But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” (Act 7:55-56 NLT)

Stephen was willing to be DISLIKED BY THE MANY IN ORDER TO BE LOYAL TO THE ONE – JESUS CHRIST! As leaders we have to be more concerned with our loyalty to Jesus than our “fan status” with the crowd. As a pastor or church leader you aren’t called to be liked by everyone but to be loyal to the ONE – JESUS CHRIST!

When I first planted the Dialogue Church I thought that great leaders needed to greatly liked. That is a lie; and no where to be found in Scripture. I don’t need to be liked in order to lead. I need to be loyal to Jesus in order to be a leader for Jesus!

Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. (Act 7:57-60 NLT)

After Stephen’s one sermon, he was stoned. Stephen was willing to preach a very hard sermon, say some very hard things, and initiate an extremely painful conversation (to the point of death) but in the end JESUS STOOD UP TO RECEIVE HIM INTO THE KINGDOM!

The crowd hurled stones at Stephen but Jesus honored him by standing up! WOW!

We have to stop creating excuses for why people step down and start creating an expectation for people to step up!

It takes courage to confront and communicate through conflict!

Every time we attempt to reinforce the vision it will be painful, but that is the price we pay as leaders! The reward is seeing people become hardcore followers of Jesus! Nothing else matters!

I don’t care if we have 10,000 more people in our church next year if we aren’t leading them to become “hardcore followers of Jesus Christ”!

The Great Commission is not “go into all the world and get people to sign up”. It is to go and make disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them everything Jesus has taught us!

4.LEADERS LIFT UP JESUS IN THE MIDST OF DISTRACTION (no matter what)

Focus is intentional not accidental. Nothing for God happens on accident, only on purpose.

It is naive and silly to think that the spiritual enemy of our souls, Satan, doesn’t want to get his foot in the door of our churches. He will do whatever it takes to distract us, even with good things, just as long as we aren’t lifting up Jesus above everything else!

This fall there will be plenty of opportunity to be distracted from the mission of Jesus and what He has called us to. No hobby, no job, no family picnic is more important than ALTERING SOMEONE’S FOREVER!

Sometimes we can get distracted from the mission of Jesus by being “keepers of the aquarium” instead of “fishers of men”. Jesus said that we would become fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.

As a pastor my job is not to keep people from leaving but to call people to excellence, to challenge people to give 100% to Jesus Christ.

In ministry there is always a pressing issue, and there is always a priority issue. The pressing issue (the crisis right in front of you) is not always the priority issue (the call of Christ on your life). Don’t let the pressing issues get in the way of the priority issue.

Every Sunday we do battle with the forces of darkness, and every Sunday there will be distractions, but leaders push through the distractions and lift up Jesus no matter what. Maybe it is the coffee machine freaking out, possibly the guitarist just broke a string, or the sound guy is late, or the host team is smoking on the front steps:) – leaders push through the distractions, constantly reinforce the vision, and continue to lift up Jesus no matter what!

Sometimes a church member will want to push a pet program on you, but if it is not 100% in agreement with the vision Jesus has given to this church through the lead pastor, then it is only a distraction (regardless of how passionate this person is about it – they may leave; but I would rather have a selfish, disgruntled church member leave than have Jesus leave our church).

The VISION OF JESUS IS NOT FOR SALE (thanks www.AnthonyMilas.net)

3. LEADERS LISTEN TO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

If we are going to grow as leaders for Jesus then we must be willing to listen to formative feedback, or constructive criticism.

Many times the thing that keeps us from growing as leaders is PRIDE. We think we already KNOW IT, or we think we SHOULD ALREADY KNOW IT and so we don’t ASK QUESTIONS. Pride keeps us from learning from those further along.

Lots of people can provide constructive criticism, but listening to everybody will lead to insanity. Someone once said, there are two keys to insanity: trying to please everyone and trying to be understood by everyone. Bill Cosby once said, “I don’t know the secret to success, but I can tell you the secret to failure, TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE.

Although, we can’t please everyone we must find a few trusted mentors and peer leaders that we can lean on, listen to, and be led by during times of pressure, growth, and conflict. Ed Young Jr says, “Conflict + Change = Growth”.

IF WE WANT TO GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL, THEN WE MUST PUT OURSELVES AT THE FEET OF THOSE ALREADY AT THE NEXT LEVEL.

SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND LEARN FROM THOSE FURTHER AHEAD OF YOU. As church leaders we REALLY ARE ON THE SAME TEAM. It is time for churches to stop competing and start completing one another!

Seriously, if you don’t know any pastors or church leaders who model this Christ-like attitude here are a few: AnthonyMilas.net, BuddyCremeans.com, JoshuaGagnon.com, PerryNoble.com, MacRichard.com, and Rob Willis. Now, as a young church planter and pastor, this should be easy for me to do, but it still isn’t. But I am a HUGE IDIOT if I don’t submit myself to other great men of God such as these.

For those who have been in ministry longer than me (I have been pastoring for over a decade now) it only gets harder to learn from others because you think you know everything, and the truth is, YOU DO KNOW A LOT; BUT LEADERSHIP ISN’T JUST KNOWING; IT IS BEING. AND YOU CAN ONLY PICK THAT UP THROUGH CONVERSATIONS, NOT CONFERENCES.

IF WE ARE GOING TO GROW AS A FAITH COMMUNITY & LEADERSHIP TEAM THEN WE MUST FIND CONSTRUCTIVE WAYS TO SPEAK TRUTH INTO EACH OTHER’S LIVES. Teams that grow faster and go further are teams that have committed to “speaking truth in love into each other’s lives” (even when it hurts).

THE AREAS WE NEED TO HEAR TRUTH ARE THE AREAS WE USUALLY PUSH BACK ON TRUTH.

You must not offer an animal that is blind, crippled, or injured, or that has a wart, a skin sore, or scabs. Such animals must never be offered on the altar as special gifts to the LORD. (Lev 22:22 NLT)

I love this portion of Scripture, no, not because I am into oozing scabs and hairy warts but because of what it tells me about our God, the God of the Bible.

From these commands related to the sacrificial system there is one obvious implication: OUR GOD DOES NOT WANT OUR LEFTOVERS. GOD IS WORTHY OF OUR BEST AND HE WILL NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS.

The implications of this verse dictate a pure heart, with pure motives – a desire to give God 100%. Jesus is worthy of our best. When it comes to following Jesus EXCELLENCE IS NOT OPTIONAL. EXCELLENCE IS REQUIRED.

For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps. (1Pe 2:21 NLT)

Following Jesus means creating a culture of excellence. Creating a culture of excellence is all about CALLING PEOPLE TO GREATER AND GREATER LEVELS OF COMMITMENT.

Commitment comes at a cost.

HERE ARE SOME LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS I HAVE BEEN ASKING THE DC STAFF AND CHURCH:

What price are we willing to pay to reach this city for Christ?

What time price, what money price, what emotional price, what relational price, what leadership price are we willing to pay in order to lift up Jesus and see lives changed for all eternity?

Are we willing to confront people and call people on the carpet when they aren’t giving their best?

Are we willing to go through the chaos of conflict in order to create a culture of excellence?

Are we willing to have a few people get grumpy with us in order to give Jesus all that He deserves?

Are we willing to remove “that team member” or ” that staff person” who isn’t giving their best or would we rather let the mission of Jesus suffer and allow countless souls to spend eternity in hell?

In this series of posts I will be laying out 6 MUST DO’S every leader must follow in order to create a culture of excellence. Let me warn you now that “it will be painful” but “it will produce much good”!