Sunday I shared about the reality that we are all leaders. God has given all of us influence. Many times we do not see ourselves this way. I believe God wants to raise our level of leadership so that we can shine bright for Christ in the city of Knoxville and beyond!
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
Matthew 5:14
I believe that the followers of Jesus should be the best leaders on the planet because Jesus is the greatest leader of all time!
A leadership lesson from Jesus:
I want to look at one of the biggest leadership decisions that Jesus ever made. It was such a big decision that he spent all night praying about it. As a matter of fact, this is the only time that we see Jesus staying up all night to pray. What could have been so important that he would need to pray all night about it?
“One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names: Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).”
Luke 6:12-16
“Very few things are as important as the team you surround yourself with.”
Jesus stayed up all night to pray before he chose his team! He took time to pray about who he was going to choose to be on his team. I have a question: “Who is on your team? Who have you choose to walk with you and help you achieve the task of leadership that God has given you. If you are a parent, you need a team of people to help lead your children. What team have you put around you at work? What team do you have around you to lead your family? You may think, I don’t know about that. Many of these tasks that you are describing are just for me. I don’t need anyone else helping me lead my family. That is simply not true. We need to be intentional about putting people around us that will help us. We can’t do it all!
MYTH: Individuals accomplish great things.
TRUTH: Teams accomplish great things.
This is something that has been hard to learn for me. I naturally am a doer and I used to feel bad to ask for others to help me. But I quickly learned that I can’t do it all. I do not have all of the leadership giftings needed to lead City Hills Church on my own as an individual. That may surprise you. You may think, “They why are you leading Brandon?” Hang with me. 🙂
If I led on my own here is an example of things that I would need to be good at on my own: I have to be a vision caster, theologian, preacher, manager, team builder, creative, writer, conflict arbitrator, musician, and counselor. I have to know everything about real estate, audio/visual, graphic design, kids students, college, adults, seniors, food serve, funerals, weddings, social media, marketing, outreach, international missions, crisis management, Human Resources, legal, web design, app development, security, and so much more! And on top of all of that I have to be an amazing husband, a great dad, a good friend, and a body builder. 🙂
No one is great at all of these things! Yet, somehow we think that if we read enough books or attend enough conferences that we will be able to do it all. I am so thankful for the team of world-class leaders that God has surrounded me with at City Hills. I know I cannot lead alone. We we are going to accomplish what God has called us to we have to surround ourselves with amazing teams.
God’s dreams for you will be determined by the strength of the TEAM around you.
God has called you to lead! Your leadership is more important than you could ever realize. However, you can’t do it all alone. We need each other. A lot of times we surround ourselves with anyone that will accept us instead of being intentional about the people we put in our inner circle of leadership. Let’s be like Jesus and be intentional about the people we place around us. Let’s take time to pray about it. If Jesus needed to pray about the leaders He was going to surround himself with you better believe you and I will need to pray about this as well.
Maybe you think: “You’re right, I need to surround myself with Godly people who will help me fulfill God’s calling on my life… but I don’t have those relationships.” This is another reason why getting in a SUMMER SMALL GROUP is so important! In a small group you will get connected with other people that can walk with you on the journey. You may even find one of the people that you feel called to invite to help you lead! You never know! If you are a parent, this is why it is UNSPEAKABLY IMPORTANT that you get your kids and teens involved with City Hills Kids and City Hills Students. We need other Godly voices on our team speaking into the lives of our kids. I am so thankful for the Next Gen leadership at City Hills and how they speak into the lives of my three kids!
If there was ever anyone who could have decided to do his calling all alone without a team it would have been Jesus.
Jesus was God in the flesh! However, he chose to change the world by surrounding himself with a hand-selected team of twelve ordinary people.
"Lord, I pray that you help us realize that we cannot do what you have called us to do alone. Help us as a church family to be the most dynamic group of leaders in the City of Knoxville for Your glory! We ask that You would give us wisdom and insight about who who surround ourselves with as we lead. I pray you would take away the wrong relationships and bring closer the right relationships. Help us to be on the teams of others around us helping them fulfill the calling on their lives. We need you today Holy Spirit! Make us into the leaders you have called us to be! In Jesus Name!
Have an amazing day!
Don’t forget SERVE SATURDAY is this Saturday at 8:30am! No need to sign up, you can just show up at the church and we will go out to the various serve projects from there.
