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Thoughts on Leadership and Management

It's been a while since I've posted anything, and unlike my wife I got no phone calls asking me if I was ok, so it must be fine with everybody that I focused on my schooling in my free time. Anyway, here are some thoughts on leadership versus management: It is possible to be a leader without being a manager and, unfortunately, it is possible to be a manager without being a leader. The difference between leadership and management lies in what they do.

• Leadership is about taking people or organizations places and management is about handling things (literally mana = hand, anyway). Management is necessary for good leadership because it is what makes possible the execution of the things that move the people or organization forward. In other words, leaders create vision and managers apply it. It could be said that leadership is the process of pointing the direction and management is the process of taking care of the details to arrive at the destination. Jesus challenged His followers to be leaders and not simply administrators with the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:21-30). He expected leadership (vision to see the possibilities of what to do with the talent) and management (the ability to carry the vision out successfully) to be combined from those given the Talents in His story, but one of the servants thought that he could be safe by simply managing or maintaining the asset he was given and was called wicked for doing so.

• Management many times requires a title, but leadership can be done without titles. Leadership can be exerted whether or not there is a title or a managerial position, like David: Even when he was out in the wilderness escaping from Saul and without any earthly authority or title, people came and followed him (1 Samuel 22:1-2). He didn't get the title of king until long after they began following him. On the other side of that there are people wanting the title, or management position, but are not leading people anywhere. Solomon's son Rehoboam, who was not much of a leader, had a title but was led by his group of friends (1 Kings 12:8-11).

So be encouraged and press on to be the leader that God has called you to be, in whatever area of life you are in! If that means learning to manage better then go for it! If it means being willing to lead without a title or formal recognition for the greater good then go for it!

We're all learning here! Let's not be like the wicked servant or like Rehoboam!

Appearances

It's been a great trip so far! Today we got to do all sorts of work around the campground and there are places that look totally different because of all the work that was done. There was a section we were working on today that looked like a nice big tree, so we were busy weeding and and removing vines from the fence next to it and not paying much attention to it. Upon closer inspection we realized that what we thought was a tree was really a support pole for the electrical wires that came into the campground that had gotten so filled with vines that it had the appearance of a tree, but in reality it was just a big dead pole with a bunch of flimsy, yet incredibly stubborn and annoying, vines wrapped all around it to make it look like a thriving tree!
Tonight we had an awesome time: 2 and a half hours of worship and teaching and then some more worship! God was really working in our hearts. Pat (our local contact), shared a word out of Isaiah 58 (the whole chapter) about appearances...just reading through it is pretty powerful (go ahead click on the link and read it for yourself...this will be here when you come back...you're still here!?! Go read it, it won't take that long...seriously, why are you still reading this and not clicking on the link? :-) ).
OK, now that you read it, you know that God is speaking to the people of Israel there telling them that there APPEARANCE of rightness was not what He was looking for (funny how fitting that is for us today, huh).

Here are 3 points from his message for us to move into the challenge at the end of the chapter (check out the IF'S at the end and the rewards for them!)

1. We need to move from knowing God with our head to also knowing Him with our heart.
2. We need to move from selfish to supernatural lives.
3. We need to go from the EXAMPLE of the Father to the EXPERIENCE of the Father.

Verses 6-14 really get me...hopefully it makes you think too.

On another note: God has already healed a couple of people physically and there have been some amazing conversations and "coincidences" (keep praying for God to move supernaturally through our team)!

Birthday

Our new helmets came today (the other ones were too tight...I couldn't close my mouth because the sides were so tight!)

Mine:Sarah's:


Great Birthday so far, thank you to all who called, sent cards, left messages on Facebook. or stopped by to say hi: God has really blessed me with some great friends!!!

Today the Community VBS ended and I tore down our sound system and instruments and put them back up at the church. It was an awesome VBS for the 350+ kids and 150+ volunteers! A lot of very creative people out there doing using all the senses to communicate God's POWER.
Tomorrow I leave for Kansas City with Chris K. and the Montevideo and Fosston churches. I will try to post some thoughts on Russ' message tomorrow before I leave for Kansas City.

Random Jots

It's been a bit crazy since the last post. So far I put new mirrors on the bike, delayed having to fix the muffler on the bike until the winter by making a little more noise (I won't rev it in the neighborhood...I promise), changed the spark plugs, and have been practicing technique for u-turns, cornering, swerving, and emergency stopping for the test I am planning on taking Tuesday...Oh and a guy gave me an extra riding jacket he had that has protective padding and breathes like a t-shirt!
We had a guys' lock-in on Thursday night that Chris planned and that went very well...I didn't sleep but and hour or so on Friday, so that was weird. Then I watched Lost with the Hardies on that little bit of sleep (that probably added to the confusion of the series)...Now we have to wait 'till January for the story to continue unfolding. Fortunately only 2 more seasons.
Today Russ gave his last message on the letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation. It was very good. I'll post some thoughts on that this week. After that we went to Alyssa's graduation ceremony and then I "practiced" on the bike a while, and then Sarah and I hung out...We played Scrabble and she beat me by 1 point! ONE POINT!!! AGH! Anyway, I got some school work done and now I'm getting ready for bed.
I have over 1300 pages to read for the 2 leadership classes I'm taking this summer (now that I think about it that's without the research for the papers...I think I might be leadershiped out by May next year! :-) ), which brings me to the comic that made me think of writing a post...

(click on the image to view larger)
Isn't this true? :-)

Tomorrow I'll be working at ONE24 getting ready for some windows to be put in, then I'll be setting up a sound system in a gym for our band to play at the Community VBS that night! Good times!