Building Leaders In The Kingdom Of God – Part Two

May 4, 2013

Gary J. Borgstede Coaching Corner, Leadership Insights , , , , , , , 2 Comments

PraisingWhen we study the New Testament, we find that Spiritual Leadership combines two cups of leadership in the kingdom of God: a Spiritual Cup and a Leadership Cup. The Spiritual Cup entails exemplary living as a born-again child of God and the Leadership Cup entails the equipping of God’s people to do His work. As spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom, we are to become more like Jesus in exemplary living every day as we do what He has called us to do in the equipping of His people to do His work.

The Spiritual Cup Of Exemplary Living – Who We Become in Christ

In 1 Timothy 4:11-13, Paul tells Timothy, “Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.” The Spiritual Cup of spiritual leadership pours into others from who we are in Christ. We live as an example to others by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives inside us. Through Christ in us, we become more like Him as the Holy Spirit teaches us all things and leads us into all truth.

The Leadership Cup Of Equipping Others – What We Do In Christ

In Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul tells the believers in Ephesus, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” The Leadership Cup of spiritual leadership pours into others from what we do in Christ. We equip others to do God’s work in the earth as His ambassadors on the earth. While Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords sitting at the right hand of the Father, it has always been God’s plan to empower His creation to carry out His will on earth by His authority given to redeemed men and women in Christ.

As spiritual leaders in the kingdom of God, who we become in Christ and what we do in Christ are equally important. In fact, we find this spiritual leadership pattern in the kingdom of God represented in Christ all throughout the Bible by the person of Jesus and the principles of Jesus. To be an impactful spiritual leader in God’s kingdom, we must not only know Jesus personally, but we must also do what He says to do by living out His principles such as:

  • Give and it shall be given to you
  • Lose your life to save your life
  • Serve others to be the greatest
  • Pray for those who persecute you
  • Forgive and be forgiven

In John 14:15-17, Jesus tells His disciples, “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.” Spiritual leaders in the kingdom of God know Jesus and obey Him because the Holy Spirit lives inside us and teaches us how to live out His principles in life.

The Imperative For Developing Spiritual Leaders

As a young leader, the COO of our organization told me early in my professional life that I had to prepare myself to grow and lead in an environment with significant growth.  Additionally, I was encouraged that if I heeded that instruction, I too would enjoy the opportunity of personally growing the same way within the organization. In response to that instruction, I continued developing myself as a leader within the organization.

As a result, in 10 short years I went from being a Director of 3 teams, to an Administrator of a Clinic Division, to a VP of a consolidated Hospital and Clinic Division, to an SVP of a Central Business Office operation for 7 Hospitals and more than 700 Physicians, to a Chief Operating Officer of 7 different operating divisions. From the age of 30 to the age of 40, my leadership responsibilities grew from leading 45 people to leading over 1,000 people in my direct sphere of leadership influence because I was willing to learn, grow, and develop as a leader as well as equip others to learn, grow, and develop as leaders.

The reason I share this story is because the kingdom of God is experiencing significant growth in these last days and we must appropriately prepare ourselves as spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom if we intend to effectively steward the harvest of souls entrusted to us by the Lord. This means that spiritual leaders have to become better leaders and must effectively equip more leaders for the work of the ministry in God’s kingdom. The stakes are high and if we are not prepared for the growth, we will be at significant risk of ministry overload and personal burnout, even as spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom.

The Development Process For Spiritual Leaders

In order to effectively develop spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom for sustainability in their personal and professional lives, spiritual leaders must have a Personal Excellence Plan derived from a written Life Plan and a Professional Excellence Plan derived from a written Business Plan. The Personal Excellence Plan focuses on important leadership development aspects of the leader’s personal life such as the character development of the leader and the chemistry development of the leader within his or her team. The Professional Excellence Plan focuses on important leadership development aspects of the leader’s professional life such as the culture development of the leader and the competency development of the leader within his or her team.

A Personal Excellence Plan Supports Character Development And Chemistry Development In A Spiritual Leaders’s Personal Life

The Character Development of a leader builds the Spiritual Cup of a leader on a personal level. A good Personal Excellence Plan seeks to answer Spiritual Cup questions such as: 

  1. Who are you becoming when no one is looking?
  2. How are you becoming more like Christ each day in your personal life?

The Chemistry Development of a leader builds the Leadership Cup of a leader on a personal level. A good Personal Excellence Plan seeks to answer Leadership Cup questions such as:

  1. What are your personal leadership gifts and talents given to you by God?
  2. How will you personally use your gifts and talents to glorify God and benefit others?

