Wayne Hedlund

Category: Personal Growth

  • The Art of Inviting Feedback

    feedbackI’m a big fan of feedback. Not the kind you get on Sunday mornings when the microphone goes haywire and everybody goes deaf. The kind you get when people share their thoughts & opinions regarding something you’re trying to do with excellence.

    Inviting feedback is a bittersweet activity. But when I swallow my pride and listen closely to other’s thoughts, it increases my effectiveness and impact in ministry.

    Yesterday I listened to this two-part podcast from the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast series entitled, “The Art of Inviting Feedback“. One of the big takeaways was learning how to ask your leaders, co-workers and team-mates this one question:

    “If you were me, what would you do differently?”

     I strongly urge you to ask your entire team to listen to these two podcasts. They have the potential to, over time, make a big difference in your ministry’s leadership culture.

    The Art of Inviting Feedback – Part 1 (Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast)

    The Art of Inviting Feedback – Part 2 (Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast)

    photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc

  • Indescribable

    Grab a drinking straw. Walk outside on a clear starry night. Pick a blank space in the sky (no stars) and look through the straw. What do you see?

    Nothing, right. How fun was that?

    Enter the image below, which has been coined the ‘Hubble Ultra Deep Field”.

    When the experts zoomed in on a similar sized spot with a powerful telescope, what do you think they saw? More stars? Nope. Just 1,000’s of GALAXIES. In fact, the experts tell us this one image boasts somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 GALAXIES.

    (You need to click on the image and zoom in to really appreciate it!)

    ultra-deep-field

    I suspect there isn’t a scale we can adequately use to try and imagine the vastness of space and how minuscule we (humanity) really are in comparison with it. We’re overwhelmed just planning a trip to the moon. Another planet in our solar system is just out of reach – perhaps we’ll visit Mars once in my lifetime. The idea of visiting another star is the stuff of sci-fi novels. Exploring a galaxy belongs to Star Wars fans. But millions, perhaps billions of galaxy’s?

    Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV) says it best.

    The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

    Wow.

     

    Credit:

    NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team

  • Don’t Miss Your Life Video

    I ran across this great 4 minute video over on epicparent.tv the other day and just had to share it. Powerful and relevant. Hopefully, this doesn’t hit too close to home. Whether it does or not, it would be a great opener to a message on parenting. Enjoy.


    If you can’t see this video, try clicking this link.

     
    I have to wonder, how many of us are ‘missing our life’ and don’t even travel? God give us the courage to be the men and women of God you’ve called us to be for our kids!

  • Famous Failures

    The people talked about in this video are famous. You probably know every one of them. They were also failures at one time or another. Like you and I, they failed, but their failures didn’t define them, they just refined them. I hope I can one day be added to this list of famous failures! How about you?

    If you can’t see this video, try clicking this link.
     
     

  • Thursday Quote: Leading On Empty

     

    Pastoral ministry should be considered a High Risk occupation. Check out some of these startling statistics about pastors from H. B. London Jr.’s work, Pastors at Greater Risk (also quoted in the book mentioned below.)

    • 80% believe pastoral ministry affects their family negatively. 33% of those say it’s an outright hazard to their family.
    • 75% report they’ve had a significant stress-related crisis at least once while pastoring.
    • 50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job.
    • 90% feel inadequately trained to cope with the demands of the job.
    • 80% of pastors say they have insufficient time with their spouse.
    • 56% of pastors’ wives say they have no close friends.
    • 70% of pastors say they do not have someone they consider a close friend.

    Perhaps the most disturbing statistic of all is that clergy have the second highest divorce rate among all professionals.
     
    Having served in pastoral ministry myself for nearly two decades, I understand some of these pressures and dangers. Today, I hear about or talk with pastors on a weekly basis who are walking through difficult situations, struggling spiritually or are just tired and feel like quitting. Despite it all, they plow through and continue to fulfill the mighty purposes and calling to which God has called them. I am often very proud and inspired to know their individual stories.
     
    This is why I strongly recommend every pastor purchase and read Wayne Cordeiro’s book, Leading On Empty. In this powerful book, Wayne shares his own battle through ministry burnout and how ministers can guard themselves to let their candle burn for the long haul. In this excerpt from the book, Wayne shares why it is so difficult for pastors to find the necessary balance between ministry and daily living.

