Dear Leaders,

As you prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family, I want to let you know just how thankful we are to have leaders of your caliber here at HPC. You give generously, serve tirelessly and love wholeheartedly, helping us to change the world one person at a time. I can’t thank you enough for the huge value that you add to this house. We couldn’t do what we do without you!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Johnny

Leaders lead with a positive, can-do attitude.  Our attitude affects not only our performance, but the performance of those around us.  People will feed off of the fear, negativity or positive spirit of their leader.  This applies to our ministries, our businesses and our families.  This is based upon our faith in God and his plan for our life.  We know that a God who cannot fail will not let us fail either if we walk in His ways.

Ask yourself:

How has your attitude been lately?

How have you seen your attitude get caught by others in the past?

Jesus’ model for discipleship wasn’t just sitting around the campfire once a week for a Bible study. He did life with His disciples and modeled the Christian life before them. They got to see Him in action - as He interacted with children, as He healed the sick, as He loved the unlovable. They learned by watching, then doing. Take advantage of the upcoming HPC outreaches (Thanksgiving Outreach on November 21 and Christmas Outreach on December 19) as an opportunity to model ministry before those in your group.  It will help your group to build relationships, but it will also allow them to experience Jesus-style ministry first hand! Go to healingplacechurch.org for more information.

Charlotte Gambill of Abundant Life Church in Bradford England preached an amazing message on the weekend of October 24th that we really felt was a word from God for our Church. Not all of you got a chance to hear it, so we’ve made it available here. If you prefer to listen on cd, we’ve made cd’s available at the Welcome Center. Just ask the staff person posted there for a copy.

Click here to download from iTunes.

The highest level of influence is when someone gives you influence in their life because they believe you make them a better person.  This is also the hardest type of influence to gain.  When someone believes you make them better, they will work hard for you, be loyal to you and give great results.  However, to gain this influence we must invest in them as a person, not as an employee or a volunteer.   It requires us to be our best so that we can experience a leader’s greatest reward – seeing someone we care about and have invested in become all that God created them to be.

Ask yourself:

Who are you investing in to see them be all that God created them to be?

Are people allowing you influence in their life because they believe you make them a better person?

Are those in your group not opening up with one another as much as you wish they would? As we near the midway point of the fall semester, take some time to just “hang out” with those in your group. Plan a night for everyone to go eat out. Or maybe barbeque or have a game night at someone’s house. Think of intentional, purposeful questions ahead of time that you can inject into the casual conversation to help everyone to get to know each another better. Spending casual time together like this outside of your Connect Group will help everyone to become more comfortable with each other, and more importantly, will help the group begin to feel more like a family. As a result, people will begin to feel more like the group is a safe place where they can be themselves and share openly and honestly.

Few things are more valuable than asking someone to serve or lead.  As good as any leadership development process is, it comes down to one person asking another person to contribute.  A leadership process guides leaders; it does not provide leaders.  Leaders are grown through investing time in them and harvested by asking them to step up to the next level.  Not only is this essential to keeping the leadership pipeline flowing, it places value on the one being asked as well.  They were not just the next in line.  They were chosen for the task.  The tipping point in many leaders’ lives is when someone asks them to contribute at another level.

Ask yourself:

Why do I sometimes not ask people to serve or lead? How can I overcome that?

Who do I need to ask to step up to the next level?

Have you ever been completely overwhelmed by all the tasks involved in leading and hosting a connect group? When I first started out I used to think that it would bother people to ask them to do small things like taking roll or sending out group emails. What happened was I began to slowly, over time get more and more stressed out. Once I began asking people to be in charge of tasks, I was shocked at how eager they were to do it! People feel valued and trusted when we ask them to take on roles, no matter how small. Read Acts 6:1-7 to see how the disciples delegated to Stephen. What can we learn from this passage?

Author & Speaker Alicia Chole shares with the Connect Group leaders about what it means to be a mentor.

Click here to dowload from iTunes.

