As I am preparing for this new series entitled Basic Training, I’m starting to have second thoughts. For the next 5 weeks or so we will be studying the book of James. As many of you may know, James is a “simple to understand” book. I wish it were confusing at times, so I wouldn’t be responsible for what it says about Basic Christianity 101. The problem with this book of the bible is it is so understandable there is no excuse for not following through with its message. UGH!
Often times I will hear people say, “Give me the deep stuff,” or, “I want to know what is in the advance course, Christianity 501!” I say in return, it isn’t the hard stuff I have problems with; it is the basic stuff that I find difficult to live out. In fact, I have come to believe the basic stuff is the deep stuff. I am still trying to apply the, “love your neighbor as yourself” principle. My prayer for all of us, especially me, is that when God’s Word is spoken I will be quick to apply the truth.
Do you need a refresher course in Basic Christianity? It really is warfare out on the streets, so let’s do some “Basic Training”.
Pastor Donald Calder
Commodus says... fail!
If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to fail.
Somewhere along this journey of growing and maturing into adults, we’ve learned that failure is unacceptable. But what happens when you find yourself in leadership? Many get paralyzed because they have this fear of failure. Fear is one of the enemy’s greatest tools. When we are afraid to fail, we fail to dream. If you are going to dream and follow through on some of those dreams, failure is not an option – it is a must.
Leo Buscaglia said it well: “We seem to gain wisdom more readily throughout our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antitheses of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure.”
Craig Groeschel said, “If you are not failing, you have stopped dreaming. You‘ll eventually stop learning. And you will stop growing. Those who have ‘it’, fail often.”
Let me be honest… I have failed many times, and in doing so I am learning how to fail gracefully, and am learning some principles along the way. Thankfully God isn’t finished with me yet.
Join us this year as we learn about failure AND success during the 2010 Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6.
Pastor Donald Calder
The last time I blogged on leadership I said it gets “messy,” and it’s true. This truth does not come from a text book that I read, but from personal experience. So when the task is messy and it gets difficult, I choose to do two things:
- First, I turn to people who have spiritual depth. The leader who thinks he can always do it on his own without input from wise counsel is in Big Trouble. I am truly grateful for the men and women in my life that I can turn to for counsel who have more life experience or different life experience than I do, and have journeyed with God longer than me or differently than me. They are a priceless treasure of resource.
- Secondly, it is very easy to get jaded and bitter in leadership, so I must choose to seize joy in the midst of a mess. Don’t let your emotions overtake your mission. With so many “joy-robbers” around, I must seize the joy, or I could go a long time without any.
I hope you will join us this year for the Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6.
Pastor Donald Calder
