The founders of Grace Community Church and I have received so much grace we even put it in our name. Yesterday I was reminded how much our staff is a product of God’s grace. We’ve all needed lots of it. (Everyone we decided except for maybe Ben. Of course, he probably just hides it well.)
Momma (and Thumper) knew best when she said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Let that be your goal today. It will be tough! You may have to bite your tongue a few times. You may not be able to talk for weeks.
I learned something about leadership in the process of inviting our staff to evaluate my leadership. You must treat the people you manage differently.
In this message I attempt to answer these questions:
What is it?
Why do we have it?
What difference does it make in my life today?
You can watch part of the message here.
Remember, Jesus looks beyond our actions straight to our heart. He considers our motivation. Let me ask you, what does He see? Does He see a heart with no desire for personal gratification, looking out for a neighbor before yourself? Does He see someone who desires to give more than receive?
We, as a society, no longer place a value on life. I know I should have included this comment along with the thoughts on the sixth commandment not to murder, but it fits here as well. When you commit the sin of adultery, even adultery of the heart, you are de-valuing the other person and yourself. You are essentially saying, “I’m cheap, my life is worthless”, or, as the case may be, you are saying, “You’re cheap, and I’m going to take advantage of you.”
If you are following this series you know that I invited our staff to evaluate my leadership. As I said in Part 1 of this follow-up series, we gathered for lunch after a regularly scheduled staff meeting. Essentially the luncheon was to accomplish three things.
You shall not murder. Exodus 20:13 NIV
A conversation with God:
This is a follow up to my post about inviting my team to evaluate me. Here are some of their comments. (Just FYI, I’m not hiding any of the bad answers, but I am condensing some of the similar or repeated comments into one comment. I feel bad sharing the good stuff too, like I am bragging or something, but I guess to be fair I must.)
That makes me wonder a few things. What is the advantage of telling about a loss? Is it so they can assure people they are okay financially? Is it to get press attention? Is it the modern idea of being upfront, honest and open with people, even if it’s not necessarily good news? Is this unique to Belk or is this a mindset of other organizations today, including churches? Personally I like this new approach. Do you?
