Respect #9

Teammates:

Over the past few days I have talked about respect in an acrostic fashion. As hokie as this may seem, I believe it is a good way to look at the topic of respect. I mentioned teammates each day and I wanted to make sure I made a point about this whole thing.

We have teammates in every area of our lives. We have those we work with, those we live with, those we play ball with, those we serve with, etc...

Many times we give respect at work and not at home. That needs to change. Everyone deserves your respect. You don't have the right to withhold that from them.

I pray that you will give your respect and I pray that God will work through that to make your teams more successful.

Respect #8

Thank - This is probably as important as anything. We need each other and we need to know we matter to our teammates. Saying thanks is a big part of that. Our teammates need to know we appreciate them.

Thank your teammates. Our church and God’s Kingdom would not be the same without the people we call teammates. We need every one of us to be successful in what He has called us to do. Take the opportunity to thank your teammates. Let them know that you recognize their contribution and the effort they put into their ministry. I thank each of you now for the work you do here. This church would be totally different if you weren’t here. I am glad you are. I will take opportunities to thank you going forward.

Respect #7

Challenge - For me there are many times when I get stuck in the proverbial rut. I can't see my way out, I need someone to challenge me to look at things differently, to try something else. I appreciate someone challenging me and I look for those opportunities with my teammates.


Challenge your teammates. A challenge is when we are instigated to take a step or do something we would not otherwise do. We all need to be challenged. We have talked about pushing ourselves to always be moving forward, finding new and better ways to reach out. Don’t be afraid to challenge each other when you see opportunities. Don’t be afraid of being challenged. I will continually challenge you to do more than you have done in the past. I will challenge you to get more of our congregation involved in ministries in and out of the walls of our building.

Respect #6

Elevate - This is another tough one. It requires me to not be concerned with how I stack up against others. I have to be willing to put myself aside and raise others up.

Elevate your teammates. Whenever you have the chance to elevate your teammates take that opportunity. To elevate is to honor, raise, or promote someone. We are only unwilling to elevate our teammates when we are worried about our own position. I will always honor, raise and promote you at every opportunity.

Respect #5

Protect - Have you ever been asked a question about a teammate that was obviously expecting a negative answer? We all have choices to make about protecting our teammates. I hope you will always make the right choice.

Be a protector of your teammates. We will all be confronted with situations that require us to make a decision. Will I protect my teammate or will I join in on the conversation to tear them down. We must always protect our teammates. There is not one of us who is perfect and we all have things in our personalities and ministries that we could do better therefore we depend on the protection of our teammates. I will stand up for you in all situations. As Mike Linch has said, I will assume you are doing your best until you prove differently and therefore I will defend you as my teammate.

Respect #4

Support - Have you ever wondered what you would be like without the support system you grew up under? What about the support system you have today?

Ask yourself this question, would the people around you be stronger with you as part of their support system?

Be a support and supporter of your teammates. A support is something that supports. A supporter is someone who backs a cause or keeps someone from falling. Hold your teammates up don’t allow them to fall when you can help it. Back your teammates in their work. I will be here to support you when you need to be held up and I will always be your supporter. I want you to succeed and I know you can.

Respect #3

Encourage - This is probably the easiest and hardest part of respect. It doesn't cost a thing to encourage someone, however it is very difficult to do consistently. The problem I have is that I get in the way. If I am encouraging someone I can't concentrate on my own problems. On second thought, maybe this is why I should be encouraging others.

Be an encouragement to your teammates. When you know that one of your teammates is down or struggling, take the time to encourage them and let them know you are there with them. Let your teammates know when you hear something good that they have done or has occurred because of their ministry. I will encourage you when you are in a tough spot. I will share the good things others say about you.

Respect #2

Risk - You say, "what does risk have to do with respect?" I believe part of giving respect is risking yourself for your teammates. You can see below part of the document I referenced in Respect #1.

