Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Leaders are Learners: Part 2

Yesterday I started talking about how leaders are learners.  I am convinced that once you stop learning you will loose your ability to lead.  You may not loose it right away but over time you will loose any edge on leadership that you once had.  I'm sure that people will still come to you to ask questions but there will come a time when you cannot answer the newer questions because of your lack of understanding of the topic.

In my life here are two areas that I plan on learning about so I can be a better leader:

LEADING MY FAMILY
I am a firm believer that my second responsibility in life is to lead my family (my first being to lead myself).  One of my New Years goals is to be a better leader in my family.  That is going to require me to take classes, read book, talk with friends and be extremely honest with others.  One of the first steps that I am taking to lead my family is to be a part of a marriage group this year.  I know that being a part of this marriage group is going to stretch me in life (especially because I am the facilitator of the group).

I want to learn to be a better husband

I also want to learn to be a better dad.  I have realized that in the last couple years of being a dad I have not been as present as I would like to be.  I share that because its true and I want to be better.  See I have taken the time to invest my time, and energy, into seminary for the last six years.  Seminary is getting ready to come to an end so this year I want to focus on being a better dad.  I want to keep taking my little girls to doughnuts.  I want to keep spending time with them and telling them they are beautiful.  I want to spend time with them where the TV is off and my iPhone is out of reach.

LEADING IN THE CHURCH
I feel there is some great leaders in the church (global) right now but I also feel like there is a leadership void.  I feel like the church, and the world, are ready for the church to step up and take her true place of leadership.  As we have leaders begin to learn more about pastoral ministry, empowering members and making disciples I think we will see the void begin to fill but that will take time.

I think a main aspect of leadership in the church is going to come from spiritual mothers and fathers taking the time to invest in the younger generation.  I know I fall in the "younger generation" category but I want to help develop those younger than I am.  I want to be a resource for those who are curious about spiritual matters.  I want to help people understand how to study the Bible.  I want to not just say it and really do it.  That is why I will be teaching a Foundations of Christianity Class at our church starting next week.

As you think about your life: Where do you see God opening doors of for you to learn in your life?  Are you committed to being a person who learns in life or are you just settled with the place you are?  I want to encourage you to take the time to focus on self leadership, leading your family and then being a leader in the church.  The world is looking for people to lead; will you be one of them?

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