Our church is hosting the global leadership summit. This is, by far, one of my favorite events to attend every year: the learning, the relationships, and how God moves through leaders in our region.

Here are a few takeaways from the session with Craig Groeschel on “Lead Like it Matters”:

• All leaders and churches want it. 
• It is not a model, a result of a program.
• There are things you can do to lead towards it and things you can do to kill it. 
• Every leader that has it, they have very extreme qualities.
• Greatness is found in the extremes.

Greatness is found in the extremes. -Craig Groeschel
Click To Tweet

• Contradictory leadership qualities together create a synergy of undeniable leadership impact.
• If you want to grow in your impact, grow in your extremes.

Leaders with it, are a contradiction. 

• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are incredibly confident and humble.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are focused and flexible.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are driven and healthy.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are optimistic and realistic.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are direct and kind.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are empowering and controlling.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are urgent and patient.
• Leadership paradox of leaders who have it: Leaders are frugal and abundant.

Leaders that have it, are confident and humble. 

• Some leaders have too much confidence.
• Some leaders are strong, talented, and capable, but you are still hesitant because you don’t know the greatness in you.
• To grow in confidence and humility, push yourself to the place of leadership discomfort.
• A growing leader is in a constant place of discomfort.

Leaders that have it, are both driven and healthy. 

• Some of you are doing too much. You are working too much, working outside of your gifts.
• The best leaders learn to delegate.
• You aren’t doing too much, but you aren’t recovering well.
• You aren’t tired; you are depleted.
• You need to raise your tolerance for work and stress.
• The leaders who have it, bring a bit more but not at the expense of family.

Leaders that have it are both focused and flexible. 

• As a church, we started doing only 5 things: worship services, small groups, kids, students, and missions.
• The greatest threat to you is not a lack of opportunities but a lack of focus.
• Are we getting the most out of our use of resources and time?
• The most spiritual thing you can do is not create a to do list, but a to don’t list.

The post Global Leadership Summit Takeaways (Craig Groeschel) appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

Below, you will find all the posts from all the sessions I attended this year. Thanks for reading along!

1. 32 Leadership Quotes from Craig Groeschel on what it means to be a leader people love to follow.
2. 16 Leadership Quotes from Angela Ahrendts on how empathy is an essential quality to great leadership.
3. 14 Leadership Quotes from Juliet Funt on legacy.
4. 20 Leadership Quotes from Strive Masiyiwa on what it means to be a leader who perseveres to fight for the future of our world.
5. 11 Leadership Quotes from T.D. Jakes.
6. 26 Leadership Quotes from Carla Harris on how to achieve your potential and become the leader you were created to be.
7. 10 Leadership Quotes from Danny Meyer on creating a customer-focused culture, which churches can always grow in.
8. 23 Leadership Quotes from Danielle Strickland on men and women in the workplace (and church) and looked at the challenges associated with power dynamics in organizational culture.
9. 21 Leadership Quotes from John Maxwell on how to maximize your impact as a high-character leader in our world today.
10. 12 Leadership Quotes from Rasmus Ankersen on the mindset cultivated by successful brands to create sustainable success in our organizations.
11. 8 Leadership Quotes from David Livermore on how leaders can relate effectively to diverse situations.
12. 16 Leadership Quotes from Sheila Heen on how to navigate difficult conversations on our teams.
13. 23 Leadership Quotes from Erwin McManus on what it means to lead a life that matters and how great leaders intentionally build the future.
14. My 5 biggest takeaways from the summit.

The post 232 Leadership Quotes from the 2018 Leadership Summit appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Every year, my team and I attend the leadership summit. This year, there is a shadow hanging over the summit as I outlined here, but I’m still trusting that it will have some incredibly helpful content, just like in past years. To capture what I’m learning and to help you grow as a leader, I always share my notes from each session, so be sure to check back after each session and bookmark them for future use.

The first session featured a talk from Craig Groeschel. He is the Senior Pastor of Life.Church and the author of many books. His session was on what it looks like to be a leader that people love to follow.

