Character in Leadership: Post 1 (Intro)

A few weeks ago I was given the book "Growing Kingdom Character" by Tom Yeakley, a man who has coached and developed leaders for more than 30 years internationally, focusing on Christ-like character.

 The book starts with talking about how important character is more important than skills acquired in leadership. That its the character of a person, not skill development that is the most strategic focus of growing in leadership. It then goes chapter by chapter with different leadership qualities.

Yeakley state that the foundational character qualities are

• Love
• Integrity
• Humility
• Servanthood

The supporting character qualities are:

• Purity
• Faith
• Patience
• Self Control
• Teachability
• Courage.

As I explore each one of these by reading the chapter, exploring the verses through a study in the book, praying through the prayer points and excercising these qualities, I plan to share insights throughout the summer. It should be an exciting journey!

Do you agree that Character is more important than skills in leadership?


This entry brought to you by a lazy saturday where blogging just seemed like the right thing to do.

Hope, not Disappointment

"Those Who Hope in Me will Not Be Disappointed." ~God


Over the last few weeks, I've thought about this alot. Truthfully, my first thought was "yea right...i don't believe this is true."

I know that's true in my head, but I've wrestled with believing it in my heart. I started thinking about this verse and making a short list in my head of things I've been disappointed in. Lack of certain friends and family having a saving faith in Christ, lack of funding as I continue in ministry, lack of a spouse after praying for many years, lack of community that I've prayed for, and most recently, not being able to go to a summer program with some of the key students I work with.

Have I been disappointed? Yes. If I'm honest with myself...I have.

So How then can this statement really be true?

In my praying and wrestling with myself, the Lord revealed some things to me. The verse does not say that "Those who know what the Lord's plan is will not be disappointed."  Its made me realize that if I knew the Lord's plan, i probably would be fully content in his ways. Recently, I heard a speaker who said  the following quote:


 "God's will is what you and I would choose if we had all the information God has." ~Tom Yeakley


Thus, if my hope is based only on what I think God's plan should be rather than trusting that He has a plan better than my thoughts and ways, disappointment can happen.


This leads me to recognize that the verse also does not say "Those who hope in the outcome of circumstances will not be disappointed."


When I really think through all this I realize, the outcome of circumstances is what I've been hoping in rather than the character of the God of Heaven and Earth. In reflecting on this, I realized, circumstances can and will disappoint us sometimes, but that's not what I am to hope in either. 


Those who hope in THE LORD will not be disappointed. That is the person of Christ, the Character of God. Because think about this for a minute. 

God's Character includes (this is by no means a comprehensive list):

• Unfailing Love (Psalm 13:5)
• Unfathomable Understanding (Isaiah 40:28)
• Unlimited Patience ( 1 Timothy 1:16)
• Immeasurable Ability (Ephesians 3:20)
• Unbelievable Plans (Jer 29:11)

And really...that's just the tip of the iceburg. 


In light of this, Hoping in the Lord does prove to lead to amazement and adventure and excitement and joy. And these words don't really go with disappointment.

This Blog Brought To you by God's Character, not Circumstantial Outcomes.

Billy Ray, Toilet Fixer

Last night I was on campus at 10:30  finishing up freshman bible study when I get a call.

In a very calm voice my roommate says, "Hi, We have a little bathroom issue."

My first reaction, toilet needs plunged. So I say, "Don't worry I'll be home in a few minutes and we can figure it out."

To which she replies, actually the hose from the toilet has come unattached and water is spurting everywhere. I kinked the hose and there is water all over the floor..it's a flood. Realizing this is a bigger deal than I thought I smartly say,  "Uhhh....maybe you should try to call the front desk."

I get home, rush up the stairs and walk in the door, "Hello?"  Expecting roomate's voice I hear a deep southern male voice say "Hello..I'm here in the bathroom." Oh! Ok..so service guy is here.

So I walk around the corner and no joke, Billy Ray Cyrus the Plumber comes out holding a snake tube, carrying a wet-vac and wearing a big silver cross around his neck. He is complete with mullet. It was all I could do not to grab my guitar and ask him to sing his one time hit wonder "Achey Breaky Heart." Poor guy...Top of the Charts in the 90's to Toliet fixing in 2011.

At this point he needs to go down to the truck to get another part and I find my roomate who is trying to recover from traumatic toilet experience carrying her wet clothes and sopping wet.  Poor Roomie! She tells me the traumatic story of toilet bursting and we die laughing about how the plumber looks like Billy Ray!

Needless to say, the toliet is now fixed, Billy Ray left at 11:30. I half expected him to tip his proverbial cowboy hat at me.

I then proceeded to stew over the humor that just happened. And then, because its after 11 o clock and somehow the synapses in my brain get more creative at this point, I get a vision. Not like a real vision from God or anything, just one that makes me crack up! And I proceed to connect my Bible study on Noah to Billy Ray the Plumber. The end result is this picture, which I drew, and left for my roommate to find in the morning before work.

Here's to you Billy Ray and to Noah who chose to walk with God without worrying about his future...or his bathroom plumbing.

This blog entry brought to you by the 90's hit song "Achey Breaky Heart."

