King sher Leadership
1st March 2022
Kingfisher Leadership news Important points along the journey:
Leadership: The Journey ‘Leadership is a journey, not a destination. It is a
As you lead others along the marathon, not a sprint. It is a process, not an journey, don’t forget your own, outcome.’ (John Donahoe, President of eBay) personal journey If you can’t lead yourself, you can’t This quote highlights a common mistake that leaders lead others. You are either going to make: although we encourage people to have vision, grow as a disciple and as a leader, to dream of the ‘what if?’ rather than just settle for the or you are going to stagnate. You are ‘what is’, we often fail to pay sufficient not going to stand attention to the journey between the ‘what is’ still . The LEADERSHIP IS and the ‘what if?’. There is always a journey journey you are leading others on A JOURNEY, between those two reference points. That will only be as journey is: NOT A successful as the •the desert that the Israelites had to cross DESTINATION. journey you are •the wall that they had to rebuild around IF WE DO NOT leading yourself on. Jerusalem
PAY ATTENTION TO THE JOURNEY, WE WILL NEVER REACH THE DESTINATION
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Recognise the important balance of big picture vision and small wins If all that is focussed on is the end result, then people are going to get disheartened pretty early on. The end will seem no nearer than when you first saw it for a long time! The journey is made up of a whole series of ‘small wins’ - community growth, faith steps, discipleship maturity as the result of setbacks, and so on. Celebrate the wins and see them for what they are: vital steps along the journey.
•the sacrifices they had to make when heeding Ezra’s challenge to return to the Promised Land The journey is such an important part of the leadership role; in fact, God places the journey in front of us because it is that journey - often through desert, in the face of great opposition, with the temptation to give up or compromise always before us - that we are made ready to move into the ‘what if?’ (For further insight into this, why not read the book: ‘The Journey’, available at: resources.kingfisher.org.uk) Leaders overlook the importance of the journey at their peril. They need not only to cast vision for what the ‘promised land’ looks like, they also need to cast vision for what the journey along the way looks like. Without attention being paid to the journey, the people the leader is pointing towards the ‘promised land’ will grow weary and disillusioned; the vision of ‘what if?’ be supplemented by the encouragement that the ‘what 1
King sher Leadership
Understand and recognise the ‘low points’ in a journey There are always ‘low points’ in any journey, and wise leaders will recognise when these are most likely to occur so that they can be ready for them. The most common ‘low points’: • When the cost rst becomes apparent • When the journey is halfway done • When reversals hit and people start wondering: where is God in all this? • When team mates abandon us Leadership steps to manage the journey: Refocus when you hit a low point (Nehemiah 4:14a) Recognise that on this journey, the end does not justify the means. The point of the journey is to get us ready for the destination, not to compromise in order to reach the destination (Nehemiah 5:1 - 13)
1st March 2022
needs to be supplemented by the encouragement that the ‘what is’ is changing and the people are growing through those changes. Why does God always place a journey between the ‘what is’ and the ‘what if’? •The journey can be transformational. It is the environment where we are tested and refined, making us ready for the destination •The journey can be clarifying. On it, we are presented time and again with the question: ‘Is this worth it?’. How much do I want this vision to come to pass? “At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.” (John 6:66) •The journey can be refining. Not everyone who sets out on the journey with us will end it with us. No one who sets out on the journey will be the same by the end of it. We are refined along the way. Some ‘sacred cows’ will be slain, some ‘excess baggage’ will be left behind, some attitudes that we thought were godly will be tested and found to not be from him after all. A wise leader pays attention, not just to the vision - the picture of the ‘promised land’ - but to the journey to get there. Where are you, currently, on the journey between ‘what is’ and ‘what if?’ Take time to review the journey that you and those you lead are on.
Build trust through a personal walk of integrity, and through clear and accurate communication. (Nehemiah 5:14-18) Remember that people need motivation that touches their personal lives (Nehemiah 4:14b).
The people of Ukraine urgently need our prayers. Pray for peace, pray for the families separated by this war, pray for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done! Lord, have mercy. Come and rescue these, your people!
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King sher Leadership
1st March 2022
Resources to help us lead along the journey This book looks at the forty-year journey that the Israelites took between leaving captivity in Egypt and arriving at the Promised Land. They were sent on that journey to learn some crucial, nation-building lessons - lessons that laid the foundations for the kind of nation they were destined to become when they were nally in the Promised Land.
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The Israelites spent 40 years wandering - not just in one desert, but in ve deserts. The Lord took them on a carefully structured route, through the Wilderness of Shur, the wilderness of Sin, the Wilderness of Sinai, the Wilderness of Zin and the Wilderness of Paran. Each of these locations had a different lesson to teach the Israelites, each lesson revealed by the true meaning of those names. This series of talks, available on our Youtube channel, reveal those lessons, show how the Israelites responded and how each one made them ready to nally enter the Promised Land. You can watch this series by going to our YouTube channel -
https://www.youtube.com/c/King sherChurch/videos
and search
for: Lessons in the wilderness King sher church
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