LeadershipConneXtions

How Do You Handle Disappointment?

Disappointment goes with the leadership territory. We have to learn how to deal with it.

Dreams dont' materialize nearly as quickly as we want.

People don't come through nearly as often as we need.

Progress is slower than we anticipate, strategic plans not as effective as we would like, obstacles more serious than they initially appeared.

Failure happens. Losses occur. Criticism mounts.

I've had some deep disappointments in ministry and leadership (not to mention life). So what do I do when I am face to face with disappointments? What do you do in this situation?

Here is what doesn't work...

Whining about my situation. Or a variation of whining, the "woe is me" self-pity game.

Or fault finding, blame-shifting...

Or withdraw and giving up so I don't have to face disappointment again.

Disappointments are the time when we have to dig deep and find the veins of courage, faith and trust.

Disappointments are the time when we have to fix our eyes on Christ and the goal for which we press on to reach.

Disappointments are the time when we must remember the history of God's work in our lives and ministry.

Disappointments are inevitable. But our response and our way forward are what matter the most.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Greatness

On Sunday, Pastor Steve, Pastor Rob and I did a "tag team" preaching on the theme of greatness working with two passages out of Mark 9 & 10.

I led it off describing how Jesus defined great leadership. Jesus says a great leader is one who is a servant. Then he takes it a level deeper by saying a leader is the one who is a slave to all. Then Jesus goes even further and says great leadership is measured by the amount of one's sacrifice. These are not words and concepts we normally use to talk about leadership. It is completely counter-cultural and counter-intuitive.

Pastor Rob followed up with how our culture looks at individual greatness... usually in terms of wealth, rank, accomplishment and physical prowess.  None of these are the qualities of true greatness. 

Pastor Steve then walked us through what it means to be a great church. He especially focused on a great church is one that is devoted to service and giving of ourselves to others. The challenge was for us to imagine what a church would be like if hundreds or thousands of people did this. That would be the way to a truly great church.

I was deeply moved and motivated for renewed service on behalf of others. 

My prayer is for all of us to consider how we may be about the imitation of Christ who was the exemplary servant leader.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

With Jesus: The Jesuit Way

First, it should be noted that the Jesuits are the Society of Jesus (or) the Company of Jesus. It was company in the Spanish language, which was better to communicate the friendship they had with one another and with Jesus. When it was translated into the Latin, it became Society, which sounds more organizational.

It makes sense that those who have the dream (or audacity) to call themselves "a company of Jesus" had better figure out how they are going to be with Jesus in companionship. And figure it out they did.

The main tool was using the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. Central to this process was the prayerful experience of entering the stories of Jesus through imagination, lectio divina reflections and twice daily examinations of how and where they are experiencing His Presence.

It takes time to learn these spiritual formation practices that bring one into the Presence of Christ. But as you gain experience you begin to discover Jesus, what he is doing and what he is saying to you. Then, the response is called for.

I am (slowly) working on putting these practices in a format that is evangelical friendly, complete with process, and capable of being done without a spiritual director (although having a skilled director is ideal, but not usually possible).

This was, perhaps, one of the most significant themes we discussed the week I was in Carlos Paz and Cordoba. We all had the sense that Christ was inviting us into a deeper experience of himself that would lead to transformative learning and missional engagement in the world.

With Jesus. It is that simple, that vital, that unusual, that difficult. But the world is still waiting to "see Jesus" (John 12;21).

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

With Jesus

reJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church

It is a very good book by two insightful missiologists from Austrailia (Frost and Hirsch).

Before I read this book, I had been thinking about the way of Jesus for developing leaders. A simple but profound pattern emerged for me as I studied the Gospels.

Jesus first invited his disciples to Be With Him. Relationship comes first. Friendship, presence, intimacy are what we are first invited to experience. The Incarnation of Christ (God with us) makes Invitation (us with God) possible. 

Now that we are with Jesus, we are able to engage in Relational Learning From Jesus. This relational learning is holistic and rooted in a context. It is not a simple academic or theoretical learning. It is holistic in the sense of learning of belief, values, character, experiences, vision, passion, relational behaviors... Jesus modeled everything for those who were with him. He revealed a comprehensive WAY.

This kind of learning makes Transformation By Jesus a real possibility and it avoids the prevailing problem of non-transformative learning. This is the way we move into the imitation of Christ the the "re-imaging of our lives" back to what was lost in the fall.

Finally, with Christ-likeness, we are now able to Do the Work of Jesus in the Way of Jesus. As the Father sent Jesus, Jesus plans to send us out into the world with his mission. But we can't and won't do his work in his way until we have been transformed and become like Jesus. That can't happen unless we are learning from Jesus and that won't occur until we are with Jesus.

SO . . . it comes down to a simple but urgent question:  How can I be with Jesus?  Frost and Hirsch believe that problems in the church (ecclesiology) are the result of not having a Wild Messiah. Likewise, problems with our mission is not having a Wild Messiah who leads us to mission. Problems with the church and mission are not going to be fixed with a new technique or strategy or method. Those things are the temptations, distraction and idols of our Christian age. They are going to be addressed when we learn how to experience God's presence, work and Word in personal and communal ways.

SO . . . again - How can I be with Jesus?

That is tomorrow's post. And maybe it won't surprise you, but the Jesuits show us one way.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
ww.lci.typepad.com

Letters by a Modern Mystic (Laubach's Experiment)

Frank C. Laubach was a missionary in the Philippines who embarked on a quest to know and experience God in the way Brother Lawrence did. Laubach wanted to have his entire day, every minute of it, focused on God and oriented to doing the will of God in everything. In this short book which is a compilation of letters he wrote to his father, Laubach describes his progress in this goal.

To put it mildly. It is audacious, breathtaking, humbling, scary...

Here is a thought from his letter dated, 9 March 1930 and then one from a letter, 25 March 1930.

*************************************

I know why God left this aching void, for Himself to fill... I must do three things:

ONE.  I must pursue this voyage of discovery in quest of God's will. I must because the world needs me to do it.

TWO:  I must plunge into mighty experiments in intercessory prayer, to test my hypothesis that God needs my help to do His will for others, and that my prayer releases His power. I must be His channel, for the world needs me.

THREE:  I must confront these Moros (the Muslim people group among whom he lives) with a divine love which will speak Christ to them though I never use His name. They must see God in me and I must see God in them. Not to change the name of their religion, but to take their hand and say, "Come, let us look for God." . . . . .

What right then have I or any other person to come here and change the name of these people from Muslim to Christian, unless I lead them to a life fuller of God than they have now? Clearly, clearly, my job here is not to go to the town plaza and make proselytes, it is to live wrapped in God, trembling to His thoughts, burning with His passion.

************

One question now to be put to the test is this: Can we have that contact with God all the time? All the time awake, fall asleep in His arms, and awaken in His presence? ... Can we do his will all time? Can we think his thoughts all the time? . . . Can I bring God back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind as an after image, shall always be one of the elements in every concept and percept. I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question.

Frank Laubach

*************************************

I was pretty moved by these words on a number of different levels.

to live wrapped in God
trembling to His thoughts
burning with His passion
mighty experiments in prayer
because the world needs me
they must see God in me
a fuller life of God
I must be his channel

Each phrase resonated with me.

But above all this: 

"I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question."

Talk about passion and purpose. I'll test this question with my life. And the question is so important that it is worth the rest of my life to test it to its very end.

Wow... 

You know my question for all of us! 

Is there anything we are so passionate about, so longing to know, so convinced of its central importance, that we will devote the rest of our life as an experiment to test it out?

Mmmmmm .....

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Without God . . . (Thoughts From Augustine, not to mention Jesus and Paul)

Augustine once wrote, "Without God we cannot; without us, He will not."

Augustine was getting at the constant tightrope we walk. It is the tightrope of Divine-human interface. It is the intersection of God's Sovereignty and our responsibility. It is the converging of supernatural power and human effort.  And it is a rather messy, mysterious place to live.

How hard to I need to work?

How active must I be for fruitfulness?

What does God do and what do I do?

Does my effort even matter?

Is it mainly up to me to be faithful and diligent and disciplined?

Add a dozen more questions and we see the importance and the complexity of this interface.

In our time, I think we are in the pendulum shift that is well on the side of human effort and not understanding the sovereign, divine, empowering side. We have the tendency to look for new techniques, methodologies, formulas, and skills that will "make the difference" in my ministry or work place. We do not naturally think of nurturing and deepening our relationship with God when things are not going well. 

In a recent post, I talked about Functional Atheism and Evangelical Deism which are widespread problems among us.

 

 

Then, the other day I was spending some time on a lectio divina reading of John 15:1-8. If you have a Bible handy, it will be worthwhile for you to turn there and read that passage right now. It is the Vine and Branches text. Jesus makes it crystal clear when he says:

Apart from me you can do nothing.  (vs. 5)

I looked up the Greek word for nothing to see what it meant. After applying all my formidable, exegetical skills and linguistic acumen - I came to the realization that the Greek word for nothing means - nothing. I was kind of hoping the word really could be translated - something. Or maybe "a little." Heck, I would be satisfied if I could sneak in "just a smidgeon" as a legitimate translation. 

Sorry... it can't be done.

Without Jesus . . . nothing!  So if I decide to work twice as hard, but without Jesus, two x nothing = a bigger amount of NOTHING.  That is, to say it mildly, a bit of a wake up call. And it supports what Augustine said in the first half of his sentence:

Without God we cannot . . .        

 
But Jesus also said that you and I are the ones to bear much fruit that lasts (verses 8 and 16). We are the ones responsible to bear fruit. God isn't the one who is doing it. We are the ones responsible to do ministry, not God. We who follow Jesus are the ones who do the work of service. This is the second half of Augustine's spiritual equation:

       . . . without us, He will not.

I'd like to recommend for your personal reflection, three very significant passages that contributes to how we think about the divine - human interface and how we can live there.  These are worth a good Bible study and a follow up lectio reflection.

