Dear Friends,
John Maxwell teaches
that "You will never change your life until you change what you do
daily."
As a pastor and as a
leader, I am always trying to change and improve myself on a daily basis. I
spend time studying the Bible in order to learn how I can be a more
effective witness to others.
Today I possess a
greater passion than ever before to know my Savior better and to live for Him
and to tell others about Him.
Besides my commitment
to daily study the Word of God, I have also made a commitment to improve my
leadership skills in an effort to become the best leader I can be. I am
intentional about daily developing my biblical and leadership skills.
It has been said that
nobody goes uphill by accident, and I know if I want to improve in any area of
my life, I must make an intentional decision to grow, and so I am always eager
to learn truth and skills that will improve the quality of my life and witness.
Each day besides
studying the Bible, I try to learn principles of leadership that will increase
my influence and ability to impact others in positive ways.
My bottom line is
trying to do whatever I can to be the best version of myself I can be.
I am not content to
simply coast through life, so I am trying to be faithful and diligent to
use all of the natural and spiritual gifts God has given me.
As I watch the sands
of time slowly pass through my life's hourglass, I want to maximize the value
of my life by being faithful in fulfilling my call to serve Him, and I hope you
do too.
With a host of commentaries
and sermons by my side, I'm daily seeking to learn valuable spiritual truth
from our brother Peter as I study his two letters to the early church.
I am going slow-it has
already been three weeks, and I am only half way through my study, but the time
I've spent has been enormously encouraging as I seek to learn and live out the
lessons he taught those first believers whom he exhorts "to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3:18).
While studying the Bible
each day for spiritual truth, I am also devoting my time to learning and
applying leadership truth.
"Leadership is
nothing more than influence," so whether we like it or not each one of us
is a leader. Some of us, because of our positive influence are good leaders,
but some of us because of our negative influence are poor leaders. As followers
of Christ, each of us should want to improve our leadership skills as practiced
in our homes, schools, work and church.
I have found very valuable
leadership lessons in the writing of leadership expert John Maxwell. John has
written over 100 books and is recognized as the world's leading expert on
leadership. He has written more words on leadership than any person who has
ever lived. But John is not just a leadership writer and speaker; he is a
Christian leadership writer and speaker, and his faith bleeds
through the pages and principles of the leadership lessons he
teaches.
I follow John's
teaching because he takes leadership principles that are deep and complex and
makes them simple and easy to understand and implement. I read his books and
listen to his podcasts as I walk my dog, and just yesterday I listened to the
podcast-link below-on "How to Change the World and Transform Your
Life." I hope you will take a listen and let me know what you think.
All of this leads me
to ask you how are you growing? What are you doing to improve yourself
and your witness? Are you a little different today than your were
yesterday?
Remember, "If you
are green, you’re growing, but if you're ripe you rot." God wants
green and growing fruit in our lives.
I remind you as John
Maxwell teachers: "everything worthwhile is uphill." If you are going
to grow, you must be willing to change the things you do daily.
There is no such thing
as 'accidental achievement.' If you want to grow and develop spiritually,
relationally, professionally or athletically, you must make changes in the
way you spend your time. Your daily agenda must change.
I share this
information with you, not because there is anything special about my
strategy for growth, but because it is a simple plan you might wish to try if
you are serious about increasing your impact and influence as a believer.
In closing, I remind
you of the importance of changing good intentions into good actions because the biggest gap in the world is between the
words, "I should" and "I did."
Keep learning and keep
growing my friends and let me know how you are doing.
Yours in faith and
friendship,
Tom
P.S.I encourage you to
click on the link below and take a listen to the message. I can promise you
that you will be glad you did.
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