By: Pastor Kent Redfearn, Muldoon Community Assembly
www.mcaonline.org
Leaders achieve results. After years of study, observation, and attempted leadership, I have discovered it really is that simple. Just get results.
The best quarterbacks win football games. The best coaches develop players and win games. Winning C.E.O’s assure that their companies are profitable. Championship fathers have families that love each other and love God. Ministry leaders get results too.
If all leadership matters are this simple, why are so many leaders ineffective, unsuccessful, and unprofitable?
Greatness is in the complexity within the simple. I couldn’t find a word for this idea, so I coined the phrase, simplexity. Take a deep breath. Was that a simple or complex activity? It was both. It was a simplexity. Throw a piece of paper into a nearby trashcan. Again, this is a simplexity.
Since the best leaders get results where is the complexity?
The complexity is in discovering the following:
• Which results?
• For which people?
• At what cost?
From my perspective there really are no equations, tricks, or gurus who can give us ten easy “how to steps.”
Each leader must determine what results they will require from their organization, assure that the results are for the selected people, at a cost the organization can sustain for the entirety of the organization’s life cycle.
Great leaders lead people and organizations to the right results, for the right people, at the right cost. It really is a simplexity.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Time
By Richard Irwin
Time is a complex and nebulous thing. Time may be summed up in nanoseconds, moments, intervals, periods, hours or seasons. We can mark time, make time, borrow time, be on time, pass the time, find moments of time and even experience the fullness of time. Everyone possesses time in differing portions. It comes and goes with our having no control of its completion. God set time in place, He assigned the times and seasons for every man with the intention for us to continually move forward toward his eternal purposes. Our continuous challenge is what to do with our allotted 24 hours per day, seven days per week and fifty two weeks per year.
For the man or woman who has a fire burning deep in their soul for serving God’s purposes, time never goes fast enough in their journey of preparation. Yet that time is a designated portion that God utilizes for the tooling desperately needed to develop us for serving people. For the person who has lived their journey to the fullest, time seems to pick up speed in escaping from him, never to be re-captured.
Ps.78:70-72 tells of a young man’s early time of preparation to become the King of Israel. Though God’s purposes were established before time began, it was critical that David, son of Jesse, learn important skills while caring for the pregnant ewes of his father’s sheepfold. He was likely a long way from home where his family enjoyed dinner together and the common, dusty gathering areas where the sound of laughter was heard while his friends played in the evening.
David was alone in the distant fields. He probably had his penny whistle or harp and of course, his trusty rod and staff. The only human voice or laughter he would hear would be his own. The only other sounds were from the four-legged variety who were poor at carrying on conversations with him. I would imagine in the hot afternoons he asked those wool laden creatures a question or two and probably sang them songs from his heart that only they and God would ever hear. This time with God and sheep was critical because David’s soul was being shaped and prepared for a key participatory role in an event that the known world would be rocked by and would passed down through the ages so that we still read about today. David was being prepared for battle. This young, confident, bold shepherd boy would face a giant; a real giant who rendered an entire army nauseous when he belted out his loud bullish accusations and challenges. During those days of being alone, he learned about paying attention to how the sheep sounded. He knew the sound they would make when ill or disquieted by a nearby predator. And yes, he knew when they were just whining.
During those long hours spent sitting on rocks, drawing images in the dirt with a stick and staring at the landscape, he would also learn to hear God’s voice. The more he communed with God the more able he became in taking bold steps of faith. The kind of faith it would require to slay a lion and a bear with his bare hands. It would later be said of him that “he was a man after God’s own heart.” Does that mean that he possessed the same heart as God or that he was seeking to know God’s heart and His ways? As you read the Psalms that David authored you can clearly see that he was used to pouring out his heart to God. He did not hold back in speaking what he observed and thought. Dare we say that he understood something of what intimacy is? The one component that can produce intimacy is time; time together. There is no shortcut. Time is a requirement. We cannot have intimacy without time with God. I once read, that “no amount of time spent doing Kingdom activities makes up for the lack of time spent with the King.”
If Jesus needed to make an exit from the crowd just to be alone to commune with His Father in heaven, why do we not need to take time alone with our Heavenly Father as well? If Moses needed a Tent of Meeting, away from the rest of the Children of Israel, why don’t we need somewhere away from people so that we can have time with God? Why does the scripture say that when Moses and Joshua went into the Tent of Meeting that Moses left the tent but Joshua remained there? I can think of only one reason; time with God! Counsel would come from the presence of God that would give Joshua what he needed in his soul to lead a nation into their inheritance. God prepared him for ministry in those times spent together.
The issue is not about the location or dwelling. It is about making time to be with the Father so that we can be equipped for the things He is holding for us. It is about learning His ways so that we can imitate His actions and rehearse to others what He speaks to us. Jesus did only that which he saw his father do. In order for that to take place, one must be in close enough proximity to see and hear.
Time spent with the master makes the apprentice become a master himself. Time spent with Jesus fills ordinary fishermen’s hearts with faith to perform signs and wonders. Time spent with Jesus provides insight to write literature or songs that will draw people’s hearts to the author of life. It is the untold hours two men or women spend together rehearsing the same exercise of handing off of the baton in a relay race. That time determines the blessings and success of ministry transitions. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Eccl. 3:1
A couple of years ago, my father in law and I were taking his boat to our favorite fishing spot across the inlet from Anchorage. We looked at the horizon to make an evaluation of how rough the seas may be in crossing the inlet to our fishing spot.