Therefore . . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.  (Philippians 2:12-13)

(and)

To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me.    (Colossians 1:29, see the larger context of Colossians 1:28 - 2:3)

(and)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.    (1 Corinthians 15:10)

May you have Spirit inspired reflections on these passages.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
ww.lci.typepad.com

The First, Last and the In-between Leadership Temptation (in other words, it is always there)

Skye Jethani said it very powerfully when he wrote:

My secret is that I want to be relevant and popular. I want my desires fulfilled and pain minimized. I want a manageable relationship with an institution rather than messy relationships with real people. I want to be transformed into the image of Christ by showing up at entertaining events rather than through the hard work of discipline. I want to wear my faith on my sleeve and not look at the darkness in my heart. And above all, I want a controllable god. I want a divine commodity to do my will on earth as well in heaven.

This one invites you and I to some depth reflection.

Brian Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

The Leadership Way of Love

I believe love is the primary motivation that sustains Christ-like leadership.  Love that serves... love that suffers... love that sacrifices. 

Christian leaders need to excel in the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart and mind, soul and strength . . . and to love others in that serving, suffering, sacrificial kind of way.

Paul reminds us that even if we leaders possesses phenomenal gifts of communication, wisdom, power, skill, etc. but have not love - than we are nothing more than a clanging cymbal.  (Note: My son who is a drummer could demonstrate, if you like, the noisiness of a clanging cymbal.)

Jesus told us that the defining, hallmark quality of His followers is that they love one another. If that is the benchmark for followers, how much more so for those who lead in the Name of Jesus?

When a leader is free to love generously, give lavishly, invest deeply, and believe powerfully in others, that leader is poised for profound impact on others.

Wouldn't it be a beautiful thing to have great affection for your colleagues, a strong admiration for those with whom you work, a sincere respect of who they are and a steady trust in them? Wouldn't you like to receive those same things from others?

How do you become that kind of loving leader?

I think, of all the things involved in a full answer to this question, at the core is this:  to know you are deeply loved by God. When you are secure in the love God has for you, then you are free to love others unreservedly.

So - how are you doing on this? 

I am not just talking about a "head knowledge, academic, theoretical, doctrinal" assent to this. I mean - do you experience the love of God for you? 

Do you feel His pleasure when you lead?

This is at the heart of spiritual formation which is needed for fruitful leadership that finished well.

Abba's Child by Brennan Manning may be a helpful resource for you if this is an area of struggle.

You may also want to sit for a few minutes and listen to the song, O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.  This link has the words and below is a video. These words are useful as a text for a lectio divina time.
 

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

The Twice Born, Level 5 Leader

It was Abraham Zaleznik who told us that leaders are "twice born individuals who endure major events that lead to a sense of separateness, or perhaps estrangement from their environments. As a result, they turn inward in order to reemerge with a created rather than an inherited sense of identity" (The Managerial Mystique, 1989).

I wonder how much Jim Collins was informed by Zaleznik's ideas when he described the Level 5 Leader as one who has been through a time of transformation, launched by crisis, failure, religious encounter, an episode or season of suffering . . . ?

In the developmental process of leadership formation, there is much that is mundane, repeated, pushing on in personal growth.

And yet, there is a place for the transformative power of major events, that when we respond to those events with faith, trust, surrender, openness, humility, expectancy, come to the end of our rope and abandon ourselves to (well, in AA it is God as we perceive him, but for Christians) God in Christ -- then we become those twice born leaders.

With the twice born, all things are possible.

You don't schedule a twice born leadership experience for next Thursday from 2:00 - 3:30 in Outlook. But when they come our way, readiness and willingness are crucial.

And these experiences (some of them long lasting ones) will come our way. They are inevitable and when they happen, they are a gift from God.

Brian "gratefully twice-born" Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Poggel Leadership

In the Bamyan Provice of Afghanistan  there is a Poggel Movement. 

Pronunciation Guide

pog = rhymes with bog.

gel = not the stuff you put on your hair, but it sounds like "gul"

Poggel is the local word for "CRAZY."

This Poggel Movement has a simple invitation it sets forth to people.

If you are poggle (crazy) enough to believe a better world is possible, join the Poggel/Crazy Party. (Source, The Starfish and the Spider.)

I like that. Sign me up. I want to hang out with people like that and be a part of what they are doing.

****************

Let's borrow the word Poggel and apply it to leadership.

Poggel Leadership:  Crazy, outrageous, daring, different, on the edge, out on a limb, radical, revolutionary, risk, faith filled, hope-full leadership.

That is the kind of leadership Leadership ConneXtions is all about. 

Poggle Leadership is the "not so with you," counter-cultural, Way of Jesus leadership we want to spread everywhere.

Let's apply the word to our faith.

Poggel Christianity.
Poggel Spirituality.
Poggel Prayers.
Poggel Theology.

By the way, it was Poggel followers of Jesus who had this said about them:

At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane."  (Acts 16:24)

"These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here..."    (Acts 17:6)

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

By the way, I've seen the Province spelled:  Bamian, Bamyan, and Bamiyan at differnet places on the Internet. 

