Criticism and Leadership
Several good articles this week on dealing with Criticism:
- Criticism is the Price of Growth – Pastors.com
- 5 Much Healthier Ways to Tackle Your Critics – Carey Nieuwhof
- Christ Removes the Curse of Criticism – Desiring God
- 7 Ways to Respond to Negative People in Church – Ron Edmondson
Leadership & criticism go hand & hand. If avoiding criticism is a goal for you than DON’T get involved in leadership. Leaders experience different types of critics: direct criticism that comes face to face, indirect criticism that comes in the form of subtle questions about decisions made or gossip that’s behind the leaders back & can influence the opinion of others. And some people engage in indirect criticism not wanting or believing that their causing any harm to the leader, but he/she feels it. It’s hard to know how you’ll respond when criticism comes until it does. And when it does, you’ll probably be surprised at your own response. Some negative responses include:
-> Paralysis. Criticism can paralyze leaders. It exacts an emotional toll. When you’ve worked hard & put a lot of time into something that doesn’t go well or as well as some expected & criticism ensues – OUCH! One great leader I know talked about curling up in the fetal position & not wanting to get up after a season of criticism.
-> Anger & lashing out. When you’re squeezed, what’s inside comes out. And sometimes criticism can cause a leader to explode on either the critic or worse, those closest to him like his/her family.
-> Overcompensating through more work. Sometimes, working harder is the right answer. However, as leaders, we can begin to do more & carry more weight just to avoid or counter criticism leading us to neglect rest & family time.
A Better Response to Criticism:
- Expect it. It comes with the territory. The famous axiom attributed to Aristotle says it best, “To Avoid Criticism, Say Nothing, Do Nothing, Be Nothing.”
- Make sure your identity is in Christ through a deep devotional life, being assured of your calling, & praying through all your leadership decisions. Criticism hurts the most when we’ve begun to value & find identity in the opinions of others over Christ & his call.
- Learn from criticism. Many times criticism hurts because its true. We need to hear it, embrace it, & make adjustments in our leadership. Criticism can be a gift to us if it helps us improve.
- Pray for your critics. Some want what’s best for you & the church. Some are spilling out what’s inside of their heart – negativity, pain, restlessness, etc. All need leadership. Pray & ask for wisdom in how to lead them & the organization to greater health.
- Weigh your critics. This axiom comes from Dr. Henry Cloud – “Weigh your critics, don’t count them.” Online criticism shouldn’t carry a ton of weight. People will say things online that they’d never say face to face. You’re never as good or bad as you appear online. Are they leaders in the organization that see the whole picture? Most people will never know the reason for or complexity of the decision you make. Learn something from all criticism, but discern what criticism is weighty enough to demand a direct response.
- Develop relationships with those who you can confide in about leadership issues. Don’t bottle it up. Find wise experienced leaders that can help you weigh situations & give you feedback on next steps.
What other tips would you offer leaders about dealing with criticism?
A Few Simple Holiday Outreach Ideas
Yesterday our church kicked off Advent with a number of simple service projects that any church, small group, family, or individual can afford. These make a big impact with a small investment of time & money.
1. Gift cards for ICU Waiting Rooms. At any given time in your community there are people reeling from traumatic events or devastating illness. Their families can be found in waiting rooms at your local hospital. Pick up a handful of Gift Cards to the closest restaurants & coffee shops, drop by & give them out with a “Praying for You” card from your church. Offer to pray for anyone you get to talk with. Simple act of kindness can breathe life into someone that is overwhelmed with bad news. If no one is there, give them to the nurses desk & they’ll pass them out for you. These nurses could also use prayer & encouragement. Call ahead & find out when visiting times are so that you know when people are in the waiting rooms. $100 for 5-10 gift cards.
2. Care packages for the Homeless. If you live in a metro area or near the interstate, you probably get an invitation to serve the homeless everyday at area red lights. Should I give them money? is a constant question. Few of us carry cash anymore. Doing nothing is not desirous for most believers. How about make up some simple care packages with some goodies that that can be passed out the window of a car. Keep 3-5 in your car at all times. $10 per bag.
3. Christmas Decor for Nursing Home Residents. Go to your local nursing home & ask for a list of residents with no local family. The reality for these residents is often few visits if any, few seasonal decorations for their walls, few convenient items like warm socks or lotion. Offer to pray for them. Find out what they want or need & plan a return visit. Spend some time listening to their story. Yesterday, some of our team got to meet a lady who was 105 years old! Incredible story. $25 for a few Christmas decorations & simple cards colored by kids.
4. Fruit baskets for Elderly shut-ins. Local shut-ins are lonely. They often feel trapped. They often have simple to-do’s around their home that can be taken care of in less than an hour. Making up fruit baskets to deliver to them gives you a reason to encourage them with a visit & find out other needs that your faith community can take care of on their behalf. $25 for a bowl or basket & fruit & other goodies to go int them.
All day I’ve been hearing stories from those who delivered these items to people in our community. Simple acts of kindness make a big difference & the holidays offer many opportunities for us to extend kindness & plant seeds in the hearts of people in need.
