CM TeleSummit – Proactive Leadership – Karl Bastian
There are several people who have spoken thus far that I really admire and whom I have learned a lot from. That said, I feel compelled to mention my great respect for Karl Bastian. His heart for children is evident in all he does. More importantly though, I think, his heart for those who minister to children is admirable. That said, here are my notes from Karl’s presentation at the CMTelesummit.
Introduction
- Glad to see Gus made a cameo appearance at the Telesummit (make sure to check out their podcast)
- Kidology.org – around since 1994
- Have to understand kids if we want to minister to them
Proactive Leadership
- Article from Children’s Ministry Profession Edition: http://www.kidology.org/zones/zone_post.asp?post_id=11425
- Want to lead proactively, not from a reactive position
- Have to “grab the remote” and take control of your personal and profession life
- The Fast Forward button
- Proactive leaders focus on the future
- Don’t get bogged down in the present
- Three types of people
- Those who make things happen
- Those who watch things happen
- Those who say, what just happened?
- Proactive leaders look to the future – what could get done? What could we do better?
- Try to see ministry through fresh eyes
- Forward momentum towards success
- VISION
- V – Visualize the finished product
- I – Imagine the possibilities
- S – See it through others’ eyes
- I – Innovate, Improvise, Invent – don’t settle for what’s always been done
- O – Open your eyes to the possibilities
- N – Never say never
- If it doesn’t happen, it’s because it isn’t part of God’s plan
- Not there to put fires out, there to organize and take the ministry somewhere
- May need to recruit some firemen to put out fires
- The Rewind Button
- Evaluation button
- Not living in the past
- Evaluate Events
- What went well
- Praise everyone involved
- What could we have done better?
- Learning to take criticism
- Seek out criticism
- First reaction may be to assume problem is with other person
- Must learn to accept
- Irrelevant HOW people criticize you
- No matter how they do it, you should receive it correctly
- Accept it
- Thank you for it
- Make them part of your advisory team (unofficially)
- Your friends and fans won’t criticize you – they won’t tell you the bad stuff
- When you mess up, go straight to your leader with it
- The Record Button
- Investment
- In scope of eternity, that button is always playing
- Everything we do in life is being recorded
- Everything we do matters
- This ought to motivate us to do our best
- Minister with excellence
- Don’t waste any time
- Motivate us not to sulk or despair when we fail
- The Pause Button
- Reflection
- Need to build in times of reflection into our lives
- Reflect on your own personal life and spiritual life
- Have plan for your family and spiritual life
- Reflect on that plan
- Schedule a time to reflect on that plan
- It is important to stop and reflect
- The Stop Button
- When do you stop from your work?
- God wired us to stop – the Sabbath
- God wires our bodies and our souls to need rest
- Good example – when someone dies, everything else gets cancelled
- People cover for you
- World goes on
- When crises happen, everything stops and life goes on and you pick it up later and everything is fine
- You can stop without a crisis
- Isn’t your kid that important?
- Isn’t your wife or husband that important?
- Isn’t your devotional time that important?
- Some things may need to not happen or get delayed
- What is the worse that can happen?
- What would really happen if you put every message in your inbox and stuck them all somewhere else and started over
- Start fresh
- Not the end of the world
- You have a stop button and you can use it if you are proactive
- Everything you would have done on that day can be done a day later
- The Play Button
- There is no more fun ministry than children’s ministry
- But, children’s ministry is draining
- Recreation is RE-“CREATION”
- Have to plan it into your life
- Find what works for you
- Battery Compartment
- What is the power source for your life
- Going on your own strength?
- Going on power of holy spirit and prayer?
- Start your day in prayer
- What is the power source for your life
- Brand of Remote
- Are you building your own brand, your church, your ministry, or Jesus?
- Be branded by Jesus