Anne Marie Miller

Category: Leadership

  • Leaderman or Servant Leader?

    Stole this off Brant Hansen’s blog.

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Wants a platform on which to say something

    Servant Leader: Has something to say

    ———–

    LeaderMan: You almost feel you know his family, because he’s your Leader

    Servant Leader: You allow him to influence you, because you know his family

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Wants you to know he’s a Leader

    Servant Leader: You’re not sure he knows he’s a leader

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Loves the idea of the Gospel, and the idea of The Church

    Servant Leader: Loves God and the actual individual people God brings across his path

    ———–

    LeaderMan: A great speaker, but self-described as, “Not really a people person.”

    Servant Leader: Makes himself a people person

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Helps you find where God is leading you in his organization

    Servant Leader: Helps you find where God is leading you

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Gets together with you to talk about his vision

    Servant Leader: Just gets together with you

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Resents “sheep stealing”

    Servant Leader: Doesn’t get the “stealing” part, since he doesn’t own anyone to begin with

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Wants the right people on the bus

    Servant Leader: Wants to find the right bus for you, and sit next to you on it

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Shows you a flow chart

    Servant Leader: Shows you his whole heart

    ———–

    LeaderMan: A visionary who knows what the future looks like

    Servant Leader: Knows what your kitchen looks like

    ———–

    LeaderMan: If it’s worth doing, it worth doing with excellence

    Servant Leader: Not exactly sure how to even calculate “worth doing”

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Talks about confronting one another in love

    Servant Leader: Actually confronts you in love

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Impressed by success and successful people

    Servant Leader: Impressed by faithfulness

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Invests time in you, if you are “key people”

    Servant Leader: Wastes time with you

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Reveals sins of his past

    Servant Leader: Reveals sins of his present

    ———-

    LeaderMan: Gives you things to do

    Servant Leader: Gives you freedom

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Leads because of official position

    Servant Leader: Leads in spite of position

    ———–

    LeaderMan: Deep down, threatened by other Leaders

    Servant Leader: Has nothing to lose

    ===

  • the bench monster

    check out what my friend jeff and some of his cohorts did in his east atlanta neighborhood.? so cool.?? three minutes. that’s all.

    be love.

  • why can’t we say no?

    Just Say No?last night, i asked you what you’d like to hear if you were attending a breakout session or workshop about burnout.

    “how do i say no?” was probably one of the most answered responses.

    so…now i get to ask you, why can’t we say no? should we say no? how can we discern when to say no?

  • awesome leadership quote

    ?A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.? ~Lao Tzu

  • last night i had a dream…

    Lunesta has become a close companion lately. I go through seasons of insomnia…usually about 3-4 months long, followed by 3-4 months of healthy, non-medically-induced sleep. Currently, I’m about halfway into one of those insomnia cycles.

    I decided last night to see if, by chance, I’d be able to fall and stay asleep without the drugs. No such luck. I drifted off into a weird, lucid dream.

    In my dream, I was given a choice to do something and the consequences would require me to leave ministry. I’d be disqualified completely. And I remember the battle I was waging in my head.

    “If I make this decision, I’ll lose my job.”

    “If I make this decision, my publisher will drop me.”

    “If I make this decision, I’ll never be able to speak into the lives of leaders again.”

    After I woke up following a very restless night of tossing and turning, I started thinking through what my dream-self was considering and realized something disturbing.

    Not one of those thoughts I had was “If I make this decision, I’ll be disobeying God.”

    Now, I realize this was just a dream and the decision I was considering in it was something that would likely never cross my path…and I realize a dream doesn’t represent my full consciousness.

    But if it was a real life situation, would I have asked myself the same questions, while neglecting the most important one…How does this affect my relationship with Christ?

    It’s easy for me to coast through life and walk a straight line. It’s actually pretty easy for me to be the good girl. But following rules isn’t the most important thing…that should just be an overflow of a lifestyle of obedience.

    Why do you make the decisions you make? Are they out of love and obedience, or out of fear for losing your position, your marriage, your ministry?

    Just something to chew on.

  • Catalyst Road Trip in Nashville

    friday, pete and i had the amazing opportunity to meet up with the guys from the catalyst road trip. if you’re not familiar with catalyst, well, you need to be. [read more about catalyst and the catalyst road trip]. if you’ve been around here for any amount of time, you probably know that i’m a bit of a conference cynic. catalyst is much, much more than a conference, and has totally won my heart!

