“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

                                                                                    Deuteronomy 7:9

OK, it’s no secret I like to read. A lot. Like, three books a week.

Every once in a while, I’ll come across a book that really speaks to me. There’s a new book out – Lead Like it Matters to God – by Richard Stearns. In it he makes a few points about success and leadership in ministry that really got my brain churning, so I thought I’d share them with you.

In a world where success is king, we must be careful to not fall into the trap of believing that our identity somehow derives from the magnitude of our achievements rather than our relationship with God.

Surrender is the place where your leadership must begin. . . . A surrendered leader has nothing left to lose because they’ve already put everything in God’s hands.

My job as a pastor is just to show up every day, do my best and trust God for the outcome.

The best leaders make efforts to become aware of their own weaknesses and shortcomings and learn to understand the magnified impact their words and actions can have on others.

There’s something about envisioning your deathbed that has a way of bringing greater clarity to the day-to-day decisions we are making right now.

Success is not your goal. Faithfulness to God is your goal. For the Christian leader, faithfulness is success.

Good advice for pastors . . . and their members.

Eternal Father help us to know that the success in our lives is a result of WHOSE we are, not WHO we are. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.