Global Leadership Summit Day 2 “Nuggets”

“It is in brokenness sometimes that we understand what it truly means to lead.” – Bryan Stevenson 

“What glorious good might God do through your leadership if you were to lead without fear?” – Gary Haugen

Talent counts, but effort counts twice @angeladuckw

Nothing undermines the power and promise of a talented, trained, gifted and promising leader like fear. So be brave! Gary Haugen 

Beware the lollipop of mediocrity. One lick and you suck forever. Julie Funt 

I don’t get to choose who I respect. Everyone is made in the image of God and has intrinsic value. 1 Peter 2:17 

Our troubled world is demanding a better brand of leaders, those who put the needs of others before their own priorities. Bill Hybels 

When God calls me… my job is to show up and say YES. 

Be humble, be a leader not a troublemaker, thank your mentors, encourage young leaders, be civil, pass the baton well Bill Hybels 

7 Steps to Simplify & Get More Done Each Day

Our lives are fast paced and stress levels out the roof. Here is the good news: There’s a lot you can do to simplify your life and still get more accomplished. There’s a seemingly endless supply of “hacks” online. There are hacks for work, your love life, exercise, and everything else under the sun. Getting through all of the hacks requires a hack of its own.

So let’s get practical here and see what we can come up with.

Keep things simple and focus on a few powerful strategies:

1. Make a short list. With so much to do, I start my day with a list. I encourage you to make a list of the 2-3 most important things you want to get done at work. Before you drive home, make a list of the 2-3 most important things you want to get done at home. Make a new list for the weekend.

• The act of making the list will force you to prioritize so you can accomplish the most important tasks. If we shoot from the hip, chances are we are going to miss a few things or we might get stuck doing something insignificant when there are more important matters that deserve our attention.

2. Focus on one task at a time. Switching back and forth between two or more tasks is inefficient. Learn to focus on one task until it’s complete before moving on to something else. Try this for a week and notice the difference it makes.

3. Try to limit your emails to five sentences. If an email is five sentences, no one will complain that your email is too short or too long. You can maintain relationships without spending a lot of time typing a senseless email. Pick up the phone as the situation calls for it.

• I prefer texting over email or phone calls. I deliberately keep text messages short and sweet. When people know you aren’t a chatter box, they will only exchange important messages.

4. Go to bed early. Any extra time you’re awake at night probably isn’t productive. It’s probably spent watching TV while nodding off in your favorite chair. Get to bed early and get up early. You’ll get more done.

5. Sort your mail as soon as you get home. Each day, grab the mail and stand over the garbage can. Throw out the junk and sort the rest. Put it all away in the appropriate place.

6. Turn off Distractions. I got into a habit of leaving Facebook on while I work. Other people on FB can see that I was online and therefore felt like I was just surfing the web with nothing better to do. I learned quickly to disable chat  Even after doing that, I found myself switching over to see “what was going on”. I analyzed my time and came to the conclusion that I am better served if I shut it down and focus on the task at hand.

• Since I am self-employed, I have a disciplined  routine. Within that routine, I have designated start and stop times as well as scheduled break times. This is the time to get on FB , Twitter etc.

7. Return calls while you are on a long drive. If a situation requires a phone call, consider doing it while you are driving. Let me qualify this one. I’m believing that you have blue tooth or speaker system in which you can speak and drive at the same time be safe 

Try out these 7 steps and see how they impact your life. What other things could you add? Consider where you seem to waste the most time. Keep your life simple and it will be easier to get through the day with a feeling of accomplishment.

Til next time,

Jeff Hoglen

 

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Real Perspective with 2 Questions

Real Perspective with 2 Questions By Jeff Hoglen

I recently taught a seminar / Mastermind workshop based on John Maxwell’s book – “Put Your dream to the Test”. I received good feedback from those in attendance. Rather than summarize the workshop I want to give a different angle on the same subject.

First off, I need to let you know that as a follower of Christ, my main piece of advice when it comes to “going after your dream” or “reaching your goals” is – we need to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Here’s another scripture to consider: Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. It’s a pretty cool thing to have our desires line up with God’s plan for our life.

