Book: Leaders Who Last (2nd time around)

I’ve read Leaders Who Last by Dave Kraft before and even reviewed it on this blog before here.  However, this is one of those books that I feel strongly that I probably need to read at least once a year in order to fully process the material and make sure I am staying on track.  I want to be a leader that finishes well…in all areas of my life.  Here are several things that I highlighted this year…

  • The premise of this book is that you can learn how to be a good leader and finish your particular leadership race well. “Finishing well” can include (but is not limited to): • maintaining a vibrant and rich walk with Jesus. • having a solid relational network that includes at least one good friend with whom you can bare your soul. • making a lasting and God-honoring contribution in your areas of passion and gifting.
  • The greatest and most pressing need in the body of Christ today is an army of leaders who have a vision of a desired future and are called and anointed by God. These leaders possess a fire burning in their hearts that can’t be extinguished. They are motivated and led by God to intentionally, passionately, and effectively influence others.
  • A Christian leader is a humble, God-dependent, team-playing servant of God who is called by God to shepherd, develop, equip, and empower a specific group of believers to accomplish an agreed-upon vision from God.
  • As a leader, everything I am and everything I do needs to be anchored in my identity with Christ. Leadership begins and ends with a clear understanding of the gospel and being rooted in the grace of Jesus Christ as a free gift.
  • Effort definitely has a place in the Christian experience, but it is a result of salvation, not a means to salvation.
  • “A leader is a person with a magnet in his heart and a compass in his head.” ROBERT TOWNSEND
  • Some people come into our lives and quietly go. Others stay awhile, and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.
  • To leave footprints in the hearts of God-hungry leaders who multiply.
  • Paul speaks of his own life in Acts 20:24: “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus.”
  • Clarity is power: Once you are clear about what you were put here to do then ‘jobs’ become only a means toward accomplishing your mission, not an end in themselves.”
  • When you are plugged into Jesus and have a clear, defined purpose, it will create a sense of joy and enthusiasm in your leadership role and responsibilities.
  • “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” FIELD MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH
  • Choose to spend time around passionate people. There is power in association. “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Prov. 13:20).
  • “Opportunity doesn’t equal obligation.” ANDY STANLEY
  • Decide what is truly important in life and what isn’t. Then, discipline yourself to focus on what is important.
  • I often return to Jeremiah 42:3: “That the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.”
  • Taking time to prayerfully prioritize exponentially increases your chances of reaching a desired end.
  • If priorities protect my purpose and passion, then pacing prolongs it.
  • “The need is not the call.” OSWALD CHAMBERS
  • My call was and remains today a deep stake in my life, a watershed point in my journey.
  • Oswald Chambers has this to say in My Utmost for His Highest: There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never be stated explicitly, it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea; no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to because His call is to be in comradeship with himself for His own purpose, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is after.
  • They should carry out at least four functions contained in my working definition of a leader: they should shepherd, develop, equip, and empower those being led.
  • Leaders need to be full of faith, energy, and God-given dreams that carry others along in their wake.
  • “The greatest crisis in the world today is a crisis of leadership, and the greatest crisis in leadership is a crisis of character.” HOWARD HENDRICKS
  • “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
  • 1. Character in your person
    2. Caring in your relationships
    3. Competence in your endeavors
  • “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” JOHN WOODEN
  • Good, effective, and relevant leadership is all about lifelong learning. It is about being teachable, accountable, and proactive, and trying new things. Growth means taking calculated risks.
  • Ecclesiastes 4:13: “Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.”
  • My ability to finish well, to stay relevant, and to remain vibrant and fresh in my leadership and in my walk with God is related to continued learning and growth.
  • Proverbs 24:32 comes in handy: “Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.”
  • A lifelong learner asks all kinds of questions, reads broadly, writes down new ideas, learns from opposing thoughts, and is growing in Christian character.
  • “A Christian leader is a humble, God-dependent, team-playing servant of God who is called by God to shepherd, develop, equip, and empower a specific group of believers to accomplish an agreed-upon vision from God.

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