Patrick Grach - thoughts on life and leadership

LEADERSHIP LESSONS

I had three leadership meetings in a row this morning: a men's leadership group from 6:30-8am, one-on-one from 8-9am, and a church planting mentoring one from 9-10:30am. So, I'm done! No more insights for the week.

Here's the bare bones of those meetings, since they all seemed to center on some central themes:

* We must grow in order to expand our influence. Leadership doesn't happen overnight. John Maxwell writes about the "Law of the Lid." We must raise the level of our "lid" in order to expand our influence or impact within our area of leadership. The only way to raise the lid is to grow. The primary area of growth must be within our personal and private disciplines. When we pray, study the Bible, fast, discipline our bodies, spend time in solitude, manage our time well, then we become a person who is growing and teachable. When we're growing and teachable, then we have something to offer. Vision and courage (two most necessary ingredients of effective leaders) are born out of disciplined living, specifically the spiritual disciplines.
* Growth and leadership aren't cheap. It's a hard, rigorous process! If we were to rate our leadership on a 1-10 scale, no one grows from a 4 to a 8 overnight. The price tag is too high. We must first grow to a 5, and do the necessary steps and make the necessary changes to get to that point. Then, we grow to a 6, and so on. And it's biblical- whoever is faithful with little will be entrusted with more, but whoever isn't faithful with even a little, even what he has will be taken from him and given to the one who has much.
* We must be real, authentic, and raw. Give away whatever you learn. Don't hold back knowledge. In whatever filed you know much, give it away to those around you. Grow others with the knowledge and experience you have now. When you give it away, God will entrust more to you. Don't be greedy with your understanding, insights, and personal growth. A true legacy is born when each of us bring others along in our own growth process.

Well, there you go. When we start living this, we will elevate the capacity of the church as a whole to lead and expand God's Kingdom on earth. Let's raise the bar of leadership within The LifeHouse and our community and the church worldwide.