Iron State of Encouragement

A Biblical example of encouragement from Paul in a letter to the Philippians. Even though Paul was down we still encouraged others to the highest degree. Imagine if your boss talked about you to “The Boss” like Paul did.

-Leadership

A discussions on the subject of Leadership in concerns to “is it possible to learn to lead.” One blogger states it not, I on the other hand have a different point of view. Check out both blogs and discuss the issue with us.

-The Attack

A a detailed and vivid look at a dream I had called the The Attack. It was very confrontational and it set me of pretty bad at the time. Mostly due to the fact that the dream occurred twice in the same night. However the second time I was much more aware. Like a parable I’m reminded of “Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.” Let me know what you think?

Leadership

ROMAN 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;

LEADERSHIP

Response to Shane Duffey’s blog.  My thoughts as far as whether “leadership can be learned” or just sharpened. I would say it is possible to learn to lead. Those with a gift for it may do better at first, but those willing to do the work will have continual success. The primary difference between those with the gift and those without. Those with the leadership gift will might have a higher leadership potential.

Its my belief everyone is a leader in that they influence, and at some point they are responsible for something. as I understand those being the basic requirements.

 Some of the important aspects of a leader I would say are…

Vision: as having an end state or a common direction or goal.

Serving: As a leader you serve the people you lead. You should also be able to understand their side of the issues.

Skills: No matter what you are good at you should focus on what you do best and try to surround yourself with people who may be skilled in ways you fall short in. Which relates to the next.

Teambuilding: An essential aspect. as this makes the group a cohesive unit. If you are poor in this aspect it may be difficult for you to influence people.

I find myself conflicted by the second paragraph where Shane talks about true leaders and those who mimic, he continues to say “it is difficult, at best, to find s leader.” I would agree with difficulty in finding a leader. But you don’t always have the option of finding sometimes you must grow your own. However if you believe leadership can’t be learned then you are in trouble because you will never grow your own. If you want to find a good leader be prepared to pay quite a large price for one, ie. CEO’s. An organization is only as good the people they have. What is important is that they need to develop them to the max.

I take issue with a few of his qualifications “A real leader…”
• “rejects offers to leave his team for the sake of personal advancement.” I would not call this a qualification. A leader knows when to leave and open the door for someone else to lead.
• “knows when he is placing a lid on the ones he leads and is quick to get out of their way.” My interpretation of “get out of their way” implies letting them do whatever they want which can be detrimental to the group and its goals. I would just rephrase this to something like. Develops his leaders in his group with added responsibility and knows when to pull the reins to ensure successful completion of goals. 

• “is followed.” It doesn’t take much to be followed. Both David Koresh, and Hitler were followed.
• “encourages and invites critique of his abilities from the ones he leads.” I would be careful with this one, because everyones a critic. Allot of criticism can have a negative effect on a leader. However, in many cases (like a church) you should have a general understanding of how you are viewed and determine for yourself as a leader whether it is good or bad.