Sandusky

The life you lead is the legacy you leave.

Hide and seek was commonplace in our home growing up.  The key to winning hide and seek is to have a hiding place that is inconceivable.  As kids, in a house, the idea of a hiding place that is impossible to find is an impossibility.  Eventually, with persistent looking you will be found.  However, if the hiding is so inconceivable...no one could fit in there...you can hide from anyone.

For me, that was the hall closet.  The hall linen closet.  Yes, that one.  The one that has shelves that are almost flush with the door.  Almost.  I was so thin growing up, I could turn my feet sideways and actually fit into the narrowest of spaces...the hall linen closet.  I was undefeated in hide and seek.  It's like Texas Hold'em for kids...everyone wants to see your cards.  "Where were you?"  And on the rare occasions I revealed my hiding place, even better!  They were convinced I was lying to conceal the true hiding place!

In life, regardless of how hard you try to hide, you cannot shroud yourself from truth.  The life you lead is the legacy you leave.

This morning my iPhone scrolled the following headline:  "Sandusky son pleads guilty to child sexual abuse."  Jeffrey Sandusky is the son Jerry Sandusky who was a former coach on the staff of famed head coach Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions.  Jerry Sandusky, the father, was sentenced to prison in 2012 for multiple counts of sexual abuse.  Jerry Sandusky is a pedophile and serial rapist.  The life you lead is the legacy you leave.

Leadership isn't just a concept for the workplace.  Leadership is vital for the home.  Does this mean that every child is helpless in rejecting a legacy inherited from a parent whose depraved life has now condemned their children?  No.  There is always hope.  The principle from which we cannot hide is that the life we lead is the legacy we leave.  That is unavoidable.  This truth is immutable.  But for every tragic story like Jeffrey Sandusky, there are countless stories that inspire hope from children who rejected a depraved legacy and lead lives that will leave a legacy for their children worth celebrating.

The question you must ask yourself is this.  What will be my legacy because of the life I lead?  Leadership in the home never says, "I hope my kids find a better life in spite of my example."  Leadership in the home must always aspire to lead a life that will leave a legacy that not only inspires our children to greatness but also for generations to come.

Hebrews 10:24 should be the cornerstone of every parent's legacy philosophy.  "And let us consider how we may spur (provoke) one another on toward love and good deeds."

The life you lead is the legacy you leave.  May our children find greatness in their futures not in spite of us but because of us...because we had the courage to see beyond our own selfish and depraved desires and found a love for legacy.

Pastor Fred

Planks

Have you ever considered that Jesus calls the one sin a plank and the other a speck of saw dust, not because the plank is the more egregious sin but because the eradication of the plank from the one has the greater potential to build the Church? You can't build a house with saw dust but you can create quite a structure with planks.

One of the temptations of leadership in Churches and Christian organizations is too quickly discarding and disqualifying people because of their faults.  I'm not suggesting that removing people from leadership, disfellowshipping members, or restricting people who are at risk is never the right decision.  I am saying that those courses of action should be last resorts.  As leaders, we can become so busy with tasks and disappointed with people that we lack the time and the emotional energy to help people heal and grow.  I believe part of Jesus' teaching about planks is that when leaders work to help people heal and grow in a way that results in people leaving those planks behind, the Church is being built!

This text is found in Matthew 7:3-5. Now read it in conjunction with Matthew 16:17-18. He's building...the question is, are we supplying the planks He desires to build His Church?

Pastor Fred

Faith In Leadership

I've thrown my 7 iron down for the third time...still no snake! I must not have a Moses calling!  Really though, which took more faith, believing your staff would become a snake after being cast to the ground or picking it back up by the tail?  True faith always risks something.

Moses isn't the only person in the story who became a champion of faith.  Consider Aaron. There was no facebook in ancient Egypt.  Aaron had not seen his brother Moses in 40 years, nor heard from him.  Aaron is praying one day and bam...God speaks, "Wander out in the desert toward Midian to meet Moses."  Really?  GPS?  No.  Google Maps?  No. Tracking device?  No.

A favorite show our family watched when it was being produced was "I Shouldn't Be Alive."  Did you watch?  They couldn't even find people with helicopters!  Aaron, was working some Divine triangulation.  He not only believes he heard from God and goes, but he is led by God supernaturally to the exact spot to find him!  Aaron too is a champion of faith!

Moses and Aaron are two of Scripture's earliest leaders.  Being successful in leadership requires many traits, virtues, life experiences, and unique personality traits.  But without faith, we will never reach everything we were created by God to accomplish.

I remember the spring of 2007.  We were praying about moving to the 757 to pastor City Life.  I had various career opportunities from which to choose and City Life presented the most risk.  Vannessa and I had three young children, I had just turned 40, and I was concerned about providing for my family.  In speaking with a trusted Christian leader about my decision, he calmly stated, "Fred if there is no risk of failure then there is no room for God."

What is God asking you to do that will require faith?

Pastor Fred

Unity

Acts 15...unity is when absolute commonalities transcend relative dissimilarities.

Great leaders are always asking the question, "What are the absolutes, immutable truths, timeless principles, upon which we agree, hold in common? And, what are the issues where we disagree, dissimilarities, that are relative to ones perspective, opinion, preferences?"

When we elevate issues that are relative to an undeserved place of absolutism, we create a legalism. When we concede absolutes to an undeserved place of relativism, we create permissiveness.

Discern, dialogue, distinguish...lead.

Pastor Fred