Contagion

Our lead team just starting reading the book "Practicing Greatness" together. Originally I was going to bring a "leadership thought" to each of our weekly meetings...that lasted a week. So because our team has had a total of one nugget of wisdom from me, I decided that it's probably a good idea to have someone that has more experience and insight than I do teach all of us, myself especially included. I've already read the book so now I'm going through it more detailed with the team and it's been great so far, even though we're only a week in. The thought of being great seems to be upside down to what the Bible talks about. But the premise is that great leaders are humble, effective and willing to serve. They don't pursue greatness to be seen as great in the world's eyes. Rather it's the road to living in a way that points others to Jesus. Great leaders leave people better off than they were before the leader entered their lives. Yikes! I'm glad this is a process because I need the time.

The one thought that stuck out so far is the opening line "Deliberate mediocrity is a sin". I couldn't agree more. My tendency is to think of mediocrity in terms of how we do things with the church but what about in my life? How is my leadership of my family doing? Am I always setting an example for my kids or do I let certain things slide when I'm tired? Am I loving Bek the way I should or just when I feel like it? Am I modeling a life that points to Jesus or points to me?

These are challenging questions the list could go on and on. And if the truth is to be told, there have been areas that have been mediocre and the fall out of those has been evident. It's been a good wake up call and I'm looking forward to continuing to learn how to practice greatness with the rest of our team