Faith and Work News:
- How to Decide about Your Next Job. John Piper writes “In 1997 I put a list of Bible texts together to help folks think through what job to pursue. Below I have taken that list and added comments to flesh out more specifically what I had in mind.”
- God’s Will and Your Job. R.C. Sproul writes “If the Bible teaches anything, it teaches that God is a calling God. The world was created through the call of the omnipotent Creator:” ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” God also calls his people to repentance, to conversion, and to membership in his family. In addition he calls us to serve him in his kingdom, making the best possible use of our gifts and talents.”
- Pursue The Gifts You Have, Not The Ones You Want. C. Patton offers four lessons for leaders based on a lesson on using your gifts from Dave Anderson’s book How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK.
- Why We Can–And Should–Grieve at Work. Kristin Brown writes “For anyone who has gone through grief, you know it lasts much longer than you anticipated. You must return to your workplace and continue to serve to the best of your ability amidst the swirling, unpredictable emotions. How do you function? And how do you support those who are grieving in the cubicle next you?”
- Leadership Gold. John Maxwell offers a series based on his book Leadership Gold. Lonely, Listen, Connect, Choices. Note: I fondly remember Maxwell having a draft of that book with him when my friend Kirk and I took him and a mentee to and from our local airport when he came in to do an event for us back in 2007.
- Who’s Right and Who’s Wrong? Dr. Alan Zimmerman writes “Forget the “who” question and focus on the “how” question. How are you going to deal with the other person? You’ve got two choices. One is to confront the other person. The other is to confront yourself.”
- Great Leaders Serve. Mark Miller writes “My biggest personal insight over the last three decades regarding leadership is… Great Leaders SERVE.”
- No, You Don’t Need to be Great at Everything – And You Shouldn’t Even Try. Michael Hyatt writes “You don’t need to do everything in your business. And if you try, you’re just holding yourself back. If you need some help discarding a few of those hats and finding out which one you should wear at least most of the time, just ask yourself these three questions.”
- Happiness or Joy… or Both? Randy Alcorn, in this three-minute video, talks about the artificial distinction made by many Bible-believing Christians between happiness and joy. He will address this in his forthcoming book Happiness, which will be published October 1.
- 5 Lies Too Many Christians Believe. C. Patton writes “Once you stop accepting what you have been taught all of your life and begin comparing it to God’s Word, you will likely see that you have been operating on a shaky foundation in some areas. You will begin to seek more of God’s truth and how to apply it to every area of your life.”
- Everybody Matters Podcast: Seamus Lafferty. Seamus Lafferty, president of Accraply is featured in this edition of the Everybody Matters podcast. There are 200 team members within Seamus’ span of care. Seamus shares his insights into what it means to be a truly human leader, one who is learning something new every day as he takes very seriously his responsibility for those lives.
- What’s in Your Future? Mark Miller writes “What should Five Years Out look like for your organization and how do you decide? Here are a few ideas to help you get started.”
- What Nashville and Denver Have in Common. Bethany Jenkins writes “Dr. David Miller acknowledged the dangers and limitations of the faith and work movement being isolated from the church, but he imagined only two ways for churches to get involved—either “develop an in-house FAW group” or “participate in an existing group.” Churches in Denver in Nashville, though, are trailblazing a third way.”
- What to Do When You Are Completely Overwhelmed at Work. This article from the High Calling states “If you are at all challenging and stretching yourself, you will inevitably run into situations where you feel completely over your head. It’s the most natural thing in the world. But rather than beating yourself up for being such an idiot for not knowing how to handle it better, here are some useful steps to take when you feel snowed under at work.”
- Why You Don’t Have to Be a Jerk to Win at Work. Michael Hyatt writes “I’d put my money on a kind boss over a meaniac any day. There are several reasons. One is I just don’t like jerks very much. But there are legitimate business reasons for backing the kind boss. Here are four ways kindness can give you an edge in business.”
- The ‘Screwtape Letters’ on Gratitude, Discontentment, and the Focus of the Christian Worker. Jessica Schaeffer writes “Seeking to “climb the ladder” is antithetical to practicing thankfulness for your present job situation. It is impossible to give thanks while acting out of discontentment.”
Faith and Work Quotes:
- The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up. John Maxwell
- People need to know that their job matters and they make a difference in the world. Ken Blanchard
- People Matter. Treat your spouse, kids, co-workers and customers like they matter. You will see incredible results. Dave Ramsey
- Our passion is to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are here on earth. Os Guinness
- As a leader, thinking is your primary responsibility. Mark Miller
- A leader is a person you will follow to a place you would not go by yourself. Joel Barker
- Servant leadership is something very different from the “kind boss” model of leadership. It means you empower–transfer power to–followers. Matt Perman
- Deep in our hearts, we all want to find and fulfill a bigger purpose than ourselves. Os Guinness
- Employees who don’t get a sense that they make a difference, have trouble valuing their work. Create an environment of praise and value. Ken Blanchard
- Leadership is a form of Stewardship. Ron Edmondson
- When an organization becomes healthy it’s almost impossible for it to fail. Patrick Lencioni
- People do get better at living, at least if they are willing to humble themselves and learn. David Brooks
- When we are slow to tend that which is most central to our calling, and speedy to tend that which is not, our business is actually laziness. Zack Eswine
- The “WHY” behind your goal gives the goal nobility. It causes you to be willing to sacrifice to win. Dave Ramsey
- To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like. Coach K
- Let me give so much time to the improvement of myself that I shall have no time to criticize others. John Wooden
- Worry attempts to convince our faith that God doesn’t have this under control. Ron Edmondson
The Conviction to Lead Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?
We’re reading this excellent book on leadership principles from a renowned agent of change, Albert Mohler. It is one of the best that I’ve read on leadership and is broken down into 25 relatively short chapters. Won’t you read along with us? This week we look at:
Chapter 20 ~ The Leader as Writer
- Leaders who want to make a difference, and to make that difference last, must write. You can write this down—leaders are writers.
- When matters central to the organization’s mission and convictions are at stake, leaders must write with care and concern. Words matter.
- Leadership is about communication, and much of that communication is necessarily written, but far too many leaders undermine their leadership with poor writing.
- When the leader writes, he writes to inform, to motivate, to explain, and to inspire. Sometimes the leader has to clarify, correct, or even sound an alarm. Whatever the context, words matter, and the effective leader works hard to develop the ability to write clearly, cogently, and powerfully.
- For Christian leaders, the commitment to words is a matter of discipleship and personal devotion, for our faith is communicated by words. As John Piper has memorably said, we have to be willing to die for sentences. We even have to put ourselves on the line for single words.
- Average leaders are satisfied to use average words in an average way. Effective leaders, those who aspire to lasting and extended influence, will learn to use words as arrows fired from a bow, carefully chosen and aimed in order to accomplish a purpose.
- By a careless use of language, leaders can end up miscommunicating or failing to say what they mean at all.
- Leaders write because words matter and because the written word matters longer and reaches farther than the words we speak.