The Big Six

Blunder - a gross, stupid, careless mistake! Yesterday was the list of the things we have done right over the past 6 years, today is the list of things I have done wrong - my blunders. Let's jump right into the fun.

1. I lead while I was empty! As a leader it is our responsibility to be full of God. Everyday there are things that zap away our spiritual energy and when that happens it is our duty to take time to fill back up. God does not want us to lead by our own natural abilities (that produces arrogance), He wants us to lead out of overflow - out of being full of Him! His love! His grace! His nature! We have to take time daily to pay attention to our spiritual gauges.

2. I allowed good things to distract me!I have always said when you a nobody that any door that opens must be God, but that when you have experience a little success doors open every day and you have to discern which ones are God. By God's grace we have seen a little success over the past 6 years and that has brought many opportunities. I have not practiced what I preached! I allowed myself to get distracted by great opportunities. As a leader we have to ask ourselves is this good or is this God? We place every opportunity before God and the vision He has given us to see if it matches up. (Sidenote - I would rather screw things up by doing too much than sitting around doing nothing at all!)

3. I didn't put systems in place soon enough!One of the topics I taught on right before starting Journey was the "Seasons of Success." God gave me a clear word one day about what to do in different seasons and again I did not practice what I preached! God loves us so much that He will give us success, but we have to be good stewards of that success. To be good stewards we have to put systems in place. Systems do not limit what God is doing, they protect what God is doing! Systems protect the character and integrity of the success that God gives us.

4. I got addicted to growth, not life - change! First of all let me say - if your judging me for that statement STOP! If you think that you would never get addicted to growth in your organization, then you have probably never experienced great growth in your organization. There is no greater feeling than knowing your being greatly effective in what God has called you to do! However, life - change is what needs to drive us, not percentages. There is nothing wrong with benchmarks, we need them, but benchmarks have to represent real, live, breathing human beings that need to experience the life changing power of Christ!

5. I kept unhappy staff too long! There is no greater leadership mistake than keeping unhappy people around! The will jack with the DNA of your organization BIG TIME. Just because they don't like you, or your organization doesn't mean their bad people, it just means they don't fit where they are! Deal with it quickly. Unhappy people will spread a virus through your organization that is hard to correct. I always kept people thinking "I could lead through it", learn from me - you can't change a person's heart, only God can! Hire slow, fire fast!

One thing we did do right was to take care of people when we go seperate ways. They are God's creation and they deserve to be blessed. All others might argue with me (which we'll talk about in a moment), we have always taken care of people in a HUGE way if we go different ways. Be a blessing to others!

6. I've allowed others to mess with my mind! I have always been a very relational person so I take things very personally. I have also tried to be a blessing to everyone no matter what the situation. Over the past 18 months I allowed others criticism to chip away my confidence in who God called me to be. I was wrong for allowing it to happen! I will make my share of mistakes in leadership, but I will always lead with a heart for God! I will lead with integrity trusting that God will prosper us as I walk in His character. I will recognize that I can't make everyone happy and that is okay. I now recognize that the greatest waste of my time is to argue with the people who don't like my leadership or our style. I have gotten okay with ticking people off, them saying all sorts of junk about me, but me moving forward with confidence in God! Don't allow critical people to destroy what God  is doing in you! You will always have them around if your doing anything worthwhile.

So there are just a few of my mistakes. I encourage you to learn from my mistakes, it's alot easier! God wants to do great things in your leadership! Walk in His grace, get over the past, and expect God to do great things! You have to keep moving forward to see great success!