    Catalyst Road Trip

    anyway, after some fine dining at star bagel, we took them to cross point to show them what it’s like to have church inside an old baptist church building…we talked about blogging, blogging, and well, blogging.

    (by the way, holy cow has my hair gotten HUGE since moving to nashville. the humidity here is nuts! why hasn’t someone told me??! big hair rivals having something between your teeth!)

    i’ll let you read more about what talked about here on their blog, but i have to say, it was such an honor connecting with these guys.

    have you ever been to catalyst? are you going this year? if you are…i’d love to connect. i’ll be there doing some undercover spy work.

  • Pastor Stats: Overweight & Unhealthy

    Here are some statistics from Mad Church Disease.

    This is from a formal survey conducted by Ellison Research.

    71% of all ministers admitted to being overweight by an average of 32.1 lbs.

    One-third of all ministers were overweight by at least 25 lbs, including 15% who were overweight by 50 lbs or more.

    Two-thirds of all pastors skip a meal at least one day a week, and 39% skip meals three or more days a week.

    83% eat food once a week that they know they shouldn?t because they?re unhealthy, including 41% who do this three or more days a week.

    88% eat fast food at least one day a week, and 33% eat fast food three or more days a week.

    50% get the recommended minimum amount of exercise (30 minutes/day, three times a week). 28% don?t exercise at all.

    ==

    When I was first in ministry, I gained 40 lbs in two years. I don’t blame ministry for making decisions for me, but I know because I didn’t plan my time well, I would be caught grabbing snacks in the break room or eating out too often or eating too much fast food and not finding time to exercise. I lived off the caffeine and sugar highs and crashed in front of the TV at night on the lows.

    Fortunately, I was able to get back into shape, drop the extra weight, and although not perfect, attempt to eat healthy and exercise regularly. I haven’t gone back to a huge weight gain even though I do fluctuate within a 10 pound variance throughout the year.

    Can you relate?

    ==

    Side note: According to the Center for Disease Control, the percentages for American adults over 20 years old (as compared to just pastors):

    – 66.3% are overweight or obese with 32% being obese (30 pounds or more).? According to this particular survey, it would appear that a greater percentage of pastors may be overweight in relation to an average American. But these are just two statistics.

  • 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One

    Shawn Wood, the Experiences Pastor at Seacoast Church, has started a blog tour to support his new book, 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One which releases September 2008 and is available for pre-order now at Amazon.com.

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    Anne: Well it looks like everyone who has done the blog tour so far has made some type of joke in their first question so far about Pomegranates, so I will spare you any humor there. But what’s the book about and why would I want to read it?

    Shawn: Well, first of all Anne, I am so excited to be able to stop by THE flowerdust.net?wow. We met through the blogosphere and then were able to hang just a bit at MinistryCOM this past year – which I am excited to see you are speaking at this year – and it’s been great to learn from you and see your journey develop with your book Mad Church Disease.

    The story of the pomegranates in I Kings was a story that I heard a pastor speak on in the early 1990’s. For some reason it just stuck with me that this guy, Hurum, spent a ton of time carving pomegranates and lily work into the top of the columns of Solomon’s temple.

    I actually processed this book in my head for 15 years as I thought about what our lives could look like if we were to live as artist who were carrying out the details of our lives towards an audience of One. So the pomegranates that Hurum carved can be a symbol of our children who we are instructing, spreadsheets at work we are entering data into, a friend who we are helping come to grips with life’s tragedy or even something as huge as starting a church. The point is that each of us are artists and have an opportunity to create a life of influence. In fact Here is a snippet from the Intro that I think sums it up in part:

    As I watched every deliberate, yet seemingly effortless movement I was amazed. Each and every action led to yet another beautiful layer of the canvas that was taking shape. Color and imagination, heart and soul were being poured into each and every detail of this work before her and it was at this very moment that I knew I was watching an artist at her work. Her canvas seemed at times to war against her, but with determination she was creating something very special. The artist was my wife and the canvas my nearly 2-year old daughter.

    Mommies are artists. The opportunity for a hostile situation stood before him like a huge rock of granite. It seemed almost impossible to move and determined to stay hard and unshaped. But using the power of words my friend Josh has the ability to craft and sculpt beautiful art out of the most callous of situations. With the use of just the right words he creates an art show on display for the world to see.

    Co-workers are artists.

