TESTIMONIES
JD Friel has his hand on the pulse of the problem and cure for much of our woes that assails the business community, education and the workforce at large. His ministry, "Lead Now", will go a long way in addressing and curing those woes. Lead Now cuts through the thoughtless cures for the woes facing our country and tackles it a the core, the next generation. His seminars can be adapted for schools, businesses and churches and is a must if we are to turn things around.
Ron Bramos, Senior Pastor at Victory Life Church.
Connection
Several years ago my wife and I were watching American Idol. It was about half way through the season, I think there may have been 10 contestants left. We were watching as a young lady got up there and began to sing. As she sang you felt yourself being carried away by the song. After she finished the judges had very good things to say about her but she was not considered a favorite to win the competition and none of the judges spoke of her in that manner. However it was at this point that I turned to my wife and said I think she is going to win the whole thing to which my wife replied, “you really think so, I don’t think people will vote for her because she is so young.” Well that young lady was Jordin Sparks and shall we say the rest is history. Sparks went on to improve week after week and gain more followers each and every time. I think many people didn’t give her much of a chance because of her age but also because she was a little heavy, but one thing she had that the others didn’t was the ability to connect with people. When she sang you never got the feeling that she was performing but that she was singing the song from the depths of her soul and that you were the only one in the audience. That folks is the sercret to connection. To make people feel that they are special and that they are the only ones in the room when you are interacting with them. They want to know that you are sincere and compassionate and that you care for them.
I think one of the reasons so many evangelistic programs and Christians in general are ineffective at accomplishing their purpose is because they fail to connect with people. So many Christians try to “win people to the Lord”, the problem with this approach is that it views people as objects to be conquered and not as people to be loved. We have become Christian sales men and women trying to sell Christianity as if it were some product to be bought and sold.
If we truly want to impact people’s lives we must learn how to connect with them, and you can only do this by sincerely caring about them as individuals and taking the time to build a relationship with them. You must care for them enough to spend a lifetime of loving them regardless of whether they become Christians. The person who truly loves people and takes time to connect with them will discover the key to unlocking a persons heart.
Have Confidence in God
God has already equipped us with everything we need. Are we afraid to share with someone because we are afraid that we are going to say the wrong thing? If I could only say the right things then I would…. Do we really think that we have that much power? You see when we shy away from things we are having a lack of confidence in God because we are focusing on our selves. If we truly want to be great then we must get our eyes off of ourselves and get our eyes on God and have confidence that he is going to do what he promises that he is going to do. Reach your hand out and walk with someone who needs Jesus.
Core Leadership Skills for Youth to Develop Now (Part 2)
As we have been discussing one of the core fundamental elements to leadership is integrity. We saw in Part 1 the importance of keeping your word in order to create and maintain your integrity. In this entry I show how critical attitudes and hypocrisy erode a persons integrity
When your actions don’t match your words
Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t mind Jesus, it is Christians I can’t stand.” If you have heard this, you may have said back to them, “Why?” Almost always their response is, “Because they are a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites.” Now there could be several reasons why people think this way. One is that they may just be looking for a reason to justify some prejudice they have against church. They may be forming their opinions by borrowing another’s experiences or they may be picking the “nice” parts about Jesus to like. However, the fact of the matter is that many of us who proclaim that we are followers of Christ, don’t act like it. This leads to a disconnect between what we say and what we do and leaves us looking foolish. People will look cynically upon us and may even feel betrayed.
Let me breakdown the psychology:
a. People get their feelings hurt or are somehow made to feel inferior by someone in the church. They have either had a direct encounter with someone who has critically judged them or they have witnessed something on television.
b. Because this they are then on the look out to find something wrong in your behavior or in another Christian’s behavior and when they do they use it to galvanize their position. They then say to themselves, “See you guys are no better than me but you act so self righteous. Christians are nothing but two-faced hypocrites”
c. Since first or early impressions tend to have the greatest impact on ones opinions we are behind the eight ball from this point on, trying to establish integrity.
Can I make some suggestions? If you are a Christian who is having difficulty with a judgmental spirit or a negative attitude please stop! I know this is easier then it sounds especially if you have been this way for a long time but the damage it does to people and the impact it has on your spirit is huge. The truth is we are nothing apart form God’s grace and we have no reason to be critical of a non-believers behavior. We must love people to a new place not condemn them. Give it to Jesus, spend several hours a week in prayer asking for the Lord to convict you of this problem. Have someone who is close to you and doesn’t struggle with this issue hold you accountable and give you feed back on how you are doing.
If you are someone who has been burned by Christianity, can offer my sincerest of apologies? Christianity is not always represented well by those in the flock but on the flip-side there are many loving well intentioned, non-perfect people who want nothing more to share the love and compassion of Jesus with you. They want to walk alongside you and truly be your friend. I would like to ask you to please give Christianity another shot. If you would like feel free to contact me and I can speak with you or get you in touch with a loving church in your area. You can either respond to this blog or you can email me at jd.ileadnow@gmail.com I would love to chat with you.
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Core Leadership Skills for Youth to Develop Now (Part 1)
Moral Integrity – Integrity is non-negotiable. Not every leader has the same skill set but yet many leaders are successful. Every good leader has their strengths and knows how to use them to effectively carry out their purpose. Every good leader also has their weaknesses and knows how to find people who are strong in these areas. However, one area in which every leader must be strong is in the area of integrity. The cord that connects a leader with those who follow is trust and when breaches in integrity take place that cord gets frayed. If the breach is severe enough the cord is cut and many times it is never repaired. It is imperative that young leaders develop integrity and guard it with everything you have. The following are some ways that you can develop and maintain integrity.
- Keep your word – If you say you are going to do something do it. I know it is easy to get excited and want to help everyone as much as you can but if you become spread too thin the quality of your help diminishes. People will stop depending on you; if this becomes the situation your ability to effectively lead will suffer. I know there are circumstances that come up and you have to make adjustments but make sure you spend those tokens wisely.
Being Light!
We saw last time the importance of being salt, but there is a second part and that is being light. Salt is a preservative and is used to prevent decay it is how meats were preserve during the early centuries. However, if all you have done is just prevent decay you haven’t finished the job, you must then show people the way. This is where being light comes into the picture.
Our lives must be the light that shows people the way. At this point we border on sounding arrogant and we would be acting arrogantly if it were our ideas and our philosophy that we were saying was the way. What we are doing is directing people according to the teachings of Jesus not our own teachings. This is not arrogance but compassion and love. Let us never come across in a way that leads people to believe that we are some how righteous because of our doings. We must not condemn people for their wrongdoings but instead share with them the grace the lord has shown us. We are the undeserving recipients of grace telling people hey I was once blind but know I see. We are just beggars telling other beggars where we found some bread. To update this saying, “We are just one homeless person on a street corner with a will work for food sign telling another homeless person hey this is good corner for begging.”
As leaders this is what we are to do let us lead as instruments of light always remembering where we get our wisdom.
JD
Salt and Light
As Christians we are called to be salt and light. Salt with regards to the fact that we are to act as a preservative. The reason Jesus uses this example is because back in the first century salt was used to prevent things from rotting and decaying. We as Christians, are to use our influence to prevent society from decaying. Salt serves no purpose if it remains in the salt shaker, we must be tipped over and poured out. 
We do this by placing ourselves in positions of influence and leadership and govern ourselves according to Godly character.
However, when we who are supposed to be acting as salt, walk in a way that is ungodly we accelerate the corrosive process of decay. Because others see us and we strengthen their case against us. May we never give the world reason to blaspheme the name of our father.
Next post I will talk about how we are to be light.
