Ron Harris

Vision, mission, strategies, outcomes. Leaders are often busy with what it takes to inspire and guide others in the organization. Lots of time is spent determining the right vision to help the organization and all associated with it to have a sense of direction. And the vision should also provide an exciting goal that helps drive the team to new heights.

But I have a question for you. Not concerning your ministry… for YOU.

What is your vision for yourself?

Fred Smith, in his role as a mentor to leaders in ministry and business, talked about this in one of his letters. After writing about the occasional need for a new and changing vision, he added this:

“One exception is the vision of who we want to be as men and women of character…. That vision can be lifelong… and should be. In fact, we should be growing in maturity the older we get. The picture we have of ourselves should include a clear idea of who we are becoming, not just what we are doing.”

We can easily get caught up in the doing, making sure our ministries have direction and purpose. We don’t often think of the importance of building our own vision for who we are and who we are becoming. But that is critical. Dr. Henry Blackaby points to that in one of his devotionals:

“Big assignments require big characters. God will give you a responsibility in proportion to the size of your character…. A small character will fail in a large responsibility every time.”

– Experiencing God Day by Day

And then Blackaby poses these questions:

• How is God building your character?
• Do you sense He has a task for you that will require a far greater man or woman than you presently are?
• Will you yield to God as He works in your life to prepare you for your next assignment?

Powerful questions. Important ones for each of us. The Apostle Paul often spoke of the importance of the character of those who follow Christ. He saw this as a critical link to our understanding of salvation and the hope we have, and that we exhibit it to those around us. Yes, we will face challenges on our path, but they can be used by God to build us up for His service.

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

Fred Smith concluded his thoughts this way:

“Defining who you want to be as a person should be foundational, and many of the aspirations and dreams can be expansive. But all visions should be consistent with who we want to be during each stage of our lives – and how we want to be remembered when it is our time to go.”

– Breakfast with Fred

So… what is your vision for YOU? Are you willing to do what it takes to be the man or woman of character that God needs for His big assignment?

God’s best,

I’m going to guess that this has happened to you.

You meet someone. They give you their name. And three minutes later you can’t remember it! You are reduced to calling them “friend” or “brother/sister” because you cannot pull up the name you just heard. I know. It’s embarrassing. Been there…and ashamed to say I have done that.

Did you ever take time to wonder why that happens far too often? For most of us, it is not a memory problem. It is a focus problem. We are not actively listening.

My friend Bob Tiede recently posted excerpts from a book by Heather R. Younger on that very topic. In the book The Art of Active Listening, the author identifies the value of active listening.

“Active listening is about making a conscious effort to hear and understand someone else. When we actively listen, we demonstrate concern, limit our interruptions, and ask open-ended questions. We commit all of our attention to the speaker…”

Most of us have had the experience of talking with someone who keeps looking beyond us while we visit. We know right away they are not totally focused on us and what we are saying. Sadly, most of us have done the same thing to others.

Mark Cole with John Maxwell’s leadership organization recognizes the importance of active listening:

“Listening is one of the most valuable tools a leader has in his or her tool belt. Unfortunately, the busier we are and the higher we climb in the organization, the more difficult it becomes to listen.”

Cole has suggestions to help make all of us better listeners. Here are a few:

1. Look at the Speaker – It may sound simple, but it’s absolutely the first step to effective listening. Don’t shuffle through papers or your phone while someone is talking to you. Make eye contact and lean in.
2. Don’t Interrupt – It is important to give people the time they need to express themselves.
3. Focus on Understanding – The best listeners aren’t the best because they can remember facts about what was said; they are the best because they understand the purpose and meaning of what was said.
4. Ask Questions for Clarity – There is an art to gently asking clarifying questions, and the best listeners have mastered it.
5. Always Make Listening Your Priority – It shows how much you value the other person.

Solomon reminded us how important it is to listen, and to listen carefully:

Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.

Proverbs 18:13 NLT

A powerful example of God listening to His children is found in Psalm 40. David is in the pit of despair. When he cries out to God, the Lord not only hears him, but God also focuses on him as He listens.

I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1 KJV

The visual image is of God leaning forward to focus in on David as he cried out for help from the mire and mud of his self-made pit of despair. What an example.

