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Put Your Problems in Perspective with 3 Words

By Stephen Blandino on February 22, 2012 in Leadership, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

You may be familiar with the axiom, “You either have big PROBLEMS and a little god or little problems and a big GOD.” It’s all a matter of perspective. While it’s an easy thing to say, it’s a much harder thing to live…especially when you’re leading in a crisis.

Moses understood the overwhelming feeling of despair and inadequacy when God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. In Exodus 6:29 God addresses Moses, saying, “I am God. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.” But Moses, full of fear and insecurity, shot right back, “Look at me. I stutter. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?” (Exodus 6:30).

Have you ever felt that way? God prompts you to do something and your immediate default button is to remind God of all of the reasons why His idea is a bad idea. Shaking your head you say, “Look at me.” You do your best to draw God’s attention to everything that’s wrong with you…your lack of talent, resources, skill, and good looks.

But I love God’s response to Moses. When Moses says, “Look at me…” God doesn’t waste a minute and fires right back: “Look at me” (Exodus 7:1). And then He proceeds to tell Moses,

“I’ll make you as a god to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron will tell it to Pharaoh. Then he will release the Israelites from his land. At the same time I am going to put Pharaoh’s back up and follow it up by filling Egypt with signs and wonders. Pharaoh is not going to listen to you, but I will have my way against Egypt and bring out my soldiers, my people the Israelites, from Egypt by mighty acts of judgment. The Egyptians will realize that I am God when I step in and take the Israelites out of their country.”

God knows how to put things in perspective. When we’re crying, “Look at me,” God is quick to shoot back, “No! You look at me.” You can’t put your problems in perspective until you take your eyes off your problems and put them squarely on God. Then you’ll understand how God responds to your problems. So the next time you’re tempted to wallow in your insecurities, inadequacies, inabilities, and inferiority, step into the shadow of God. Be reminded of how big God really is. Let God’s still small voice speak three big words: ”Look at me.”

Question: In what area of your life is God saying, “Look at me.”

Look: How God Calls People

By Stephen Blandino on February 14, 2012 in Church, Culture, Leadership, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

When people talk about the “call” of God, sometimes it’s with a bit of mystery. In fact, sometimes it’s outright bizarre. But the idea of “calling” is found throughout Scripture. God calls people to tasks, projects, ministry, countries, roles, fields, and industries. Because calling originates with God, He’s big enough to determine the subject of your calling. The question is: how does God call people?

In Exodus 3, we read about Moses’ burning bush experience. Something grabbed me about the issue of God’s calling when I read this passage:

“God saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’” (Exodus 3:4)

I believe this verse reveals an important aspect of calling. Too often we expect God to knock us off our feet with an undeniable calling. In fact, most of us would admit that if we had a burning bush experience, we’d be able to hear God speak to us just fine. But notice what this verse says: “God saw that he [Moses] had stopped to look.” It was only after Moses stopped to look that God began to speak.

Sometimes I wonder if we miss God’s call because we don’t stop to look first. We’re so hurried with our busy schedules that we don’t stop to see where God is already at work. God might want to call you to serve the underprivileged, but He’s waiting for you to stop and look and those in your community who are struggling in poverty. God might want to call you to serve your local church, but He’s waiting for you to stop and look at the needs in your church. God might want to call you to run for a political office, but He’s waiting for you to stop and look at the needs of those you would serve.

I’ve said this before…Calling and vision is often birthed out of a need. But unless you stop to look at the need, the calling may never come and the vision may never form. If you’re wondering why God’s not speaking to you, perhaps He’s waiting for you to “look.”

 

How God Responds to Your Problems

By Stephen Blandino on February 13, 2012 in Personal Growth with 0 Comments

When you face a problem, it’s easy to get myopic and lose perspective. It’s easy to stand paralyzed in the shadow of the problem. And it’s easy to feel like God has abandoned you, leaving you to face your problem alone. Problems are emotional. They highlight our pain so much that we allow them to hide our God.

Because problems are emotional, it’s important to understand the emotional side of God. God doesn’t stand by as a cold heartless deity with no interest in our problems, trials, and challenges. In His sovereignty, He listens, remembers, sees, and understands.

We see this response in Exodus when the children of Israel were in Egyptian bondage. The Israelites were groaning and crying out for relief from their hard labor. In Exodus 2:24-25 we read God’s response to this overwhelming pain. Notice how deeply God was moved by the Israelites problem:

“God LISTENED to their groanings.