My father in law made a matter of fact comment to me I will never forget while motoring around the port area that day. He said: “If something happens to me and I can’t drive…. you know the way home!” The reason I know how to navigate the tricky passageway in the river mouth and stay off the sand bars traveling across the tide flooding inlet is because we have spent years together making that same journey, time and time again.
Time gives us a place to bury our grief and past mistakes. Time gives us opportunity to heal so that we can do things differently in our next season. Time is necessary to cure the concrete that we build the foundation of our lives on. Time…. It is God’s gift to you.
Time is a complex and nebulous thing. Time may be summed up in nanoseconds, moments, intervals, periods, hours or seasons. We can mark time, make time, borrow time, be on time, pass the time, find moments of time and even experience the fullness of time. Everyone possesses time in differing portions. It comes and goes with our having no control of its completion. God set time in place, He assigned the times and seasons for every man with the intention for us to continually move forward toward his eternal purposes. Our continuous challenge is what to do with our allotted 24 hours per day, seven days per week and fifty two weeks per year.
For the man or woman who has a fire burning deep in their soul for serving God’s purposes, time never goes fast enough in their journey of preparation. Yet that time is a designated portion that God utilizes for the tooling desperately needed to develop us for serving people. For the person who has lived their journey to the fullest, time seems to pick up speed in escaping from him, never to be re-captured.
Ps.78:70-72 tells of a young man’s early time of preparation to become the King of Israel. Though God’s purposes were established before time began, it was critical that David, son of Jesse, learn important skills while caring for the pregnant ewes of his father’s sheepfold. He was likely a long way from home where his family enjoyed dinner together and the common, dusty gathering areas where the sound of laughter was heard while his friends played in the evening.
David was alone in the distant fields. He probably had his penny whistle or harp and of course, his trusty rod and staff. The only human voice or laughter he would hear would be his own. The only other sounds were from the four-legged variety who were poor at carrying on conversations with him. I would imagine in the hot afternoons he asked those wool laden creatures a question or two and probably sang them songs from his heart that only they and God would ever hear. This time with God and sheep was critical because David’s soul was being shaped and prepared for a key participatory role in an event that the known world would be rocked by and would passed down through the ages so that we still read about today. David was being prepared for battle. This young, confident, bold shepherd boy would face a giant; a real giant who rendered an entire army nauseous when he belted out his loud bullish accusations and challenges. During those days of being alone, he learned about paying attention to how the sheep sounded. He knew the sound they would make when ill or disquieted by a nearby predator. And yes, he knew when they were just whining.
During those long hours spent sitting on rocks, drawing images in the dirt with a stick and staring at the landscape, he would also learn to hear God’s voice. The more he communed with God the more able he became in taking bold steps of faith. The kind of faith it would require to slay a lion and a bear with his bare hands. It would later be said of him that “he was a man after God’s own heart.” Does that mean that he possessed the same heart as God or that he was seeking to know God’s heart and His ways? As you read the Psalms that David authored you can clearly see that he was used to pouring out his heart to God. He did not hold back in speaking what he observed and thought. Dare we say that he understood something of what intimacy is? The one component that can produce intimacy is time; time together. There is no shortcut. Time is a requirement. We cannot have intimacy without time with God. I once read, that “no amount of time spent doing Kingdom activities makes up for the lack of time spent with the King.”
If Jesus needed to make an exit from the crowd just to be alone to commune with His Father in heaven, why do we not need to take time alone with our Heavenly Father as well? If Moses needed a Tent of Meeting, away from the rest of the Children of Israel, why don’t we need somewhere away from people so that we can have time with God? Why does the scripture say that when Moses and Joshua went into the Tent of Meeting that Moses left the tent but Joshua remained there? I can think of only one reason; time with God! Counsel would come from the presence of God that would give Joshua what he needed in his soul to lead a nation into their inheritance. God prepared him for ministry in those times spent together.
The issue is not about the location or dwelling. It is about making time to be with the Father so that we can be equipped for the things He is holding for us. It is about learning His ways so that we can imitate His actions and rehearse to others what He speaks to us. Jesus did only that which he saw his father do. In order for that to take place, one must be in close enough proximity to see and hear.
Time spent with the master makes the apprentice become a master himself. Time spent with Jesus fills ordinary fishermen’s hearts with faith to perform signs and wonders. Time spent with Jesus provides insight to write literature or songs that will draw people’s hearts to the author of life. It is the untold hours two men or women spend together rehearsing the same exercise of handing off of the baton in a relay race. That time determines the blessings and success of ministry transitions. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Eccl. 3:1
A couple of years ago, my father in law and I were taking his boat to our favorite fishing spot across the inlet from Anchorage. We looked at the horizon to make an evaluation of how rough the seas may be in crossing the inlet to our fishing spot.
My father in law made a matter of fact comment to me I will never forget while motoring around the port area that day. He said: “If something happens to me and I can’t drive…. you know the way home!” The reason I know how to navigate the tricky passageway in the river mouth and stay off the sand bars traveling across the tide flooding inlet is because we have spent years together making that same journey, time and time again.
Time gives us a place to bury our grief and past mistakes. Time gives us opportunity to heal so that we can do things differently in our next season. Time is necessary to cure the concrete that we build the foundation of our lives on. Time…. It is God’s gift to you.
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