It's amazing the difference in how you feel and how you think when you're spiritually empty and when you've been filled in some way. For a few days I went through some empty time, and I think that's necessary for some short times. Then it always hits me. This splash of inspiration like a bucket of water on my face. Finally, I'm motivated again. I'm reading like heck, and I'm filled w/ all these things I want to share.

Yesterday Nate was talking about George Barna's book "Fish Out of Water" and it sounded like a great perspective on leadership. So I checked it out of the good ol' LCC library and started reading it. Already, only pages into the introduction, I've written down quote after quote about leadership that inspired a lot of thinking. A lot of leadership rests on the simple idea that "actions produce consequences." It's that simple. So when you're a leader, your actions will most likely result in consequences that will influence the actions of other people. And most of us, whether we realize it or not, are leaders. Most people assume that only CEOs, presidents & VPs, men, or paid ministers are leaders. That's a lie. You're probably a leader if your life affects someone else's...so that includes those who work in McDonald's, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, little league coaches, grocery store clerks, businesspeople, administrative assistants, interns, etc. If you think you're a follower, you're probably wrong. Leading in any way is a task that carries a heavy weight of responsibility. If your actions & their consequences spur on others' actions and their consequences, and so on...your actions trigger all other actions in the world somehow.

Barna takes it a step further and suggests that "the actions of leaders who are Christian have the most significant consequences because it is our leadership that affects the visible presence of God and his ways in our world." May I make a side-note of this--he words this specifically in saying "leaders WHO ARE CHRISTIAN" rather than saying "Christian leaders"--there's a difference. But that's a loaded task--if you're a leader who is also a Christian, even if you lead in a capacity that has nothing to do w/ Christ or the church, God desires to make himself known through you. You might not think you're good enough, knowledgeable enough, or "Christian enough" but you are! This is how ministry happens outside of the church--that's where it needs to be done more than within the church!

There's so much more I'd love to write about, but another day. For now, I'm pondering these things. How am I a leader? In what capacities? Who could be following me without me even knowing it? Am I choosing actions that result in good consequences? Most importantly, am I making God's presence visible in the world through the way I live?

Join me.