    “There will always be a tension between what I do and who I am because they run so closely together. A minister isn’t like a salesman who stops talking business after five o’clock or a dockworker who refuses to pick up a fallen box because he’s off the clock. He doesn’t live in the world of retiring politician, who contents himself with leaving unfinished items for his successor.

    A shepherd-leader is more like a country doctor. Regardless of the time of day, when people are experiencing symptoms of appendicitis or when a baby needs birthing, he can’t say, “I’m off duty. I punched out at five.” In a sense, a pastor never punches out. Of course some may, but for those who see their profession as a calling, they simply cannot.

    What I do is who I am, and who I am is inextricably connected to what I do. I am a shepherd. It wasn’t something I chose as a business profession. It was something I couldn’t escape!” Page 96

     
     

     

     

     
    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Michael Jordan & Craig Groeschel on Failure

     
    Isn’t it interesting that so many of us have an intense fear of failure, and shy away from situations where we might fail, while others embrace failure, learn, and end up doing something great!

    Watch these two great clips on failure and be inspired to try, fail, learn, adjust and try again!

    If you can’t see this video, try clicking this link.
    If you can’t see this video, try clicking this link.

  • The Top 10 Regrets In Life By Those About To Die

  • Thursday Quote: 7 Practices – Replace Yourself

     

    My Thursday Quote this week is by Andy Stanley from his book, “Seven Practices of Effective Ministry“. At Elim Gospel Church this book is required reading for all of our leaders and new pastoral staff. The ‘seven practices’ have become benchmarks for how we think about ministry. The following quote is taken from the leadership practice, “Replace Yourself”.

    “Several years ago John Maxwell introduced our staff to the concept of ‘leadership lids.’ A lid is anything that keeps a leader from growing. Maxwell explained that there are certain aspects of your personality that can prevent you from achieving your full potential; therefore, it is important for leaders to identify their lids and do whatever they can to lift them. An organization will have a difficult time rising higher than the lid of its leader.

    We’ve discovered that organizations also have ‘leadership walls’ that prevent others from achieving their potential. Whereas a leadership lid can stunt your personal growth as a leader and may indirectly affect the rest of your organization, a leadership wall can directly stunt the growth of those on your team and, ultimately, create a leadership gap in your organization. Lids may stop leaders from growing up, but walls keep leaders out. They form a barrier that blocks the development of future leaders in your organization.”

    If you haven’t yet read this book, I urge you to do so and also to
    consider purchasing it through my Amazon Affiliate Store right here.

    To learn about other books I am reading or recommend, check out my Transforming Leader Store.

    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
     

  • be weak

     

    My pastor shared an awesome message last Sunday that I felt would be relevant and an encouragement to you this month. We started a series called the ‘be series‘ and the first week of the year was an exhortation to ‘be weak’.

    I urge you to take some time this month and watch/listen to this clip. I believe you will personally be strengthened. Blessings!


    If you can’t see this video in your email or rss, try clicking this link instead.

     

  • Robert Morris Tackles Gluttony Head On!

    2012 has arrived (well, almost). New Year resolutions may not be as popular as perhaps years ago, but they are still relevant. The new year is a great time to recommit ourselves to our personal goals. Of course, many new year resolutions will revolve around exercise and diet. Have you noticed how many programs on the networks focus on food, eating, dieting and exercise? Healthy living is one of this culture’s greatest challenges.

    What can be mildly disconcerting is how little us pastors actually talk about it. The topic of healthy living is right up there with sex and money. Uncomfortably absent in many pulpits.

    So imagine my surprise when my wife and I tuned in to an online service at Gateway Church and heard an outstanding and very personal message by Pastor Robert Morris about this very thing. He didn’t beat around the bush either. I was challenged and convicted so much, I thought I’d spread the wealth.

    Pastors and church leaders – I would love it if you would listen to this message this week and ask the Lord how it applies to you. I know the topic won’t necessary be relevant to everyone (I know of some very healthy pastors), but it will certainly be a challenge to many.