Leaders Speak With Authority

This is an excerpt from my book Leading Like Jesus: 40 Leadership Lessons From The Upside Down Kingdom 

Click here to check it out on Amazon

"The source of Jesus’ authority can be the source of your authority as well. He spoke with authority because:

• He knew the Scriptures

• He listened to the Father and obeyed Him

• He did not use power over people

• He embodied His message

• He took years to prepare for His mission

• He resisted the temptations of the enemy

• His ministry to people was a lifestyle – whether in his work as a carpenter or in the season of discipling leaders for a new spiritual movement.

Let’s look at three types of authority exemplified in Jesus’ life.

1. Derived Authority - Jesus’ authority came from His being. Spiritual authority was the sum total of Who Jesus was as a person: His character, wisdom, and the wise and timely exercise of His spiritual gifts.

2. Delegated authority - Jesus was sent on a mission by the Father. Hebrews 3:1 says He was the apostle and high priest of our faith. As an apostle, He was a messenger. He was under authority. No leader can exercise authority if he or she is not under authority.

3. Distributed Authority - Jesus did not keep His authority to Himself. He shared it with those He discipled. Jesus said, “As the Father sent me, so I send you,” (John 20:21), and He “gave to His disciples authority…” (Luke 9:1 and Matt.10:1). If we give away authority, we gain authority. If we try to keep it all to ourselves, we lose our authority.

Jesus said, “There are rulers who lord over people…they try to exercise authority over people…” (Matt.20:25 paraphrase) Those who think in terms of being “over” people, miss the truth of what Jesus taught in these verses. Leaders should not aim to be over those they lead, but for them. If you serve people, you influence them, and if you influence them, you have authority in their lives. Authority is not taken from people, it is offered to people.”

This book is also available in paperback  -  Click here to buy it from YWAM Publishing

Leadership Tests

This is another excerpt from my new book Leading Like Jesus.

To purchase this book on Kindle click here

To purchase a paperback copy of this book click here

“God does not initiate every human situation that tests us, but he uses them all.

A leadership test is a crisis, big or small, that God uses to teach us to depend more deeply on Him. Testing is one of the least understood aspects of God’s ways. We often ignore God’s testing in our lives, to our great detriment.

God-orchestrated tests in leaders’ lives usually produce one or two results: drawing them closer to God, or pushing them further from God. That is a choice we must make for ourselves - God will not force us to trust Him.

Below are the components of unique tests we go through as individuals and the common tests most leaders go through at some point.

Components of God-appointed Tests:

• Difficult Circumstances (or a crisis) - If it wasn’t difficult, it wouldn’t be a test.

• Desired Response - God wants us to seek Him

• Delight - God delights in our growth as we develop deeper dependence on Him. This is the reward He gives us for passing the test.

Common Tests for Leaders:

• Rejection - Dismissal by friends, family, or trusted co-workers

• Isolation - A wilderness time of loneliness or confusion

• God’s Silence - When God does not speak

• Integrity - To be true to our convictions no matter how hard

• Hearing God’s Voice - Knowing it is God speaking

• Obedience - Doing what God says, no matter the cost.

• Laying Down our Rights - Not insisting on having our way

• Word Test - Obeying God’s direction to us

• Faith Test - Believing God in spite of overwhelming odds

All leaders are tested and we will do well to recognize the test and its importance for our development as wise and faithful leaders.”

A Very Simple Thing...

This is a little story from my book Leading Like Jesus. “Living in a small Holland village, I remember walking down a long hallway in the training center I led. It was very early in the morning so I had the building all to myself for prayer and meditation. As I paced up and down the hallway, I noticed a candy wrapper thrown carelessly on the floor. I thought to myself, “I must say something to the students about being so thoughtless.” Back and forth I walked, repeatedly passing the wrapper. Praying. Seeking God. Annoyed with the students. Then I heard a still small voice: “You pick up the candy wrapper.” I protested, “But if I start using my quiet times in the mornings to pick up candy wrappers, where will it end?”

Through the hallway window, I could see a few other randomly scattered bits and pieces of paper around the campus. I pictured myself marching from one end of the campus to the other, using my precious time to pick up scraps of paper all day. But the voice persisted, “You pick it up and don’t lecture the students about it. Just do it and carry on.”

And so I learned ‘The Lesson Of The Candy Wrapper’. Just do it. Don’t call attention to yourself. Don’t consider any task too lowly for you to do. Don’t fancy yourself too busy to pick up candy wrappers."

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The 10 C's of Team Selection

This is a portion from Leading Like Jesus that I believe is helpful to those who lead and pioneer new movements … “Don’t let desperation for help drive your team building! Jesus chose team members prudently.

Effective leaders have a clearly defined set of qualifications for team members.

Team Selection Guidelines:

1. Courtesy - Do they know how to respect other team members? Are they collaborative in their approach to decision making?