Author & Speaker Alicia Chole shares with the Connect Group leaders about what it means to be a mentor.

Click here to dowload from iTunes.

Author & Speaker Alicia Chole shares with the Connect Group leaders about what it means to be a mentor.

Click here to dowload from iTunes.

The greatest blessing God can give us outside of eternal life with Him is great leaders in our life.  Nothing shapes our life more than those who lead us: parents, coaches, teachers, pastors, bosses, etc.   Having great people over us allows to be more and do more.  That is why being an armor-bearer is such a powerful principle.  It allows us to take full advantage of the divine gift of leadership.  Being an armor-bearer is not blind submission, but being fully engaged in the leadership process that God has marked out for us.

Ask yourself:

Who are the great leaders God has put in my life, and how have they shaped me?

How can I more fully engage in the leadership process by being an armor-bearer for someone?

Years ago, I heard an analogy by Tim Elmore that changed the way I saw ministry. He called a particular kind of leader a “Starving Baker.” The concept was that the baker had become so busy feeding everyone else that he forgot to feed himself. Our lives are often so busy, and as Christians we often focus our lives around others. We focus on our job, our family, our ministry, etc. While those are good things to be concerned with, we cannot neglect our relationship with God and our development as an influencer. You cannot give what you don’t have. We have to take time to develop ourselves as leaders. We live in a resource-saturated world. There are tons of podcasts, books and websites that we have at our disposal. Find creative ways to fit these into your schedule. Use the time in your car, at the gym, or during your lunch break. Take small chunks at a time, and it will go a long way.

In addition to grace and truth, time is another essential ingredient for spiritual growth and life change. We all wish that God would just zap us and instantly perfect us into what He created us to be, but it doesn’t work that way. We grow one experience at a time, one revelation at a time, one decision at a time, etc. And that growth will not end until the day we see Jesus face to face, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see those in your group changing as quickly as you’d like. Challenge people and make the meeting time as purposeful as possible, but determine to patiently walk people through the process of spiritual growth over the course of time. Take comfort in knowing that your only job is to plant the seed. It’s God’s job to cause the growth (1 Cor. 3:6-7)!

A leader serves others by spending relational time with them.  Many times leaders feel the pressure of what must get done and spend every team-moment working or planning.   Every individual’s greatest need is to be known and valued.  A leader communicates this to others by spending time with them as a person, not a team member.  Time is our most precious resource.  Where we spend our time speaks volumes.  Time invested in relationships with key leaders will yield a great return.  People will move mountains for those they love and those who love them.

Ask yourself:

What key relationships should you be investing in?

What keeps you from investing in relationships?

Robin Rhodes interviews Pastor John Phelps about how people telling their story can help to disciple people in your connect groups.

Click here to download from iTunes.

A leader must be an example of passion, excellence and integrity.  These are three key areas that the leader must set the standard in.  The leader has to assume that no one will exceed them in these areas.  If the leader is not setting the pace and modeling these to others, the organization will fail.

Ask yourself:

Are you actively modeling passion, excellence and integrity in areas where you lead?

How can you encourage others to meet your standards in these areas?

Grace and truth. Both are necessary if you’re going to help those in your group grow from where they are to where God wants them to be, but it can be challenging to strike an appropriate balance between the two. If your group is out of balance toward grace, members may feel an abundance of love, acceptance and forgiveness, but you will not see much growth over time because they will not have received input or correction regarding the way they’re currently living. If your group is out of balance toward truth, members will get plenty of direction and correction, but may feel guilty and ashamed because of the lack of love and acceptance. First John 1:17 says, “…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Jesus holds up the standard of truth so that we can see where we need to make changes, but then he wraps us in love and forgiveness to take the sting out of our inability to live up to that standard. We need to strike that same balance in our Connect Groups. Challenge people to change, but love and encourage them every step of the way!

An armor-bearer leads so that the one they support can relax.  An armor-bearer is not just a personal servant or gofer.  The best way to help a leader is to lead for them so they don’t have to worry about that issue.  When an armor-bearer takes it upon themselves to bring something to the next level, a weight comes off the leader.

Ask yourself:

How can you lead as an armor-bearer?

What can you take to the next level so that the leader can focus on something else?

A leader who is a builder knows that building is not an event; it is a process.  A process, by definition, has more than one step.  Many leaders make the mistake of thinking that because they cast vision for something or delegated it to someone that it will be taken care of.  A builder has to think, “What is the next step?”  It may be a follow-up phone call. It may be a meeting to further discuss details. It may be reshaping the next event.  Whatever the next step is, the leader is responsible to keep things moving forward.

Ask yourself:

What is the next step for something you want to get accomplished?

What communication steps do you need to take?

Exerpt:

“Character is critical for you to last in ministry. As a leader, it’s extremely important that you are dialed in to Jesus. If you’re not, ministry will get old, it will get monotonous, and it will get frustrating. Themore you are grafted into who Jesus is, the longer you’ll last on the journey.”  Steve Gladen

Click here to read the full article.

The greatest way a leader leads is by being an example.  A leader has to be who they are in front of people.  There is a fine line between being a showoff for recognition and being a leader that lives their life openly.  The leader of a home, a business or a ministry must do some things in front of those they lead so that they can transfer values of hard work, respect and passion.  It is not enough to do it.  Others must know that you do certain things.

Ask yourself:

What do you do privately that may not be transferring the values that are important to you?

How can you live your values in front of people in authenticity, not as a show?

To build anything great, we have to first lay a strong foundation.  A great leader establishes trust as the foundation of what they build.  We cannot lead anyone that does not trust us.  Leaders must let people know that they care about them and make decisions with their best interest at heart.  If a person feels used, forgotten or taken for granted they will not follow.

Ask yourself:

How can you establish trust from those you lead?

Do you sometimes value the mission over the person who is helping you accomplish it?

Leaders must lead with passion.  Nothing steals passion like the daily grind of leading.  Great leaders find time to refuel their passion.  Just taking a break and getting away can go a long way to refueling the passion that guides a leader.  It also helps to read books or articles that bring new ideas and new energy to the work.  For the spiritual leader nothing refuels passion like prayer.  Spending time in prayer and Bible study everyday is essential to fighting burnout and working with the passion that it takes to lead in the Kingdom of God.

Ask yourself:

Are you doing the things it takes to refuel your passion?

How is your prayer life?

At HPC, we all know how important it is to continually develop new volunteers. This article will show you how to recruit and retain volunteers by creating a volunteer culture that makes volunteers feel highly valued and fulfilled. Click here to read the article.

The greatest thing a leader can do is build yourself. Leadership is the ultimate lid of every organization. The only way to lift the lid on those you lead is to lift the lid on yourself. We grow by reading, observing and putting ourselves around leaders who are greater than ourselves. We must continually expose ourselves to environments that are new and bigger than we are. The leader’s first job is to lead themselves.

Ask yourself:

How can you grow your leadership ability?

What book can you read or leader can you spend time with?

Most gifted leaders are full of drive and desire and motivation to do something significant with their lives. A great challenge for the Christian leader is sorting out the difference between God-motives and self-motives. This article will help you to distinguish between the two and show you how to maintain humility and dependence on God as you strive to do great things for Him!

Click here to read the article.

One of the greatest ways leaders serve others is by getting them the tools they need to do the job.  A leader’s job is to equip others.  Leaders do this in two ways.  First, they give people the training they need to do what they are asked.  If we don’t train people properly, then we are setting them up for failure.  If we train them and continue to give them learning tools, then we launch them to success.  The second way leaders equip people is by giving them the tangible tools they need to do the job – a room, handouts, advertising, etc.  It is frustrating to be asked to do something and not given the tools to do it.

Ask yourself:

Who can you equip better and how can you do it?

Do you have a plan for helping others continue to grow in their gifts?