Archive for the 'Join the Movement' Category
30 Lessons I Have Learned in Leadership Through Leading the Same Organization for 30 Years
ESPN produces a series of documentary films entitled 30 for 30. They highlight important people and events in sports history. Each of these is powerful and highly engaging.
Today, I want to share with you my own 30 for 30. I want to call it 30 LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED IN LEADERSHIP THROUGH LEADING THE SAME ORGANIZATION FOR 30 YEARS. Many people have led organizations for 30 years. Yet, only a few have led the same organization for the past 30 years.
905 For and 12 Against
As a kid preacher, I came to be the pastor of our church on Sunday, October 26, 1986. Before we began our third of the five campuses we now have at Cross Church, our church was called First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas.
In September of 1986, I came to preach in a view of being called as pastor. After an extended weekend, the church voted to call me as pastor. The vote was 905 for and 12 against. One month later, our very young family left our home state of Texas and arrived in Arkansas driving an old orange suburban. On the last week of October of this year, I will have served as Senior Pastor of Cross Church for 30 years.
I have learned much about leadership by serving and growing with this region called Northwest Arkansas. This region has been filled with a strong innovative leadership culture, producing powerful corporations with global headquarters here. Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Tyson Foods, and the University of Arkansas have anchored this Northwest Arkansas region. Surprising to most, somewhere between 1,200-1,400 national and international companies have a presence here to service their Walmart account. This presence may be from a few employees to hundreds. Additionally, private business, law, education, and politics are thriving here. In reality, the world comes here to do business. That is one way this region has taught me so much about leadership.
Simultaneously, I began serving in all kinds of roles and with many responsibilities in the Southern Baptist Convention. In the most recent two years of my life, I served as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America. Additionally, the Lord has graciously given me all sorts of opportunity to minister to many evangelicals outside of our Southern Baptist Convention.
Through all of these things and life experience, I have learned plentiful lessons on leadership. I want to share just 30 of these lessons on leadership.
I will only list these lessons in this article today. Perhaps in the future, I will write something on each of them. They are not listed in any order. I will stay with only 30 lessons to represent my 30 years here, but in writing, I initially listed at least 60 lessons on leadership I have learned these past 30 years.
30 Lessons on Leadership I Have Learned in 30 Years Leading the Same Organization
#1 Leadership is rallying people to a better future.
#2 Vision is seeing it before you see it.
#3 All people matter.
#4 Put change in your pocket in relationships so you will have something to spend when you lead people.
#5 Walk slowly through the crowd.
#6 Limit time with people who deplete you, but expand time with people who replenish you.
#7 Enjoy the special moments.
#8 Learn from your defeats but celebrate the victories.
#9 Stay out of the ditches in your leadership.
#10 Truth guides great leaders, not trends.
#11 Do what is best for the organization.
#12 Who surrounds you will define you.
#13 Hire people slowly but fire people quickly.
#14 Wisdom, discernment, and timing are critical in decision making.
#15 Do not sell out to keep any staff member.
#16 Transition is inevitable and strategic change always has a cost.
#17 People who are highly critical of others will also be critical of you.
#18 Never let anyone outside of your circle of love.
#19 You can go faster alone but farther with others.
#20 Invite your opponents to help you formulate the future.
#21 Lift the principles high and do not lose the vision on details.
#22 Beware of mission drift; confront mission rift.
#23 Investing in leaders strategically ascends the organization and extends your leadership influence.
#24 Never believe all the good people say about you or you will also have to believe all the bad they say about you.
#25 Leadership is comprised of various seasons.
#26 Leadership longevity is possible when you learn to surf the waters of cultural and leadership change successfully.
#27 Always start your day with God.
#28 Generosity sets a leader apart from other leaders.
#29 Build exercise and fitness into your life five to six days a week.
#30 Not every hill is worth dying on.
You Have One Shot
You have one shot in your life. Live enthusiastically. Lead passionately. Make a difference. Make it count!
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, immediate past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Evangelicals, We Need to Start Looking Beyond the Candidates
For the past nine presidential elections – intentionally or unintentionally – I have stuck with one clear principle when I go to the voting booth: I do not vote for candidates but for policies.
From our 39th to our 44th commander in chief, I have not voted for men or, even, for parties – I have voted for issues. And in my life, I have never seen so many crucial issues, with such vast consequences, hanging in the balance as they are in the 2016 Presidential Election.
The issues, to anyone – especially a Christian – who has been following the course of our nation, should be fairly clear by now: the appointment of Supreme Court justices, the defense of religious liberty, the fight to protect the life of the unborn, our friendship with and support of Israel, the need for resolving racial tension, our national security, and the preservation of limited government and a free market.
These are the issues that matter to me this election, and I believe we should filter every voting decision we make through them. Yet the problem with this presidential election is that we have been so transfixed with the candidates that we have lost sight of what’s really on the ballot.
Whether it’s tax returns, email servers, Benghazi, or Tweets, we have spent the better part of this year hopping from one tantalizing headline to another instead of looking at how this election will affect not only our generation, but also generations to come. We have forgotten that this nation is much bigger than one man or woman.
The strong reactions to the presidential candidates are understandable. America has, perhaps in her modern history, never seen such a pair of unconventional people running for office. Yet we must not forget that, from George Washington to Barack Obama, no candidate has ever been perfect or fully acceptable. And at times when the candidates don’t measure to our precise measures and tastes, we must be able to see past the names on the ballot and into the underlying issues that really matter.
I would then suggest that if as Christians we see abstaining from voting as a better option than voting, then we are looking at this election the wrong way. This is not about our endorsing a person by our vote, but about using our vote to endorse the issues we care about. The goal is to elect someone who will represent and stand for us. We don’t vote for personality but for policy.
As much as this point has been belabored, it cannot be ignored: the next president will appoint up to four new Supreme Court justices, effectively setting the course of the highest court of law in the U.S. for generations to come. Legal precedents, affirming – or denying – the right to life of the unborn and the religious liberty of tens of millions of Evangelicals, will be determined by the men and women who will sit and judge in the Supreme Court.
So, Evangelical Christians, on November 9th we will wake up to an America that has made a statement about what kind of future we want in our nation. The existing trends are undeniable, but the future is yet to be determined. The vote each of us cast – or decide not to cast – has the potential to perpetuate such crippling issues in our nation as the killing of the unborn, the desecration of marriage, the escalation of national debt, the abuse of excessive government, the upheaval among ethnicities, the violation of religious liberty, and the moral decline of our culture, all galvanized by the appointment of more liberal justices to the Supreme Court.
Or, perhaps, we can choose another future for America: A future where the sanctity and dignity of human life are respected from the womb to the tomb, where the notion of limited government is honored and the importance of national security is a top priority, where order returns to our streets and religious liberty stands preserved, and where our Supreme Court justices adhere to the constitution rather than try to redefine it. And if we think a future like this one lies beyond our reach, I would then suggest we have forgotten the true power of our vote – no matter the political scenario, the future of America is always in the hands of her people.
It is, therefore, incumbent on us to resolve: Not on our watch! As long as we are here on this earth, we should do all we can to hand future Americans and the entire world an America that represents liberty and justice for all.
This November, don’t vote for a candidate or even a party—vote for the men and women who will be appointed to the Supreme Court, for the Christian business owners battling for religious liberty, for the right to life for 2,900 children who are aborted each day, for our loyalty to God’s chosen nation, Israel, and for lasting security in America. Vote not for a man or a woman, but for the future of our children and the future of our children’s children.
It’s time we see past the candidates and focus on the future we want for America.
This article was originally published on ChristianityToday.com on September 29, 2016
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, immediate past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.