel important?

What if i told you that you couldn't do anything to make God love you more?

This concept has completely blown my mind. For years I have been trapped in this corrupt idea of God's love. Reading my Bible more, spending more time at church, or being more "holy" would trick me into believing I was earning more love from God. I felt more loved when I was in a place that required me to do something. I had no idea that I could feel love better within the silence of my devotion time.

Here's the big idea:

"But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." (Romans 5:8 MSG emphasis added)

Whoa, is that really in the Word?

We bring nothing to the table in our relationship with God, but for some reason He still loved us, He still loves us.

There is nothing we can do to earn God's love. He has been giving it unconditionally since the beginning of time. The time we spend devoting our lives to His cause are greatly blessed, but they don't submerge us in any more of His love. We had His love from the moment He created us. Before we were placed in our mother's womb He loved us. Before we had even taken our first breath, His love for us was just as great as it is now. We can never destroy God's love in our lives. Whether we reject Him or accept Him, His love remains the same.

God's great love stretches us in our personal love for others.

God first loved us while we were of "no use whatever" to Him. That requires us to love everyone around us. People don't need to earn our love, they should receive it simply because they exist. Everyone is someone, they breath, they sleep, they eat, they have a soul, that means they are worthy of our love. If we love other people before they offer us anything we will better understand exactly how we are loved.

Love is deep. Love is beyond rational thinking. Love has no boundaries. Love is the answer to all of our problems.

Love without thought today and every day of your life.

Shattering Misconceptions,
Shane
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GE Your Church


Shane Sanchez

What if the church was more like GE?

What are your thoughts? What can you do to develop unity and exemplify the importance of hope?

Imagine That,
Shane

- Thanks to Shaun Mayfield (@shaunmayfield) for opening my eyes to the imagination of GE.
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Beauty & The Change


Shane Sanchez
Change is good.

As you can see, things have changed around here a little bit. I have to mix things up every so often. Monotony is a stifle to leadership. We should constantly strive to be creating, changing, and developing everything we do.

Often change is hard, but that can be a good thing. Think about growing pains, the only way to become stronger and physically move into the next stage of life is to experience discomfort. We have to sometimes feel a little uncomfortable in order to progress and grow.

God is always the same, but He is a catalyst of change. Look at creation, season's change, animals go extinct, landmass shifts, shorelines move, everything changes.

When God is at the root of change, the results are more beautiful than we could have ever imagined.

Think back to seasons aforemetioned:

With spring comes wildflowers and peaceful breezes, with summer comes white sandy beaches and a gleaming sun, with fall comes turning leaves and cooler wind, and with winter comes snow covered ground.

Even though we each have our preference, it is impossible to deny the beauty that each change of season brings.

Sometimes change is exactly what you need to step into the plans of God. What has God been asking you to change? Remember, the beauty comes after the transformation.

Another Revamp,
Shane
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Overcome With Pity


Shane Sanchez
Are people your first priority?

If one of your closest friends was killed unjustly would you give up your time to mourn in order to meet the needs of others?

I know this sounds kind of extreme, but as I read through Matthew I was challenged by the example of Christ:

"When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was.When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick." Matthew 14:13-14 (The Message)

Upon being told about the brutal death of John the baptist Christ sought retreat, but he never lost sight of His purpose.

How many of us, as leaders, miss this principle? Whether it's a bad day, an argument with a loved one, built up anger, a death in the family, etc. The initial response for most individuals is to retreat and unplug from everything. We want to totally disconnect and just have time to mourn, reflect, or calm down. In moments like these the last thing we want to do is deal with the needs of other people.

We need to look at the example Christ gave. This one passage of scripture should challenge every leader who believes they are called to a purpose. Even in one of the most emotional times of Christ life, when all He wanted to do was get away, he took the time to live out His purpose. He never lost sight of His vision and took the time to show compassion.

What if we lived our lives like this? Christ never missed an opportunity. His priority was always others first. Even in a time of mourning, he was "interrupted", and still had pity on the broken.

The next time you let your bad day affect the way you do ministry, focus on the example of Christ. Their are times to deal with the tough occasions of life, but in those times we must never lose sight of our calling. We have to constantly be aware of the needs of others and meet those needs at all times.

My prayer is to continuously be "overcome with pity" for the brokenhearted of this world.

-Shane

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Commitment vs. Consent


Shane Sanchez
My boss said something the other day that made a lot of sense. He was discussing the principle of consent vs. commitment and it hit me; we, as leaders, don't ask enough of those around us.

Now I know what you are thinking, "Are you kidding me, I'm concerned about asking the people around me to do too much". Hear me out though. I'm not talking about the quantity of what we ask, but instead the quality.

My boss described consent vs. commitment as this:

Asking a person's consent would be: "Will you throw out the trash for me?"
Asking a person's commitment would be: "From now on, every time you see this trash full, will you throw it?"

Do you see the difference between simply asking someone to handle a task and asking someone to commit to a task?

The concept seems simple but I know a lot of us struggle with asking for commitment. We have a team of individuals around our ministry that take care of task week in and week out, yet we still wind up doing a lot on our own. Some day's we have nothing to worry about because someone was instructed to take care of the task, but the next we find ourselves distracted from our work in order to take care of other responsibilities. That is why it's so important to learn to ask for commitment. You must gain full commitment from your team. You cannot be afraid to ask someone to commit long term, to a task, or a cause. Their commitment will open up more opportunity for you to focus on developing your ministry based on the vision God has given you.

It's not always easy to gain commitment from your volunteers, but when you find someone who will commit to the cause, grab onto them and don't let go. Constantly thank your committed team members and show them that their hard work is recognized. Even the leaders who "take out the trash every week" play a crucial part in the ministry. After all, they are the ones who allow you to fully focus on your sermon, small group lesson, creative meeting, network, etc.

Be a leader who is devoted to seeking commitment rather than consent.

-Shane
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