Ron Harris

Do you sometimes get lost in all the leadership activities you deal with? Along with the meetings, there are mission statements to craft, ministry vision to share, and strategies to shape to accomplish the goals driven by the mission and the vision. It can make a leader’s head swim!

It starts with the vision. Executive leadership coach and friend Steve Gutzler recently wrote on the vision needed for today’s leaders. Steve says the leader needs the following:

Fresh Vision

This one relates to how you see the future, creating an expectation of exciting possibilities that you can’t help but share with others.

Resilient Vision

Possessing this is a game-changer in how you tackle challenges, making you more comfortable with uncertainty and turning setbacks into learning opportunities.

Relational Vision

Get ready for a shift in how you connect with others. You’ll be building relationships, fostering collaboration, and laying the groundwork for trust.

Genuine Vision

This is transformational in how you express care for the well-being of others. A genuine recognition of contributions and sincere celebrations of team success becomes second nature.

Let me add one more to Steve’s list.

Godly Vision

The spiritual leader recognizes that the main goal is to move others from where they are to where God wants them to be. This is true for churches, ministries, and businesses. When we understand the Lord’s vision, then we can use many leadership tools available to accomplish the Lord’s will, as long as we remain true to God’s call and His purpose.

In their book Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda, Henry and Richard Blackaby write of the distinctives of a spiritual leader. Among those traits are these:

Spiritual leaders depend on the Holy Spirit. They recognize the paradox that God calls them to do something that, in fact, only God can do. A leader can move people toward the Lord’s agenda, but only the Holy Spirit can ultimately accomplish the task.

Spiritual leaders are accountable to God. That’s a much higher standard than any board of any organization. But with the Holy Spirit’s help, the spiritual leader can effectively share God’s vision and bring people along to embrace that vision.

Yes, vision is critical for today’s leaders. But it is not just any idea or goal. For those seeking to serve the Lord effectively in the role to which He has called them, they must follow the Lord’s agenda and His vision.

God’s best,

Have you ever looked in the mirror and said, “Why did God make me the way I am?” If we are honest, most of us look to other leaders and acknowledge they are stronger, more charismatic, bolder, funnier…a whole list of traits we may not have.

What we often do is compare our worst with someone else’s best. Or as someone else put it, “We compare our behind-the-scenes image with someone else’s highlight reel.” When we look at these other leaders, we don’t see their weaknesses. But we know ours quite well.

Did you ever think that God made you just the way you are for a purpose? God designed you for the role He has put before you. And if you are smart, not only will you accept how the Lord has made you…warts and all… you will embrace your personality.

Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t work on things to become more effective leaders. We can learn leadership techniques. We can sharpen our communication skills. But we don’t need to compare ourselves to others, thinking we should be like them.

Leadership guru Zig Ziglar (there was NO ONE like him) says it is a mistake to compare ourselves to others:

“You are not inferior or superior to any human being…You do not determine your success by comparing yourself to others; rather, you determine your success by comparing your accomplishments to your capabilities. You are ‘number one’ when you do the best you can with what you have.”

Another has said the only one we should compare ourselves to is who we were yesterday.

I wonder if God’s leaders in Old Testament days had to deal with these things. What about Joshua following Moses? God set His prophet straight right after Joshua became the new leader. I like how Eugene Peterson bluntly paraphrases that passage. I think he captures the sense of God’s direction for Joshua’s leadership role:

Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people.

Joshua 1:2 MSG

It’s as if the Lord were saying, “Look, Joshua, Moses is not in the picture and isn’t coming back. I’m pressing on with you. Get going!”

I wonder if Ezekiel pondered why God chose him for some of the hard tasks he was given, feeling a bit inadequate for the job. Again, the Lord was forthright with His prophet, letting Ezekiel know he was made a certain way for the role the Lord had for him. It wasn’t going to be easy passing on God’s message to a rebellious people. The Lord already knew that.

Again, Eugene Peterson captures the sense of purpose God has in making His servants the way they are:

They won’t listen to you because they won’t listen to me. They are, as I said, a hard case, hardened in their sin. But I’ll make you as hard in your way as they are in theirs. I’ll make your face as hard as rock, harder than granite. Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t be afraid of them, even though they’re a bunch of rebels.

Ezekiel 3:7-9 MSG

Another translation has the Lord saying, “…I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are.” (NLT) Pretty direct.

God has designed you…your personality, your experience, your physical makeup…for His specific task. Accept His design in your life and accomplish the job He puts before you as no one else can. You are something special!

