Category: Helpful Resources

By Brian and Cara Croft 

• You should not neglect your family for ministry, but you should not idolize your family over ministry either. 

• Your ministry can begin together as a family and end together as a family; they do not have to be separate. 

• What if God judged our ministries according to our family unity as opposed to our ministry success? 

• The temptation to prioritize ministry over family is not new. It has been a struggle for many good men. 

• The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The problem in ministry is that many times others get the attention and your family gets left out. 

• In a recent conference, the author did a survey and over 77% of the pastors admitted to not having a good marriage. 

• A pastor must recognize his sin of neglect to the family and ask forgiveness. First to God and then to his wife. 

• A pastor’s child that constantly sees dad choose ministry responsibilities over family, will become exasperated (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21)

• Be careful not to pile too many things on your wife. 

• As a pastor, be careful not to treat other women in your church better than you treat your wife.

• There are four practical ways you can consider your wife: 

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Loving her. 
            2. Encouraging her. 
            3. Discipling her.
            4. Praying for her. 

• If your marriage is struggling, your ministry is also struggling.

• A pastor should take every day of vacation he’s allotted in the year. 

• When was the last time you thought about all the things you’re thankful for in your spouse? When was the last time you told him?

• There’s great impact in an unanswered phone call. When you are at dinner or  with your family, leave your phone alone and don’t answer. 

By Brant Hansen

His book (The Young Men We Need) is very similar. Both this one and that one are excellent books

Six decisions that will set you apart as a man:

1. Forsake the fake and relish the real. 

Proverbs 20:17 — “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” 

2. Protect the vulnerable. 

What you do actually matters. Your kids, your wife, and society needs you. 

Passivity is not an option. 

3. Be ambitious about the right things. 

Reality is what hits you when you are wrong. 

Feeling meaningless comes from doing non-meaningful things. 

Proverbs 14:4 — “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.”

Being who you need to be take guts. 

4. Make women and children feel safe, not threatened. 

Taking responsibility for yourself starts with you. 

Colossians 3:2, 5-8. 

You are responsible for your thoughts, and, according to the Bible, you can take your thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).

5. Choose today who you will become tomorrow. 

What you pay attention to will affect you and those around you.

6. Take responsibility for your own spiritual life. 

There’s a myth that says what you do in private doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, but nothing we do is really private. 

What we you in private does matter, and it’s effects ripple outward whether you like it or not. 

Private rebellion has public consequences. 

So much about self-control has to do with the people and circumstances around you.

By Robert E Coleman 

• Within a short time, the message was being spread by from a small group of men to becoming a universal church in the known world. 

• It’s is usually not the missionaries that makes the greatest impact on a foreign field, but the people within that culture that get saved and share with others.

• One does not need to be a superstar to affect the world for God; anyone willing to follow Christ can affectively lead others. 

• The purpose of God’s gifts is not to produce pride rather to perfect the saints in the body.

• Paul said follow him like he followed Christ. Paul was not the picture of perfection rather an example of trying to live like a disciple of Christ. 

• Witnessing was not a technique or ministry rather a lifestyle. 

• No one today will take serious their command to make disciples until they first pick up their cross. 

• If the people of God are going to affectively share the gospel, their life must reflect what the gospel represents.

• If aspiring leaders are going to learn the meaning of the Christlike life, we have to be together enough for them to see it lived out.

• Truth was not taught in revelations, it was caught by in their shared lives. 

• Impacting others through shared lives can be accomplished easier through smaller groups within the church. 

• If discipleship is going to happen, the leader must seek it out instead of expecting the sheep to come to him. 

By Jack Schafer

The book is written by a former FBI agent. He teaches tips on winning people over for spy purposes, but the tips are very good on winning people over for general friend-purposes. One of my favorite portions of the book speak about how to “cement” a relationship by encouraging the other person to speak. You do so by using the acronym LOVE: 

• Listen
• Observe
• Vocalize 
• Empathize  

The book has lots of good tips for interacting with others (some similarities with book How To Win Friends And Influence People). This book can help you with your kids, church people, friends, those you are witnessing to, and your marriage. 

by John C. Maxwell 

• A company cannot grow without until it grows leaders within.

• When an organization stops growing leaders, it stops growing.

• How well you lead will determine how others succeed.

• Your team will determine if you reach your dream. The wrong team will be more like a nightmare.

• So often we define being a better leader by having more followers, but being a better leader should mean we are developing and empowering other leaders.

• Over 90% of leaders only have followers.

• Everyone you hire on your team will make your team better or worse. 

• There are six A’s to think of when you are finding a leader:

1. 1. 1. 1. Assessment of needs. What area do you need filled?
         2. Assets on hand. Who within your organization can you help equip for the job?
         3. Assets not on hand. If you don’t have someone within, you might have to look for someone outside of your organization.
         4. Attitude of the potential leader. Are they willing? At the heart of attitude is willingness – willingness to learn, to serve, to improve, etc. 
         5. Ability of potential leaders. Are they able? A person’s gifts make room for him or her. 
         6. Accomplishments of potential leaders. Have they had results in the past? what have they achieved up to now? 