Mensch Leadership

Mensch was a term I recently learned about as I was reading the story of Aaron Feuerstein. 

A six minute YouTube video is at the end of this post on Feuerstein so you can hear this in his own words.

Aaron Feuerstein was the owner of Malden Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts (not too far from where I went to my first seminary, Gordon-Conwell). In 1995, two weeks before Christmas, a fire destroyed the factory and 2000 people were out of jobs.

The economy was already difficult. Manufacturing jobs were moving overseas. Aaron Feuerstein was in his 70's. He could have just collected the insurance money and retired and lived very comfortably.  But Aaron Feuerstein was a Mensch kind of leader.

Feuerstein called the workers together for a meeting and promised to rebuild the plant (better than it had been) and also pay the workers out of his own pocket for the duration!

Now stop for just a minute and think how radically different this is from about 98% of all corporate leaders you've ever read about. This is truly radical stuff!  Feuerstein does not see his workers as existing for his benefit and profit. He sees himself as existing for them! This is getting down to the essence of servant leadership and the leader as "Steward" who not only cares for what has been entrusted to her or him, but intentionally develops it to its full potential.

In a 60 Minutes interview, Feuerstein was asked why he used his own money to pay the employees. Obvious question in a world that rarely sees this kind of leadership action. He asked back, 

"What else am I supposed to do with the money?" 

Great question:   

What else are we suppose to do with what has been entrusted to us?  

Oh yes - I know! Spend it on self. Enjoy it to the maximum.  Use it up to the full. Accumulate, possess, spend, enjoy on SELF.  Now that is the American way of life... heck, that is the "without Christ way of life."

But Feuerstein chose a different way. He chose the way of mensch. He borrowed this idea from his Jewish faith and said, "When all is moral chaos, this is the time for you to be a mensch." 

A mensch is a "really" good person, whose compassion goes beyond what justice expects. 

A mensch is someone who is living in the realm of hesed, shalom and mishpat in extraordinary ways.

Hesed - loving kindness and mercy to the point of long suffering over what and who is loved.

Shalom - the full harmonious well being of a life rightly ordered in the ways of God and enjoying the blessings of such a reordered life.

Mishpat - righteousness and justice.

These are three of the great themes of the Old Testament scriptures and a MENSCH is the one who lives in the reality of those themes and lives them out in to the surrounding world.

Jesus Christ was the supreme Mensch Leader. And Aaron Feuerstein the Jew gives us a pretty good illustration of Christ-likeness that leaves many Christian leaders looking like a pretty sorry, pale imitation.

Mensch Leadership !!!

I'd follow a leader like that...

And by God's grace, you and I might become leaders like that who others will want to follow.

Anybody want to be a Mensch Leader?

Here is a short article where you can read more about Aaron Feuerstein's Mensch Leadership, check out this site.

And here is a longer PDF article, about 23 pages that tell his story.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Leader and Prayer

When you think of the "work" of leadership, what kinds of things come to mind? Well, if you are anything like me, you may think of things like:

Vision casting
Initiating change
Team building
Problem solving
Strategic planning
Mentoring
Communicating
Conflict resolution . . .

All of those things and others, are indeed, some of the vital work of leadership.

But can we agree that they are NOT the most vital work of leadership? Isn't there a deeper work, a more vital work that under-girds all of those worthy tasks?  I think there is.

And let's call it - the Work of Prayer.

Perhaps you prefer the Discipline of Prayer... the Habit of Prayer... or the Intimacy of Prayer. Each of those descriptions is equally significant and gives us different windows to understand this thing we call prayer.

But I want to talk, for just another minute, on the Work of Prayer. I think it needs to be part of the job description of every leader.  It is a work that goes hand in hand with every work listed above. For if I do vision casting without having spent the time of prayer with God to discover His Vision, I may lead people down foolish if not dangerous paths.

If I attempt to solve problems without a dependency on God's wisdom and assistance, then I'll kick into more frantic attempts to fix things.

I may labor for hours in the preparation of a message and more hours in making it creative, but if I do not do the work of prayer, bathing all of my efforts in intercession . . . then it is all about my skills.

I am sure you have heard this before, but here it is one more time.

The amazing Reformer, Martin Luther, one of the most prolific writers, the most dedicated activists, the greatest visionaries in the history of the church, once said:

"I have so much work to do today, I will never accomplish it all if I do not spend three hours in prayer" (paraphrase from memory).

I am challenged by Luther. I am just as challenged by Paul when he says, 

"Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests"  (Ephesians 6:18). 

"Pray continually" (or) "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

May all of us who are called to the work of leadership, know that we are called to the work of prayer.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Prayer of Surrender

Surrender and trust are a joint theme that are huge for me and probably for most of you. For leaders, this joint theme becomes extraordinarily important.

Parker Palmer talks about the "functional atheism" that is present in the lives of many leaders. We may talk a good game about God, but when we sift through all the religious-speak, most leaders think that if anything good is going to happen, it pretty much depends on the hard work of the leader.

