18
Oct
2012

The Power of an Apology

Over the last several weeks, some would argue longer than that, I’ve been a little difficult to be around.

I won’t go into detail as to why, I guess the reasons are arguable as well, suffice it to say I’ve been grumpy and disagreeable.

Though it was not my intention; I was rude to a couple of my closest friends recently. Thankfully the Holy Spirit pointed it out to me and I made two phone calls.

An apology is a very powerful thing. I’m not talking about the politician non-apology, apology. The “I’m sorry if you were offended” apology. I’m talking about taking responsibility for your actions and asking for forgiveness. It’s the “I behaved in an incorrect manner and I’m sorry”. As the Australians would say “Full Stop”. No qualification, no justification just a flat-out I’m sorry for the way I treated you. This is a principle I have tried to live by even to the extent of several times as the boys were growing up I would be on the edge of their bed saying “I’m sorry for the way I treated you today”.

A few days ago someone told me they were sorry for something that happened and I was reminded how powerful it is to be on the receiving end as well as the giving end.

Right now, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you if you need to call someone and restore relationship and when He points it out to you. Make the call immediately. You’ll be glad you did.

Romans 12:18 NKJV says “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men”. We all know it doesn’t completely depend on you. But make sure you’ve done all you can.

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Posted by Gary in Intimacy W/God, Leadership, Personal
16
Oct
2012

E.P. Release Today!

Today is the Day!

I Will Sing

Buy Now

The digital download is available right now!

If you would like to hear the song stories you can start right here.

If I could I would like to ask two favors:

  1. If you know someone who might be interested in this project would you let them know.
  2. If you like the E.P. would you please click the like button at the bottom of this post.

[NinjaProduct]

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Posted by Gary in Personal, Worship
11
Oct
2012

Who Should Lead Your Teams

You don’t have to look far to see how the church is losing its respect and priority in people’s lives. Just this morning two articles came into my news aggregator.

“19 Numbers Which Prove That America is Turning Away From Christianity”
“The Inevitable Collapse of Organized Religion in America”

I see articles like this every day. A couple of weeks ago I asked the question
“What Happened?”
There is no silver bullet but I would like to begin answering that question today from my perspective.

The church is dead, dying, and irrelevant partly because we have promoted high capacity doers over equippers.

Let me explain by using a football analogy.

We’ll use football, mostly because I love it, but also because stats are easy to get and evaluate.

After a very quick Google search I found:

There are just over 1 million high school football players in America.
About 67,000 of them go on to play in college.
There are currently 1,696 players in the NFL.
.166% of high school players will go on to play in the NFL.
.003% of high school players will go on to be head coaches in the NFL.

These 32 coaches must be pretty talented football players right? Let’s take a look.

Of the 32 coaches only 9 played in the NFL. The top 15 have a winning percentage over .500 and only 3 of them played a single snap in the NFL and only 5 played at a division one level. The old adage “if you can’t play coach” is true but for different reasons than we thought.

Leading/equipping and doing are different skillsets. There are a very few who can do both. Art Shell and Mike Ditka are among the 100 greatest football players of all time and were also pretty good coaches but they are the only two in the top 100.

When you’re looking for leaders do you go looking for the best “doers” or the best “equippers”? Do you look for Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? We definitely want Tom Brady on our staff but we want Bill Belichick to lead the team.

More on this later but today I leave you with this.

If we want the church to become vibrant again there are many things we need to focus on however; from a leadership perspective a top priority must be to put equippers in places of leadership.

Your thoughts?

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Posted by Gary in Church Growth, Discipleship, Leadership
09
Oct
2012

Run To You Song Story

I hope your enjoying these song stories. I’m getting better at video editing but still a long way to go. It’s been a great process for me to be able to remind myself of where these songs came from and God’s faithfulness and goodness over the last several years.

Here is the song story of “Run To You”, track number 4 on the E.P. I Will Sing, available now at GaryTrobee.com

I Will Sing

Buy Now

Other Song Stories:

Waited, I Will Sing, Faithful One, Run To You, You Pursue Me, My Jesus I Love Thee

I look forward to hearing your comments.

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Posted by Gary
02
Oct
2012

Seek out from “Among You”

Where did the idea of search committees come from?

I understand in some instances it works; however it shouldn’t be the norm.

The closest thing to a search committee I see in the New Testament is Acts 6:3 where it says;

“Seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”.

We pour over resumes’ until we find the qualifications we’re looking for and hope the person we choose is of good character and will catch our heart, vision, and culture once they arrive.

What would our church’s look like if we were to create an environment where we prayerfully evaluate those who’ve been entrusted to us, recognize their gifting, call out those gifts, encourage them, equip them, and release them? Giving them permission to operate in their gift?

We are called to be world changers. Our leaders must be equippers not just the best doers. (more on this next time)

Leaders must equip. We are given a ministry for the purpose of stewardship until we pass it on to the one we have raised up. We need to build leaders who go to their leaders and say “ I’ve worked myself out of a job. What else do you have for me?”

Is your organization a safe place for leaders to tell you they’ve worked themselves out of a job? Are you prayerfully recognizing, calling out, equipping, and releasing the gifting entrusted to you? It’s a slower process but grows deep roots.

As always would love to hear your thoughts.

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Posted by Gary
20
Sep
2012

The Sheep Are Not At Fault

The sheep are getting a bad rap. Articles and conversations everywhere talk about a lack of commitment from church people.

Recently a friend called and said “I’ve been asked to sign a contract to be on the worship team”. A conversation on a social networking site was titled “How do I get commitment from my worship team?” One solution was to “fire” them and make them re-audition every year.

The sheep are accused of not having the proper priorities or they don’t have a heart for the lost or they’re too materialistic or have a consumer mentality. Though these things may be true on some level please consider this:

We have the church we’ve planted.

I believe every problem on earth is a leadership problem. I don’t believe it’s a heart issue for most pastors and leaders. I’m confident of your desire to see the saints equipped and the world changed. What I’m suggesting is a re-evaluation of the process we have embraced as a church to get there.

People will prepare themselves to the level of their perceived opportunity.

I’ll never forget the first time I came early to a men’s meeting in Bible College. When I arrived the Men’s pastor met me at the door and asked if I would give a quick encouraging word to the leaders. I immediately began to scramble for something relevant and encouraging to share. I promise you I never came unprepared again. Knowing I had an opportunity to bless and encourage those leaders caused me to always come prepared to share.

We must create a culture of opportunity for people to serve and flourish in their gifts. We must be actively looking for the gifting in those entrusted to us and give them opportunities to step out in a safe place where they have the freedom to fail. It’s critical then to let them know how they did and how to improve. Encouragement goes a long way.

The quickest way to get people planted is to get them serving in their gifting. Not using people to meet needs and serve events but allowing them to operate in their gifting.

I have much more to say on this. That’s enough for today. What are your thoughts?

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Posted by Gary in Church Growth, Discipleship, Leadership

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