God’s best,

I really like being around creative people. You may find them challenging to work with, edgy, quirky, or just different. Often, it’s because they see things differently…yet that is the very thing that helps them to be successful communicators.

My friend Phil Cooke always seems to have something to say to me about creative communication. Whether it is through his blogs (philcooke.com), his teaching, or a conversation over a meal, there is usually a nugget of inspiration that can propel us to a higher level of communicating truth. And storytelling is a major emphasis.

At a few years ago, Phil was talking about the importance of short videos to tell our story. He indicated that YouTube is spending $1 million daily to expand its servers to handle all the constantly uploaded new videos. Short videos are making an impact. But how do we learn to be more effective with less time?

I am reminded of the quote attributed to different historical people, from French mathematician Blaise Paschal to American writer and humorist Mark Twain. In various forms, it says, “Please excuse this long letter. I didn’t have time to write a short one.” Short letters, short stories, and short videos often take more time because every word and every minute is of heightened importance.

Phil Cooke has some excellent suggestions on learning how to be a creative storyteller:

1. Watch TV or movies with the sound turned off. As a young TV director, my mentor suggested doing this, and it made a huge difference for me. With the sound turned off, you don’t get into the story, and you start focusing on the shots. Framing, composition, sequence, editing – how it builds the scene. Try it.
2. Slow down. In today’s distracted culture, we RUSH everything, and as a result, we MISS everything. Slow down. Really look at the people you pass on the street. Notice how the sun hits the side of a building at sunset. Watch people’s behavior at checkout lines. Start to notice, then start thinking about how to recreate those scenes.
3. Experience life. Most directors today don’t know anything about life because they spend it in front of screens. They haven’t traveled, haven’t experienced difficult jobs, and haven’t been in challenging situations. Go on a short-term mission program, hike through Europe, take boxing lessons, or start a conversation with a homeless person. Work at a Salvation Army food distribution center. Spend time with the disabled. Visit a museum. Get out of the rut. What you experience will transform the way you look at things

I would also suggest you carefully reread the stories and parables of Jesus. In just a few sentences, He often painted a graphic word picture and shared a powerful biblical truth. Think of the story of the man who built his house on the sand versus the one that built his on the rock. Great visual imagery comes to mind with an obvious lesson for life.

Go beyond the ordinary and the expected. See things from a different perspective. Don’t just look…really see…and then put together strong images that tell important stories to change lives for God…and for good.

God’s best,

I recently posed the question, “What’s in your hand?” The idea is that what God has placed in your hands…skills, desires, opportunities…can be used by the Lord to accomplish His will in your life.

The other day I was going through some boxes of old things, saying to myself, “Why do I hang onto this stuff?!” But at the same time, I came across a couple of things that got my mind going. I found a little vinyl sticker from a radio station in the city of Kupong on the island of West Timor…in Indonesia. I had not been there in almost twenty years. I remembered the husband and wife running that station from their home…with the radio tower right in their front yard. I recalled their dedication and passion for this tool to share God’s hope with the people on that island. The husband has died, but his wife continues the radio ministry. Faithful. I’m glad I held on to that little memento. It reminds me of some of the Lord’s great servants and how they continue to use today’s powerful tools to spread the Good News to the lost.

Digging deeper, I also came across a bar of soap, still covered in its distinctive wrapper. Printed there were the words “SS United States.” That is the name of an ocean liner built in the early 1950s that was the flagship of American cruise ships. In 1959 at age thirteen I was on the SS United States with the award-winning and highly acclaimed Texas Boys Choir, heading for seven weeks in Europe to sing at some of the world’s most iconic concert venues.

I dug deeper in that box and found a few other artifacts from that fantastic trip. And my heart reminded me how God used those special experiences in my life to instill in me several qualities…such as a standard of excellence, of the effort needed to accomplish that level of performance, and a sense of what could be done with twenty-six rather ordinary boys who were willing to work hard to accomplish a goal…and reap the rewards.

Are there things in your storage room that can be valuable to you today? Not valuable in a monetary sense, but for what they represent traits that have been instilled in you. What do you hold on to? What ideas take up space in the storage room of your mind and life? Are they things that can give you a sense of the work of the Lord? Things that can remind you of His hand in your life? Something that shows God’s faithfulness to guide you and meet your needs?