Take a risk when it comes to your teammates. When you are speaking about your teammates to church members, community members or other teammates, always be positive. There is a term related to risk called “Optimism Bias” this term should exemplify our relationship as teammates. It means simply that we are overly optimistic about the outcome of whatever they are working on. I believe so much in you that I know whatever you are working on will be successful, I will RISK being wrong because I believe in you that much. Because of this, I will not speak negatively about you or your ministry to others.

Respect #1

For me respect has always been something you earn and I still believe that when I am thinking about myself. However, I am trying to not be as self-centered these days so when I think about respect in that context I realize that the people around me don't need to earn my respect, I need to give it to them. Even writing that now, it is a foreign thought to me. However, I want to give my respect to others.

As an introduction I have pasted an excerpt from a document I wrote a few weeks ago. Hopefully it makes sense to you and gives you an opportunity to think about respect. I am looking forward to the next 6 posts to discuss it. Your comments are welcome.

Respect is the greatest gift we can give each other as teammates. Many things make up the act of respect. It is an action not just a word. We have many different people on this team from many different backgrounds. Some have seminary degrees, some have business degrees. Some have worked in the church world their entire career while others have worked in businesses until recently. None of us are inherently better than others none of our experiences are necessarily greater. The truth is that the mixture of all our experiences and education make for a very diverse and effective team. The only thing that can get in our way is our lack of respect for each other.

LUNCH ANYONE?

If you know anything about NorthStar you probably know that we try our best to serve our community. In January, my wife (Kelley) began working with Marlon (Community Pastor) to help stratagize (if this is not a word please humor me), organize and mobilize a bigger and stronger group to reach out to everyone in our community.

Today we did our first lunch deal with MUST ministries in Marietta and Smyrna. We had 71 families build 1200 lunches and distribute them to kids who would not have lunch otherwise. If you have never seen 1200 lunches before imagine this:

Take 2 seats out of a 15 passenger van and fill it with lunches.
Fill the back of a 4 door Jeep Wrangler with lunches.
Fill the back of a Jeep Cherokee with lunches.
Fill the back of a full size GMC pick up with lunches.

There you have it 1200 lunches. INCREDIBLE!

I must brag on my wife. She got us involved in MUST (who does an unbelievable job of feeding these kids every day all summer), she organized the volunteers and the event and she delivered 300 lunches with two other ladies today as well. She is an incredible servant.

The amazing part is that our people dove in, built 1200 lunches and want to know what is next. UNREAL!!!

If you want to know what is next, go to www.northstarinthecommunity.com you will find a lot of opportunities there. I hope you will join us in showing God's love to a great community.

Live FLAT!

I don't know about you but I wish I could start my financial life over with the info I have now. I believe I would make much better decisions that would have me in a much better financial position today. I suppose I can't cry over spilt milk (which is difficult to do now that milk is $4 per gallon) but I wish it were different.

I spoke with a group of High School seniors and underclass college students yesterday about that subject. I think we have discussed here before about cycles in the economy and such, so you already know my thoughts on that.

How cool would it be if a generation were able to grasp the truth about economic cycles and begin to flatten those cycles out for themselves by preparing for bad times during good times? This could change the world. I am not saying that economies would no longer be cyclical, I am not near smart enough to figure out what the ultimate result of this action would be on a macro economic level. The truth is I don't really care.

What I do believe is that if we "Christians" stood out of the crowd during bad economic times as if we were unaffected, man would we have a story to tell. I may have said this before, but I am going to continue this tirade until we get it and change our actions. Think about it. When Joseph gathered the food during 7 good years, everyone came to him during the 7 bad years.

Did Joseph have a forum to speak to people?

Did Joseph create a means to meet everyone's needs?

And oh by the way, he also created a fortune for Egypt as well.

I want to make a wish for you, that may not be Christian but whatever. I wish for you that you would build a financial life for you and your family that will allow you to live a steady life. Not an up and down cyclical what is going to happen next life. A good, fun, happy, no stress, how can we follow God kind of life.

If you do that you will have a forum to share God's love. I promise.