Intimacy with God

Essential to an understanding of Christian Leadership is an understanding of intimacy with God. If we haven't developed an intimacy with Him, there is no way to see people or situations from His perspective, develop meaningful solutions with an eternal objective or develop a plan that is centered on His power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Intimacy with Christ not only assures success (by His standards, not the world's standards), it also assures that we are leading and working for the right reasons (His glory and not ours)!

Intimacy is actually a popular subject these days but not many people really experience it or even understand what it is. As we communicate through SMS and Facebook, we practice a casual and very uncommitted type of communication - void of intimacy. So when we talk to God we tend to do the same thing, "How are you today, God? Can you help me out with... ? Please be with me. Take care of my family. Have a great day." This is not intimacy.

There are 3 things we need to begin an intimate relationship with Christ:

1. Know what intimacy is NOT (not being spiritual, not knowledge, not doing good). 
2. Understand that it will take a lot of work. 
3. Practice intimacy with Him every day.

There are incredible blessings of really knowing God in an intimate relationship but we will never be able to receive those blessings until we commit to the relationship. Similar to a husband and wife relationship, there is blessing and reward when you can trust and depend completely on the other. You know that they will never turn their back on you, will always work for your best interest, value you for who you are and not just what you do for them and always look forward to the time you spend together. There are very few friends that will do all of that!

Explore a bit more on your own to understand the reward, responsibility and the result of intimacy with God: read Eph. 3:18-19, Mat. 22:37 and John 15:16-17.

Measuring Leadership

We looked recently at how God is shaping you in these areas:
·     Your scope of social influence
·     Your ability to maximize the potential of others
·     Your ability to clearly define and move toward a goal
Each of these are difficult to measure but I would like to share some tools that may help in measuring these areas of your life.

Social Influence - This term is not in reference to social media (which might be one factor of your total influence). Here is an interesting article on how social media influence might be measured: https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/. Another article with great advice on how Christians should engage in social media can be read here: http://www.faithgateway.com/.

The more accurate and meaningful questions are, "How engaged are you with others in every environment, how do people think and talk about you and why do they come to you for advice or direction?" Here are some additional questions that may help you measure your influence...

• What types of questions do you ask people and how do they respond to your questions and ideas? Are you asking questions that make them think about why or how they do things? These types of questions are much stronger then asking "who, what, when or where". Do they respond with a thoughtful answer? If they think before answering, it usually means that your opinion is valuable and that they are interested in what you say and how you think.
• Do people come to you with questions? Make notes to yourself about the types of questions people ask you. Do they ask about what you are doing later? It usually means that they want to spend time with you. Do they ask your opinion regarding a decision they must make? It usually means they respect your advice. Do they ask you to pass the lemonade? It can only mean they are thirsty and you are closer to the lemonade... ;)

Leadership Ability - This term can mean the combination of your ability to maximize others' potential and your ability to define and move toward a goal. Here is one great option of an online test to help you measure this: http://www.mindtools.com/... After taking the short test, you will be provided with a summary and suggestions for improvement in several key areas of leadership. You can also look at a test which helps you determine if you are growing in the areas that are important to God: Link to document. This measurement is essential for Christian leaders who realize that God constantly provides tests for us in everyday life which should lead us to a deeper commitment to Him and to His purposes.

Let me know if you have questions regarding these tools and how you might make use of them as you grow into the leader God wants you to be.