God REMEMBERED his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God SAW what was going on with Israel.

God UNDERSTOOD.”

Isn’t that what all of us are looking for when we face our own problems? God’s response isn’t restricted to Bible times. He still LISTENS, REMEMBERS, SEES, and UNDERSTANDS. So the next time you stand toe to toe with a problem, don’t forget the posture God has assumed right alongside of you. He’s listening to your cry for help, remembering His promises to you, sees every detail of your problem, and understands what you need in your darkest hour. If that’s how God responds to your problems, run to Him in your pain rather than letting your problems overshadow the emotional side of God.

 

The Goal in Life

By Stephen Blandino on January 24, 2012 in Personal Growth with 1 Comment

Television and media outlets do a pretty good job of glamorizing products and services that will make us look young…forever. And even though we know most of it’s hype, we actually believe it. If we’re not careful, our goal in life will be the eternal fountain of youth.

John Maxwell puts things in perspective when he writes, “The goal in life is not to live forever. The goal in life is to create something that does.” The facts are clear…one out of one dies. It’s the ultimate stat.

So what is the something that will live beyond you? What is the goal in your life that will serve as a contribution to our world long after you’re gone? Unless you determine the answer to that question early, you won’t live long enough to make it a reality. If you want to leave a legacy worth remembering when you die, you have to write a legacy worth recording while you’re alive.

 

Jesus on Coaching with Questions

By Stephen Blandino on January 23, 2012 in Leadership, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

Coaching is a powerful tool that helps leaders grow personally and professionally. Whereas mentoring is more about “pouring in” to a person, coaching is about “drawing out” what’s hidden deep inside of them. Coaches understand that the greatest skill in their coaching arsenal is question-asking. If they ask the right questions, they can help a client surface the solutions to some of their toughest issues.

Apparently Jesus understood this better than anyone. Author Ravi Zacharias observes that nine times out of ten, when Jesus is asked a question, He responds with a question. And author John Dear observes that in the Gospels, there are over 300 questions recorded by Jesus…307 to be exact.

So if you want to excel as a coach, stop just handing out answers to everyone’s questions. Starting asking questions that force people to think, reflect, and respond. The solutions people own the most are the ones they come up with. Your questions can help them come up with the best solutions to their biggest challenges.

Question: What are the best coaching questions you can ask?

Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul

By Stephen Blandino on January 23, 2012 in Personal Growth, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Every leader’s soul shapes how he or she leads. The question is, “Is your soul healthy?” I recently read Lance Witt’s new book, Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul.

Witt addresses a host of topics from detoxing your soul, to sustaining a lifetime of health, to building healthy teams. He helps leaders to put life and ministry in perspective. He tackles the distractions that so often derail leaders and offers practical insight to cultivate a healthy interior life.

There are so many great takeaways from this book. I highly recommend you read it. Rather than doing a full review, I thought I would simply highlight some of my favorite quotes. Enjoy!

“A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside of himself or herself…lest the act of leaderhsip create more harm than good.” Quaker Author Parker Palmer

“When leaders neglect their interior life, they run the risk of prostituting the sacred gift of leadership.”

“Never lose sight of the fact that the box (your ministry) is not as valuable as the gift (Jesus). And the only reason the box exists is to deliver the gift. You have dedicated your life to the gift, not to the box.”

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

“Looking back I realize there’s a correlation between my communion with God and my courage for God. The deeper my intimacy the greater my tenacity to stand courageously.”

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Am I raelly trying to discern God’s will, or determine whether I want to do it?’” Erwin McManus

“In some ways, courage is a matter of trust. Do I trust that if I do what’s right, he will have my back?”

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa

These are just a handful of great thoughts…there are so many more. If you find yourself feeling burned out, frazzled by ministry, or simply needing to refresh your soul, read this book. You won’t be disappointed.

 

But I’m Too Old to Learn How To…

By Stephen Blandino on January 4, 2012 in Personal Growth with 0 Comments

How long would you wait to learn how to read? If you were 92 years old, you would probably say, “What’s the point in learning now?” But that’s exactly what Jim Henry did. When he heard the story of George Dawson, the son of slaves, who learned to read at the age of 98, Jim Henry decided that he could too. Although he experienced a four-year setback after his wife’s death, he ultimately pushed himself to learn how to read.

