I have always been a golf enthusiast. Every chance I get to play, I am out on the course. There are a few things about golf that are essential to play a great game: endurance, management, and mentality. There is no doubt that each of these qualities (or practices) are necessary for playing a strong game. The same applies to our Christian life. In order to stand strong as a Christian, the qualities of endurance, management, and mentality must be present. These qualities must be developed.

Endurance

In golf, physical endurance is key. If you are not physically in shape, playing golf will be pure torture. Of course, you can always get a cart and ride, but that is not true golf! You have to walk to get the full experience!

The Christian life brings many challenges. You have to be physically in shape to be  a strong ambassador for Christ. When time in the Word is forsaken, our physical endurance can quickly become diminished.

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Over the few years of leading worship, I have found that it’s hard to lead when others are disengaged. If you did not know, I lead worship for my youth group. It has been an amazing journey, but it has not been a smooth one. I have experienced many trials while trying to be a servant to this ministry. In fact, I am in the middle of several trials at the moment.

In a youth group setting, you have those who desire to worship God and those that could care less. It is hard to try to lead worship with an audience that consists of individuals on two entirely different wavelengths. For the past year, this has been my battle.

The band and I practice every Sunday night after church, and we meet sometimes three hours before the Wednesday night service starts. We pour a lot of time and effort into the ministry, and sometimes it feels like it is all for nothing. This is exactly what Satan wants us all to believe. The devil wants to wear us down and try to convince us that our time and efforts are worth nothing. It is a lie!

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A new song that I have been leading with my worship band is called “White Flag”. It is a song by Chris Tomlin that focuses on the theme of surrender. It is really a great song, and it is applicable to every Christian’s life.

So often, we do things in our own strength…not God’s.  Living the Christian life, you are either fully surrendered to God with every aspect of your life, or you are not. I can assume that every Christian has been on both sides of the spectrum.

We often temporarily surrender to God, but then the…

• temptation that leads to sin controls us
• busyness of life steals our time with God
• time we once devoted to spend with God now is replaced with something else

The list can go on. The point is that in order for complete surrender to happen, we must do the following:

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Photocredit: Jonathan Pearson

For awhile now, I have noticed a trend in many churches. As the years go by, my generation is slowly fading away. High school and college kids no longer desire to be in church. I have personally talked with many people I know who are in this “lost” group. Some of the major reasons that they do not attend church relates to authenticity. It sad to say, but I do not see much authenticity in churches today. It seems to me like the same routine.

I read a post today from Jonathan Pearson that has encouraged me to write this. He wrote about why the church is losing this generation. I really encourage you to read his post.

In his post he mentions that this generation is:

• Interested in spritual matters
• Interested in working together
• Interested in relationships
• Interested in making an impact
• Interested in helping others…

but we’re not interested in what the majority of churches are doing.

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[This is a guest post a part of "Guest Post Fridays". If you are interested in guest posting, please let me know in the comments, and I will contact you.]

Dan Black is passionate about helping others discover leadership principles based on God’s Word. You can check out his blog or follow him on twitter and facebook.

“Dancoff’s formula, known as the principle of maximum error, can be stated as follows, Optimum development occurs when an organism (A Leader) makes the maximum number of mistakes consistent with survival. In other words, the more mistakes you make, the closer you become to your best possible self, providing the mistakes don’t kill you.”

The success and growth of a leader often comes through the leader’s failure. Getting out there and failing is a factor for success. I would go one step further and say that “Optimum development occurs” and success happens through evaluated error and failure. In order to fail with success a leader needs to evaluate the failures that happen to themselves and the company.

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This is a re-post of the very first post on this site…

The new year is a great time of the year because you can refocus. Reflecting on the past year is a great thing to do…but one thing that the new year brings me is a new adventure. The adventure is going to be whatever I make it. Dreaming is something that anyone can do…setting goals is something that many can do…but actually achieving goals is something that very few can do.

Even though we all experience failures, it doesn’t mean that we are a failure. Sometimes, failures just happen to make us better individuals. On the brighter side, if we set of our goals and have a clear direction and plan, we are more likely to achieve them.

Steps towards reaching your goals:

• You have to dream big:If you can’t dream, there is no way to can achieve your goals because they have not been thought of! I am reminded of a quote C.S Lewis:

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I read an article the other day that was a bit surprising. It talked about a survey done on American families. The results from the survey showed that 1 in 2 American families now live in poverty. The poverty level has become more prevalent in our society over previous years. It mentioned that families who really need help and assistance are turned away because the government is already helping too many people. Although I am not a firm believer in socialistic hand-outs, I do believe that we, as Christians, are called to be the example of showing God’s love to these people.

Jesus met others physical needs before He shared with them the “plan of salvation”. In a world today where there are so many physical needs, it is somewhat of a turn-off if we do nothing to help others out. We can share God’s truth with them, but it will not make as much of a resounding impact because we never showed them God’s love. There is a difference between showing God’s love and sharing God’s truth.

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Below is a guest post I wrote awhile back for the Michael Perkins blog.

Connecting with others on a deep level is a skill. Although some can do it more easily than others, it must be developed. Energy is important in connecting. This was explained in detail in the previous post.

In the book, John C. Maxwell notes what causes people listen to you.

5 Things that Cause Someone to Listen

• Relationships- Who you know
• Insight-What you know
• Success-What you have done
• Ability-What you can do
• Sacrifice-What you have lived

The five points mentioned above are really the five “pillars” of what causes someone to listen. I think that the most important of the five is sacrifice.

Back to finding common ground-connectors must meet the other individual(s) on common ground. It is all about the other person. This obviously requires energy. John says that “It’s difficult to find common ground with others when the only person you are focused on is yourself.”

I can’t agree more with that!

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Today, I have the opportunity to guest post for Michael Perkins. He is another blogger that has an awesome site! I highly encourage you to check it out! Below is a little bit from what I posted over at his site. You can check out the full length post here.

Connecting with others on a deep level is a skill. Although some can do it more easily than others, it must be developed. Energy is important in connecting. This was explained in detail in the previous post.

In the book, John C. Maxwell notes what causes people listen to you.

5 Things that Cause Someone to Listen

• Relationships- Who you know
• Insight-What you know
• Success-What you have done
• Ability-What you can do
• Sacrifice-What you have lived

The five points mentioned above are really the five “pillars” of what causes someone to listen. I think that the most important of the five is sacrifice.

To read the rest of this post and drop some comments, click here!

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[This post is a part of my notes from John C. Maxwell's book. To read the previous post about the 4 Components of Connecting, click here!]

There is no doubt connecting requires energy…and lots of it! In order to connect with energy, there are some strategies involved.

5 Ways to Use Energy for Connecting

• Initiative

As a leader and a “connector”, we must be willing to take the first step.

• Clarity

It is important to have a plan when you are connecting with someone. It would not be beneficial to you or the other individual if you were not concerned or did not have clarity of mind when you are trying to connect.

John basically sums this up into 3 things:

1. Know Yourself
2. Know Your Audience
3. Know Your Stuff

• Patience

Connecting requires patience. Sometimes, we want to “cut-to-the-chase”. Instead, we should be willing to listen and understand the other person. This is hard to do…especially if there are other things going on!

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