With that being said let’s get some perspective…

 You might be surprised at how much you can benefit from asking yourself just a couple of questions! Your answers will help you determine if you’re on track to reaching your goals and enable you to make an action plan that will get you there in record time.

Ask yourself these two questions:

1.  “If an invisible person followed you around all day, what would they see?” Would they see you wasting a lot of time? Would they see you taking actionable steps toward your goals? Would they see someone that is just going through the motions?

•  Our lives are largely the result of the actions that we take each day. Are you taking actions that move you forward to the future you desire or are you engaged in time-wasting, worthless activity?

• What would that invisible person logically conclude about you, your life, and your future?

2. “If you lived that average day, every day, for the next 5 years, what is the logical outcome?” So if you kept living your average day over and over, where is your life likely to end up? Now compare that logical conclusion with the life you’d like to have. How close are they?

• Are you likely to be enjoying the type of relationships you desire? If you want to meet your dream wife, how many new women have you spoken to in the last week? Where did you meet them? Now, would your ideal spouse hang out there? Rabbit trail: I know many guys who go to the clubs to find their future spouse. They normally don’t frequent this environment and they sure don’t dance J Yet this is where they go… Searching for the perfect mate. Hmmmm…

• Are you likely to have the body that you want? Are you eating nutritiously and exercising regularly? Or are you waiting to start tomorrow, or Monday, or the first of the month, or the first of the year? Getting the body you want will take a certain number of days, so you might as well start today.
•  Are you likely to end up where you want to be financially? Are you currently taking consistent action to have the financial life you desire?

• Are you likely to be advancing in the career you seek? For example, based on your performance over the last year, do you think it’s probable that you’ll get that promotion anytime soon? Are you any closer to having that small business running profitably?

•  Are you likely to have a deeper relationship with God? Remember – if you state your priorities as God #1 in your life but have no action behind that thought, are you being real with yourself? What are you really doing to live out this core value?

Now you can make some reasonable plans and create some good habits.

What do you need to do on a consistent basis to achieve the life you hope for? If you want to lose 10 inches off your waist and weigh 75 lbs less, then your daily actions need to reflect that.

People largely fail to end up where they wish to be for two reasons:

1. They have no idea where they’re going. You can’t get there if you don’t know the destination. If you don’t have a plan, you must live by default, sitting around until something goes wrong and then spending your energy fixing the issue. On the other hand, if you spend your energy driving towards something, you’ll eventually get there.
2. They don’t do the things each day that will create the life they want. In spite of what many gurus seem to claim, you can’t wish your way to success. Success is the result of making positive decisions and taking actions that reflect those decisions.

 

Ask yourself the two questions above. You might be shocked when you really look at your average day and realize where you’re likely to end up as a result of doing those same things every day. It doesn’t take a lot to be very successful, but it does take consistency.

For instance, imagine if you did 1 pushup every day this week and added 1 pushup a week. (This is hypothetical… my friends can stop laughing now… thank you) In 5 years you would be doing 250 pushups a day and you would never struggle for a minute.

In the same way, establishing daily habits that move you forward toward achieving your goals will result in your success. So here is the big question: Which habit will you start today?

If you would like to learn more about “going after your dreams” please feel free to schedule a coaching session with me. Send an email to PastorJeff@rocketmail.com.

If you would like to read about more about this topic, please consider purchasing John Maxwell’s book titled – Put Your Dream to the Test. I have included a direct link below.

Put Your Dream to the Test

Seasons in Ministry

 

I am currently away on vacation. Reading, pondering, praying… I will be 49 years old tomorrow. One more til the big 50! It’s here I find myself pondering my life, ministry and overall effectiveness. In some ways I wonder where has the time gone. Some days it seems like I graduated high school just yesterday. Other days, I’m feeling my age even as I simply get up from the couch 🙂

As I search for answers, of course I turn to 2 sources: 1) The Bible and 2) Google. I found Numbers 8:25 which basically say I need to retire from ministry at 50. Yes!!!!!! I probably need to do a better exegesis on that one 🙂 Now to source #2: All I really found was an article by Thom Rainer from 2013. Good article.  He says there are 5 stages to pastoral ministry. I agree with him for the most part. Here are his 5 stages:

Honeymoon – Thom Rainer says this is year #1. My honeymoon period was actually longer. This was mainly due to above average growth and momentum within the community. So for me – the honeymoon lasted a bit over 2 years. (BTW – I’m a church planter. This is where I normally say Adios 🙂

Conflicts and Challenges – Mr Rainer has this at the 2-3 year mark. I can totally see how that would be accurate in many denominations, especially those that are congregational led. While you cant be in ministry more than a minute without disappointing someone or making someone upset / uncomfortable, this happened when we started attracting more believers than non-believers as 1st time guests. Believers love to compare your church with the one they came from…. please go back I would say to myself 🙂
As church planter, we tend to attract the goonie googoos 🙂 That’s my pet name for those who wont stay committed and faithful to one church over a long period of time in order to make a difference there. They are the folks looking for a shortcut into “ministry”. They can be a cancer to the body. I had one that was an anti-Jeff evangelist. His calling was to hang out at Walmart, looking for members of our church and in order to talk junk on me or spread gossip about other leaders.  I told my wife if God allows me to depart from “ministry” I am going to call this dude and tell him what I think about him (I would like to call him dictator… kinda sounds like that but without tator – stop  and think about it) and his ministry at Walmart 🙂 So far… no green light from the Lord on that…. but I wait.

 Crossroads – This is years 3-4 according to the article. This is where the Shepard learns that sheep have teeth, are not afraid to use them… and at times have a taste for Shepard 🙂  Basically this where the congregation either kicks out the pastor or they navigate the waters of ministry and become stronger.

Fruit and Harvest – Years 6-10. So… I’m here wrapping up year 6 in a few short months. Waiting…. praying….. I am tired, worn out, betrayed, and even a bit discouraged yet full of hope, faith and love for those who gather every Sunday and serve Jesus in the best way they can. There is no doubt that the need is all around us. It’s more personal this time around. So I sit here and ponder: Can I move beyond the tired? Do I have another mile left in the tank? Can I regroup and refresh the team that ministers with me?

Most churches on the “fastest growing church” list have a senior pastor tenure averaging 14 years. I heard someone say – it took them 14 years to become an overnight success.

Starting year #7 – My prayer is that the Lord of the harvest would send co-laborers to help with the “harvest field”. I pray that “Timothys” would be brought up from within and “Timothys” would pop up according to God’s plan. I pray that every member would view themselves as a minister of Christ. I pray that we would all make a difference not just in the church but in our homes, our schools, our places of employment and everywhere we may go. I pray there would be much fruit.

Beyond – Ive never been at this place. This is what Tom Rainer writes: “During this relatively rare tenure beyond ten years, the pastor himself will go down one of two paths. He will be reinvigorated as a leader and ready to tackle new challenges and cast new visions. Or he will be resistant to the change around him, and then become complacent. I have seen both extremes, but I am still struggling to understand why pastors go down one path versus the other.“

At the bottom of his blog site there is a place for comments. A person by the name of Ben writes: ” As a lay person, I’ve thought a lot about what the body can do to influence pastoral tenure. It seems to me that things like regular words of encouragement, frequent prayer for the pastor, acts of service for the pastor and his family and actually following his spiritual leadership with a joyful heart goes a long way.”

Whether I stay in ministry 1 more month, 1 more year or 20 more years (OMG), when I finally do leave the pastorate (not ministry but the pastorate), I want to be like Ben. I want to be the biggest encourager to my pastor. I want to be like Aaron and Hur as described in Exodus chapter 17.

¹⁰ So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. ¹² Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. ¹³ As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.

So at this point I am rambling…Maybe this blog is more for me than to be read by others.

Here is what I do know: 1) There is no retirement in the body of Christ – it’s just a change of station or a change in roles 2) It’s all about Jesus. Whatever He wants me to do…I will do. Wherever He tells me to go… I will go. 3) When I don’t hear – it means to remain faithful to the last thing He said to do.

Blessings,

JBH