    Karen has lost her husband of nearly 30 years at the young age of 50. As I sit with her in a time of heart-ache I realize that just moments earlier she lost more than I can imagine and that she can barely breathe. In coming days we are both struck by the fact that God still has her here for a purpose, but through tear clouded eyes it seems hard to find. Then she says it. Words that will stay with me for some time. Through her grief she reminds herself that she has a group of 2nd graders waiting for her. She is the architect of these little lives and though that may be all that is left, that is a task worth living for. So every day she wakes up because there are lives to be built and dreams to be planned.

    Teachers are artists. Terry leaves no detail untouched. I have seen him take the extra time to look over a job a second or third time to make sure that his work is just right. I have seen him do this when the customer is there, but I happen to know that he does it when no one is looking as well. His job is more than making money to him, his business is more than just a reflection of himself. Every oil change is an opportunity to represent God and an opportunity to build a legacy. Every tune up is an orchestra he brings into harmony with a wave of his baton.

    Mechanics are artists. No longer is art limited to painters and musicians. Each one of us is an artist, endowed by our Creator with skills and talents that can make our world a more beautiful place. Every good mom is an artist, molding her children as a creation of God. Every teacher makes a mark on the young people in his classroom. Every ethical businessperson leaves a legacy of people seeing God through his or her careful and honest work.

    Anne: Well, you were nice enough to let me read your manuscript in its early stages and it captivated me. Your gift of storytelling, when combined with your passion for artistry, makes for an inspiring read. I know this is hard to decide as an author, but what was your favorite part of the book?

    Shawn: The stories. The book is simply me telling areas I have blown it. Areas I have learned from people older than me. Areas that I have figured it out with God’s help and some of the dumb stuff I have done while trying to live the life of a Christ follower. The book highlights the life of a Dentist, a working Mom of an Autistic child, a wonderful wife and home keeper, a Pastor, and a Welder to show that God can use the life of ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Everyone who has read the books has said, “man this book will be great for a _______________” and filled in the blank with a different noun. That was the book I was trying to write.

    Anne: So what do you hope readers will do after reading it?

    Shawn: At the end of the book I have a prayer that I would hope would be the heart-beat of someone who had read, experienced and responded to the stories and scripture presented in this book:

    God, I pray that you would remind me that you created me for a life of meaning and influence, ultimately to bring you fame. I pray that you would continue this work in me in me and hone my skills, talents and spiritual gifts in such a way that you would be honored by my greatness. As I walk in this journey, God, I pray that you would show me what to do, teaching me what the passion of my life should be. Along that journey, I pray that you would allow me to have the courage and the integrity to do something meaningful with my life. Lord, teach me to see the needs of others as you see them, and to invest in your other people your prized possessions. When I do this, I pray that it would be a beacon that shines on you. God, as I do these things I pray that you would be my audience. That my love and adoration would be for you and that you alone would get my praise. And lastly, God, allow me the grace to finish the race well. I look forward to seeing you and hearing you say, “well done.” Lord, give me your strength to finish strong in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    Anne: When will people be able to pick it up and how can they help spread the word?

    Shawn: The book will be available in September of 2008. In fact I am so excited to be releasing the book at Granger Church’s Innovate conference. It will be available through Abingdon press through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or as they say in the biz, wherever fine books are sold.

    You can also find out more information and help spread the word on 200pomegranates.com. I would really appreciate it if your readers would use one of the handy spread the word widgets?that would be awesome!

    Thanks so much for letting me have a few hundred words of your time! Carve Pomegranates!

    You can also download a sample of Shawn’s book right here, right now!

    ====
    Any other books you are looking forward to reading?

  • Carbon Copy Churches produce Cookie Cutter Christians

    I was recently reading through some old drafts I had written and saved. In the fall of 2005, I wrote this after listening to an Erwin McManus podcast. He said,

    ?We need to reclaim the movement of Jesus Christ – it?s not the place where people are forced to conform and be standardized. But a place where people are seen as unique and find their originality in Jesus Christ. ?I think those of us who have been entrusted with followers of Christ must not simply cast vision and call people to it; We must create visional environments where dreams and visions of those who work with us and serve under at times, have their dreams and visions set free and ignited.?

    I’d love to hear your thoughts.

    Is the modern church today producing carbon copy, standardized Christians or are we, as leaders, helping release God’s unique calling in each believer? As the Church, are we helping build and release others’ dreams or do we focus on our own?