Today Jim is 98 years old, and he’s doing more than reading…now he’s writing. He just published his first book, In a Fisherman’s Language. The book recounts stories from Jim’s life and sold more than 800 copies in its first two weeks. The response has been overwhelming with orders for his book coming from all over the world.

So what have you always wanted to do but have put off week after week, month after month, and year after year. Maybe it’s not too late to learn after all. If Jim Henry could learn to read in his nineties, what might you learn to do at your age?

 

Top 11 Posts in 2011

By Stephen Blandino on December 27, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

As 2011 comes to a close, I thought I would highlight my top 11 posts, with the most traffic, written in 2011.

1.  Four Domains of Leadership Strength

2.  The Law of the Boomerang Effect

3.  Four Strategic Thinking Strategies to Shape Your Church’s Future

4.  Stop Calling Her “The Wife”

5.  The Four Most Desired Characteristics in a Leader

6.  Communication, Creativity, and Constraint

7.  A Leader’s #1 prayer

8.  15 Insights from Catalyst Dallas

9.  Renewing Your Mind: Closing the Gap Between Conformed and Transformed

10.  Granger Community Church’s Audacious Vision

11.  Bad Leadership


 

Becoming the 8%: How to Set New Year’s Resolutions that Don’t Fail

By Stephen Blandino on December 26, 2011 in Personal Growth with 0 Comments

New Year’s resolutions are common around the world. In fact, many surveys about the most common resolutions (as well as the most commonly broken resolutions) include things like:

  1. Lose weight
  2. Save Money and Get out of debt
  3. Spend more time with family and friends
  4. Quit smoking
  5. Drink Less
  6. Find a better job
  7. Learn something new
  8. Volunteer
  9. Travel to new places
  10. Get organized

If you’re one of the people in the ritual of setting New Year’s resolutions, there’s a good chance at least one of these ten made your list. And if you’re like most people, you’ve probably experienced a certain amount of defeat in reaching your goals. Stephen Shapiro’s research suggests that only 8% of Americans say they always achieve their New Year’s resolutions.

So how do you become part of the 8%? How do you set new year’s resolutions that don’t fail? While there’s not a foolproof system, I have found four essential ingredients to experience success:

Continue Reading…

5 Books for Your Reading List

By Stephen Blandino on November 28, 2011 in Personal Growth with 0 Comments

Christmas time is always a great time to buy a book for a friend or catch up on a book during your own vacation. If you’re looking for something good to read (or to buy), here are a few suggestions from my reading list this year:

Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins & Morten Hansen

Like Collins’ other books, Great by Choice is backed by empirical research and loaded with fantastic insights. The authors unpack the three core behaviors that mark “10x Companies”: Fanatic Discipline, Empirical Creativity, and Productive Paranoia. Sound interesting? It’s well worth your time to read this book.

The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond by Bill Hybels

Hybels’ book provides a practical and inspiring perspective on hearing God. Not only is the book full of great stories, but it provides a biblical basis for hearing God and shares a variety of ways God speaks to people today. This is a great book for anyone who wants to grow in their relationship with Christ and deepen their sensitivity to the promptings of God’s voice.

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey’s new book is a great resource for anybody who recently started, or is thinking of starting, a business. It is full of practical wisdom that is often overlooked when launching a business. Ramsey addresses mission, goals, time management, decision-making, marketing, hiring and firing, sales, money, communication, building unity and loyalty, compensation and recognition, delegation, and more. It really is a great place to start…or a great tool to use if you want to mentor emerging leaders.

Leadership Coaching: The Disciplines, Skills, and Heart of a Christian Coach by Tony Stoltzfus

This book provides some outstanding insight on coaching leaders. Stoltzfus articulates a thorough understanding of coaching and outlines a solid coaching process that is client-driven, identifies clear outcomes, and leverages active listening and powerful question-asking to coach leaders toward their full potential.

 

Small Groups with Purpose: How to Create Healthy Communities by Steve Gladen

Steve Gladen oversees the small group ministry at Saddleback Church in California. This book outlines the dynamic process Gladen used to develop 4,000 small groups at Saddleback. This isn’t a flash-in-the-pan success story but rather a proven strategy that is developing leaders and connecting people in community.

 

Question: What books would you add to the list?

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