Functional atheists. I also use the language of Evangelical Deists. God exists, but by the way we work and the little we pray, apparently He isn't doing too much. It pretty much depends on our work!

Surrender and trust are vital. Here is a prayer from Ignatius of Loyola who learned a thing or two about surrender. Ignatius of Loyola wrote profoundly on the need to be indifferent toward our own preferences so we might more clearly discern the will of God and then surrender to that will.

Take O Lord, and receive:

all my liberty,

my memory,

my understanding,

and my entire will.

All I have and possess are yours, Lord.

You have given it all to me.

Now I return it to you.

Dispose of it according to Your will.

Give me only Your love

and Your grace.

I want nothing more.

Deep surrender and trust is prerequisite for servant leadership and biblical living. This prayer is worth praying daily for the next few weeks or until it begins to shape your heart and your way of living and leading. You may also want to spend some time doing a lectio divina reading on this prayer.  The link will take you to a very brief but good explanation of how to do lectio divina.

May God grant to all of us a heart that willingly surrenders and trusts. And may God deliver us from the spirit of functional atheism and evangelical deism. 

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

On Not Knowing

Here is a Traditional Tale, A Prayer, a Scripture and a Question:

First, the Traditional Tale:

An old Hasidic rabbi crosses the village square every morning on his way to the temple to pray. One morning, a large Cossack soldier, who happened to be in a vile mood, accosted the rabbi, saying, "Hey Rebby, where are you going?"  And the rabbi said, "I don't know."

This infuriated the Cossack. "What do you mean you don't know? Every morning for 25 years you have crossed the village square and gone to the temple to pray. Don't fool with me. Who are you telling me you don't know?"

He grabbed the old rabbi by the coat and dragged him off to jail. Just as he was about to push him into the cell, the rabbi turned to him and said, "You see, I didn't know."  (A Traditional Tale)

 

Now, a Prayer by Thomas Merton:

 

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself.

And the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from this desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me.

And you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

 

Next, a  Scripture Text:

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanished. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will we will love and do this or that."  (James 4:13-15)

Finally, a Question:

I don't do this naturally or well. I like planning, security, figuring things out in advance, yada, yada, yada.  The rabbi, Merton and James invite me, you, us to live differently. So . . .

How does all this "not knowing" and living by faith, trust and surrender to the will of  God... sit with you?  I have found that it doesn't sit easily for a lot of leaders. Especially the "control freak" kind of leader (which a lot of the best leaders are).  Okay, so this question also had some commentary!   :-)  What do you hear God inviting you to consider and experience?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Unction

UNCTION:  That's an old, odd word. 

An old word familiar to another generation of preachers and leaders.

 

A reality, perhaps more known to those of the Pentecostal persuasion.

Unction:  It means to be anointed with oil where the oil is the symbol of something greater that is upon the one anointed.

Unction:  It means a way of expressing oneself that arrises out of the deep places in one's life.

Unction:  It means to have the presence of God upon one's life and work that gives power and accomplishment that cannot be explained by one's own capacity.

Unction. It involves so much.

It is the fulness of God's Spirit in one's life.

It is the fruit of God's Spirit manifest in one's life.

It is the holiness of God's Spirit pervading one's life.

It is the wisdom of God's Spirit poured into one's life.

It is the being "in step with" God's Spirit that is leading one's life.

It is not quenching that Spirit.

It is not grieving that Spirit.

Unction  It is what Jesus received at his baptism.

Unction  It is what the disciples were told to wait for that would be given on the day of Pentecost.

Whatever other descriptions we may add to it, one thing is obvious. Those of us who are called to leadership of any kind, in the name of Christ, to further the cause of Christ and for the glory of Christ - we need it... this thing called Unction.

It comes mainly through deep desire, desperate prayer, holy longing, genuine repentance, long waiting, and bold faith.

May we have the Unction of Christ's Spirit upon us in the season ahead.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

And the Greatest Leader Is . . . (a Follow Up Thought)

If you didn't read the post from yesterday, scroll down and read that first, for today's thought is a follow up from that blog.

If CLOSENESS to Jesus is what makes for greatness in the Kingdom of God...

If CLARITY about Jesus is what makes for greatness in the Kingdom of God...

And if HUMBLE MISSION in light of Jesus is what makes for greatness in the Kingdom of God...

... then it seems that above all, 

leaders need to spend a lot of time pursuing closeness/intimacy with Christ, 

so they can learn from and be wise about Him, 

and then go forth in service that imitates Christ and attracts others to Him.

If we neglect to do this, if we fail in this matter, than anything else doesn't really count.

If I may be so bold as to suggest, "Let the one who has ears to hear, hear."

And may you and I be among the ranks of the first to hear and believe this.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

And the Greatest Leader Is . . .

Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets. Of all who had come before Jesus, none compared with John (Luke 7:28). That's pretty impressive.  

