Are you sometimes afraid of exhorting or even rebuking your team? (200-2)

Written by Barry Werner on November 15th, 2011. Posted in Communication Skills, Exhortation, Leadership Principles, Mark, New Testament, Personal Development, Relationships, Self-Discipline, Skills.

The effective leader understands the value and dangers of exhortation. Read Mark 6:14-29.

John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin and friend had publicly exhorted King Herod saying “It is unlawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herod’s response was to have John imprisoned. Herodias, the wife in question, responded by nursing a grudge! Ultimately, Herodias, through her daughter, got her chance to publicly exhort Herod to kill John and, socially backed into a corner before his friends, Herod had John executed. Lest we be too hard on King Herod, most leaders written about in the Bible responded unfavorably to prophetic exhortation or rebuke. How a leader responds to exhortation says a lot about their character or lack of character.

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Are you charged with finding a way to communicate to either an angry or passively aggressive group? (196-1)

Written by Barry Werner on October 17th, 2011. Posted in Attitude, Communication Skills, Exhortation, Humility, Leader Qualifications, Leadership Principles, Managing Criticism, Matthew, New Testament, Problem Solving, Relationships, Self-Discipline, Skills.

A hostile audience is a great test of a leader’s communication skills. Read Matthew 21:23-27 and Matthew 21:33-46.

Those serving in leadership of Judaism despised Jesus. The strict rules of the priesthood came down hard on anyone claiming to be a representative of God let alone the Son of God. Even though Jesus did not proclaim He was the Son of God in His public messages, neither did He deny it and to the religious leaders the lack of denial was equal to proclaiming it. Lest I leave the impression all their motives were pure, the religious leaders also did not want to have anyone upset their power grip on the people and their profitable financial activities. These leaders were angry with Jesus and would have had him killed but they were afraid of violating the law of the Roman occupying force and they were afraid of the Jewish people who thought Jesus was a prophet.

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Do you have a positive attitude toward conflict management? (190-4)

Written by Barry-Werner on September 8th, 2011. Posted in Accountability, Conflict Management, Exhortation, Fairness, Forgiveness, Interpersonal Relationships, Leader Qualifications, Leadership Principles, Learn from Mistakes, Managing Criticism, Matthew, New Testament, Relationships.

Conflict management starts with a leader’s attitude. Read Matthew 5:43-45.

Jesus was teaching His disciples some truths that were (and still are) counter cultural. In what many consider His most famous sermon He called His team to be different, to see the world from God’s perspective, to relate to people in a supernatural fashion, and to develop a God-like attitude rather than to accept the popular worldview. With these words, “You have heard that it was said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven,” Jesus challenged a culturally accepted norm held by virtually every leader on earth.

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Do you have the courage to make tough decisions, to exhort their team? (189-4)

Written by Barry-Werner on September 1st, 2011. Posted in Attitude, Core Truths, Courage/Risk-Taking, Exhortation, Leadership Principles, Matthew, New Testament, Personal Development.

Leaders must have courage. Sooner or later leaders will be required to stand for their values against powerful adversaries. Read Matthew 3:1-10.

The prophet Isaiah had foretold of another prophet that would precede the Messiah. Isaiah said there would be “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’” John the Baptist was the prophet Isaiah identified. He was Jesus cousin and was approximately six months older than Jesus. John’s ministry was to call the Jewish people to repentance so their heart would be ready for Jesus’ message of repentance. John courageously called for the Jewish people to turn from their sinful lives and live out what they claimed to believe.

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Has your team’s attitude and performance slipped to a point correction is needed? (188-1)

Written by Barry-Werner on August 22nd, 2011. Posted in Accountability, Attitude, Exhortation, Leadership Principles, Malachi, Old Testament, Personal Development, Relationships, Skills, Team Building.

Effective leaders connect with their team before they correct their team. Read Malachi 1:1-14.

The name Malachi means “Messenger of Yahweh.” Malachi was the last prophet to bring the Hebrew people any message from God until John the Baptist brought God’s word to the Jews approximately 400 years later as the forerunner of Jesus. Malachi uses an easy to follow question and answer format to address issues such as divorce, infidelity, hypocrisy, tithing, false worship, complacency, and arrogance. Even though Malachi had a difficult message of the changes the leaders needed to make to please God he made a connection with the people before he brought God’s message of correction.

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