What other similar outreach ideas have you or your church done at Christmas?
My Friend from Syria
“You Were Different Before!”
I had a friend from Syria in college. We had several classes together & it seemed we ended up sitting next to each other in most of them. He was muslim. He was full of life. He was always smiling. He was always joking. He was very interested in American life. We did set some things on fire in the chemistry lab, but he had no ulterior motives, except getting an education. Religion came up a lot, especially after my second speech in Speech 101. 7-minute informative speech on a particular aspect of a historical persons life. I chose the miracles of Jesus. I talked about the first & last miracles of Jesus, how many miracles are recorded in the New Testament, & then about how John said that if all the works Jesus did had been written down, the world couldn’t hold the books (John 21:25). Then I finished by stating that miracles still happen today even though you may not see one yourself. And then about how the greatest miracle is how God changes human hearts through a relationship with Christ & I gave my personal testimony of that change. I sat back down & my Syrian friend was visibly disturbed. He whispered to me with an angry look – “I want to talk to you after class!” Well, I didn’t know much about muslims at that time, but I’d read a few issues of Voice of Martyrs, so sweaty palms & extreme possibilities filled my mind. When class ended, I tried to shoot out quickly, thinking he may forget about it, but he caught me. Forcibly & loudly, he began putting his finger in my chest & almost shouting over & over again, “You were different before! You were different before! You were different before!” I said, “what are you talking about?” He said, “Your story. You talked about how you were changed on the inside. You were different before you found religion! And that there was something powerful that happened inside your heart!” He went on to tell me how he is pulled back & forth between his religion & the world & how there’s no power in his religion to change his heart. We skipped our next class to talk. I shared the gospel with him & about how Jesus does change us inside out when we confess him as Lord & believe in him & his work. He said it just seemed too simple & that being Muslim was a part of his family identity, like it probably was mine. I asked him to share his faith with me on several occasions, but he would just say, “It isn’t as good a story as you have.” The last few years of college we had fewer & fewer classes together & he moved on to a different campus for our senior year & we lost touch. But I’ll never forget that day in the hallway. It’s been a reminder to me of the power of the Gospel – “You were different before! You were different before! You were different before!” There’s real power in the gospel to change people from the inside out. That’s the hope we see lived out in the lives of other believers around us everyday. That’s the hope that keeps us sharing the gospel with others. That’s the hope that our muslims friends around the world & in our neighborhoods need to know about, & what many of them, like my friend from Syria, may be looking for.
Christian, you were different before! Live it! Share it! Never forget it!
The Duty of Encouragement #devo
One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement… It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers. We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.
William Barclay (1907-1978), via CQOD
Verses on Encouragement – Heb.10:25; Job 4:4; Rom. 12:7-8; 14:19; 15:2; 1 Cor. 14:3; Eph. 4:29; 1 Thess. 4:18; 5:11
Church Planting Makes a Difference
Since 2010, 124 new churches planted in Louisiana with 8,987 new commitments to Christ reported in the first 36 month of these churches. That’s 72 new commitments to Christ per church plant.
How could 72 new commitments to Christ impact your community?
And that doesn’t account for a now lifetime partner in fighting community issues like addiction & hunger, a new partner in global missions, total evangelism as new believers get involved in new testament relationships & serving. Church Planting makes a difference.
Missiologist Peter Wagner said, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.”
Tim Keller says, “The continual planting of new congregations is the most crucial strategy for the growth of the body of Christ.” (get his great article Why Plant Churches).
Keep exploring the question “Does My Community Need a New Church?” HERE.
Check out these resources to help you get started:
- 10 Biblical & Practical Ways to Get Involved in Church Planting
- Every Church Can Encourage Church Planting and Multiplication
- Every Church Can Be a Church Planting Partner
- Your Church Can Be a Parent to a New Church or Campus
“Holy Ghost, with light divine; Shine upon this heart of mine” – Andrew Reed, 1817
Holy Ghost, with light divine
Shine upon this heart of mine;
Chase the shades of night away,
Turn the darkness into day.Let me see my Savior’s face,
Let me all His beauties trace;
Show those glorious truths to me
Which are only known to Thee.Holy Ghost, with power divine
Cleanse this guilty heart of mine;
In Thy mercy pity me,
From sin’s bondage set me free.Holy Ghost, with joy divine
Cheer this saddened heart of mine;
Yield a sacred, settled peace,
Let it grow and still increase.Holy Spirit, all divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine;
Cast down every idol-throne,
Reign supreme, and reign alone.See, to Thee I yield my heart,
Shed Thy life through every part;
A pure temple I would be,
Wholly dedicate to Thee.
Author: Andrew Reed, 1817
Connecting Dots, Defining Impact – Church Planting Highlights from the Louisiana Baptist Annual Meeting
Enjoyed a great couple of days of networking in Bossier City with the Louisiana Baptists Annual Meeting. The big highlight for me personally, was hearing my good friend Kirk Jones, Pastor of Fellowship Church in Prairieville, preach the Convention Sermon. Fellowship started from scratch in a Prairieville Fire Station in 2002. Since then 440 people have been saved & baptized at Fellowship & 700+ gather for worship each week on two campuses in hard to reach Ascension Parish.