Abraham (the father of the nation Israel), Moses (who saw the glory of God), David (a man after God's own heart), Esther (who saved the nation of God's people), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel (all who wrote wonders of revelation) . . . plus any other Old Testament luminary you care to add . . . Now, put John the Baptist at the top of them all.

Why was John the greatest of all?  There are two reasons.

First, in all that excellent group, John had the greatest proximity to Jesus and therefore, the most clarity of who Jesus was. His closeness and clarity made John the greatest.

Second, John had the essential mindset. No matter how close and no matter how much clarity ... when it comes to Jesus, "He must increase and I must decrease" (John 3:30). His knowledge of Christ shaped his identity with Christ and his mission for Christ. That is why John was the greatest.

What about you?

What about your leadership?

Jesus, continuing in Luke 7:28, says some pretty amazing things. Remember John - who is at the very top of the Old Testament ladder - now, anyone who is in the Kingdom of God is above John! 

Wow!

How?

True leadership greatness (and any kind of greatness for that matter) depends on these things.

1. The closer you are to Jesus, the greater your leadership can become.
2. The more clarity you have about Jesus, the greater your leadership can become.
3. The more you live with humility because of Jesus, the greater your leadership becomes.
4. The more Jesus defines your life purpose (He increases and you decrease) the greater your leadership becomes.

It's that simple... and it's that hard.

Paul prayed it this way:

I want to know Christ 

and the power of his resurrection 

and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering...

Philippians 3:10

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Wounded Healer

Metaphors are interesting and they are powerful.

Metaphors are deeply held conceptual models that give shape to how we understand life.

When it comes to leadership metaphors, the same is true. Our leadership metaphors fundamentally guide how we think about leadership and how we live as leaders. In the waning decades of modernity, the dominant leadership metaphors were fragmenting. They were part of a paradigm that was disintegrating and losing its power to capture the hearts of people.  The leader as CEO, the leader as Commander of the Troops, the leader as Hero, the leader as Expert - all were losing their power.

We are on the search for New Metaphors of Leadership.

When I teach the course on Emerging Paradigms of Leadership, I'll often explore some of these new metaphors.

The Leader as Missional Entrepreneur...

The Leader as Spiritual Environmentalist...

The Leader as Cultural Cartographer...

... each one is becoming a favorite of mine.

Here is another one that I am re-visiting. I first heard it from Henri Nouwen in the book by the same name.

The leader as: Wounded Healer.

When I think of this metaphor, I think of:

Jacob now walking/leading with a limp,

Paul with a thorn in the flesh,

The ability to sympathize and empathize,

Power being perfected in weakness,

Authenticity, vulnerability, transparency,

Being very real,

Bearing the pain of others,

Knowing the hurts of the world,

Messy and mysterious,

Grace and strength

No easy answers, but wise ones,

Story, journey, movement,

Healing and longing,

Henri Nouwen, Desmond Tutu, John Perkins...

Above all, I think of Jesus.

For an emerging generation that is more skeptical than ever of leadership as it has been practiced via the metaphors of modernity, this one resonates.

This is a worthy journey - to become this kind of leader.

I value your prayers for my own journey to become such a leader.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Upside Down Kingdom of God

In the upside down kingdom of God:

The wisest theologians know they are fools.

The strongest leaders know they are weak.

The greatest saints know they are sinners.

A limp become the mark of God’s Presence.

A thorn in the flesh becomes the vehicle of strength and power.

Suffering is received as a “grace disguised.”

This is good because God uses the foolish, weak, sinful things of the world (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).  First he fills them with His presence, love, grace, wisdom and strength. Then he turns them loose into the world that is . . . to change it into what it is meant to be.

• To nullify the things that are.
• To turn an upside down world right side up.
• To heal the hurts. 
• Repair the brokenness.
• And reverse the curse of the fall.

This is the work of leadership.

We are so easily fooled by the great, strong, impressive, charismatic, the good looking. We assume, surely this is the kind of person that God wants to use. And who are we? We are none of those things. What can we do but sit on the sidelines and observe.

Then God comes along and selects the youngest son, a shepherd and anoints him as the future King of Israel (1 Samuel 16).

Then Jesus comes along and calls fisherman and tax-collectors to become followers so they one day may become apostles and prophets of God!

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  (1 Samuel 16:7)

It’s an Upside-Down Kingdom we have received.  It is a Servant-King to whom we have given our allegiance. Now we are sent out in His Name to work and lead in the same way He did (John 20:21). This stuff is worth pondering and praying through.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Extraordinary Lives

From time to time, there are certain people we meet whose lives resonate with something bigger than average, better than ordinary, deeper than what is normal.

They are wonderfully human with all the frailty, foibles and folly that comes with the territory. But something else is there as well.

Sometimes they become famous. Much of the time they are only known in their Corner of God's World.

Something about their lives reminds us of God. There is something bigger about them, they cannot be accounted for by themselves alone.

Words are often inadequate to describe these people.

There is the sense of the sacred.

Perhaps we can use the biblical word – holy . . . or godly.

Holiness, godliness.

The scent of heaven lingers over them.

