Leadership Lessons Pt. 3

8. Not everybody will support your vision. I was very naive in my first 2 or 3 years of leading People's Church. I thought everybody would love and support the vision that God gave me. Over the last 2 years, I've come to the conclusion that not everybody will support my vision. You can't waste all of your time and energy trying to convince people who don't support the vision. That's called crazy leadership. You have to get over it and get over it quickly to do what God has called you to do. Spend your time and energy on the 99 percent of people who do support the vision and not on the 1 percent who don't.

9. Focus on what you do best and on what adds the most value to the organization and delegate the rest. To lead a growing church or organization, you must master the art of delegation. To go up, you must give up.

10. You have to say "no" 95 percent of the time. You can't do what God has called you to do and say "yes" to everybody and every opportunity that arises. There's no way I can go to lunch with everybody, go out to dinner with every family at People's Church, speak at all the engagements I receive, take every phone call that comes to the office or meet with everybody who wants to meet with me. I guess I could, but my wife wouldn't be happy and People's Church would hate my sermons, because of the lack of preparation. I've learned that I have to say "no" most of the time. I have to say "no" to what's good, so I can focus on what's best. If you don't control your schedule, other people and circumstances will.

11. You must take risks. If you are not doing things that if God doesn't show up, you're going to fall on your face, you're not taking risks. Leaders are risk takers. Leaders are always out front. That's why they're leaders. Quit playing it safe, take some risks and just watch God show up!