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Life Tips

Leading Well: Leading with Prayer

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Leading your team, whether it be three people or 300 hundred people, is huge. As Christian leaders, we want to serve Christ faithfully and steward the opportunities He has given us well, but how do we do this best?

I’ve learned (and am still learning) that one of the primary ways to lead your team spiritually is through prayer.

Looking at the life of Jesus, consider just a few of the times we see Christ pray to the Father. We see Jesus praying in the solitude of the wilderness (Luke 4 and 5), praying for guidance and help in the garden (Matthew 26), and praying for His disciples as He knows His time is soon drawing to an end (John 17) .

We serve a Father who is faithful to listen to His children. Scripture shows us this —
1 John 5:14 says, “Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (HCSB)

As we step out in leading others, may we remember our God who never fails and may we, in humility and with boldness, go to our Father in prayer. In leading your team spiritually consider these ways to pray:

PRAY FOR THEM. Before the throne, with genuine devotion, intercede on your team’s behalf. We have a Father who listens to the prayers of His children. Knowing this, create a routine to continually pray with your particular team in mind. No matter the circumstance, you can always remember your tribe in a loving, Christ-honoring way when you go to the Lord.

PRAY WITH THEM. It’s important to be a leader who prays with your team. Your team should be comfortable to pray with you and quick to come to you with their needs. Be mindful to create an atmosphere where authentic prayer is paramount.

PRAY OVER THEM. As the shepherd of your flock — be it an entire congregation or a volunteer group of four — you should regularly pray over them. This means to visibly, boldly, honestly pray over them, standing at their sides. Lead your team in group prayer and ask that the Lord would guide you all to walk together in faithful obedience to Him.

PRAY FOR YOURSELF. Remember that before you can lead anyone else spiritually, you must first be in a place of pursuing Christ. This does not mean you have to be perfect. As a spiritual leader, you do not need to appear as one who has “arrived”, as if you’re pulling others to meet you at your destination, but you have to simply be walking toward a life that looks more like Jesus.
“May you look more like Christ when you lay down tonight than you did when you got up this morning.”

Leading a team spiritually is an important task, but it is not a complex one. Rest in knowing that leading others spiritually is a gift – a simple and genuine gift. Your care and devotion to this gift in which you’ve been entrusted will reap great reward when you humbly and wholly present it before the Father.

The Need for Rest

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We all share a need for rest. Rest is important to physical health and wellbeing, but it is also quite essential to spiritual health. In fact, the theme of rest is prevalent throughout Scripture.

Even from the beginning pages of God’s word, the importance and need for rest is clear. The very structure of the creation narrative helps highlight this significance. On days 1–3, God creates a different realm or domain of creation, and on days 4–6, He creates the solar objects and living beings to fill and live in those realms, respectively.

Day 1: Day and night ————- Day 4: Sun, moon, and stars
Day 2: Water and sky ———— Day 5: Fish, sea creatures, and birds
Day 3: Land and vegetation —– Day 6: Land animals, creatures, and humans

Structurally, all these days pair together, leaving day 7—the day when God rested—as the emphasis of the text. In this special moment at the beginning of time, all of God’s good creation lay before His presence in a state of rest.

Sadly, because of sin, the perfect rest Adam and Eve enjoyed with God in the garden was destroyed. The good new, though, is that Jesus offers the opportunity to enjoy that rest once again.

Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:28–30

As you continue on your spiritual journey, be sure to take time to rest physically, but also find opportunities to enjoy spiritual rest. Sit in His good, sweet presence, and praise Him for the opportunity to be known as a son or daughter of God.

Looking for an opportunity to retreat? We design KMC to be transformational experience with great worship, inspirational messages, practical workshops, lots of laughter, and a ton of fun! You are sure to leave refreshed and refueled. Join us at Music City Center in Nashville, TN, October 19–21.

Taking Camp Lessons to School

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The new school year has started and you are already taking your kids 100 different directions making it hard to remember the lessons that they learned this summer. How can you help your kids remember to be a disciple of Christ when they can’t even remember their lunch? I have been hugely blessed to grow up in a Christian home, so here are a few ways that my parents reminded me and my sisters how to be disciples of Christ. Try applying some of these to your family’s life as you grow in your faith.

1. A Disciple Encounters God Through His Word
My 8th grade sister’s favorite part of the day is lunch because she gets to talk to her friends and also see if mom packed her any surprises! At camp, we learned that a disciple encounters God through His word and that we are supposed to ingest it like food. Every once in a while slip a surprise snack into the lunch bag and write on a simple verse and note on a napkin that your child can read and be encouraged. On the ride home, talk to your child about how they used that verse during the day or how they were able to share it. Make this into a fun game and you will be surprised how fast your kids look forward to getting a Bible verse in their lunch box.

