Be Brave Enough to Suck at Something New

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‘Wisdom comes to the heart that is hungry for God.’ (A.W. Tozer)

Whenever I feel discouraged and want to quit something, I remember the words of my then 3-year-old after she puked carrots all over the living room floor: “I’m gonna need more carrots.”


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‘As a leader, you will have to make decisions that those whom you lead and even spectators won’t understand for years.’ (Dr. Eric Mason)

Leaders are targets for the Enemy. If you’re leading out front, then of course you’re going to be on the receiving end of fiery darts. Expect it.

Misunderstandings and miscommunications will happen.

You cannot control other people’s perceptions. You can only control your own actions and reactions.

Be careful with what you hear about someone. You might be hearing it from the problem.

As soon as we step into condemnation instead of conversation, we can no longer see that person clearly.


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‘A perverse man sows strife and a whisperer separates the best of friends.’ (Proverbs 16:28)

People don’e own you when they hurt you. They own you when your entire life is defined by that hurt.

If you’ve been burned, heal. If someone has an issue with you and they’re telling everyone except you, they don’t have a real issue with you. They just enjoy the attention they get from talking about you.


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‘Love God and He will enable you to love others even when they disappoint you.’ (Francine Rivers)

The only way to handle ‘prodigals’ is to let them go, give them to God, and pray for their return with tears. And when you see them on the horizon with their head hung low, wrap your arms around them and welcome them home.

We are all rough drafts of the person we are becoming.

Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to build something better this time!

Sure, the winds feel strong and your team is small. Stand firm. If you set your anchor, you won’t drift.

We Saw People Leave Our Church

"This past year affected our church in a really significant way.

We saw people leave because they were frustrated that we weren’t meeting soon enough.

We saw people leave because they thought we were trying to meet again too soon.

We saw people leave as we taught the Bible in a way that didn’t align exactly with their political party of choice.

We saw people leave because they thought we didn’t take a strong enough stance on social issues.

We saw people leave because they thought we took too strong of a stance on social issues.

We saw people leave because they thought that the Enneagram was satanic.

We saw people leave because they thought we weren’t doing enough.

We saw people leave because they were relocating for a new job, they wanted to move to a more affordable area, or they were moving to be closer to family and countless other reasons.

But the bottom line is this: We saw a lot of people leave."

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This video was heartbreaking when Amber and I came across it last week.

We could relate.

We've experienced all these things + more in the past 12 months too.

This pandemic took a tremendous toll on our family and ministry.

Nearly every day I felt like a pinata full of bees.

But you know what?

I've discovered there is something beautiful that emerges in the pain.

We can choose to run to the church instead of away from the church.

We are all rough drafts of the person we are becoming.

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If you found yourself in a place far from your church home, may I gently encourage you to go back to your church home and try again?

Perhaps confession and forgiveness is your next step.

Be the bigger person. Apologize. Reach out.

See what God can do through you.

If you found yourself nodding throughout the video as a fellow church leader, may I encourage you?

Don't give up.

Not now.

You have too much potential and too many lives to change.

Every loss is a lesson.

Get better and get moving.

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For what it's worth, I just wrapped a live coaching call with church leaders this morning that may encourage and motivate you too.

Feel free to share this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/IUb-6IaYXdg

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Don't Give Up!

In Christ, your best days are NOT behind you.

There is another chapter God wants to write through you.

In Christ, the BEST is YET to come!

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How to Rebound When You're Fatigued, Frustrated or Unfocused

 
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THE NEW NORMAL

Fatigued. Frustrated. Unfocused.

That’s where the majority of leaders are right now.

The post-pandemic world is here and masks are coming off.

As everyone slowly emerges from our social hibernation, we’re all trying to pick up the pieces of the aftermath.

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ADRENAL EXHAUSTION

If you’re like me, the past 14 months have been a crash course on crisis management.

Living on adrenaline and swift pivots take a toll on your psyche and emotional health.

You may be feeling fatigued, frustrated or unfocused.

I should know because I’ve experienced all three!

Take a deep breath. You’re going to be okay.

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You Did A Great Job. Really.

If nobody else has said these words to you, allow me the honor:

You did a great job.

There was no one you could call.

We had nothing to measure our progress against as leaders.

This summer is a season to tap the brakes, catch your breath, and learn from this experience.

Now is the time to rethink, retain, and retire so that you and your organization can experience a fearless rebound in the Fall.

THE FEARLESS LEADERSHIP PODCAST #55

In the latest episode of my podcast, I tackle how to rebound.

For what it’s worth, here are some shareable key quotes from Episode 55:


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SUBSCRIBE NOW &
NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

 

Connect Through Comedy: Think Ensemble

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Post-Pandemic Blues?

Now is the perfect time to make a Holy Shift!

Revealing the secrets of popular comedians, I’m providing your team a fresh approach to life and leadership in my weekly podcast:

- Unleash contagious enthusiasm

- Equip leaders to leverage laughter and passion

- Create sustainable momentum in your life and leadership

WATCH NOW

Fail Harder

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Who would have guessed 12 months ago that our lives would look so different today?

