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If you successfully access this page, please post a shawtawwt to someone  :)

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What characteristics are you looking for a leader?
What aspect of your life you want to improve on? Why?

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We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. Romans 5:3-4 NLT

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Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. Luke 2:52 NLT

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Leaders aren't born; they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work - V. Lombardi

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Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. - J. Welch

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Growing yourself is not the only path to leadership, but it is also the job of a leader even after the leadership position is established.

Before you are are leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others... while continuing to grow yourself.

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Not all growth is healthy. Abnormally rapid growth is often an indication that something is wrong. Many churches and ministries grow fast and large but they are actually unhealthy.

Spiritual health problems also occur when individuals grow into leadership position too fast.

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Slow is Fast. Most growing organization need more leaders immediately, but if our goal is strong and healthy leaders, we must slow down the process and resist the temptation to fast track our leadership training.

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FOUR FOUNDATIONAL AREA THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO GROW LIKE A LEADER
Calling. Compassion. Communication. Character

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Anyone who wants to grow like a leader will have to grow in compassion toward people.

People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

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Most of us have never heard God talk to us through a bush. Yet many times, we are pretty sure God has called us to do something. Thousands of genuinely called men and women in the bible and in the churches have never experienced anything out of the ordinary.

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If the starting point for spiritual leadership is a call from God, then church and ministry leaders must continually grow in their understanding of their calling.
Since no two individuals are alike, no two callings are exactly alike.

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Compassion empowered Jesus to minister to the crow, even when He was physically and emotionally exhausted.
Compassion heals and feeds. It also opens our eyes to see beyond the obvious.

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Compassion enabled Jesus to see not just the crowd of people, but individuals who were "harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd."
When our eyes are opened and we see people as they really are, we will realized when they need help.
Compassion will enable us to actually help them with the gospel, rather than fearing, hating, or rejecting them.

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As church and ministry leaders, we have a message from God that demands we leverage every channel to get that message to the right people.
Leaders should be more concerned with getting their message to the right people that to the most people.

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No matter who or where you're called to lead, your leadership calling will require that your communication skills constantly grow.
Growing not only means getting better at speaking and writing, but also acquiring skills that are way outside your comfort zone.

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If you want to fulfill your calling, you will need some character upgrades including, but not limited to, humility, gentleness, kindness, love, unity, and peace.

What needs to be upgraded in your character?

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The most important and foundational aspect of growing like a leader is to grow in character.

If our character is growing, everything else needed for effective leadership will grow accordingly. What do you think is the meaning of this statement?

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Character

In Greek charassein, meaning “to sharpen, cut in furrows, or engrave.” This word gave the Greeks charaktēr, a noun meaning “mark, distinctive quality”. It can be related to putting a distinctive mark or the act of stamping in order to produce an image on a coin or other material.

Character is a distinctive mark or stamp that is carved or impressed on a person through cutting, chiseling, or pressure through an external and/or an internal force.

For the Christian leader, that external and/or internal force that forms a character is God

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Since we lead people, we must focus on developing the type of character that upgrades our relational skills.

Titus 1:5-9
1 Timothy 3:2-7

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Paul says that in order to have character, we must first experience and rejoice in suffering. If we avoid suffering or if we complain our way through suffering, the character is not produced. Romans 5:3-4
James masked basically the same point about character development. James 1:2-4

What suffering you experience that produced or tested your character?

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God tests our hearts by heating up circumstances in our lives. These tests cause hidden impurities to rise to the top so they can be exposed and removed. He is testing your heart and forming a new character.

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When we have a providential perspective of life, we accept that what may seem like random, difficult, or unfair situations are, in reality, God orchestrating life in order to test and purify our hearts. This perspective makes life's tough times have meaning and value.

So next time temporal things are externally falling apart, realize that God is doing something internal and eternal. He's testing your heart and forming your character.