2. Chemistry - Do they have good chemistry with you as the team leader and with others on the team? Are they likeable? Can they have a good time with those they work with?

3. Competence - Do they have the skills necessary to add strength to the team?

4. Character - Do they display servant leadership qualities? Do they show integrity? Are they reliable and do they keep promises?

5. Core Values - Are their core values aligned with those of the rest of the team?

6. Courage - are they willing to take risks? Do they exercise faith and take on new challenges when called upon?

7. Capacity - Do they have the emotional capacity for leadership responsibility? Can they handle stress and pressure?

8. Culture   - do they work well with people of other cultures? Are they sensitive and adaptive to different cultural contexts?

9. Calling/Commitment - What are their spiritual gifts? Do their gifts complement the team? Do they have a clear call from God to serve with you?

10. Clear Expectations - Have you discussed your expectations and theirs?

Team building presents many opportunities to learn humility and grow in wisdom.  The principle of multiplication goes hand in hand with the principle of selection.  Jesus came to launch a movement. To do that, He needed trustworthy men and women to lead and reproduce the movement.”

To purchase this book in paperback, click here

What Can We Do When We Discern Weakness?

Below is an excerpt from my new book 'Leading Like Jesus'... To download from Amazon click here

"What can we do when we discern weakness or things that need attention in the lives of others, including our spouses, close friends, co-workers, or spiritual leaders?

1. See the good.  Look for their potential and their calling from God.  Ony when we appreciate their strengths can we properly evaluate their weaknesses.

2. Pray for them.  Pray for God's love to fill your heart for them.

3. Make sure there is no unhealthy dependence on that person in you.

4. Forgive them if they have offended you.

5. If you are unsure about something that seems wrong or troubles you, don't ignore it.  Ask kind, but probing questions.

6. Don't hesitate to ask help from godly counselors.  They are there to help guide your responses

7. If you feel uncomfortable or uneasy about someone, pay attention to those feelings until you understand why they are there.  This could be God's way of catching your attention.  By paying heed to inner promptings, we grow in discernment and confidence in hearing the voice of God.

8. There are many wonderful ministries and movements in the Body of Christ, but not all share the same vision and values.  Discernment allows you to distinguish the difference between those you are called to appreciate, and those you are called to closely associate with.

9. Don't gossip to others about your discernment of sin or character weakness in a person's life.  If it is causing disunity, division, deception, or damage to others around them, first pray for God's love for the person, pray for their heart to be prepared, then go directly to the person and speak lovingly, but truthfully, about what you discern.  Follow the steps of Matthew 18:15 - 20, "Go alone to the person, if they don't repent go with someone, and if there is no change, then go to their church leaders about the situation." "

Leading Like Jesus Available Today!!!

My new book 'Leading Like Jesus' is available for purchase in the Kindle store today...

Go to Amazon to buy your copy!

New Book to Be Released May 6th! Leading Like Jesus

“The best way to learn to be a great leader is to study and emulate the lives of great leaders. I have made that a practice for many years. This book is about Jesus – not the misrepresented Jesus, claimed exclusively by some Christians, as belonging only to them – but Jesus, the inclusive leader, a leader for everyone”

That is a quote from my new book ‘Leading Like Jesus’. My heart for this book has been to bring everything we do as leaders back to simply following Jesus’ lead. I believe if we do so, the body of Christ will be mobilized into action, to passionately serve the Kingdom, no matter what the cost, and the nations will be reached for His Glory.

My hope is that all who read this book would be encouraged to go deeper. That as they look at the life and teachings of Jesus they would move from being His acquaintance to experiencing a life-changing encounter with Him as ultimate leader and friend.

New Book!

Carl Medearis is an international expert in the field of Arab-American and Muslim-Christian relations. He acts as a catalyst for a number of current movements in the Middle East to promote peace-making, as well as cultural, political and religious dialog leading toward reconciliation. Carl, his wife Chris, and three kids lived in Beirut, Lebanon for 12 years. Through their unique and strategic approach around the Arab world, they encourage university students, business professionals and political leaders to live their lives by the principles and teachings of Jesus in order to change their societies and nations. He is the author of the acclaimed book on these issues, 'Muslims, Christians and Jesus'.

Carl is a brilliant author and a good friend and I am excited about his new book titled 'Adventures In Saying Yes - A Journey From Fear To Faith'

To check it out, just click here

New Book

Mirror, Mirror - A Reflected Life

by Carolyn Ros

I wanted to draw your attention to this new book published by a friend.

