“Experience isn’t the best teacher, evaluated experience is.” -John C. Maxwell
I thought I’d share some of the most important lessons I’ve learned this year with you. I hope that they will add value to your life! Here they are:
Work harder than anyone so you have the freedom to do whatever you want! – My fiance Laura taught me this. She said it while we were having lunch one day. I know that it’s true that there is no indispensable man, but we can all work hard enough to make sure we’re not the most dispensable!
If you want to be a hero, do what God wants you to do – This lessons was from the Leadership Summit in Mamma Magie Gobran’s talk. When she made this statement I realized that the only thing I can focus on is what God called me to do. If I’ll do that, God will take me places I never imagined and I’ll make a bigger impact than I ever could without Him.
When someone has nothing, God becomes everything! – Working at Light of Life has changed my life. We work with what most people would refer to as “the least of these”. While the people we serve may not have much at all, they do have God, and in reality, He is all they (and we) do need. We could learn a lot about trusting and depending on God from those with “nothing”.
Confrontation and the ability to have Crucial Conversations are vital to Success – This is one of my weaknesses. I don’t like confrontation or crucial conversations. Because of that, I’ve intentionally tried to grow in this area. The more I grow in this area, the more vital I realize both skills are to success.
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God is bigger than any Person, Organization, or Business! – This was probably the most important lesson I learned all year. Prior to this, I wrapped all of my value in where I worked instead of WHO I worked for. In fact, the quote that changed my life on this was by John Bevere in The Bait of Satan, when he said, “Absolutely no man, woman, child, or devil can ever get you out of the will of God! No one but God holds your destiny.” Where before, I would rely on who I knew and where I worked as a measure of success, now I view success as doing what God tells me to do!
Romans 13:8 – Owe no man nothing, Except love – I am by nature, a people pleaser. I don’t like to upset people. As a result I’ll often feel obligated to do things that aren’t in my heart longer than I should in order to please a man instead of doing what is in my heart and pleasing God. Someone said to me, “Bubba, the Bible says to owe no man anything, except love. You’re not obligated to man, you’re obligated to God.” That set me free.
Don’t Despise the days of Small Endings – Carter Conlon, pastor of Times Square Church, taught me this. In ministry world it’s so easy to focus on how big things need to be. However, if you asked the majority of the church if they feel satisfied with what they’re doing for the Kingdom, most would feel like they aren’t making much of a difference at all compared to what others in the church are doing. Jesus started big and ended small. Paul started big and ended small. The real lesson here is to stop comparing what God’s called me to do with what He’s called everyone else to do. Whether I reach 1,000,000 people with my life or 100, as long as I did what God told me to do, I am successful in His eyes.
“The Local Church is the Hope of the World” – Bill Hybels confirmed this belief in his message for Willow Creek’s 36th Anniversary. If you haven’t watched or listen to this, do it now!
Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership – Every year I grow, the more I realize this statement is true. Visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp, I wondered, how did people let this happen? In the end, it was started because of leadership, and ultimately, it ended as a result of leadership. That is why I am devoting my life to develop my leadership skills, I hope you’ll do the same.
What life changing lessons did you learn this year?
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