A Professional Excellence Plan Supports Culture Development And Competency Development In A Spiritual Leader’s Professional Life

The Culture Development of a leader builds the Spiritual Cup of a leader on a professional level. A good Professional Excellence Plan seeks to answer Spiritual Cup questions such as:

  1. What type of team are you helping the organization to become when no one is looking?
  2. How are you helping the organization to become more like the kingdom of God?

The Competency Development of a leader builds the Leadership Cup of a leader on a professional level. A good Professional Excellence Plan seeks to answer Leadership Cup questions such as:

  1. What are your leadership commitments and responsibilities in the organization?
  2. How will you fulfill your leadership commitments and responsibilities as a kingdom ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ in your organization?

To be sustainable spiritual leaders in our personal and professional lives, we must continually fill our spiritual cup (who we are in Christ) and our leadership cup (what we do in Christ) in the areas of character development, culture development, chemistry development, and competency development. Otherwise, empty cups will lead to empty spiritual leaders.

To His glory, have a blessed “Make It Happen” day!

Building Leaders In The Kingdom Of God – Part Two Copyright 2013, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Building Leaders In The Kingdom Of God – Part Two, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.

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Character Development – Rx For Excellence

December 30, 2012

Gary J. Borgstede Coaching Corner , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Excellence

Excellence

What is character? The best definition that I’ve heard for character is: the person you are when no one is looking.  When leaders have character, they are big people on the inside and as a result people follow them on the outside. John Maxwell says that everything rises and falls on leadership and I believe that statement to be true. Plus, I also believe that a person’s leadership actually rises and falls on the foundation of their individual character and integrity. In fact, the courage of one’s convictions (character) plus the peace of one’s conscience (integrity) equals the foundation of one’s leadership (influence). Any cracks in a leader’s character and / or integrity will put the leader’s influence in serious jeopardy if those cracks are not effectively addressed and resolved. 

Character Development Matters Desperately In Our Personal Lives

We only have to look as far as the headline news to see the devastating effects of failed character in life and leadership. From corporate boardrooms to family washrooms, character matters desperately. In fact, John Maxwell offers the following about character from his book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader:

1) Character is more than talk

2) Character is a choice

3) Character brings lasting success with people

4) Leaders cannot rise above the limitations of their character

Furthermore, author of The Enemies of Excellence, Coach Greg Salciccioli, teaches leaders what he has learned and observed over his life-time in coaching: talent most often exceeds the character necessary to support it. I believe this observation is primarily true because talent is a gift; whereas, character is developed. Unfortunately, if a person does not learn how to develop the character necessary to sustain their talent, it is only a matter of time before the enemies of excellence in their life take over and completely sabotage their success in life. The Bible states in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Developing Character Produces Personal Excellence

To safeguard our personal lives from the strategies of the devil to destroy us, we must develop character that produces personal excellence in the following 3 practical ways:

  1. Write a Personal Life Plan that includes a personal vision of the preferred future in the areas of Spiritual Growth, Relationships, Fitness, Finances, and Future.
  2. Develop daily routines to replace the energy expired each day spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally.
  3. Create a group of wise trusted advisors to give wise guidance and counsel in life.

Character Development Matters Desperately In Our Professional Lives

While character is critically important to a person’s success in their personal life, it is also critically important to success in their professional life. The influence of an organization rises and falls on the influence of its leaders and the influence of leaders rises and falls on the character of leaders. Therefore, to develop an organization with great influence, an organization must develop great leaders with great character.

Because God has kingdom purpose for organizations in the marketplace, the devil is keenly aware that he can sabotage God’s kingdom purpose in the marketplace by destroying the leaders in the marketplace. Therefore, we must understand very clearly, the stakes are high for kingdom leaders in the marketplace. In Matthew 11:12, the Bible states, “From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful people have been seizing it.”

Developing Character Produces Professional Excellence

To safeguard the advancement of God’s kingdom in the marketplace from the strategies of the devil to hinder God’s kingdom purposes in the marketplace and destroy marketplace leaders, we must develop character that produces professional excellence in the following 4 practical ways:

  1. Write a Professional Business Plan that includes the God-ordained Vision, Purpose, and Values of the kingdom of God within the organization.
  2. Develop a clearly written Strategic Plan that identifies the compelling ambitions and objectives of the organization.
  3. Identify personal and specific leadership commitments for everyone in the organization that support the Strategic Plan of the organization.
  4. Implement a leadership coaching process that effectively develops people and unleashes the extraordinary God-given potential of everyone in the organization to make a real difference in life.

Thank you and have a blessed ”Make It Happen” day!

Character Development – Rx For Excellence Copyright 2012, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint Character Development – Rx For Excellence, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.

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