The following are some takeaways:

1. When the leader gets better, everyone gets better.
2. Leadership is never about title and position, it is about trust and influence.
3. Leaders are given great power and must wield that for the good of others.
4. Leaders can make excuses or make a difference, but they can’t make both.
5. A humble leader can learn from anybody.
6. The two areas a leader needs to grow in is leadership (where are you taking me) and emotional intelligence (how are you treating me).
7. There’s a difference between a leader who is popular and one who is respected.
8. You will never be respected if you are only trying to be respected.
9. The 3 feelings you will have under great and trusted leadership: you feel valued, inspired, and empowered.
10. Leaders need a heart to care.
11. You will never be a leader that people love to follow if you don’t love people.
12. An essential part of being a leader is I notice, You matter.
13. Appreciate more than you think you should. Then double it.
14. Leaders need a passion to inspire. 
15. There is a difference between inspiration and motivation.
16. Motivation is about pushing people to do something they don’t want to do.
17. Inspiring is pulling out of them what is already inside of them.
18. Inspired employees are twice as productive as employees who call themselves satisfied.
19. Following through is inspiring.
20. The most important quality is a centered leader. A centered leader is secure, stable, confident, not easily distracted or swayed, fully engaged.
21. A centered leader is guided by values, driven by purpose.
22. All you need as a leader to inspire people is 1 or 2 developed strengths.
23. Leaders need a willingness to empower.
24. The best leaders unleash higher performance through empowerment, not command and control.
25. You can have control or growth, but you can’t have both.
26. If you delegate tasks, you’re creating followers. If we delegate authority, we are creating leaders.
27. We do this as leaders by making the decisions that only we can make.
28. The fewer decisions you are making, the better you are as a leader.
29. The strength of an organization is reflected by how deep into it people have the ability to say yes.
30. The best way to find out if you trust someone is to trust them.
31. If you don’t trust your team, you are either too controlling or you have the wrong people.
32. Leaders need the courage to be real, vulnerable, stand up with humility and take risks even when you’re scared. 

The post 2018 Leadership Summit – 32 Leadership Quotes from Craig Groeschel appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Each Friday I share some posts that I’ve come across in the last week. They range in topics and sources but they are all things I’ve found interesting or helpful that I hope will be interesting and helpful to you. Here are 9 posts I came across this week that challenged my thinking or helped me as a leader, pastor, husband and father:

1. Don’t Brag At Long Sermon Prep; Get Efficient by Joe Hoagland (via Rookie Preacher)
2. 3 Parenting Myths We Are All Tempted To Believe by Tim Challies
3. 7 Books That Changed My Life by Russell Moore
4. The Top 17 Books Christian Leaders Should Be Reading In 2017 by Brian Dodd
5. Praying For My Son (Who Was Adopted) by Adam Weber
6. 8 Principles Of Great Preaching by Brian Moss
7. How Your Control Freak Tendencies Stunt Your Church’s Growth by Carey Nieuwhof
8. The Communication Secrets of Craig Groeschel (via Preaching Donkey)
9. 10 Discipleship Questions for you for 2017 by Chuck Lawless

The post The Communication Secrets of Craig Groeschel & 8 Other Posts You Should Read this Weekend appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Summer is just around the corner, which means longer days, summer vacations and hopefully if you are a leader, more reading. I’m a big reader and think that if you are a leader, you should be too.

I often get asked about leadership books that pastors should read. If you haven’t read these books, I highly recommend them. Let’s just say, these are 10 books every Christian leader should read:

The Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future by Andy Stanley

To this day, this is still one of my favorite leadership books and one of the shortest.

Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda by Henry Blackaby

The chapter on decision making in this book is the best I’ve ever read when it comes to figuring out God’s will and how to make wise choices. This was one of the first leadership books I’ve ever read and has been marked up and written in, more than any other leadership book I have.

Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels

Hybels is one of those leaders that you should read everything he writes on the subject of leadership. It is always insightful and helpful. This book is 30 years of leadership experience put into one book.

The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials for Becoming a Change Maker by Brad Lomenick

Lomenick leads the catalyst conferences and this book is a great one for younger leaders as they figure out what is next for them, understanding when to step up and lead and when to follow. Tons of great insights for leaders of all ages and experience, but incredibly helpful for young leaders.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Like Andy Stanley’s book, this is still one of my favorite leadership books. His chapter on level 5 leadership has been life changing for me as I think about how to lead with humility and will to move my church forward and lead in a way that puts the health of Revolution first.

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman

I just read this book and it is one of the best books on productivity. If you believe Christians should be productive, you will find the first 65 pages boring, but once you get to chapter 11 this book rises above every other book on productivity that I have ever read.