Do you give that type of attention to those around you? Do you focus on what they are saying? It goes way beyond just remembering someone’s name when you meet them. But it can certainly start there.

God’s best,

Most of us know the initials YMCA. Yes, it’s more than a song by the Village People. Some might think of the YMCA as a place to work out. Others might know these letters as an inexpensive place to stay. There was a time those letters stood for something. Young Men’s Christian Association. It was founded in London, and when it came to America, one of its early leaders was a Methodist layman named John R. Mott. This leader worked tirelessly around the globe to bring unity and Christian values to the troubled times of his day. And for that, Mott was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.

Mott had nine questions that he used to determine the leadership ability of a person. Take note of these questions…maybe jot them down…and see where you stand as a leader.

1. Does he do little things well? Excellence
2. Has he learned the meaning of priorities? Focus
3. How does he use his leisure time? Rest
4. Does he have intensity? Passion
5. Has he learned to take advantage of momentum? Timing
6. Does he have the power of growth? Learning
7. What is his attitude toward discouragement? Resilience
8. How does he face impossible situations? Faith
9. What are his weakest points? Humility

These are some great questions to ponder to see how we stack up in the critical role to which God has called us.

All throughout the Scriptures the Lord provides characteristics of those who would be godly leaders. The Psalmist said of David as a shepherd of the people he led, “He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands.” (Psalm 78:72 NLT)

Luke, the likely writer of Acts, echoed the psalmist for those who would be leaders. “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28 ESV)

And Jesus set the standard for leadership with the example of His life and in His teaching:

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.

I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

John 13:13-17 NLT

By the way, when John Mott received the Nobel Peace Prize, he concluded his acceptance speech with these words:

“…let me emphasize the all-important point, that Jesus Christ summed up the outstanding, unfailing, and abiding secret of all truly great and enduring leadership in the Word: “He who would be greatest among you shall be the servant of all” He Himself embodied this truth….”

Godly leadership is critical today…and is desperately needed. Strive to be the leader that Jesus desires you to be.

God’s best,

Yes, I’m concerned about your online ministry effort. If you lead an organization, ministry, or church that is using online streaming or programming, I have a concern. It’s not with the fact that you are online. It is with the reality that you can easily get lost in the sea of other online products and programming. If you ask Google to show you “online radio stations” you get over three hundred thousand responses. How does someone find you?

Marketing and promotion are the answer. What is marketing? A good definition is this:

…the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

It is critical to get your online product name across to the potential audience if they are going to find you…and if you are going to build an audience for your programming.

You can find any number of steps for marketing that can help guide your thinking. One comprehensive plan gives these steps:

1. Understand your market and competition. Who else is competing for the eyes and ears of the audience?
2. Understand your customer. What are their needs? What are they dealing with?
3. Define your market niche. What makes your programming stand out?
4. Develop your marketing message. How are you going to position your program?
5. Determine your marketing medium(s). What are the platforms you are going to use to market your program?
6. Set sales and marketing goals. What do you want to accomplish? How quickly?
7. Develop your marketing budget. What can you spend to build your audience?

This list doesn’t take the place of trying to teach these steps or principles, but to alert those producing online programs to the need to consider marketing and promotion strategies to be sure your good work doesn’t get lost.

As I was thinking about this, I began to wonder if there were illustrations of this topic in the Bible. OK…these might be a stretch but think about them. God used a guiding star and a host of angels to announce the birth of Jesus…in a stable in a small, obscure village. These were devices to point people to this miraculous birth of our Savior.

I even thought of the encounter of Jesus with His disciples when He asked them, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13 NLT) And Jesus followed that question with a more pointed one, “But who do you say I am?” (v.15) In a sense, the Lord was checking the market to see what message people had received. Of course, Jesus was doing much more than that!

Maybe one of the more interesting references to “advertising and marketing” comes from Jesus’ teaching in His Sermon on the Mount:

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:15-16 NLT

With your Christian programming, you are shining the Light of Jesus into a dark and needy world. Don’t let that light get lost in the online sea and be hidden. Let it shine for all to see and hear…to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s best,

I’ve had a fantasy of climbing a mountain. I’ll read a book about those who commit to climbing tall peaks and think to myself, “I could do that.” Yep…it’s only a fantasy. No way will I ever make it up to the summit of a high mountain. No. Way.