In Joshua 4, an unusual event is detailed. As the children of Israel finally crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land after forty years of wandering, Joshua asked the people to do something important. He gave instructions to twelve men:

Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.

Joshua 4:3 NLT

I’m sure they wondered what their leader was doing. Joshua soon explained:

“…We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”

Joshua 4:6-7 NLT

The Lord wants all of us to remember His goodness, His faithfulness, His leadership in our lives. And I think He wants us to pass these things on to our children and future generations.

OK… many of the items in those boxes I opened and went through were junk, not worth holding onto. But the Lord used a bar of soap and an old bumper sticker to remind me of His guidance and His faithfulness in my life.

What’s in your storage room?

God’s best,

There is a credit card company that uses famous actors to extol the wonderful virtues of using their card. Their now-famous line at the end of the commercials is “What’s in your wallet?” In other words, with their credit card in your wallet, you have great spending power, and all your cares are over…until the bill comes in the mail!

In a higher (and holier way), God says to us… “What’s in your hand?”

We learned during the pandemic that we can do without a lot of things we thought we needed. We often approach the task and ministry to which the Lord has called us by saying, “If I only had this tool,” or “If I had that set of folks on my team,” thinking this is what is needed to do what God has enlisted us to do.

Reading through the Bible, a practice of mine for over ten years, has recently taken me back through Exodus. We find the amazing story of Moses, who was in great favor with the Egyptian royalty, then out of favor and somewhat exiled to the back side of the wilderness, tending flocks. Until God spoke to him.

Do you remember the encounter? The bush in the wilderness was burning…but it wasn’t burning up. Just burning. Moses said to himself, “I have got to see this amazing sight.” Of course, when he arrived, he found himself on holy ground with the great God of the universe speaking directly to him. Moses was shocked and overwhelmed. Who wouldn’t be? But that feeling led Moses to express himself to God in a way that angered the Lord.

“Who am I?”

A number of years ago I was on the verge of being named to a key position. It was a position of honor…but it was overwhelming to me. So much so that I called my spiritual mentor, Dr. Henry Blackaby, and explained my situation. And I quoted Moses at that point. “Who am I?” I should have remembered what happened when Moses said that. Dr. Blackaby did remember…and he gently said to me, “Ron, you shouldn’t be saying, ‘Who am I?’ You should be saying, ‘Who is God?’” And he was absolutely right.

As I recently reread that encounter between God and Moses, I was struck by a phrase that the Lord uttered to Moses as he was trying to explain his mission and how it would be accomplished.

“What is that in your hand?”

Exodus 4:2 NLT

Moses was trying to figure out how it was all going to work. God wanted Moses to simply commit and obey. What Moses had in his hand was what he had been using for those 40 years to herd sheep and goats. A shepherd’s staff. A rod. A big stick. But God had a formula for success that exceeded Moses’ understanding. Here it is.

God + You + Your Obedience = Success

The Lord then began to show Moses how it was going to work. If Moses would be obedient, be willing to use what was already in his hand and follow God’s direction, Moses would be successful in rescuing the children of Israel from the oppression of the people of Egypt.

Today, we have a world living under sin’s oppression. What will it take to successfully show them there is freedom in Christ?

What is in your hand?

What has the Lord already provided you in the way of skills, opportunities, wisdom, and passion? Will you be obedient to the Lord as He speaks to your heart? Instead of saying “Who am I?” or “How can I do this great task?” you should say “Yes, Lord. Use me and what I have in my hand to impact lives with your Truth.”

So…what’s in your hand?

God’s best,

Sometimes, we struggle with the day’s To Do list, trying to discern what’s the most crucial thing to do. We either put it at the top of the list or give it an “A” ranking so that we will pay attention to it first. If we are diligent, we go through that exercise every day or a few times each week.

But what about the most essential things in your personal life? Do you sometimes struggle to get those in order? If we are pressed, we will respond that the top three priorities are our faith, our family, and then our work or ministry. But do we live our lives in such a way that others can see those priorities?

Mentor and executive coach Fred Smith came up with three questions to help us probe what should be at the top of our list regarding critical priorities.

At some point in life, we face significant challenges regarding health, finances, relationships, and jobs. Challenges in these critical areas can either distract us from what God has called us to be and to do, or they can serve as a refining fire to help us eliminate the impurities or distractions.

