John C Maxwell Quotes on Leadership

John C Maxwell Quotes on Leadership:

• 'People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care' - John C Maxwell
• 'Change is inevitable, growth is optional' - John C Maxwell
• 'Life is 10% what happens to me, 90% of how I react to it' - John C Maxwell
• 'Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less' - John C Maxwell

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• 'If we are growing, we are always going to be outside our comfort zone' - John C Maxwell
• 'We cannot become what we need, by remaining what we are' - John C Maxwell
• 'When the real leader speaks, people listen' - John C Maxwell
• 'Trust is the foundation of leadership' - John C Maxwell
• 'Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course' - John C Maxwell
• 'Leadership develops daily, not in a day' - John C Maxwell
• 'Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand' - John C Maxwell
• 'Momentum is a leader's best friend' - John C Maxwell
• 'Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment' - John C Maxwell
• 'To add growth, lead followers - to multiply, lead leaders' - John C Maxwell
• 'A leader's lasting value, is measured by succession' - John C Maxwell
• 'The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence need to be' - John C Maxwell

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More John C Maxwell quotes on leadership:

• 'Personal organizational effectiveness is proportionate to the strength of leadership' - John C Maxwell
• 'You can find smart, talented, successful people who are able to go only so far because of the limitations of their leadership' - John C Maxwell
• 'The only thing a title can buy is a little time--either to increase your level of influence with others or to erase it' - John C Maxwell
• 'Becoming a leader is a lot like investing successfully in the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day, you're not going to be successful' - John C Maxwell
• 'As long as a person doesn't know what he doesn't know, he doesn't grow' - John C Maxwell
• 'No matter how much you learn from the past, it will never tell you all you need to know for the present' - John C Maxwell
• 'If the leader can't navigate the people through rough waters, he is liable to sink the ship' - John C Maxwell
• 'It's difficult balancing optimism and realism, intuition and planning, faith and fact. But that's what it takes to be effective as a navigating leader' - John C Maxwell
• 'Major barriers to successful planning are fear of change, ignorance, uncertainty about the future, and lack of imagination' - John C Maxwell
• 'It's not the size of the project that determines its acceptance, support, and success. It's the size of the leader' - John C Maxwell

John C Maxwell quotes on leadership are attributed to the writings of John C Maxwell, predominantly The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (1998).

To continue the learning, check out this post: Stephen Covey's 4 Human Intelligences from July 2011. Click here.

Also: The differences/similarities between Leadership and Management

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Up the Mountain Syndrome - Leadership lessons

I spoke recently with a couple, hurt from a previous church, predominantly because of the senior pastor of that congregation. Without delving into discussions about particularities of the situation, here are some lessons of leadership that correlate to the hurt of this couple:

* The pastor entered an existing church, and did not acknowledge the value of the existing ministries within the church. Whether it be church or a new manager of a business, or a new foster familily, we must acknowledge the good and the bad of the situation we enter. To storm into a new situation, in which you have become the leader, and immediately voice your desire for radical change, smells of arrogance and is not a wise leadership action.
* The pastor chose to shut down vibrant ministries, not because they weren't fulfilling the purpose and direction of the church, but because they just did not fit his 'philosophy of ministry'. If you are a pastor and you are assigned (or begin a job at) a new church - if a ministry is vibrant and fits into the mission of the church, then, whether you culturally connect with it or not, surely you must resource this ministry, and find ways to make the ministry even more vibrant and successful. If the only reason you disband a youth ministry or an mature-aged social group is because 'you don't connect well' with this subculture, you have chosen to merely run ministries that YOU enjoy and that YOU are comfortable with. Now, if the program/ministry is volatile or heading in a completely different direction to the church, then the closing is probably beneficial in the long term to the growth of the church. Though, if you struggle because you live in a different cultural bubble to the existing program, then maybe delegation and support is the way to go.
* Up the mountain syndrome. Ever met someone that thinks all they must do, is pray and listen to God, and the rest will fall into place? Prayer is vital to the church, but there needs to be a balance between comtemplative prayer meetings with God, and the living out the gospel Jesus calls us to. I am inspired by the story of some of the early monastics - especially the ones that did not live their whole life seculuded from the world, but spent lots of time in prayer, and then went back to the streets and preached the gospel of Jesus and even healed the sick among them. We could argue some have 'down the mountain syndrome' and they never take time out to climb the mountain and spend time with God. We are called to have a Spirit inspired balanced between chunks of time in prayer, and time in ministry. God help us.

Women Should be Silent in Church? - 1 Corinthians 14

Should women be silent in Church?

What was Paul thinking when he wrote to the Corinthian church? Have a read of 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 - Does it clearly make a case that women should not preach in the church?

1 Corinthians 14: 33-35 'As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.'

This is a verse used by some to discredit the authority women have to preach in the church today. What is Paul saying in this Scripture? Is this a blanket statement that holds true in today's church? I argue that this verse is laden with cultural underpinnings, that need to be explored.

N.T. Wright discusses 1 Cor 14, where Paul urges the Corinthian women to be silent in Church, and while he admits it may well be an interpolation [that is a verse that was added later] from outside of Paul, he also offers another suggestion.

