Claim OwnershipDare Great Things For Christ
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To form, unite, and inspire young Catholics for the new evangelization.
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Anyone who reads the gospels can’t help but notice the way that Jesus Christ is confronted by and chooses to confront those who surround him. His life was not easy and his public ministry was marked by confrontation. The fact that he does not hide this from his apostles and that those confrontations play such an important role in the Gospel provides a leadership lesson for us as well. Most of us will have to live through many confrontations and Jesus shows us how.
To lead we have to be able to bring talent forth – all great leaders have this in common. And Jesus Christ shows us this in a very special way. During the three years he was with his apostles he not only consoled and healed them but he also challenged them and trained them for a life of discipleship in the most challenging of circumstances. He trained his future leaders to lead by leading them into their own greatness even when this was hard.
Those involved in leadership spend a lot of time talking about leadership in the abstract. But Christian leadership can’t be spoken of without Christ. Which begs the question, “How did Jesus lead?”. While this subject is vast and can be approached from many angles perhaps the easiest way to understanding how Jesus leads is by watching how He actually led and His leadership begins with His choice of His twelve apostles. Join us in this first of our next series, “Watching Jesus Lead – The Choice Of The Twelve”.
Any person of Christian faith who is in position of leadership will find it easy to speak about prayer. Afterall, prayer is an essential part to the Christian life. But it might be more challenging for us to understand its practical power. Being men and women of action, we rely often on our own strength to make things happen. Given that sense of responsibility what value does prayer have? In this final talk in our seris on Joyful Leadership we explore the practical power of prayer in our lives.
It's a well-known fact that leaders in industry and society are men and women of action. If we’re in charge, it’s to produce a result. But living under this kind of pressure can sometimes weaken that is necessary for success. Afterall, we didn’t get involved just to be a machine. We got involved in order to lead and leadership is much more than just producing results. In this seventh part of our series on Secrets To Joyful Leadership we explore the power of beauty and its capacity to motivate a joyful leader.
Christians who are called to lead in this world have to do two things: they have to lead well and they have to lead in Christ. Normally these two things are not exclusive but rather build on one another. And one particular advantage to leading in Christ is the opportunity it affords us to lead in joy. But what are the secrets to joyful leadership? One of them is that Jesus sent us out two by two and learning how to journey with friends can be the key to our success.
Every once in a while leaders need to remember the joy of leadership. And leaders who are following in the footsteps of Christ have a special obligation to witness to the joy that comes from their service because we do what we do in service to the King of Kings. While challenging sometimes staying joyful is also a secret of the saints. Not only are leaders keeper of visions and motivators in hard times but we also have the privilege of inspiring those who follow us.
Everyone who tries to do something new has to go through the pain of actually doing it. Ideas are one thing, inspiration is another, but execution is where things really happen. And executing on an idea carries with it a burden – the sacrifice of the grind. Is it possible to stay happy even when toiling? What happens to a Christian’s joy when they embrace the grind? And how can we embrace the grind in a way that not only maintains our joy but allows it to expand.
All of us who are responsible enough to step into leadership understand the weight of our responsibility. Sometimes we forget that we are also called to be joyful – that leadership is a privilege and a blessing for those who undertake it. In this third part of our series on the Secrets to Joyful Leadership we look at the power of the springtime, the power of starting things new and the gift that God has for us who choose to Dare Great Things For Christ.
Those who practice leadership work tend to focus on negative things - things that we need to improve. But leaders just like anyone else are more motivated by what’s positive and we who lead in Christ must never forget to be joyful in Him. In this second part of our series on the Secrets To Joyful Leadership we focus on the joy that comes from bringing a plan together for our people. Embracing the arduous task of formulating a strategy is actually a gift for our people and ourselves.
For as much as it’s important to remember the difficulties and challenges of leadership it’s also vital that we keep touch with the inner joy that iw the right of every leader. Christian leaders especially have the obligation to embody this joy because we serve at the pleasure of the greatest of rulers, Jesus Christ. But staying joyful in leadership is not always easy. In this first part of our new series we study the first secret to joyful leadership: casting a vision for a dream worth dreaming.
