Book Club: Leadership Essentials, Chapter 2: Habitual

It’s the 2nd week of the “official” gabbingwithgrace.com book club!  For information on the book & schedule head on over to my Graces Book Club page.

Were starting with Leadership Essentials: Shaping Vision, Multiplying Influence & Defining Character by Greg Ogden & Dan Meyer.

Were currently in Part I: The Character of a Leader, Chapter 2 – Habitual, Cultivating Spiritual Disciplines to Sustain our Leadership. If you hop over to my “Grace’s Book Club” page you’ll see the table of contents & please feel free to jump in at any time!

Okay, without further ado, let’s get going.  (Also, feel free to comment even if you haven’t gotten or read the book!)

CORE TRUTH:

After reading the core truth & trying to redefine it, here’s what I came up with to help me understand it:

“Leaders that have influence cultivate holiness in their lives by planting the seeds of God’s Word in their heart so that it can take root & bear fruit.  The planting is done by fostering habits like Scripture study, memorization, prayer, etc.  These disciplines will prepare & open up the inner life so that the Holy Spirit can transform us from the inside out.”

That’s easier said than done, huh?

MEMORY VERSE STUDY GUIDE: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

In some ways Paul, as an example for life, is just way too out of touch.  The man was hard core.  Everything was extreme.  Anyone who says, “I beat my body,” is frankly, bordering on irrelevant to me.  That said, I get his point, we should train hard, and do it to win!  And much more so in our faith, in which the prize is so much more meaningful than any award on earth.  In this study, I was most challenged by my lack of urgency.

READING:  “Training Versus Trying to Live the Christian Faith”

The first line that challenged me: “Learning to think, feel, and act like Jesus is at least as demanding as learning to run a marathon or play the piano.”  As someone who once felt compelled to train and run a marathon, I should say, it was extremely demanding.  Like 5-months-of-my-life-demanding and I appreciate that this reading challenges us to quit thinking that following Jesus will be “relatively easy.”

No, on the contrary, we need to be under strict obedience, disciplined and hardworking, serving faithfully with vim and vigor, employing the disciplines of abstinence in some areas and active engagement in others.  I appreciated the practical call to living a structured life by practicing a weekly sabbath, incorporating habits of silence & solitude, meditation & journaling.

The bottom line is: am I living in such a way that I have structured time that allows me to remain in love with Jesus?  I was back & forth with some of these things being major struggles, others very easy to do.  i.e. daily journaling.

LEADERSHIP EXERCISE: “Developing a Rhythm for Life”

This was a great exercise!  I got so much out of answering honestly these questions about my real desires, my sense of powerlessness, my plan for my life and my daily habits.  I came up with a brand new “rhythm” for my life including what things I would do daily, weekly, monthly, annually, etc. to maintain and grow my relationship with Christ with consisitency.

I’m loving this book!  If you don’t join me, your missin’ out on God doing some amazing grunt work in your life! 🙂

(If you liked this, hop over to Amazon -use the beauty link, if you would- and pick it up.  You can fold in to next week with chapter 3 – Humble.  Keeping Watch Over our Souls).