Watch & Learn
Recently I have been challenging myself to watch and learn more from people and experiences. One of the blessings with working for YFC is that I regularly come into contact with men and women of God who have excelled in leadership or who have pioneered new thinking or ministries. I suppose one of my criticisms of myself is that I haven’t learned more from these opportunities. Here’s just two small yet significant things I’ve recently picked up. Both are around language:

“So what’s the best thing I could do?” is a question I’ve heard significant leaders like JD (John Duncan) pose. Perhaps faced with a predicament I would bulldoze my way through hoping that no-one would notice my struggle and that I would get a result. If I did ask the above question I would not have used the word best. The qualities I’m underlining here are humility and a constant and deliberate striving for excellence.

“I really enjoyed that!” is an affirmation that I recently heard Johnny Parks give Pete Greig. Both men are again significant leaders yet still made time and felt it necessary to affirm one another. I’ve often felt the desire to do this but was too embarrassed or alternatively I’ve failed to find words that weren’t cheesy or that didn’t sound patronising. However I believe in the cold light of day that affirmation is more important and that I should ignore my embarrassment and prepare a few affirmation statements in advance.