Whether we like it or not leadership means standing alone. Of course we need to lead others, so others are always a part of our lives, but whenever you take in things great or small you end up facing the fact that you alone are responsible for the change that you have initiated. And solitude can be uncomfortable for many. But for a Christian it becomes the meeting place with Jesus Christ and an essential aspect of our spirituality as leaders. And this is especially true when we find ourselves at the center of an organization.
They say it’s lonely at the top and they mean it. Anyone who engages in leadership in the footsteps of Christ know that the labors involved are intense and often overlooked. The fact is the most important jobs are often the most thankless. Those who engage in leadership have to accept the loneliness of the grind. Lonely of course because no one else is there but not lonely if we know Jesus. In fact, Jesus wants to work with us.
Without a doubt one of the hardest parts of being a leader is that we have to embrace solitude. In this series we are looking at the various dimensions or kinds of solitude that leaders embrace and how Jesus meets each one of us along the way. In this fourth part of our series we focus in on the solitude of risks. On the fact that when we decide to act we inevitably have to act alone. Or do we? Perhaps it’s in our greatest solitude that we find union with Christ.
Across the board and throughout time leaders have always complained about being alone. The expression “it’s lonely at the top” says it well. But this loneliness is not always a bad thing, in fact, usually it is the result of doing what leaders have to do. When you lead you’re first and when you’re first you’re necessarily alone. In this third part of our series on embracing solitude we look at the particular solitude that comes from planning and the surprising ways that we can find Christ there.
Every entrepreneur knows that having a good idea is only the beginning of the process. To be successful you need to take that idea to market. This involves production which involves people, organization, and year of hard effort. At times the loneliness of the innovator can be so intense that we want to stop innovating altogether. And yet innovation, novelty, beginning new things is part and parcel of the call to evangelize. How does Christian grace sanctify the innovator’s solitude.
One of the most commonly used phrases to describe the experience of leadership is “it’s lonely at the top.” The phrase resonates with leaders of all stripes and colors but what does it mean for a Christian? Is there a way to find a deeper meaning to the solitude of leadership? How did Jesus live His life as a leader? How did the saints do it time and again? And in what way can this pathway of solitude be a pathway of holiness for us today? Here is Part One of our new series Embracing Solitude.
Following the footsteps of Christ into leadership is a wild ride. Anytime you step forward to change the status quo you need to be ready for anything that can come. And yet for all of its challenge is there really any other way to live? Anytime we exert our personal freedom we change the world around us. Maybe the problem isn’t that we are making a difference, maybe the problem is that we aren’t comfortable with the wild ride. This is where St. Paul can help us. In this final episode of our series we see how St. Paul lived life on the edge.
It's one thing to want to Dare Great Things For Christ and begin new initiatives and projects, it’s quite another thing to finish them. The first stage in any initiative is dreaming, hoping, and aspiring for great things. But carrying through our aspirations all the way to the end requires another set of skills. It requires sacrifice, dedication, and just pure grit. St. Paul embodied all of those qualities and gives us an example of leadership that continues to inspire us today.
Let’s face it, trying to accomplish things can be exhausting. Acting upon decisions that we’ve made means spending valuable resource, our time and our energy in pursuit of them. At first this experience can be euphoric, but soon it can turn into burn out. We who are in leadership have engaged in lives that are dedicated to this type of action. What are we supposed to do when we feel burn out? What did St. Paul do to counter his exhaustion? In this next class we will try and find out.
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I first met Fr. Nathan at the Teen Eagle Eye in Ohio. His classes, and the formation give by Eagle Eye as a whole, played a big part in my faith formation. Now as an adult (wife and mother) I love to listen to Dare Great Things as I do daily tasks like laundry and dishes; they’re the perfect length to listen to while doing it! Please keep Fr Nathan, all of Eagle Eye Ministries, and all Religious in your prayers! And come here to this podcast to take in words of formation and then go out and ‘Dare Great Things’ :)