40 years ago this week, I got married.  Two weeks later, I was in Africa with my bride.  I spent the better part of two years with her in the “bush” of Ghana and Nigeria often with no electricity and no running water.  Why have I invested 35 million dollars of the Lord’s money overseas in the last 33 years (and almost that much in local missions in the U.S.)?

As I reflect on this last forty years, here are a few thoughts that come to my mind:

My Daddy had a famous phrase:  “Keep it simple, hang loose, travel light.”  I remember a time I was helping my daughter move home from London.  She had at least eight suitcases.  We were trying to get on the subway for the airport and I found myself at the bottom of an escalator sprawled on the floor with all eight piled on top of me!  WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. 

It convicted me to unload in several areas:

So many spiritual leaders are competing these days.  Visibility, getting noticed, and ranking is huge.  Being the biggest, fastest growing and having the largest audience seems to be all that matters.  Where did all this come from and where will it end? 

Here is how I keep that focus continually:

Fights, fights, everywhere.  In the streets, on airplanes, at political rallies.  I have never seen Americans so on edge and willing to fight at the drop of a hat. 

How do we keep our cool?

Everybody sets goals, especially in a new year.  Some are attainable and some are hopeless.  By now, many have abandoned their goals for the year and some never set any!  As a pastor for over 40 years, I learned how to set goals that were motivated by faith. 

Back in September, I could not do a single push-up (maybe one “girl” push-up!).  I felt I could work up to 50 push-ups if I just added one a day.  With the help of a push-up app, I did 172 yesterday (in five sets).  Don’t ask me next year because I may be back down to five!

Just like building up in your push-ups, here are some secrets of setting “faith goals”:

We can put people on the moon but we can’t get cell phones to work everywhere.  Communication runs our world now.  From social media to digital cable, Internet, and (of course) smartphones, we all have to learn to communicate better.

Here are some communication skills I have had to sharpen:

Great leaders have great attitudes.  They always keep their sights above the line.  They know if they let that attitude dip below the line, they will eventually crash.

Here are four personal attitudes I regularly check:

Having been in ministry for 46 years, I have seen that perspiration is often as important as inspiration!  People often think of their successful friends as “lucky” or “more talented.” However, they rarely make the connection between their own work-ethic and their success.  A lazy, passive, self-pitying work ethic leaves you negative, blaming, unsuccessful…and usually broke! Nehemiah and his men had a “mind to work” (Neh. 4: 6).  Those hard-working men built a huge wall in 52 days!  They barely slept, they stayed in their clothing, they built while holding a sword, and they amazed the devil’s crowd.

What were the secrets of Nehemiah’s great work ethic?

Everybody makes New Year’s resolutions:  lose weight, gain muscle, write books, read books, get a degree, get a raise, and so on infinitum. All of that is great, but I want to give you a completely different starting point for 2016:  get your finances in order.   Do you realize how much of your life will change when you start emerging out from under that pile of bills, credit card balances, and STRESS?

As I start a new year, here are the three primary focuses I renew:

How do you view impossibilities?  Do they intimidate you and stop you dead in your tracks before you ever even attempt to defeat them?  I have found that there are usually 2 different ways to approach an obstacle in your life. The story of Israel’s twelve spies always helps me when I am facing an impossibility.  They focused on the giants but Joshua and Caleb focused on the grapes!  God called this kind of faith a "different spirit”:  “But my servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land he entered and his descendants will take possession of it” (Num. 14: 24)

Here are a few of the “differences” in a different spirit:

Ezekiel and John both saw the four awesome living creatures that stand around the throne of God.  Both of them (Eze. 1: 10, Rev. 4: 7) describe their four faces:  an eagle, an ox, a lion, and a man.  Could these four powerful creatures give us an insight into the nature of God’s kingdom and leadership model?

Paul describes a leadership model with all four included in (1 Cor. 16: 13-14):

Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back.  It colors everything dull and bland.  It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless.  You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”

The other morning I took a one mile walk in the beautiful crisp, fall air with Melanie.  When I got back home I noticed the nice truck I drive, the beautiful home I live in, and the wonderful amenities I am surrounded by (like dishwashers).  Over the course of the day,  it was as if I was continually overwhelmed by HOW MANY blessings I have in my life. 

I would like to list a few, for your sake and for mine:

A great deal of your success as a leader is in the ability to spot and recruit talented leaders.  King David seemed to be a master at attracting and enlisting top talent (see 1 Chronicles 11-12).  Your ultimate legacy will be the leaders you attracted, trained, and released as great warriors.

What are the top qualities of David’s great recruiting?

Everyone struggles with their tongue.  Sometimes it feels like a coiled up viper, ready to strike.  No matter how hard you grit your teeth to stop it, it will come flying out at a moment’s notice!  James described your tongue as a runaway horse:  “And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

How do we control this “horse inside our mouth?”

Everyone wants to know how to multiply their business, their finances, and their influence. Jesus showed us the secret by having the crowd of people sit down in groups of 50 before He multiplied the bread. Order precedes multiplication.

I have observed that multiplication is wishful thinking for most leaders. They forget that God is “not the author of confusion” and that everything should be done “decently and in order.”

With that fact in mind, here are some areas that I try to be sure I keep in order:

Most leaders are struggling to “fit it all in”.  From home, to work, to kids, to spouse, to church, to parents we are all trying to not leave anyone out. We feel stretched and stressed.  Successful relationships happen on purpose.  Here is how to prioritize the relationships in your life and make sure you are hitting the bullseye.

This is a true Olympic archery bullseye.

It gives us a picture of a plan for making it all fit:

Why is it so hard to forgive? I run across leaders all the time who have deep grudges, bitter feelings, and hard hearts.  An unforgiving heart could be in the top five issues all leaders deal with.  

Marriages are affected, health is affected, and even generations are affected.  Forgiveness 101 is all about conversations, decisions, and memories.

Here are my top three thoughts about forgiveness:

Of all the characters in the Bible who rose to the top as a secular leader, Daniel is my favorite.  In a totally hostile, godless environment, he became the top official next to a king who basically ruled the world.  What were the qualities that put him in that position when enemies everywhere were trying to depose him?  He even spent a night with the lions and they still couldn’t get rid of him! 

Here are the five qualities I notice most about this powerful man and how to survive the lions:

Maintaining stability as a leader is one of the greatest crisis in America today.  Business leaders, political leaders, spiritual leaders are “uprooted” from their positions by moral, financial, and ethical failure.  How do you maintain long-term stability as a leader? 

I’ll never forget being in Lebanon and taking a trip to see the “cedars of Lebanon.”  There, perched high on a mountain, these gentle giants were 30 ft. around!  I wondered how they received their nourishment and flourished in such a harsh mountaintop climate. 

Our guide, a native of Lebanon and one of our Surge Project directors, gave us some really interesting insight into why these trees have been so coveted in major building projects worldwide: