LEADERS FILLED WITH ENTHUSIASM – Part 1

“Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men.”  (Colossians 3:23 HCSB)

The Buffalo Bills were playing the Houston Oilers in the first round of the Superbowl playoffs [in 1992] without their star quarterback, who was injured. By the end of the first half, the Bills were losing 35-3. But football history was about to be made.

In the second half, Frank Reich, the Bill’s backup quarterback, energized himself and the team with enthusiasm, and passed for four touchdowns. The Bills won in overtime 41-38. [At the time] it was called the greatest comeback in the history of the National Football League. The key to victory was Reich’s enthusiastic inspiration.

Effective leaders have learned that their own enthusiasm sets off in other people a chain of enthusiastic participation. Enthusiasm lights a fire under the soul, creates energy, relieves boredom, and helps us work with our whole heart. 

-- Walt Kallestad in “The Everyday, Anytime Guide to Christian Leadership”

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TOGETHER

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another...”  (Hebrews 10:24-25b NIV)

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

--  Henry Ford 

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FALLING SNOW

“God's majestic voice thunders His commands, creating miracles too marvelous for us to understand. Snow and heavy rainstorms make us stop and think about God's power, and they force animals to seek shelter. The windstorms of winter strike, and the breath of God freezes streams and rivers.” (Job 37:4-10 CEV)

Individual Christians are like snowflakes -- beautiful but frail. However, when they stick together they can make a powerful difference; they can stop traffic. 

-- Adapted from Vance Havner


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MEETING TOGETHER IN SMALL GROUPS

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  (Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV)


The genius of the Methodist movement, which enabled it to conquer the raw lives of workingmen in industrial England, and the raw lives of men and women on the American frontier, was the "class meeting" -- ten members and their leader, meeting regularly for mutual encouragement, rebuke, nurture, and prayer.


-- John L. Casteel

A HELPING COMMUNITY

As we seek to become more and more economically independent, as we become more and more secure, we remove ourselves from our need to be "helped." We separate ourselves from the possibility of community and miss the opportunity to experience the richness of loving relationships. Henri Nouwen once wrote, "…every time I am willing to break out of my false need for self-sufficiency and dare to ask for help, a new community emerges -- a fellowship of the weak -- strong in the trust that together we can be a people of hope for a broken world."

-- Unknown

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WORKING TOGETHER

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

Harry Artinian, formerly president of corporate quality for the Colgate-Palmolive Company, once said, "I like to tell the story about the entrepreneur who wanted to build the perfect car.  He rented a warehouse and filled it with the 150 best cars ever built.  Then he told his engineers to find the best part in each car he had bought.

"So they took the best engine from the Mercedes, the best door handle from the Buick, the best transmission from the Toyota, the best rack-and-pinion steering from the Ford, and so on and so on.  When he was done, he had a car assembled out of 15,000 best parts that human minds could engineer.  Unfortunately, the car didn't function because the parts didn't work together."  Artinian's point is clear: In order for synergy and teamwork to take place, the people on the team have to function as a team, not just a collection of individuals.

-- Pat Williams in The Magic of Teamwork


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HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

The Apostle Paul gave us divine perspective on human relationships in every dimension of life. He wrote, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves." (Philippians 2:3 NRSV) That one verse contains more wisdom than most marriage manuals, family system guides, and employee handbooks combined. If heeded, it could virtually eliminate divorce, estranged families, and employee strife from the catalogue of human experience. It will give you guidance and stability when the storms in a relationship begin to howl.

-- Unknown


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BREAKING NEW GROUND

Back in 1957 the First Brethren Church of Sarasota, Florida had a groundbreaking ceremony. Instead of using a silver shovel for VIPs to dig up the first clump of dirt, they brought a one-horse plow [without the horse]. Two strong ushers were harnessed to the yoke to break up the fallow ground. But the plow didn't budge an inch. Next, Sunday School officers and teachers were strapped in, but still the plow was immovable. Finally, all the church members present took hold of the rope, tugging with all their might. With every member pulling together, the plow moved forward, the ground was broken, and the church was built.

Our Savior was born in a barn, not Buckingham Palace. He was a blue-collar carpenter, not a blue-blooded aristocrat. His friends were commoners: fishermen, farmers, and homemakers. Jesus broke new ground in ancient Israel by using common people to build an uncommon community, His church. He is our firm foundation. We are all on common ground as members of His church.

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians


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