Kirk took time to connect some dots & show the impact of the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program on his life. Kirk & I are the same age, so I saw myself in this exercise he led us through. From his local church having a Missions education program for boys called Royal Ambassadors, to the Annual Youth Evangelism Conference held each year to inspire teens to be on mission, then through Baptist Collegiate Ministries during college & Seminary training at SBC seminaries, & then deployment as church planter through the North American Mission Board & Louisiana Baptist Convention. Now 440+ new brothers & sisters in Christ & a healthy, multiplying church that is now a partner through the Cooperative Program & SBC Missions offerings. There are not many in our generation connecting these dots today. Thanks to Kirk for the great reminder. It’s not perfect. It’s not the only way to do it. But the Cooperative Program works.
A few other highlights:
- Annual Church Planting Network Luncheon – We have some amazing folks planting churches in Louisiana & the Annual Meeting is the one time each year that we can get a majority of them in one room for lunch & to say thanks.
- We had 48 of our 77 planters on stage for our Annual Report Monday night. It was cool to see the diversity & depth of church planting in the state in one big group.
- Our Mission Support Committee, which oversees the work of the Missions & Ministry Team, met & approved funding for 110 church planting & compassion ministry projects around Louisiana for 2016. Grateful for the Cooperative Program, Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering, and Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions that makes this possible.
- Greg Shyne, church planter for United Outreach in Shreveport received recognition for Outstanding Bivocational Ministry from the Louisiana Bivocational Pastors Fellowship. We’ve seen & embraced a big upswing in bivocationalism in church planting over the last few years in Louisiana. Love it!
- The Louisiana Baptist Pastors Conference was also great with H.B. Charles, Frank Cox, Phillip Robertson, Brad Jurkovich & others giving us some great encouragement to pursue the call.
Kirk Jones, Planter/Pastor of Fellowship Church in Prairieville, LA preaching the Convention Sermon at the Louisiana Baptist Annual Meeting at FBC Bossier City.
Annual Church Planter Network Luncheon. Currently 77 church planting projects in years 1-3 in Louisiana.
Great to have a big group of our current Louisiana Church Planters on stage with us for our Annual Church Planting Report, Monday night.
The Missions Support Committee is made up of leaders from Louisiana Baptist churches & oversees the work of the Missions & Ministry Team. They approved funding for 110 church planting & compassion ministry projects for next year across Louisiana.
Congrats to Shreveport church planter Greg Shyne, Bivo Pastor of the Year.
“The power of preaching is in its content, not its function.” – HB Charles closed out the Pastors Conference. Great to finally get to hear him in person.
Church Planting = Water for the Thirsty and A City for the Hungry #devo
Two of my favorite images of church planting are found in Psalm 107:35-38.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
He does not let their livestock decrease.
In every city & community there are a dry desert places that need the living water of God’s presence. In every city & community God wants to gather the hungry people for the sake of establishing a fruitful multiplying community. This gives great purpose to the work of the church planter & church planting team: FINDING DRY, DESERT, PARCHED PLACES IN THE COMMUNITY. Settle there & establish a place for hungry people to gather, grow, & multiply.
Questions for planters:
- Are we planting for the purpose of seeing God water the dry places? or are we planting in places that are well watered?
- Are we establishing a place for the hungry or the already full?
- Are we ready to sweat & experience the difficulty of desert life as we plant in dry places?
- Are we ready to lay brick #1 in a million as we build a city for the hungry?
Church Planter Fit
SUNDAY 11082015
- 1x pull trailer
- 4x unload equipment
- 4x hang signs
- 125x setup chairs
- 4x make coffee
- 125x shoulders (shaking hands)
- 4x 30 yard sprint (chasing kids)
- Repeat backwards
(And I guarantee this workout for 10,000 Fitbit steps before noon on Sunday.)
Who’s ready? There’s a church plant near you that can get you on the schedule ASAP.
Inspired by Crossfit.com.
Our God is Able #sermonnotes
Last Sunday, Bridge Church started a new series called Our God is Able. We’ll be looking at how we should view God’s power & the difference that view should make in our everyday life. Here’s a few questions from the intro message to help challenge your thinking about our God who is “able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” Ephesians 3:20.
>> If we serve an all powerful, ever loving God, who can do absolutely anything, why are we as Christians, often time powerless, fearful, hesitant, & uncertain?
>> “My God is Able!” Now, what would my life look like, if I really believed that?
>> Do I believe that God can overcome death & hell, but will struggle to help me with everyday life issues?
>> Do I believe that God can raise the dead, but helping me deal with that difficult situation is too tough a case for him?
>> Is something or someone in my life right now bigger in my minds eye than God & his power?
>> Can you’re life be easily explained apart from God’s hand & his work?
>> Do you have a category in your faith that makes room for God absolutely blowing your mind?
Get the first message in the series Our God is Able HERE or on Itunes. Join Bridge Church this Sunday for part 2 & a special Orphan Sunday emphasis. 10:30am at the Maritime Museum in Madisonville.
Lane Corley 