As we all begin rebuilding our lives and organizations post-pandemic, it might encourage you to allow two simple words to help guide creating your new normal: ​

Fail Harder.

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As Facebook exploded, founder Mark Zuckerberg realized he had to release more and more of the work to web programmers and developers. He couldn't do it all by himself.

Sometimes details fell through the cracks.

Mistakes happened.

And that's okay.

Zuckerberg knew that effective leaders cannot micro-manage people. You must give them freedom and margin to hit the wall and learn.

Fail Harder. T​hat's his mantra at Facebook. ​

Move fast and break things.

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The same is true for you: your effectiveness at rebuilding your organization post-pandemic will INCREASE as the load on your plate DECREASES.

For leaders, this means enabling more and more people.

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The start-from-scratch labor of love that my wife and I began a few years ago, Life Church, has grown to be one of the fastest-growing churches in Michigan.

As the founding pastor, my temptation is to try doing everything in the church. This would only lead to a bottleneck and stunt our organization’s growth.

What I have been learning as we bust through growth barriers is that as the leader ​I can have either control or growth, but I can’t have both.

When I let go of control, our church experiences more growth!

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I believe that this post-pandemic season will lead us all into a stronger future. ​

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

As you release things in your organization that you’ve held onto tightly, you also unleash mistakes.

And that's okay.

Comedians get better and better every time they bomb on stage. There is no better teacher than making a mistake.

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Wisdom is simply knowledge plus scars.

We cannot microwave leaders.

You have to give your team time to make mistakes.

Crock-pots cook s-l-o-w-l-y.

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Thomas Edison famously said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Failure is the incubator of leadership.

Failure says that we get to try another direction in solving this problem.

Leadership is formed when we choose to fail harder.

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Whatever happened before is now in the past.

Following Christ is like an improv scene: you always get to start fresh.

Dream big. ​

Stand back up and stretch your faith further.

That’s the beauty of following Christ. Your vision is never too big for God. He forgives, He authors second acts, and He releases you from your past (see Romans 8:1).

Now be careful; ​don’t waste this fresh page.

Don’t be obligated to ordinary.

No one will ever follow you down the street if you’re carrying a banner that says, ​“Onward toward mediocrity.”

Instead, take risks.

Paint a big picture of what could be and should be.

And then do it.


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Jonathan Herron is a former comedian-turned-author and the founding pastor of Life Church, the fastest-growing church in Michigan and 11th fastest-growing church in America according to LifeWay Research and Outreach Magazine.

His unique ministry approach has been featured online in Time Magazine, USA Today, The Detroit News, MLive and The Washington Times.

Married twenty-two years to his high school sweetheart, Herron has five adopted children plus a wiener dog with a nervous bladder.

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Make It Happen

There are moments in life where you can't overthink your reaction. 

All you can do is pivot and make it happen.

Take for instance the adoption of our youngest: Alysia Hope.

Adoption wasn't even on our minds. 

We thought our family was complete with four kiddo's and a wiener dog to boot.

Isn't it funny how life interrupts our perfectly-laid plans?

That's when we got the phone call out of the blue: The birthmother of our one-year-old son, Levi, had just given birth to a baby girl -- Would we be willing to adopt her?

"Yes" escaped our mouths before our brains had a chance to catch up with what our ears were hearing.

We committed to a major life-change and significant price tag in a matter of 15 seconds.

Suddenly we were responsible for coming up with over $20,000 in 7 days plus preparing our home for a newborn.

We had to make it happen.

I didn't panic, I ran to the internets and did what any good daddy would do: I started a telethon to raise 20 grand!

Every hour on the hour we went live with stupid human tricks, lip-sync battles, and improv games. 

The goal was to pay for our unexpected adoption in cash and bring Baby Girl home.

We had to make it happen.

Here's the thing:

When you boldly declare what you want, multiply that with grit + hustle, and then seek help with compassion, empathy prevails and magic happens.

Together with friends and strangers on the internet, we made it happen.

What giant obstacle are you facing today?

What if you leaned in toward the challenge and fearlessly declared what you wanted to do?

How might people around you rally around your cause?

Today let's all dare to make it happen!

Bob Goff on Making a Holy Shift

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Welcome to Episode #50

This week's guest: Bob Goff, bestselling author of Love Does, Dream Big, and his latest release, Everybody Always for Kids!

What is this podcast about?

Revealing the secrets of popular comedians, Jonathan Herron provides a fresh approach to life and leadership in this weekly podcast:

- Unleash contagious enthusiasm

- Equip leaders to leverage laughter and passion

- Create sustainable momentum in your life and leadership

Let’s Connect

Connect with Jonathan at @HighFiveJon and JonathanHerron.com

- SUBSCRIBE NOW -

Spotify: http://bit.ly/HolyShiftPodcast

Apple: http://bit.ly/HolyShiftNow

Stitcher: https://stitcher.com/show/fearless-leaders

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