PLI Give
PLI Facebook     PLI Instagram     PLI Email_LB
PLI Give
PLI Facebook   PLI Instagram   PLI Email_LB

About


PLI is devoted to empowering leaders for wider influence for the sake of the gospel in their communities and effective leadership in their ministries. Learn more about our vision and process here.

Learn


Life is better connected. Connect with others to experience life-giving community and build authentic relationships. We have several learning communities. Find the best fit for you.

Resources


We provide a number of resources and materials to educate both our participants and the general public on effective leadership principles.

Join


Interested in how PLI can impact your ministry? We'd love to get to know you and learn how we can empower your ministry.

3 Critical Steps to your Best Leadership Future

As a leader, what if the next 10 years were your best 10 years?
No matter your age and stage!

The workplace is full of people that have decided that they are too old to make a shift. – William Bridges in Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes

You’ve seen a lot about 1000 Young Leaders. You may have already enlisted one or two high caliber, godly women or men. You may have offered to be their mentor. You’ve showed them this video. Thanks.
But that’s not today’s focus.

There are a lot of messages flying around that the Kingdom race belongs to those who are faster, younger, smarter…than you.

But…
What if the race does belong to you?

What if the Spirit of God is ready and willing to lead you and equip you?

What if you are uniquely gifted for what God wants to do next in you and through you?

And, the only thing that’s holding you back? Is you?

The challenge is letting go of the person you used to be and then finding the new person you need to become. – Bridges

(I’m rereading William Bridges’ classic text on organizational change, Transitions… Change begins with an Ending! And before the New Beginning there’s the uncomfortable Neutral Zone, or what I call the Muddled Middle.)

What if you summon some courage these last few weeks of summer?

Take the posture of Peter:
But because you say so, I will let down the nets. (Luke 5:5)
What if you put your Bible in your hands in a quiet place?
Put a pen to journal and slow your mind to listen to the whisper of the Spirit.
And you discover in classic Bridges fashion the 3 steps to a new leadership future:

  • What needs to end.
  • What comes next. The new beginning.
  • Where it all happens but doesn’t feel good or look good. The muddled middle. The part that scares you.

And you trust the Sender. (Like lambs among wolves. No purse. No bag. No sandals. Luke 10:3-4)

The emphasis on financial success…dissuades people from (trusting) those haunting feelings that they weren’t meant to spend their lives doing what they’re (currently) doing. – Bridges

Here’s my guess: You’ve been sensing that there’s a next step, something more… Wishing you weren’t too old or too whatever else.

AND/OR… you know a couple of others that are sensing it!
[bctt tweet=”God is always calling the unlikely to often do the unexpected in sometimes the most unreasonable of contexts.” username=”pliexperience”]

People who have discounted or blocked out their inner callings … have cut themselves off from the very signals that really vital people use to stay on the paths of their own development. – Bridges

It’s hard work to…

  • Gain clarity about who you are.
  • Spot that deep longing inside of you.
  • Pinpoint the gifts and strengths that saturate your life.

It’s courageous to…

  • Wrestle with the Word
  • Journal
  • Seek a mentor or coach or friend
  • Offer it all up. “Lord if you say so.”

Wise men listen to the words of Jesus. Wise men put those same words into practice. Matthew 7:24

So, if this is you…

  1. Take the jump. Trust the Sender. Start the journey. Use the “muddled middle”/neutral zone to build your faith for the uncertain terrain ahead.
  2. Share this with a couple of leaders that God brings to mind. Tell them: “I thought you might appreciate reading this. What do you think?”

Gail and I and the 100’s and 100’s and 100’s of others in the PLI family would be happy to encourage you and walk with you.
Finally, if Gail and I had our dream? There’d be a ground swell of leaders that would tether themselves to each other and stop trying to get the old ways of doing church to work in this new world. They’d commit the next season to becoming the leaders (no matter the muddled middle) that create an agile, mission-focused church for the “no religious preference” generation before they die. (smile)
More on all of this next week.
If you’d like to receive regular emails from PLI with blogs like this one, sign up here.

Leave a Reply