Fred Smith says challenging times can cause us to review in these areas:

1. We define the necessities. So much of our time and effort is spent, or we could say, wasted, in the superficialities of life.
2. We ask ourselves, “Am I happy with who am I becoming?” It is not something you will decide “someday.” You need clarity in direction and purpose now, or “someday” will never come.
3. We think about how we want to be remembered. Trouble makes us think about legacy. What do we want on our tombstone? By the way, Fred Smith received the phrase on his tombstone that he talked about for years. It says, “He stretched others.”

God’s Word is filled with guidance for setting our priorities.

Seek first the kingdom of God… (Matthew 6:33)

Don’t be conformed to this world… (Romans 12:2)

Commit your work to the Lord… (Proverbs 16:3)

Encourage one another and build one another up… (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

What does your list of priorities look like? Better still, what do you want written on your tombstone?

I’ve been thinking about that myself. I think I want carved on that stone what I have claimed as a guide in my life:

He loved God…and loved people.

God’s best,

Those of us who communicate for a living are sometimes surprised when the message doesn’t get through to our audience. In order to be sure a message is grasped, the old adage in public speaking still holds true:

• Tell the audience what you are going to tell them.
• Tell them.
• Then…tell them what you told them.

That’s true for everyone from students in speech class right on through to the ministry leader or the corporate CEO. What is impressive is how many leaders think they are communicating when they are not.

My friend Don McMinn recently wrote about this in a blog, and he pointed to a study that was done a few years ago. Don quoted a 2002 survey of over one thousand business professionals showing that while 86 percent of their leaders feel they are great communicators, only 17 percent believe their leaders are effective communicators.

In that study, the authors identified four assumptions leaders make that hinder good communication. Leaders think…

1. listeners understand what was communicated.
2. listeners agree with what was communicated.
3. listeners care about what was communicated.
4. listeners will take appropriate action.

If number one doesn’t happen, the other points are…well…pointless. People need to know what you are saying and retain that in a memorable way. Maybe that’s why God told Joshua over and over, “Be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 1 KJV). Maybe that’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4 KJV).

The other points are valuable to ensure that what you say takes hold with those in your audience. The Bible talks about being doers of the Word, not just hearers. The listener must understand why they should care about what you tell them. In other words, why should it matter to them? And for these points, you may need appropriate feedback from the listener.

You can often read your audience, seeing the intensity of their eyes as you speak, the nodding of their head, the note taking, and other body language tips. To be very sure, it is a good idea to get direct feedback. Asking the listener a question can help you know if you got your point or points across. Asking them their opinion and what they think about what they heard will tell you if they agree with you. Asking them what steps they think they should take as a result of what they heard will start them on the path to being more than a hearer, to be a doer!

Now that I think about this, I should probably have a form for you to fill out with these kinds of questions that you can send back to me. However, I’ll trust you take this to heart so you might be a better communicator and can lead more effectively to accomplish what the Lord has for you in ministry and life.

God’s best,

It happens to me from time to time. I’m rolling along, feeling pretty good about my spiritual life, and the Lord begins to show me things that help me see where I am coming up short. This time it’s my prayer life.

Oh, I pray. Judy and I pray together for family, friends, the day’s challenges, ministry…it can sometimes be a long list. I’ve also learned the value of praying with people right at their point of need. No matter where we are. By the way, I’ve never had anyone turn down an offer to pray for them as they shared needs.

But as God points out things, I am reminded that the Lord wants us to spend time with Him—not just to bring our list of things, but to stay with Him long enough to hear what God has to say to us. I’ve found it is a discipline that I need to exercise in order for it to take hold of me and my prayer time.

I’ve noticed in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah that in the opening verses, this leader prayed three different ways. First, as he learned of the situation in Jerusalem, he spent days in prayer and fasting.

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 1:4 NLT

After that period of prayer, Nehemiah followed up with a prayer he verbalized, which is found in Nehemiah 1:5-11.

Some months later, when he was in the presence of the King and was asked what was wrong, Nehemiah breathed a quick prayer to the Lord. This brief prayer was effective because of the longer times spent in prayer previously. A lesson for us all.

E. M. Bounds, who lived over a hundred years ago, was a lawyer, author, and church layman. He is known best for his writings on prayer, such as the book Power Through Prayer. It is said Bounds spent each morning from 4:00 to 7:00 a.m. in prayer. Bounds wrote:

“The men who have most fully illustrated Christ in their characters, and have most powerfully affected the world for Him, have been men who spent so much time with God as to make it a notable feature of their lives.”