2. A Disciple Embraces God Through Prayer
Getting to school can sometimes be a hectic production of grabbing homework, packing lunches, and being sure all the kids are in the car. Once you are in the car, take time to say a prayer before dropping them off. The peace that comes from praying before you open the doors and start another crazy day will create a firm foundation for your kids. I still remember my dad praying for my oldest sister and I before we jumped out of the car for school and knowing that God was there with me no matter what happened that day.

3. A Disciple Engages with God Through Giving 
As the kids go back to school, be sure that you are staying plugged into your church. We talked about how a disciple can give both their time and talents to Christ. Show your child that Christ is a priority in your life by being at church. You are the example that your kids will follow and when they see you giving your time to God, they will follow.

4. A Disciple Engages with God Through a Christian Community
Friends are a huge part of school and your children’s lives! Be intentional with those friends and their families. The friends your kids have will shape them and it is important that you invest in their friends.Creating a community of families that would hang out together has been a huge part of my walk with Christ. Having that group of Christian men that I could look up to and the support of so many people has encouraged me to grow as a disciple of Christ.

Parents, you are the number one example that your kids will be following. Starting school can be just as daunting a task for you as it is for them. Be sure to take some time to invest in your kids and their spiritual growth as you both grow as disciples of Christ.

Guest Blog by Eric Geiger: Idols

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We live in an idol driven culture. Idolatry came with the entrance of sin. In fact, Martin Luther said, “Under every behavioral sin is the sin of idolatry.” If this is true, and I believe it is, this should forever change how we look at sin. Recently, at LifeWay’s Employee Chapel I had the privilege to talk about four root idols.

Christian leaders Tim Keller, David Powlison, and Dick Keyes have written much more extensively and eloquently on the idols beneath the surface, but here is a snapshot of four root idols that drive our behavior:

  • Power: a longing for influence or recognition
  • Control: a longing to have everything go according to my plan
  • Comfort: a longing for pleasure
  • Approval: a longing to be accepted or desired

Which of these idols resonates with you? Mentally walk through a day as a kids minister. Inevitably, you struggle with these four idols yourself, and you will work with kids and volunteers who struggle with these idols too. It is a universal human experience that we must learn to address and for which we need to seek repentance.

I do not repent of my idolatry by looking at myself in the mirror and telling myself I can displace it with my own energy, might, or goodness. I repent by remembering the Great God who is above all gods. We can repent of our longing for:

  • Power by submitting to His greater power within me [Ephesians 5:18]
  • Control by surrendering to His ultimate control [Ecclesiastes 3:12-14]
  • Comfort by remembering He is the greater comfort [II Corinthians 1:3-4]
  • Approval by rejoicing in His gracious approval [Galatians 3:13; Numbers 6:24-26]

I hope this challenges you personally and in your ministry. I encourage you to teach your kids what it means to struggle with these root idols. They too can learn to practice repentance from idols by focusing on the worthiness of God.

About the Guest Blogger:

Eric Geiger received his doctorate in leadership and church ministry from Southern Seminary. He is also a teaching pastor and a frequent speaker and consultant on church mission and strategy. Eric has authored or co-authored several books including the best selling church leadership book, Simple Church.

Eric is married to Kaye, and they have two daughters: Eden and Evie. During his free time, Eric enjoys dating his wife, playing with his daughters, and shooting basketball.

Balancing Work and Home

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Achieving the perfect balance of work and life has proven to be a myth in today’s world. Many times I’ve believed that if 2-3 things fall into place, then I’ll finally be caught up and won’t worry about work stuff at home. I’ve even had occasional times of feeling great about my progress at work, but realized that laundry is piled up, the dog needs grooming, and the dishwasher isn’t draining right. But this blog isn’t designed to be a discouragement … there’s hope, and here are 4 tips to help you navigate balancing work and home responsibilities.

  1. Establish clear priorities. For most all of us, that means articulating that faith, family, and health are all important priorities that should come ahead of work. As important as ministry is to the kingdom, balancing work and home means identifying what is most important.
  2. Set boundaries. Once you identify priorities, you must draw a line in the sand. No one will protect time with your family for you.
  3. Reinforce your priorities and boundaries with your behavior and choices. Many well-meaning co-workers or church members will take up time in your schedule that you’ve intended for other priorities, unless you guard that time. For me, it requires using a word that is sometimes hard to say … and that is “no.’
  4. Acknowledge that you won’t be perfect. We all have seasons where there’s more demands from work, so realize that and know that balancing work and home is not an exact science. There are also seasons when we have illness, grief, vacation, or school activities for children. Know that from time to time, there will be more time required by one area than the other, but you can still honor your priorities and return to your normal boundaries after that season.