Hacking Leadership: The 11 Gaps Every Business Needs to Close and the Secrets to Closing Them Quickly by Mike Myatt

I read this book this year and was blown away by all the insight in this book. If you are a leader, this is a book you need to read and then follow Mike’s blog. His writings are incredibly insightful.

People-Pleasing Pastors: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Approval-Motivated Leadership by Charles Stone

Approval is something that everyone struggles with to one degree or another. Pastors are no strangers to it and can often fall into the trap of making decisions based off of what others think of them. This book helps a leader (and someone who isn’t a leader) see how they gravitate towards approval in living their life and how to find freedom from it.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Dan & Chip Heath

If you preach or are a communicator, this is a book you need to read through. I go back to this book on a regular basis to think through how to make my sermons more clear. Incredibly helpful.

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

So many people in our culture struggle with burnout and not managing their time well. This book points out that it is more important to manage your energy than your time. That point was incredibly helpful. It’s summer time and you are probably tired, and if that is you, this is a book worth picking up so you can head into the fall with more energy and perform at a higher level.

And a bonus one…

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni

You should read everything that Lencioni publishes. This book essentially is everything he has ever written all in one book. So, read it. So, so good.

What’s your favorite leadership book that every Christian leader should read?

[Image]

The post 10 Books Every Christian Leader Should Read appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

The other day a church planter I coach asked me. “How many times a year should I preach?”

The answer to this question depends on the person, church, philosophy and what the person can handle. While most churches have one person who preaches the majority of the time (ie. 40-48 times a year), some churches have a team where people preach an equal amount of split in some fashion.

When we started Revolution Church, I preached 98 times in the first 2 years. This was partly because we didn’t have anyone else to preach, my desire to get better as a preacher, but also I felt the need to help set the tone of what our church would be like. This was tiring.

Now, the elders have set a goal for me to preach at least 40 times a year. This allows me to preach the most (which is important for the church, which I’ll talk about in a minute) and still develop other communicators. As I get older, I could see this number going down so others can be preaching and developing their gift.

I think it is important for a church to know the person who communicates regularly. This creates a normalcy to church, people know what to expect and they feel connected to a communicator.

The other question a pastor has to ask is how he will break his weeks up.

I’ve learned, my limit for preaching in a row is 10 weeks. Other guys it might be 8 or 13. Around week 10 I start to get incredibly run down mentally and spiritually and feel like my tank is low. I shoot to make sure I have a week off from preaching at least every 10 weeks. Some times I’m able to make that happen and other times because of the season of our church, I can’t.

One question a lot of young planters wrestle with is: when to take a break. 

Each year, before I put together my preaching calendar of topics, I pull out the school calendar (district in my area and the university of Arizona) and see when the breaks are. We run on a year round school system here so we get 6 weeks of summer instead of 3 months. This means we have random breaks in October and March when Tucson seems to shut down. These breaks are great times to have another person preach. The sunday after thanksgiving and the 4th of July, the Sunday of Memorial Day and Labor Day and the last Sunday of the year and the first Sunday of the year are great weeks to take off from preaching and have someone else do it (that’s 6 right there).

I also shoot for a 3 week break from preaching at some point in the summer. The benefits to this are enormous for you personally and your church. This is when I plan the next year of sermons, work ahead, work on my own soul and take a vacation with my family.

But what do you do on a week off?

For many pastors or people in their church, the idea of the pastor having a week off from preaching sounds like he is taking a week off from everything. This is an opportunity for you as a pastor to work ahead on sermons, think through a series coming up, meet with leaders to plan ahead or evaluate a ministry, go to a conference, take an extended spiritual retreat to be with Jesus.

If you aren’t proactive, you will waste these weeks off.

So, why do pastor’s preach too much and burnout?

For some, it is a pride issue. They don’t want to give up control of the pulpit. They think if they aren’t at church, it will cease to exist and fall apart. This gets to the heart of who is building your church, you or Jesus.

For some pastor’s, they truly don’t have anyone else who can handle it. This is a tough spot to be in. You can use a video sermon from a pastor of a large church like Craig Groeschel or Andy Stanley (we do that once a year simply to expose our church to some great speakers and authors that I think would benefit them).

The bottom line is, you get to choose this as a pastor. The choice you make though has an enormous affect on your health and the health of your church.

The post How Many Times a Year Should a Pastor Preach appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.