After God's own heart

I would say that this aspect of a diligent leader is probably the most important. A man or woman who has given themselves to know God and what He is like will be able to give that understanding and revelation to others and feed them. That is exactly how I want it to go in my life. I want to be so ingrained with Scripture that it just simply flows out of me in the words I speak and the actions I do. I want others to be encouraged by my life in the way I pursue God with all of my heart. Being one of the weakest people I know, I'm certain that others can live by my example and excel way beyond.

"Unity occurs when we approach relationships with a free spirit that asks for God's will, regardless of where it may lead the people under us" - Mike Bickle. As I've read more of Scripture and have begun to understand the heart of God in terms of leadership, this statement that Mike said is something I highly value. When it comes to unity, I'm fully on board in agreeing with whatever the Lord would want to do. I believe that love that comes through agreeing in God's plan is a stronger love than community that revolves around food, activities, and similar hobbies.

Serving for the good of others

Even before I allowed Christ to rule over my life, this characteristic: "Serve for the good of others" has been impressed on my heart. In fact, it never made sense to me why people would decide to forsake the camaraderie of another person in order to be an "individual". Serving others should naturally produce a love for the people we're serving and the response will come from both God and man. God will reward what was done in the secret of our hearts and the person who is being served will honor the leader.

So I've recently updated my ministry placement with Literacy Kansas City by accepting a 2nd student. This man is 57 years old and has had a rough life. He has a prosthetic leg, almost blind in one eye, has diabetes, came out of alcohol within the past 2 years, and on top of it all he can't read above a 2nd grade level. He recently switched from a presbyterian church to a pentecostal church because they're more "lively", non-traditional, and they lay hands on him. I think he made the switch because he knows his life has slowed down and he's humbled by his age and health condition. He may be looking for a hope that will free him but I'm not sure how much he's willing to lay down for Jesus. I'm not saying that as an assessment, but as a question.

"Leaders have a teachable spirit"
This can be quite difficult at times. I believe a teachable spirit is absolutely critical in keeping a humble spirit. I realize I'm so quick to respond defensively or resistantly in my heart at times and I don't want that. I like how Mike views criticism as a free research team, but in the heat of the moment I would rather accuse someone of being wrong. I have had times where I'm proud that I responded in gentleness and humility when being accused of wrongdoing, but there has been other times where I totally got enraged in my heart towards another person. Out of those situations gentleness, humility, and truth allowed open doors to bring a relationship closer and make it pure. I know that may sound very vague, but I have a specific memory that is too personal to simply write on a blog for anyone to see.

Since this last quarter has opened up opportunities to pour into my ministry placement, I've gotten a second person who I will be tutoring now. I'm a bit nervous about it. Even though the new student is about the same reading level as my current student he is still a different person. Thus, I'll have to spend some time in understanding the way he thinks and compensate for that.

I believe that my tutoring follows the Lead Diligently section of "doing what needs to be done." However, I really want to be more diligent in my preparation time for each lessons. Since this quarter of school has opened up some extra free time, it'll be a good use of my time to analyze and fine tune my lesson plans which I'm looking forward to. 

While reading the section on "persevering through difficult" in the "Lead Diligently" chapter, the phrase came to mind: Being radical is not a short-term zeal, but decades of faithfulness. The idea to be faithful and endure for decades brings a resolve that I want to be pleasing to the Lord. I know the way He measures relationship and being faithful in the areas of holiness, prayer, fasting, etc. will bring me nearer to His heart which is all I need.

In the chapter of Truth and Transformation, I got a little confused how Mangalwadi connected the compassion of Jesus to our present day context and how we'll experience the same pattern as Jesus. I understand that because of His kind acts that went against the "Establishment" of the Pharisees, it got Him killed. However, I don't see how that would really play out the same way especially in our cultural of tolerance in America...

Eternal Rewards

I loved the point Mike makes that leaders must have an eternal perspective in order to lead. Recently this has become very clear as I've begun to understand the plans and purposes that the Lord has in place with the rewards He has to give. It's because of this revelation that allows me to be strengthened in my every day life.

As for Mangalwadi's book, chapter 5 didn't really have any extra insight that I didn't already know. America is at a state where we are tolerant towards sin and the consequences of sin, but intolerant towards anything that might offend people. Other than that, it was kind of a confusing chapter. First, he hits on America's state and then immediately switches to the Isaiah passages. At the end he ties it together but it wasn't really a strong tie.