Back in the 1st Century Middle East, men and women would sit separately in Church, and the service would be spoken in classical Arabic, a language in which the men understood and the women did not. During the sermon, as you could imagine, the women begin chatting to themselves, slowly increasing their volume, until the point where the minister must tell the women to keep the noise down. Therefore Paul’s call for women to be silent in church was more of a practical request, so that at least the men could hear the message. To read more on N.T.Wright's article on Women in Ministry, click here.

Galatians 3:28 is known to hold the key to Paul's view on women in ministry, and while a verse plucked out by itself is not always helpful, this verse is foundational to understand Paul's view on the topic. Galatians 3:28 says, 'There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.' Paul's understanding of equality between women and men, was one that developed following his conversion to Christ, and one that goes against the grain of the male-dominated Jewish culture of his day. Taking Galatians 3:28 and feeding that into 1 Corinthians 14, says to me, that men and women are equal, and while Paul may have given a practical request to the Corinthian church, both women and men have the authority and God-given power to preach the gospel of Jesus today.

Should women be silent in the church? No.
Are women and men equal in ministry? Yes.
Are women and men equal in the eyes of God? Of course. (God shows no favourtism)

The 'I like it on ....' Facebook phenomenon

If you are confused as to what 'campaign' Pete was discussing in yesterday's blog. Here is all the inside info as to what the "I like it on ..." Facebook game is all about. This is the only information available from the source of this campaign, it is not linked with any official Breast Cancer Awareness Organisation, nor is there any indication as to whose 'brainchild' it was.

"Remember the game last year about what color bra you were wearing at the moment? The purpose was to increase awareness of October Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was a tremendous success and we had men wondering for days what was with the colors and it made it to the news. This year's game has to do with your handbag/purse, where we put our handbag the moment we get home for example "I like it on the couch", "I like it on the kitchen counter", "I like it on the dresser" well u get the idea. Just put your answer as your status with nothing more than that and cut n paste this message and forward to all your FB female friends to their inbox. The bra game made it to the news. Let's see how powerful we women really are!!!

REMEMBER - DO NOT PUT YOUR ANSWER AS A REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE- PUT IT IN YOUR STATUS!!! PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW"

Breast Cancer awareness/support/cure are very important issues to promote. I have huge respect for organisations that are committed to these causes and seek to support them any way I can. I have my own family connection to breast cancer which has caused me to have huge respect for those who have to cope with the horrible effects of this and other cancers.

I have one question, if the one reference to Breast Cancer was removed, what would you think about this message?

I like it on the Rubbish Tip - Breast Cancer Awareness

We all need to become more aware about Breast Cancer. So lets use SEX as our marketing tool. It is sure to work. Women will have a chuckle as they update their facebook status:
* I like it on the staircase
* I like it on the kitchen table (supposedly refering to their handbags)

Is this good marketing or a pathetic use at using sex to sell an idea?

We very quickly become confused. Lets break it down. We use marketing technique 'A' to sell the idea 'B'. If 'A' is effective then 'B' will catch on as an idea. Now if 'B' is extremely important, and life altering, does it then matter what the substance of 'A' is? I mean if 'B' is so very important, surely it is irrelevant what the content of 'A' is? Or are they ethically mutually exclusive, and so if 'A' is wrong in and of itself, then it is irrelevant regarding the importance of 'B'.

I argue strongly here, that the Breast Cancer Awareness marketing techniques used (that is, 'A') is related to the sexualisation of women, and is moraly wrong. I am saying that this marketing technique is wrong in and of itself; and while the idea of breast cancer awareness is very important, using sex to drive home the idea is just the brain child of a lazy marketing department and it continues to pervade our culture with lustful sex and the sexualisation of women.

Please don't use the argument - "well there are more important things to worry about than this". Sure. But there always is. We could talk about a blog regarding someone with foot pain - but is this irrelevant because someone in Sri Lanka has elephantitis? We could talk about how to stop a migraine - but should we stop talking about this because there is someone who is on life-support needing brain surgery? The sexualisation of women is wrong, and this marketing technique taken on face value, is cheap and pathetic.

Ohh, I just thought of a new Prostate Cancer awareness idea - Every man drop their dacks, tack a picture of their private parts and upload it to facebook... Ohh, sorry, did I go too far that time? Or am I just creatively using sex to get my idea across?

Lessons learned on Kid's Camp

Big Kid's Camp in the NT taught me and reminded me of some things, that even the adults need to be reminded of. Here's some of them:
* God is a BIG God, and we have seen his creation
* God wants us to have a relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ.
* Sleeping in a Tent can be the most uncomfortable thing to do
* Cane Toads and Snakes increase your prayer life
* Leadership is about participation and influence around others, and an ability to help others move towards a common goal
* Sometimes you are called to clean disgusting toilets without asking for recognition... :)
* The Apostle Paul says everyone has seen God's creation (Romans 1), and therefore we are actually without excuse before God. The ultimate revelation of God in found in God's son, Jesus.

Thank you to the Children's Leaders present at the Kid's Camp in the Northern Territory - To Jennie Shrimpton and David Shrimption, Vaughn, Sarah, Sherrie, Chris, Emmanuel, Violet, Kaye, Emily and Chris. God bless you guys. God will reward you one day for the investment you make in the lives of these children.

Lets serve Jesus from the bottom of our hearts, and make God famous in the meantime... !