• Learn to ACT:

1. 1. 1. 1. Apply – what can you apply to your life from what is going on? 
         2. Change – what do you need to change in your life? 
         3. Teach – what can you teach others from what you are learning?

• Power of proximity. People learn more by going alongside you than they do by being told. It is more caught than taught.

• Before you develop people, you must connect with people.

• It is important that you touch a heart before you give a hand, because people will not follow until they trust you.

• Change the “me” to “we.” People are more likely to stay with you when they realize you are in it together.

• Learn to ask questions. Asking questions has the opposite effect of giving direction. 

• Questions clear up assumptions. Inviting the other person into the conversation lets you know the other person, builds relationships, places value on the other person and guides the conversation. 

• Assumptions are the major mess ups for leaders. 

• People in authority usually do not listen, they talk. But learning to listen will help you as a leader.

• Are you a leader that gives directions and then asks questions or are you a leader that asks questions and then gives directions?

• Live for a cause, not an applause.

• To help others give them your BEST:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Believe in them. 
            2. Encourage them. 
            3. Show them. 
            4. Train them.

• If you’re going to help others, you must learn to LEAD: 

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Learning. What are you learning right now?
            2. Experiencing. What are you experiencing right now? 
            3. Applying. What are you applying right now? 
            4. Developing. Who are you developing?

• A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle, it actually gains from lighting another candle.

• Give your leaders a growth environment.

• Each person must have a place for themself but the purpose of the team.

By Stan Toler 

• We are the masters or victims of our attitudes.

• Your attitude makes all the difference in the world, and many times it’s the only thing between failure and success in our lives.

• Positive thinkers usually get positive results.

• The way to get rid of negative thoughts is to feed yourself with positive thoughts.

• Treat people like what they should be and they may become what they are capable of.

• In order to have happy lives, we must have happy thoughts.

• It’s said that most people only work at a 50% capacity. It’s the leader’s responsibility to give them purpose so they work to their full potential.

• Praise and approval are likely the most powerful motivators for someone to work hard — be generous with both.

• When you’re kind to others, you help yourself. When you’re cruel to others, you hurt yourself.

• Two lessons about encouragement: first, everyone needs it, and second, it is much more powerful than you realize.

• Your encouragement can change someone’s life forever.

• There are various ways to show appreciation to others, just make sure you make it verbal.

• You can tell the measure of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

• Excellent leaders give credit where credit is due.

• Use your influence to persuade, not intimidate.

• You are not just known by the company you keep, but also how you keep that company.

• Your words have the power to change the world.

• Words are the key to belief and belief unlocks action.

• The common phrases of naysayers are “that won’t work” and “we have never done it that way.”

• Real influence is guiding people to a vision, not belittling their ideas.

By Joel Schwartzberg 

• Content is not king. Information does inform, but it does not inspire. 

• Purpose is the why we do what we do. 

• Divide what others need to know and what  is neat to know. 

• Make the audience’s relevance more important than the speaker’s interest. 

• “We” and “us” is better than “me” and “I.” A leader involves the team. 

• Leaders benefit from reiterating and repeating the key points. 

• Empathy and teamwork are nice, but they want and need to hear hope.

• It’s hard to put confidence in leaders that don’t have confidence in themselves.

• You should want to support your team more than want your team to support you. 

• Try to be a role model instead of a role manager.

by Og Mandino

• He who has never failed is he who has never tried.
• Fear will never overtake you if determination to succeed is strong enough.

• The difference between those that fail and those that succeed lies in their habits.

• Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.

• Success lies around the next bend in the road. 

• Persist until you succeed. 

• Small attempts repeated will complete any undertaking

• Remove from your vocabulary such words as quit, impossible, failure, cannot, unable, hopeless and retreat, for they are the words of fools.

• Each nay you receive will prepare you for the yay! Each frown will prepare you for the smile to come.

• Forget what happened to you, whether good or bad, and welcome the sun of a new day. 

• If you persist long enough, you will win.

• Yesterday is buried in the past and you cannot relive it. Think of it no more. Live this day as if it is your last.

• Procrastination must be destroyed with action. Fear must be destroyed with confidence. 

• Decide today to be master of your emotions. 

• Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions. Strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts. 

• Cultivate the habit of laughter. 

• Whether you are way down with problems or pressures, remember that this too shall pass.

• Do not be so concerned for the things of today because this too will pass.

• Multiply your value an hundred fold. A grain of wheat can be thrown out, fed to swine or planted to bring much more. The difference between you and wheat is that you as an individual choose your value. 

• All men must stumble to reach the heights of their potential. 

• Action is food and drink that nurtures accomplishments.

• Procrastination keeps you back from success and is born out of fear. 

• Do not avoid the tasks of today for tomorrow, for tomorrow will never come. 

• It is better to act and fail rather than not act in flounder.

• Without action, the fruit will die on the vine. 

• Act now, do not wait on tomorrow for tomorrow is the labor of the lazy. 

• Pray for guidance.