Leadership is always the problem, leadership is always the solution.
In the two circles, leadership/initiative is what expands the circle of influence.
After 40 years in pastoral ministry Simon, having seen lots of different iniatives come and go, different approaches to Sundays, to small groups to... and his opinion is that things live or die on their leadership. You can have a perfect structure and a poor leader and it won't work and an imperfect structure and a good leader and it will work.
Above the line and below the line leadership:
Think trees. Above the ground is the tree, they are the skills of leadership. Below the line are the roots, character.
People forgive failure in skill a lot quicker than they would forget or forgive failure in character. If I preach a bad sermon people forget it by the end of the day, if in the middle of the sermon I swear at someone for being late, everyone will remember it for the next 10 years!
Your personality is like your operating system, it's how you process information.
Under nourished children's brains are a third smaller than that of a healthy child's. They will not be able to challenge the things that are being taught them.
Our character is a mixture of
- Personality
- IQ: informed by Nurture, diet and education
- EQ: see below
Picture - the character triangle diagram
The key to developing your character is EQ.
Definition
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise emotion in yourself or others, to recognise how those emotions may shape activity and relationships, it is the ability to bring those emotions into a healthy place alongside the rational mind biblical truth, and the Holy Spirit. It is the ability to do this proactively and retrospectively.
Our emotions are meant to lead us to God. They remind us of our need for God but can be used instead to lead us away from God.
How do you feel right now? Happy, content, energetic,
Stages of Emotional intelligence:
Stage 1: Awareness (after 20seconds 25% of a room couldn't tell you how they were feeling, they are not aware of their emotions)
Stage 2: My feelings shape my actions
Stage 3: Past feelings shape actions: we need to learn to process past emotions to stop them having a destructive impact on the future.
Stage 4: Balanced control. Our emotions are God given and are fantastic guides. They make us spiritually sensitive, aware of others emotions. They are brilliant guides but rubbish leaders. The Holy Spirit is our leader. That's how you build Godly character.
The issue isn't 'do my emotions go up and down?' but 'do my actions go up an down at the same rate as well?' We should be emotionally aware and sensitive people but we shouldn't allow them to lead us and make us volatile.