At one time we might have called them saints.            

They live in such a way that their life does not make sense unless there is a God. There is a God factor that is necessary to explain these individuals.

They do not present themselves as such. In fact, to do so would undermine the very quality that surrounds them. They live humbly and quietly, consistently and courageously; with their lives organized around a Higher Person and a Greater Purpose. Christ and His Kingdom.

In the Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes one of these extraordinary people ... Sarah Smith... someone you've never heard of. But in heaven, she is one of the Great Ones.

They have often experienced significant suffering in their lives. They have learned how to be close to Christ through that suffering. They are full of the quality of love. Love of God and love of others.

When these people become our leaders . . . we are blessed if we follow them.  When these people become our mentors . . . we are enlarged by their grace poured into our lives.

May you have such a person in your life.

May you become such a person for others.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Catherine de Hueck Doherty: Where Do You Go to Find Courage?

Courage is a theme I return to from time to time. I think leaders need a great deal of courage. I know I need courage. I also believe that courage is not something you "get" once and for all. Even though our courage level can grow, we still to to gain courage, gather courage, be "en" couraged or "re" couraged from time to time. And when those times are risky and failure is real and opposition is hard and there is a personal cost to be paid - then I need courage.

I read about a woman named Catherine de Hueck Doherty recently in the book Leadership From Unlikely Voices by Dave Fleming.

Catherine de Hueck Doherty was born in 1900 in to a wealthy Russian family. At 15 she married a baron and moved to Canada. Catherine was deeply moved by Jesus' words to sell all, give to the poor and come follow Him. After her husband died, she did that. Catherine dedicated her life to working in the slums with the urban poor. She did this in Ontario, in Harlem and then back in Ontario again.

As you can imagine, this was a difficult and demanding calling. To sustain her, Catherine borrowed an idea (or better, a way) from Russian Orthodoxy. In that spiritual tradition, monks were common and the way of a monk was a religious way of devotion, solitude and prayer. The Russian monk usually lived together with others and each monk had their "cell". The Russian word is Poustinia. the Poustinia was the place of prayer, repentance, self-denial, death to self, solitude, silence, love, devotion and intimacy with God. It was through these things that Catherine would find courage to sustain her in her work with the urban poor.

Catherine said: Poustiniais the place where we can go in order to gather the courage to speak the words of truth, remembering that truth is God, and we proclaim the Word of God. The Poustinia will cleanse us and prepare us . . .

Courage is gained when we engage with God in a transformative way. To engage with God in this way, we need uninterrupted time.  During that time we pray, we listen, we discern, we argue, we wrestle, we repent, we ask, we receive, we draw near, we are filled, we are loved and we come forth from those times "en"couraged.

Catherine's statement raises some questions for me.

Where is my Poustinia?

Where do I go to find courage?

Am I going there often enough?

Do i need to go there once again?

How about you?

For more on Catherine who was a leader, author, contemplative, activist, here is a link for some biography. For woman leaders, you may want to take a deeper look at the life of this pretty amazing woman. She has a number of books on the spiritual life.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

What Do You Love?

I have been thinking a lot about this theme in recent weeks, mainly because of Naugle's book, Reordered Love, Reordered Lives and Feel by Matthew Elliott.

Here is a profound insight from a 17th century Puritan Pastor, Henry Scougal thatt was in Feel (pp. 241).

The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love (Scougal).

And now one from Augustine (4th century).

Such is each one as is his love.

Our emotions are always attached to an object. Our love is always attached to something or someone and whatever our love is attached to, that is what shapes our love.

How do you know what you love? How do you know what your love is attached to? This is especially important for those leaders who would describe themselves as more "null" or "even" when it comes to their emotions. Here are a few questions that may help you identify what you love.

• What do you spend your time doing?

• What do you spend your free time doing?

• What do you spend your "discretionary income" on?

• What do you use our credit card on to go in debt?

• What do you dream about?

• What irritates you?

• What do you complain about?

The things that occupy and preoccupy our time and attention and money, are the things to which we are attached. I heard (a very long time ago) a speaker say, show me your credit card statement and your daytimer and I'll know most of what I need to know about you!

So much of the time we are not aware of what we truly love, to what we are attached. We know what we should love and we have spiritual answers for that. I know i should love God, I know I should love people, I know I should love the life of spiritual formation, I know I should love the Scriptures . . .

 But - what do I really love?

Jesus, the Bible, my wife, my son, friends, my church, my leadership development ministry, guitar, really good virtuoso guitar music, gardening, food, reading, books (whether I read them or not), a good cup of coffee, my self, my Self, my SELF... the list can go on with much more specific detail.

If you spend some time writing down some answers to the above questions - you may come to some interesting answers.

How you and I lead and live will be fundamentally shaped by our loves. Those loves will remake us in their own image. It is vital that we move into discernment on this. There are some things we love, of which we need to ask - should I love that? And hear the answer, no. Or, not in that way and not in that degree.

And this is what Naugle's (pictured) book is about, the reordering of our loves so that our lives can be reordered as well.