From the press release:

Carolyn Ros, or Kari as she was known during her growing-up years, seemed to have everything going for her as she graduated from high school and headed off to college. The child of American missionary parents, she had grown up in Japan speaking two languages. Very early on she was chosen to model for Japanese advertisements, she excelled in her studies in a well-respected international school, and seemed to be the belle of the ball. Underneath it all, however, was a mountain of fear and doubt that was plaguing her and driving her deeper into anorexia and bulimia. Then, on top of all that, her world came crashing down as her face, hands, and knees were injured in a motorcycle accident. She was left a shaken shell. It would take years of serious probing and honest self-examination and a bold question from a fellow college student to get her started back on the road to self-realization and fulfillment. The book not only includes her story, but also many of the spiritual meditations that brought her renewed hope and strength.

Please see here for the full press release.

Why Follow

"Follow is about the foundation on which we build our lives – Jesus Himself. The only way we can truly authenticate ourselves as seekers and followers of Jesus is to measure ourselves by the life and teachings of Jesus. Not by our leaders or our doctrinal statements, just Jesus! Not by what church or organization we are part, but by Jesus Himself. And certainly not by the false 'self' which our culture tries to press on us of, 'what I have', 'what I do'. Just Jesus.

I have written Follow with the underlying belief that any hierarchy and all institutionalization of the church leads us directly away from Jesus Himself. We must, therefore, constantly return to Jesus as our source and our example for how to live. Studying His life, spending time in His presence, and seeking to be filled with His Spirit, these are our primary life-sources as individuals and as movements of Jesus-followers.

It is not easy to have a clear vision of the true Jesus, 'particularly when you live with a culture that is far askew' from His way. I grew up in a church culture that embraced racism. We were an all-white denomination begun in the Deep South in the United States. It took the speeches and civil disobedience of Martin Luther King to awaken my conscience to the evil of racism as a searching university student. It was only then that I realized I had inherited a Christian culture that I had mistaken for the teachings and practices of Jesus. King’s message of non-violence in the face of injustice inspired me to dream a bigger dream of what it meant to follow Jesus.

It is very hard to find Jesus when you live within a culture that claims to be Christian but is far from the Jesus way. I live at present in Cape Town, South Africa. I also visited South Africa many times during the apartheid years. White South Africans in those days claimed to have built a Christian nation. It was enshrined in their constitution. There were many South Africans who naïvely trusted the propaganda of the Nationalist Party who ruled the country. Instead of applying the radical teachings of Jesus to the racist doctrines of apartheid, they blindly trusted their leaders to think for them. It is a hard lesson to learn, whether in South Africa, Nazi Germany or the United States.

The answer? We learn that the servant Jesus did not come to set up 'Christian nations'. While on earth, Jesus modelled being an under-king. His kingdom was not married to any political party or country. We learn from this that we must continually go back to Jesus and His example of 'subversive resistance' to all that is contrary to His way. We must study His teachings, look deeply at His example, and ask hard questions of ourselves and others about what it means to follow Jesus. This applies to Republicans and Democrats in the United States, Tories and Labor and Conservatives in the UK.

In Follow I seek to ask hard questions of you in this book, what you believe and how you apply those believes to your everyday life. I have tried to put aside my own assumptions as I consider again what it means to follow Jesus, and I ask you to do the same. I believe and acknowledge that no one can ever claim to understand or know Jesus completely, but we can know Him with certainty. Not arrogant self-certainty, but with confident humility.”

Available on Amazon.com

Obedience

Excerpt from Chaper Two of my new book, Follow…

"The transformation that we cannot bring about in ourselves, takes place in and through Jesus; through His extraordinary obedience of dying on the cross. I’m are not speaking of ordinary transformation, like transforming a house through the renovation of one room. I am speaking of an extraordinary transformation, the entire house being torn down and rebuilt. This extraordinary transformation impacts our reason for living and being. It gets to the heart of who we are. The obedience Jesus wants from us is motivated by His profound desire to set us free from our hiding places and false comforts to be who He created us to be.

To be transformed, an image needs a living, true object; Jesus is both the object and the means of our transformation. He longs to reshape us at the core of our being, to reach deep inside us and break away the veneer of plastic reality we have built around ourselves. The change which we cannot bring about in ourselves, takes place through Jesus – who comes to live His life in us. This is good news!"

Available on amazon.com

Follow

“Jesus did not come to earth to set up "Christian nations". Jesus modeled being an under-king. His kingdom was not married to any political party or country. We learn from this that we must continually go back to Jesus and His example of "subversive resistance" to all that is contrary to His way...I seek to ask hard questions of you in this book, questions of what you believe and how you apply those beliefs to your everyday life..."

From my new book, Follow, available from amazon.com

You See Bones - I See an Army

Floyd's new book, ‘You See Bones - I See an Army’ can be ordered directly from the publisher. The "Bones book", as Floyd calls it, is a best seller in Holland, South Africa and other countries and has recently been released in the United States.

Floyd's book answers questions about new expressions of church on campuses and in the market place, the difference between "horizontal and vertical" leadership, and repenting from church as religion.

Click here to buy it from the publisher!