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2 Questions Christian Women Must Answer
I was recently introduced to the work of Pastor Brady Boyd when one of my Pastor’s at church shared a recent blog post from Pastor Brady about his new book titled Let Her Lead. I immediately had a connection (though we’ve never met…not even online) as God has given us a similar passion for women in leadership. I certainly plan on grabbing a copy of his book but before I even had a chance to do that I saw this video posted on Facebook and was even further impressed.
I saw two take-a-ways for women in this video…specifically two challenges Christian Women are asked to answer.
http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/05/12/faces-of-faith-brady-boyd.cnn.html
1. Christ works through us to make things right. Each of us as Christian women leaders were set on this earth to make something right. There is something in this world that is wrong and God has given you the passion to work tirelessly to make it right. What is that one thing that you are here to make right?
2. Women are marginalized in our society (more than most of us can fathom). The world must see strong, healthy women of faith willing to be the courageous leaders Christ has called them to be, or our world will continue to see women as objects to be used. So with your answer to #1 in mind – Will You Lead?
Would love to hear your answers to those two questions and how I can help you with #2 in the comments below.
Playing the Bigger Game as a Leader
I love quotes! This one is probably my favorite quote for the week. Freedom for me is a core value – something I seek to have in every area of my life. To me freedom ranks right up there with food and water – I require adequate doses of it or I could die (well maybe not literally). However, there have certainly been more times than not in my life where I would have never put the words freedom and leadership in the same sentence. I’ve been in leadership positions where I felt I had very little freedom. And I’ve been in the employee role where I can certainly say my leader was definitely more about power than about freedom. Yet being a woman leader that unleashes the power of my followers vs. controlling them is to me the ultimate goal of leadership.
As leaders each day, each meeting with a direct report we are faced with an opportunity. We have the opportunity to exert our power over them or we have the opportunity to give them the freedom that unleashes their power. The first drains the energy from both of us. The other multiples the power we each hold.
How are you unleashing freedom in your followers today?
Expose Yourself
Before you think I’ve fallen out of my rocker (I do most of my writing from a rocking chair on my back porch) let me assure you I promise not to ask you to bare yourself before God and all creation in an attempt to grow yourself as a woman leader. Luckily as a leader (seasoned or new) if you’re growing, you will find new and exciting opportunities presenting themselves. And thank the Lord they generally don’t involve getting naked.
3 Temptations of a Leader
Whether you are new to leadership or have been a leader a long time, there clearly isn’t a shortage of ways to learn about the topic of leadership. While John Maxwell has written volumes on the laws, the qualities, the levels of leadership, businessmen and pastors alike have developed conferences such as Chick-fil-a Leadercast, Drive, The Global Leadership Sumit, etc. the volume of material originates with a single source – the leader Jesus Christ. Briad Dodd attempts to scratch the surface of Why Jesus was the Greatest Leader Ever and the idea is developed even further in dozens of books of similar title. Yet you can put into practice every law, quality and attribute and still fail in the blink of an eye if you succumb to any one of the three temptations I am writing about here. As a wise woman leader you know it’s not enough (actually not even possible!) to do everything right. Yet regardless of how many mistakes you make (because we all make them) if you avoid these 3 mistakes along your journey you will succeed.
Do Women Need the Church?
I have been a follower of Christ since I was 10. Growing up in total dysfunction with my Grandmother the church quickly became my family. I loved being there. Church was always home to me. Several months ago I began to notice that more and more of my girlfriends, whom I consider strong women of faith, were no longer going to church. It was likely brought to my attention as I was reading the book the Resignation of Eve which I talk more about in this post. Yet it was my affinity for church that saddened me about this revelation. In examining their lives I did not see any outward signs of a “falling away” from their faith so I chose to operate in grace and not judgement. As often as I could, trying not to appear a pest, I would invite them to be a part of my church family. While they would randomly come to my church, their visits didn’t seem to make them stick.
As a Thinker with a strength of Connectedness I began to recall the dozens or more coffees and coaching sessions I have had with women leaders that ARE involved in church over the last several months. Over and over again I hear…
Under the Influence
Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnify their enemies’ resources, and minimize their own. ~Titus Livius
The Church vs. Hollywood: And the Score is….TIED! :(
I’ve been a Christian for a quite some time. Observed the many many ways that the Church pits itself against society’s Hollywood culture – banning rated R movies, Disney parks and movies, and various product companies that support issues that are contradictory to basic faith principles. I can’t recall a single ban that I have participated in and there a couple reasons why 1. The Jesus I follow is all about love and grace. Most ban’s are about judgement and legalism 2. My role as a Christ follower is to model his life. If I get this right, even some of the time, God will use that to attract people to faith in Christ. Yet the church continues to compare, contrast and combat the “evils” of Hollywood in ways I believe are mostly ineffective. Imagine my surprise recently when reading on the subject of women and church in Jim Henderson‘s book titled The Resignation of Eve that basically the score between Church vs. Hollywood is tied! 
What @JohnCMaxwell Won’t Tell You about Influnence
It’s true, the authority on Leadership, John Maxwell has written much on the topic of influence. In searching the word influence on his website it returned 33 posts about the topic and a search on Amazon will reveal at least a half dozen books on the subject by John as well. But what is it about influence you likely won’t hear him say or write about? When it comes to influence – to be a compelling force on the actions, behavior, opinions of others …
10 Blocks to Clarity for #WomenLeaders
Clarity [klar-i-tee]: clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding;
freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.
Clarity is quite the illusive quality. Yet as women leaders it is something we not only look for but we crave. I know this to be true because it’s in the Top 3 if not the #1 thing that women hire me as their coach for. It’s not only true for my clients but it’s true for me as well. Yet while we seek clarity and wish for ALL things to become clear, clarity is actually much like the window pane above. Just like there are many panes to the window, we have many facets to our lives and often times some panes are more clear than others. I believe it is part of God’s plan that we don’t have a total clarity. After all, if we were clear on everything in life we would have no need for dependence on him. Yet while God reveals clarity of purpose in his timing there are 10 things that block a women leaders clarity that is our responsibility to remove. Read the rest of this entry
MLK Jr., a Preacher and a Blue-eyed Child…
Add …walk into a bar… and this title would make a great opening line to a joke. But what I want to write about today it’s not funny, not a off-colored joke, it’s just not ok. I was prompted recently by the thought of the brown-eyed vs. blue eyed experiment conducted by 3rd grade school teacher Jan Elliot in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ms. Elliott like most of her students in the small town in Iowa at the time had only seen black people on TV. Her class at the time was studying Native Americans and specifically the prayer “Oh Great Spirit, keep me from ever judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.” After discussing the assassination with her all white class she could tell they were not internalizing the lesson on racism and decided to combine the Native America prayer into a lesson in racism. Read the rest of this entry
