What Pressure do You Live By?

An airplane has to build the pressure on the inside to equal the pressure on the inside or it will implode. As leaders we are the same way. We have two pressures always hitting us. My question is, "What pressure do you live by?"

Many young leaders do not have a true "drive" to their life. They are lazy and lethargic. Whenever you look back in history and see leaders who started movements, you see that they were uncommon in all they set out to do. For instance, John Wesley would wake at 4:30am in the mornings to study the Bible and prepare. In his later years, when he was 83, he wrote in his journal, "I have become lazy now. I find myself sleeping in until 5:30am these days." Another famous quote by Wesley was, "I want to set myself on fire (passion for what he does) and let the world watch me burn."

I am not a Methodist and am not idolizing John Wesley, but he is one among many who shaped the destiny of a country. My point is this. Leaders live by two pressures and two motivators. Do you need a college, or military institution to set your goals for you? Do you need someone outside of you always motivating you to push harder and go farther? Or let me say it this way, "Do you need external pressure to motivate you to increase your internal pressure?"

Leaders who start movements are not laid back people who sit around and play video games and are consumed with Family Guy (tv show). The history books will not remember those people. However it will remember those people who had an uncommon drive and determination that pushed them to get up early and stay up late making a difference.

Simply put: Leaders who start movements live by an internal drive that keeps them from being dependent upon external pressure to get results.

Which camp are you in?

How to STOP a Movement

As leaders we are always thinking of how to move forward with vision and grow the organization. How do we make it better? That is question that runs through our mind. By nature leaders are those who love to start movements. But I want to explore ways STOP a movement.

In the south we have the sweet nectar of heaven, as my friend Rylan Jones calls it, which is sweet tea. After playing golf one day I was parched. I ordered a large glass of sweet tea. I could see the beads of condensation running down the glass as the waiter brought it. My mouth watered. I immediately took a big gulp of this tea. I think I drank half the glass. I quickly found out that Satan had played a big trick :) This was UNSWEET TEA! I gagged and had a bitter taste in my mouth. My expectation was far different from reality.

As leaders we always go through times when expectation and reality do not line up. The bible describes this as, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." It is in these times we must not let the "root of bitterness spring up and defile the whole body." I have seen many leaders and people who have an expected outcome in relationships, circumstances and dreams of ministry. They find out that the hope gets deferred.

So, the quickest way to STOP a movement in your ministry is to allow a root of bitterness to spring up. How does this happen:
1. Disappointment in a person or situation.
2. Offense at the person, situation or God.
3. Disillusionment. Your overall vision is tainted.
4. Anger towards people or situation. (do not let sun go down on ANGER...it is like Gizmo, it will turn into a gremlin.)
5. The Root of Bitterness.

Someone who has a root of bitterness is cut off from people. They are wearing sunglasses all the time. No matter how bright reality is, they see it darker. They cannot truly connect with people.
We must recoginze when there is a root. We must repent and then reconcile with God and man.

Explosive Growth

The atomic bomb was made of two opposing elements. It was made of uranium 235 and unstable TNT. Tim Elmore uses the atomic bomb in his book, Habitudes, to explain explosive growth. The secret to the power of the atomic bomb was that it imploded before it exploded.

The secret to starting a movement in your ministry or organization is that you must first implode before you explode. Before your organization can hit explosive growth it must have implosive growth. The catalyst will not happen with the big group at first, it will happen within a small group of leaders first.

In previous ministries, I always saw the growth happen when a small group would get together and pray. We would seek the Lord for hours. We would come in on Friday nights and do Bible studies. Focus on getting a small group on fire first before you want the whole group on fire.

Think on this:
1. Implosive growth in your personal life: What small things can you do internally, such as spiritual disciplines, that would help you lead better?
2. Implosive growth with a group: What group are you meeting with where you are seeing an implosion take place?
3. Focus on the few first: As a leader, do not put all your focus on those who are falling away, put your focus on those who are on fire. Feed their fire. What group in your ministry are you focusing on?

The Atomic Bomb Principle

The Secret to Starting a Movement

I remember it clearly like it was yesterday. The Lord spoke to me in my prayer time and said, "Kevin, to start a movement YOU must become a movement." 

Pastors today are intoxicated with creating and growing organizations. They are engulfed with success. The world does not another creative "talk" or cool video. The world needs leaders who are in love and passionate for the Spirit of God. We are in the midst of a generation who have a laissez faire attitude toward their spirituality. The sad thing is, it is the leaders, the Christian leaders. We care more about being "hip" than we do impacting. 

The people in our churches are not their to help us build our little kingdom. They are not as concerned with growing your church as you are. They are desperate for a leader who is full of the Holy Spirit and transparent. Our congregations are starving for leaders who fast and pray. They are starving for leaders who have a Word from God on Sundays. 

My life was radically transformed when I read a book about a pastor who woke up at 5:00am every morning and walked the streets of the city to fast and pray. He said, "A little job done is better than a big job talked about." At 22 years old, I began to walk our city on Saturday mornings to fast and pray. I would lay hands on the sick and lead everyone I met to salvation in Christ. 

Here is the point. The King in You Will Awaken the King in Another. Let the greatness inside of you awaken greatness in your congregation. When Mary saw Elizabeth the baby inside of her lept. 

Start a movement. 

Jesus Invades a Leader's Life- My Journey in the Gospel of Matthew

This is a look inside of my private time with God. I took some time to journey through Matthew.

TITLE: Birthing the Generation to Come

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17 (geneaology) Open the Bible up here and read.

Observation: Matthew uses Abraham and David when he opens up. He uses this for two reasons. The first reason is because He wanted to teach them that Jesus is first, the covenant promise and fulfillment of the never ending throne of David. He is the promised Messiah to the Israelites. He uses Abraham to show that Jesus is also the savior to the Gentiles. He breaks it down from universalism and particularism. He also uses 5 women through out the geneaology. These are not women of rapport. They have bad histories and were failures, but God used them.

Application: Everyone of these listed in the genealogy all believed God at His Word to them. They trusted that God would fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant. They lived their life to the fullest knowing that they played a part in the fulfillment. The Holy Spirit began to impress on my heart that I should move from a lifetime perspective to a generational perspective. If I will believe by faith and step out, then I will place a rung on the ladder when I leave earth that someone else can step up on and then they can place a rung on the ladder so someone else can step up on.
As I am writing this, Jason Upton is singing, “Every Word that is sent down from heaven will not return until it has succeeded what it is meant to do.”
Chuck Pierce had spoken about facing our greatest fears. If we do not then we will be restricted to the natural level instead of the supernatural level of faith.

Prayer: Lord, help me to have a generational perspective. Thank you for leading Matthew to inspire us from his genealogy. Thank you that you are not just doing something in me, but through me where people who have not been born yet will use my life to go to new and higher levels. THANK YOU!! Amen.