My friend Steve Gutzler has climbed some of those peaks. He recently recounted a time he and his dad climbed Mt. Hood in Oregon to its eleven-thousand-foot summit. Being a leadership expert, Steve quickly related what it takes to climb one of those high peaks to what it takes to lead others toward a goal. Some of his observations:

• You start to recognize it takes time.
• You realize you have to make sacrifices.
• You face more than one potential quitting point.

But a lot happens when you take on the challenge.

• It builds self-respect.
• It provides forward momentum.
• Self-improvement increases.
• Purpose and fulfillment expand.

If you lead an organization, you face virtual mountains almost daily. Do you see that mountain as an obstacle to go around or as a challenge to help you and your organization grow? How you see that mountain determines a lot about you and will determine a lot about how far your ministry will go.

Steve Gutzler also talks about the kind of leaders that see such mountains as challenges and how they lead others toward a God-given goal. Among those traits are:

1. They visualize the outcome before it happens. They begin with the end in mind. What is the outcome you want to see? Visualize that from the start.
2. They start working before they know how. You start out on the journey and perfect what you do as you go.
3. They fail fast and fail forward. Failure is part of the process of accomplishing a goal. The key is to use those failures as a catalyst for growth.
4. They continue to ask themselves, “What could work better?” Learning from the past and understanding the present, the wise leader looks to the future and seeks to improve.

When I was working in television producing special programs, I was asked, “What is the best production you have ever done?” My reply was quick. “The next one.” I wanted to learn from the past and make the new challenge better than the last.

You may ask if that kind of thinking is even biblical. Well, look at what Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi:

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

Is that a mountain before you? Lead on. Onward and upward…for the high calling God has for you and for your critical role in His great plan.

God’s best,

From time to time, I like to look back over the many photographs I have taken on my life journey. In this digital realm, it’s pretty easy to scroll back over the years and remember special events, places, and people the Lord has brought across our path. I sometimes drag out the old photo albums and peruse the pics…often finding the photographs cracked and the glue or tape holding them in place has lost its stickiness. It’s usually a mess…but it is a wonderfully nostalgic mess.

But there are times that looking back can slow you down and keep you from moving toward the goal God has for you. That is sometimes due to mistakes we have made in our personal lives or ministry work. There is a temptation to revisit those mistakes or failures and never move on. My advice…don’t keep looking back!

Should we learn from our mistakes? Absolutely. Should we stay back there mentally, going over the mistake again and again? Absolutely NOT!

Ben Case, a well-known fundraiser, talks about this in his e-book 21 Tips for Highly Successful Fundraisers. Although he is writing about the work of development for a nonprofit, there is great application for all of us in leadership roles. Here are some of his points:

1. Identify the mistake. Take time to realistically assess what went wrong. I often seek out a trusted third party to help me think this through and identify the true, core issue.

2. Own up to your own role. Consider whether there was something you could have done differently along the way. Did you miss important signs? Honest reflection is essential here.

3. Pinpoint the lesson. What can you take away from this experience that you can apply to future situations to yield different/better outcomes?

4. Turn the page. Armed with the knowledge of how to do things better, resolve to apply what you have learned, leave the past behind, and look to today and tomorrow. Setbacks, mistakes, and difficult situations happen to everyone. How we deal with them reveals much about who we are.

That fourth point is so important. God’s Word has great instruction for us in matters like this. The Apostle Paul could have easily lived in the past, lamenting again and again over his terrorist-type persecution of the Christ-followers of his day. But he was clear about pressing on.

…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

Jesus spoke in a different context, but His words have application here, too. He told some would-be followers:

“Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:62 NLT

Jesus was saying not to let the things of this world…even the good things…distract us from following Him and being part of His plan to reach the world. Paul was saying our main focus needs to be the high calling of God for our life. The past is past. Press on.

If I were to compact this to PowerPoint bullet points, I would put it this way.

• Look back to learn, then…
• Press on to God’s plan and prosper.

God’s best,