by Andy Wood on April 20, 2009
Write your epitaph. That was the assignment.
I was attending a nifty goal-setting seminar, sponsored by a local business. The two presenters were carrying us through a series of exercises to help us clarify our highest priorities, so that we could prioritize our time consistently with our deepest passions. Think of it as a LifeVesting seminar where Jesus was welcome, but not necessarily the host or guest of honor.
Anyway, the presenter asked us to reply to the following:
“(Your name) was known for…”
But this was no press release or publicity sheet. I had to assume the ultimate. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 15, 2008
“Who is the leader?” Dad wanted to know. His son was watching cartoons, and Erwin McManus was asking him to explain the characters and tell him what was going on.
The boy, with great delight, began to tell all about his cartoon heroes.
Erwin thought he’d ask him a simple question about who the leader was, and his son gave him an astonishing explanation. Pointing to one of the characters, he said, “Well, that’s the leader.”
“How do you know?”
He said, “The leader always stays in the back and only gets involved when everyone else is about to die.”
There you have it: what McManus describes as the Marvel Comics Theory of Leadership (more here).
True, leaders are often perceived that way. But that’s not how leaders emerge, or how they last in the world where characters actually breathe. If you’re looking to:
- Hire/elect/promote a person to a place of leadership,
- Strengthen your own leadership abilities,
- Identify the extent to which you or someone else are actually leading people, or
- “Find the parade and get in front of it,”
then consider leadership from the front. Here, from followers’ perspectives, are seven ways to tell who the leader is.
[click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on May 29, 2008
Somebody gave a very large sum of money to a respected businessman to bless a poor pastor. Thinking that the amount was too much to send all at once, the businessman forwarded just a portion along with a note that said simply, “More to come…” In a few days the pastor received another envelope containing the same amount of money and the same message: “More to come…” At regular intervals, there came a third, and a fourth. In fact, they continued, along with those encouraging words, until the entire sum had been received.
In much the same way, the Holy Spirit has chosen to give us His blessing in “measured amounts.” It’s staggering to realize the full extent of the salvation Jesus Christ has purchased for us. It will take eternity to comprehend it all. So as you receive good things from the hand of a good God, remember, there’s more where that came from. And if you have ever thought of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, here is a sampling of what He promises:
[click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on May 15, 2008
I’ve said it often in church life: there is nothing more useless (and sometimes obnoxious) than a new grandparent.
Uh huh.
So anyway…
Amazing creatures, these babies – resting peacefully in somebody’s eager arms or lying in the bed, quietly watching the world go by. Filled with wonder at times, filling the room with noise at times. Innocent and defenseless, yet powerful enough to hold your heart in their tiny hands. So capable of needing and being needed, even before she takes her first nap. Babies! I realized the other day how long it had been since I had held one, or played with one. I remembered how little we still truly know about them.
How does God do that anyway? How can one life be created in the image of two, a miniature version of her Mommy and Daddy? How can she be so unable to care for herself, yet totally equipped to learn, to grow, and to develop? What’s really going through her mind as she lies there quietly? What will she become one day? Will she be a woman or a witch, an angel or a devil? We talk of “accidents,” but God never does. What does God have in mind for her? How much of God will she ever truly experience? What kind of God will she see in me? Or in her parents?
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).
[click to continue…]
