Links to Interesting Articles about Faith and Work:

God Will Use Even You. Steven Lee writes “If your résumé is sparse, your intellect feeble, your skills unimpressive, and your wisdom just average, fret not. God can use even you — even me. God wants to use those who look away from their self-sufficiency to his all-sufficiency. God uses all those who humble themselves before the cross, boasting only in him — his strength, his wisdom, his righteousness, his accomplishment.”

• 4 Tips for Dealing with Procrastination. Tim Challies offers 2 big-picture tips on how to deal with procrastination and then follows them with 2 very practical ones.
• God is Silent – Why? C. Patton shares five reasons that might explain why God is silent in response to some of your prayers.
• 5 Qualities Every Employee Wants in a Boss. Here are five common sense qualities every employee wants in their boss.
• 4 Ways to Take Back Your Life. Mark Miller writes “I don’t fully understand it, but I believe excessive, sustained busyness leads to a heart burdened by hurry. Following are four potential root causes and specific actions to help you take back your life.
• Making Beautiful Places for the Glory of God. Read Inc. magazine’s story about Walker Mowers of Colorado and this video with Bob and Dean Walker.
• Intention. In this “Minute with Maxwell”, John Maxwell discusses the word intention.
• What’s Your Mid-Term Grade for Growth? John Maxwell writes “Today, at almost the mid-point of 2015, it’s a natural time to evaluate your progress in personal growth so far. So here are some questions to ask yourself to see how well you’ve been growing this year.”
• Why Invest in Being Nice? Relationships matter. Clearly, we can­not always drop what we’re doing at a moment’s notice and attend to relationships. But no matter what our task, relationships are our business. Tasks are important. Relationships are important.
• You’re Not a Leader if You Never Say You’re Sorry. Eric Geiger writes “There are a myriad of issues in the heart of a leader who never apologizes. If you never apologize, at least one of the following four is also true.”
• 7 Ways to Keep a Leader on Your Team. Ron Edmondson writes “One of the biggest challenges for any organization is to attract and retain leaders.” He shares a few suggestions to encourage leaders to stay.”

 The Conviction to Lead Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Albert Mohler

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. This week we look at:

Chapter 21 – The Digital Leader

• If the leader is not leading in the digital world, his leadership is, by definition, limited to those who also ignore or neglect that world. That population is shrinking every minute.
• If you are satisfied to lead from the past, stay out of the digital world. If you want to influence the future, brace yourself and get in the fast lane.
• By now, just about every church, corporation, business, school, or organization has a presence on the Internet. If not, realize that you just do not exist, as far as untold millions of people are concerned. If you are a leader, you are responsible to see that your organization’s Internet presence is useful, attractive, inviting, and well designed.
• The first impression you make on the web is often the only impression you’ll get to make at all, so make sure it counts.
• People come to your website because they are looking for information. Make sure they can find it, and make certain it is worth finding.
• As leader, consider establishing your own Internet presence as a part of your organization’s site.
• The blogosphere, as it is now called, offers history’s most cost-efficient way of communicating big ideas and solid content. If you are not writing a blog, you should be.
• Leaders should let their blogs play to their strengths, but always make it clear, interesting, and serve the mission of your organization. In other words, blog with conviction.
• Social media will soon dominate all other forms of digital communication. That fact is reason enough for leaders to be engaged in social media.
• Twitter is fast becoming the leading edge of social communication. I let Twitter feed my Facebook page, and I work hard to inform my constituencies and Twitter followers day by day. Twitter is now my first source for news. Tweets announce headlines, and I follow the links to the news stories. It is a huge time-saver and alert system.
• If you are not on Twitter, and if you are not working and following it regularly, you are missing a massive leadership opportunity. Twitter, used wisely, can drive enormous traffic to your content, your organization, and your convictions. How can you justify leaving all that behind?
• The digital world opens the opportunity for you and your organization to become a producer of video and audio content without the massive investment. Podcasts and streaming media allow you to do this, but they must be done well.
• Creating a podcast is a powerful opportunity for a leader, but you can start small. If it works for you, develop it.
• The use of streaming media allows content to be shared, and this is a good investment of institutional time and funds. Share the content with others, as long as it’s worth sharing.
• I am also a bold advocate for digital reading devices, such as the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. I own both and use both, and I also have their apps on my iPad.
• Leaders are readers, whether in print or on a screen. And leaders belong in the digital world, leading with conviction. Leaders have a message, and should be ready to use every appropriate platform and technology to get it out to others.

Faith and Work Quotes:

• Calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to His summons and service. Os Guinness
• Nothing short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose. Os Guinness
• A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Are you busy or in a hurry? To put it simply, busy is about your calendar, hurry is about your heart. Mark Miller
• You don’t have to worry about burning out if you were never on fire. Dave Ramsey
• Vision should be big and inspiring enough to MOTIVATE, while specific and tactical enough to MATTER, to each person on the team. Brad Lomenick
• Leaders should always exceed expectations. Under promise and over deliver. You can never take enough off the plate of your boss. Brad Lomenick
• Be most interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.  John Wooden
• Mission includes our secular vocations, not just church ministry. Tim Keller
• The worst thing you can do for someone is to do something for them they can and should do for themselves. Coach K
• Every single day you should wake up and commit yourself to becoming a better person. Coach
• The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Coach K
• If you make a mistake in business, no one is interested in excuses & explanations. All they care about is what you’re going to do about it. Dr. Alan Zimmerman
• Everyone makes a difference. The question is what kind of difference you are you going to make. Andy Andrews
• Love is patient. Love is kind. Lead with love and you will never fail. Ken Blanchard