Need of the Hour

Feeling hopeful and expectant of this new year, which is well under way, I have many thoughts of how to live differently, live wiser, live more. Not only these thoughts, but I have been thinking alot about what are we living for exactly.


In light of this, I decided to listen to a very old lecture/sermon from a man who in his day, pin pointed well not only what he was living for, but really what is worth living for. The lecture is titled "The Need of the Hour"; the man, Dawson Trotman. (http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/AA065.mp3)

Some know him as the founder of a large Christian ministry called the Navigators. Some know him as a man that drowned tragically in his 50's saving a drowning girl from a lake. But more than his accomplishments and death, his life is one to be observed, admired and modeled as he was a man that "took God at His word and staked all he had on His promises."


What stuck out to me most as I listened to his sermon is that not only did He pray...He prayed BIG. And not only did He pray BIG..but He saw the fruition of many of his prayers. He prayed that God would send people to labor in all 50 states..and 3 or 4 years later..he could track men he had influenced in every state. He also prayed over a world map, and now, not even 60 years after his ministry started, there are ministries that came out of his influence, in at least 110 of 195 countries throughout the globe.

And this spurs me on to think, what can I pray for? What is something beyond my imagination that God can do? And do I believe Him to do it?


"The world is before you. How big is your Faith? The Need of the Hour is men [and women] who want what Jesus Christ wants and believe He wants to give them the power to do what He has asked. Nothing in the world can stop those men [and women]. Do you believe it? Do you want to be one of them? You may. But you have to ask." ~Dawson Trotman

I want to trust God like this in 2011.

Seen and Unseen

In the last week, I've been challenged with wanting more. I know I named this blog, living for more, but honestly, this week, I've wanted the other kind of more. The kind of more that comes from material posessions and seeming financial security offered by these things. As I type this, I scrunch my nose and cringe at myself.

I've honestly thought this week that If I had 1000 more dollars in the bank, new plates in my cabinet, a larger place to live, a microwave and a printer, a plane ticket to DC, my life would be better. I'd be happy. I'd be less stressed. I'd be content.

Until this verse is called to mind.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor 4:18

In reading this verse, I was stopped in my tracks. That combined with a freshman guy from a retreat I recently attended.

The guy said "..we don't need fancy cars, new shoes, or a big house to be content. What's the point? The only true contentment comes from God. This is the first time in my life that I've realized it, and I just want more than those other things have to offer."

So, I had a good talk with God and realized, its true. This kid had found the secret and cut me to my heart with something I've known for years but lost sight of. To invest in things that last is true joy! Everything else is temporary. Things are temporary. Living situations are temporary. Prosperity in the economy, furniture, dishes...temporary, temporary, and oh yes..temporary!

Microwaves and printers aside, I want what Jesus serves and have decided I need to see the  temporary as temporary and crave the eternal. That I need to trust God for provision, not stuff. And I need to be content in the joy of the Lord, and not compare myself to other single adults in my age bracket that are better off in those temporary things than me.

Oh that I would have that perspective always!

This blog brought to you by grandmother's old pot that heats stuff up on the stove just great.:)

45 Year Reunion

I'm currently sitting at Panera (mostly working, but also eavesdropping:) ) Next to me are three men in their 60's, I'd guess. When I first got here, there was just one. We exchanged hellos as I settled into the table next to him. 

"I'm getting ready to see a couple guys I haven't seen in 45 years," he said to me. About three weeks ago, he went to his gym and saw a young guy, about 25, who looked just like his old friend. He asked the young guy what his last name was, and realized it was the son of his long lost high school buddy. 

So that snowballed into this meeting of three 60-something year old men, getting together at Panera on a Tuesday morning. 

Their conversation is funny. "You have kids?"..."Remember that girl? She married some goofy guy from Milwaukee!"... "You're a bookkeeper?"... "How 'bout that football game at the end of our senior year!"... "Remember, when we'd fight people outside that church?"..."Oh yea, that guy Joe! Whatever happened to Joe?!"

As they talk, I've been realizing that all people want connection with other people.

Whether 60 year old men, or the dozens of freshman that are new on campus this week, all are looking for a group to belong in, a friend to talk to, or someone to shoot the breeze with to make this world a less lonely, more meaningful place.

Why is it so important to be connected to people from your past or your present?

Is it because we are made for relationship? Is it because people are realizing in the recession that relationships are more important than success? What do you think?

These thoughts brought to you by Panera Coffee.

Living for more, Feeling like a Kid

Walking through this crazy thing we call life, I am often intrigued. Intrigued by people, situations, books, interactions, humorous encounters, laughable moments, nature, and travels. In all these things, I'm reminded that these are only hints of what is to come.  Recently I was reminded that "what is seen is temporal, what is unseen is eternal." It reminds me that these hints come from The One and Only, the God, Jesus whom I follow. That these instances are reflections from the unseen making there way into this life. And I'm reminded in my heart..yes..the living for More is where I want to be. And I strive to Live for More than is seen by my eyes.

The side note of this is that I am a girl with adventures. These adventures don't always seem adult like, even though I'm 30. And as I learn to live and walk in life, be responsible, be grown-up, I sometimes stop and laugh at how I don't always feel like an adult, but a kid, enjoying life and people, without cares in the world.