Out of his own experience, Bounds gives this instruction:

“Many private prayers must be short, and public prayers, as a rule, should be short and condensed. But in our private communications with God time is a feature essential to its value. Much time spent with God is the secret of all successful praying.”

Bounds, Power Through Prayer

Much time spent with God…

I’m working on that. Will you join me?

God’s best,

The shepherd boy David saw the problem but chose to move on to the solution. Goliath was a giant in many ways…in his physical size and in his ability to intimidate the Israelite soldiers. David sized up the situation and moved on to a solution for the problem that was before the elite army of Israel. David even shunned the world’s way by refusing the armor offered by the King. (It didn’t fit him anyway!)

David’s solution was based on a life of confidence in his Lord. It wasn’t due to experience. David had never fought a giant before. But David knew His Lord was able to do exceedingly abundantly above all he could hope or imagine. And God did.

Some read the story of David and Goliath and wonder why young David picked up five stones and not just one to fling at the giant. Henry Blackaby offers some insight. “David was prepared for God to grant him victory with the first stone he hurled at the giant or the fifth. David was ready to accept God’s victory, whether it came easily or with much effort.”

So many lessons there for us as we lead and face the day’s battles. First, do we have confidence in God? It might be a good time to take inventory of how the Lord has worked in your life and in your leadership. Have there been amazing times where it was obvious the Lord came through and secured victory? If you think through your experiences, you can probably build a good list of God’s victories in your life.

Since we know the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we should have the confidence that He is able to save the day and lead us to success in a way that gives God the glory. That is what is obvious in the story of David and Goliath. God is the victor and receives the praise.

And what if stone number one had not worked for David? Would he have thrown down his slingshot and stones, turned and retreated? I don’t think so. He was prepared for a battle, even if it took all five stones.

One leader said, “Bring me options and solutions, not problems.” Leadership coach Bob Biehl says big problems can become teachable moments used to grow your team’s skills. Biehl lays it out this way:

Ask your team members to bring you three optional solutions, with his or her final recommendation and reasons on a single sheet of paper.

The results, says Biehl, is that you develop your team members, and you learn who has great ideas or good judgment. In addition, you save much time by not rehashing the problem but moving on to potential solutions.

Pessimist or optimist? Problems or solutions? I’m so glad that the Lord is a God of solutions. Paul experienced many trials but could tell the Corinthians, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NKJV).

Blackaby summed it up nicely:

“Optimists do not ignore the difficulties; they are keenly aware of them. But the knowledge of God’s presence prevents them from becoming discouraged or giving up. It is impossible to stand in the presence of God and be a pessimist!”

Take a fresh look at that problem before you.

And take a fresh look at your Lord, Jesus Christ.

God’s best,

What do you look for in a leader? What are some of the qualities that cause you to want to follow someone? And what qualities do you possess as you lead others?

Our friend Steve Gutzler, a nationally known leadership expert, did a survey recently on the traits of successful leaders. At the head of the list of Steve’s top twenty traits is Honesty/Integrity. Here are the first five of the twenty traits:

1. Honesty/Integrity
2. Visionary
3. Inspiring
4. Self-aware
5. Caring

Topping the list of leadership qualities for John Maxwell is Character. Maxwell says:

“Character gives rise to discipline and responsibility. It’s the inward character that enables a person to stand firm. Character is not inherited, nor can it be purchased. It cannot be built instantly but instead requires years of construction.”

Gutzler says it boils down to Credibility. When the leader has credibility, those who follow him or her respond in positive ways that benefit the team and the whole organization. In his studies, Gutzler says this is what happens when the leader has built credibility with those on the team. They…

• are proud to tell others about the organization.
• feel strong and empowered with a sense of team spirit.
• see their own personal value as a significant part of the organization’s success.
• feel loyal and committed.
• have a sense of ownership in their own contribution.

Yes, the character of the leader today is critical, yet it is not something that develops overnight. Often the effective leader has come through various trials and struggles and has allowed these challenges to shape him or her in a positive way.

The Apostle Paul talked about the value of personal character when he wrote to the believers in Rome. Today’s leaders encounter problems and trials on an almost daily basis. Yet we can benefit from those challenges and become better leaders. Paul said:

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

Romans 5:3-4 NLT

Recognizing leadership traits in others is one thing. Aspiring to be such an effective leader ourselves is another, and it requires much of us. Yet the rewards are worth the effort.

So… lead on, and let others see the nature of Jesus as a key character trait in you.

God’s best,