It is a theme we are spending several weeks exploring in our Ancient-Future Faith community.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Aquinas and the Love of God

Two days before his death (1274), one of the greatest theologians of all time, Thomas Aquinas prayed this prayer to Christ (whom he called Price of my soul's consolation):

"All my studies, my vigils and my labors have been for the love of Thee."

And like Aquinas, we labor and serve, we study and learn, we are vigilant in our calling to bless the world in the name of Christ. To do that, we need a sustaining motivation. And so, like Aquinas, everything we do must flow out of the motivation he had.

ALL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

All for the glory of His Name.

All for the service of His Purposes.

All for the love of the people He died for.

ALL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

This is the sustaining motivation that will carry us to the end.

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,

do it all for the glory of God.

I Corinthians 10:31

It is truly a great way to live.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Spiritual Leadership: A Fresh Vision and a Renewed Motivation

Spiritual leadership.

What exactly is it?

How does one become a spiritual leader?

What does it look like in practice?

Books have been and will continue to be written on this. Here are a few brief reflections that have their origin in some comments by theologian Karl Rahner, which I recently read.

Spiritual leaders are those who are captured by a new vision of holiness and godliness and figure out how to live and model that vision in creative ways in their culture.  Similar words from Dallas Willard have seized my imagination in the last number of months.

Spiritual leaders are those who create new styles of living, serving and loving God and others . . . and they do this in forms that demonstrate that such a life is a genuine possibility and not an unreachable ideal.  Ellsberg and Martin's stories of saints, leaders, prophets, martyrs, theologians, pastors and, above all, ordinary people who became extraordinary are inspiring me to do this.

Spiritual leaders "incarnate" and "embody" the Christian Ideal in attractive and compelling ways that cause others to "want to do the same."  At the core of the Gospel is the Word made flesh who moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14, The Message).

Spiritual leaders show that a life of following Christ can actually be done and done well.

Spiritual leaders are pathmakers for others to follow. We imprint . . .  we leak . . .  we spill over into others . . .  we radiate . . .  the life of Christ. I appreciate, admire and respect so many of my friends and colleagues who are doing this with diligence and enthusiasm.

If we fail to do this, then, most likely, little else that we may do, even though we call it spiritual leadership, will have much substance of fruit.

So, we are always going back to that very basic question. What does it mean to follow Christ in authentic and compelling ways?

I am wrestling through this quite a bit these days. What kind of person and what kind of leader do I long to become? What vision of life itself has grabbed hold of my heart? I am reading quite a bit of biography lately and finding myself moved by the lives of holiness, of love, of passionate commitment to Christ.

How do I do this in my corner of planet earth?

Worth thinking about today... I know I will continue to think and dream and to lead in the way of  Christ.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions international

Leaders Who Are Not Essential to The Running of the Universe May Take a Time Out: All Others - Keep on Leading

Some years ago, a very smart person informed me that I was really not essential to the running of God's universe. It was really doing quite fine without me and it would continue on without even a mis-step if I were not around.

So, I was encouraged to take time outs . . . bench yourself from the game . . . take a break (a long one), do retreats that have no ministry or leadership work involved. Even try this thing called rest and Sabbath.

Of course I didn't believe them. I didn't want to believe them.

They obviously didn't know who I was. I was essential. My input was crucial. My work was vital. I was/am a player. I'm somebody important. I am needed.

But I'm not essential to the running of God's universe, or His kingdom, or His church. Heck, for that matter, I'm not even essential for the running of my ministry area. If a heart attack or a drunk driver takes me out of the game tomorrow, it goes on without me. Maybe sadder for a few days, but that's about it.

I'm not essential . . . and neither are you.  (Okay, if you are LeBron, you're essential . . .)

However, the higher we move "up" in leadership responsibility -- the more indispensable we believe we are.  Irreplaceable. Necessary.  We are Atlas holding up the world (organization, team, ministry, department, etc.) on our shoulders.  We have to finish the project, meet the deadline, complete the task, fill the order, make the decision . . .

Doesn't that just get old after awhile?

What if you JUST STOPPED RIGHT NOW?

Yes, go ahead and stop right now. Stop before you are finished. Set it (whatever it may be) aside. Allow it to remain incomplete and unfinished. Life will go on. Set it aside and come back later.

Take a time out. Listen to music. Read a "not" necessary book. Go on a walk. Hang out with a friend (and have fun). Go get a cup of coffee at your favorite place, read a fun magazine and watch people.  And, even better -- take a nap. A long one at that.

Your willingness to stop what you are doing is a sign of faith and trust, a symbol of your dependence and surrender. It is you acknowledging - I have limits and I will honor them.

God rested on the 7th Day. He didn't rest because He was tired and worn out from six hectic days. No. God rested because that was part of the created order. God created - REST. And when we rest, when we take a time out, when we stop acting like we are indispensable - we honor God's mandate for rest and we acknowledge our dependency on God.

Go ahead. You can do it.   (Apparently, if you are tired enough, any resting place will do!)

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International