Good leaders are accessible.

Jesus was a shepherd-style leader. In fact, He even said that He was the Good Shepherd. Western shepherds, I have heard, will at times drive their sheep from the rear, like cattle. But eastern shepherds lead from the front. This was Jesus. He showed us that true leadership must be based on trust and trust is developed through relationship. I have found that leaders, whether they be police officers, pastors, politicians, teachers and so forth, are much more effective when they are regularly part of the tapestry of their community. A smile, a handshake, a helping hand go a long way in securing a solid team.

Now, I know that an organization can reach a point where a leader cannot touch everyone. And there is a balance that must be reached between micro-managing and being untouchable. There was a day when King David’s men in ancient Israel told him not to come into the battlefield with them any longer. They wanted him to stay on the ridge, so to speak. They were so busy looking out for him as their king that they couldn’t fight the enemy with pure focus. This is when true leaders must begin to reproduce themselves in a younger generation so that the legacy of leadership can continue. That leader may not be able to touch everyone in the “kingdom” any longer, but he/she must continually be accessible to the circle of leaders that do.

Our world has some pretty convoluted paradigms about what leadership means. Many want to be the pack leader of wolves instead of being associated with the sheep. But wolves are almost extinct now while sheep prosper around the globe. Jesus told us that the meek would inherit the earth. And meekness is not weakness – it’s controlled strength. Effective leaders are not afraid to be vulnerable and real. He takes his cape off and let’s people know, “I’m just another guy like you trying to do a job I’ve been called to do. Let’s walk together.”

Good leaders are accessible.

Coach Rick Wallace was close enough for me to hear his conversation with another student on the first day of practice. “I told you you could do it, buddy! You wanted to quit; said you couldn’t finish.” The boys mother passes my car on the curb and then approaches her son and Coach Wallace. She introduces herself to him. Coach Wallace continues, “I told him, Mom, that if he couldn’t finish the practice, he couldn’t finish a game. He has to show his will to endure. He said he couldn’t but I told him he could. And he did! You finished, bub! And I’m proud of you!”

Now, that’s my kind of leadership! But I was just seeing the surface of the heart of this man. Let’s just say that his motto could be “I love you from the bottom of my…kidney? Take a look.

Kidney Love

Thank you, Coach Wallace, for your brand of coaching. I pray other leaders will be as inspired and reminded as I am of what true manhood looks like.

The scriptures teach us that our weapon, as believers in Christ, is the Word of God. In fact, the New Testament declares that it is a sword, and a two-edged sword at that. Paul called it the “sword of the Spirit.” Every time we speak scripture against our negative situation, we are unleashing the sword of God’s Spirit against the “demons” trying to oppress us. Though I’m licensed to carry in the state of Texas, I don’t walk around with one strapped to my side; but, as a pastor, I love to help soldiers in God’s army beef up their spiritual weaponry. Here’s a new “sword” that I found this week. It is Psalm 112 and I wrote a positive faith confession based on the passage of scripture for you to confess over your life by faith. Here goes!

Psalm 112

1. I praise You, Lord! I am joyful because I fear you (have reverential awe for You) and I delight in obeying Your commands.
2. My children will be successful everywhere; an entire generation of godly people will be blessed.
3. They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will last forever.
4. Light shines in the darkness for me (as I walk in godliness). I am generous, compassionate, and righteous.
5. Good comes to me because I lend money generously and conduct my business fairly.
6. I will not be overcome by evil. Because I am righteous, I will be long remembered.
7. I do not fear bad news; I confidently trust You, Lord, to care for me.
8. I am confident and fearless and can face my foes triumphantly.
9. I share freely and give generously to those in need. My good deeds will be remembered forever. I will have influence and honor.
10. The wicked will see this and be infuriated. They will grind their teeth in anger; they will slink away, their hopes thwarted.

Even if you don’t feel like you fit the bill for some of these characteristics, like “being righteous”, declare it anyway, by faith, and see if anything begins to change in your life. The Word of God is your ultimate weapon. When God gives you a word to claim as your own that can potentially challenge your present circumstance or reality and invite you to a higher place… USE IT!

I stand in prayer for you. Be blessed!

Kevin Herrin

We’re in a real drought right now in SE Texas that’s bringing record heat waves to our lives. That’s just a part of life. We do the best we know how to do and we pray… the rest is up to God. The Bible says that it rains on the just and the unjust alike. I’d like to tweak that a bit and say that the heat comes to us all as well. But I have found that, as uncomfortable as it can be, when the fire comes, it can produce beautiful results on the backside of the burning.

Oysters that get grains of sand trapped underneath the muscle secrete a liquid that eventually produces a pearl, layer upon layer as a result of the discomfort. Coal under intense pressure produces diamonds. Gold and silver, in the fire, become more valuable as the impurities are burned out. Olive oil and wine bring great wealth to farmers and vinedressers, but only after the olives and grapes have been crushed. Real vegetation only grows in the valley; not the mountain. And you’ve all probably said at one time or another in your life, “No pain, no gain.”, as it relates to physical fitness.

The metaphors are numerous. The principle is singular. The truly good things in life only come from times of pressure and burning. I know that life is tough these days, but I encourage you to see the “fire” as your friend and not your enemy. If you’ll trust God with your life and take your concerns to Him in prayer, He is going to lead you through the tough place and cause you to come out the other side more valuable than when you went in.

Blessings on you today!

“There was an unusual high school football game played in Grapevine, Texas. The game was between Grapevine Faith Academy and the Gainesville State School. Faith is a Christian school and Gainesville State School is located within a maximum security correction facility.

Gainesville State School has 14 players. They play every game on the road. Their record was 0-8. They’ve only scored twice. Their 14 players are teenagers who have been convicted of crimes ranging from drugs to assault to robbery. Most had families who had disowned them. They wore outdated, used shoulder pads and helmets. Faith Academy was 7-2. They had 70 players, 11 coaches, and the latest equipment.

Chris Hogan, the head coach at Faith Academy, knew the Gainesville team would have no fans and it would be no contest, so he thought, “What if half of our fans and half of our cheerleaders, for one night only, cheered for the other team?” He sent out an email to the faithful asking them to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send,” Hogan wrote. “You’re just as valuable as any other person on the planet.”

Some folks were confused and thought he was nuts. One player said, “Coach, why are we doing this?” Hogan said, “Imagine you don’t have a home life, no one to love you, no one pulling for you. Imagine that everyone pretty much had given up on you. Now, imagine what it would feel like and mean to you for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”

The idea took root. On the night of the game, imagine the surprise of those 14 players when they took the field and there was a banner the cheerleaders had made for them to crash through. The visitors’ stands were full. The cheerleaders were leading cheers for them. The fans were calling them by their names. Isaiah, the quarterback-middle linebacker said, “I never in my life thought I would hear parents cheering to tackle and hit their kid. Most of the time, when we come out, people are afraid of us. You can see it in their eyes, but these people are yelling for us. They knew our names.”

Faith won the game, and after the game the teams gathered at the 50-yard line to pray. That’s when Isaiah, the teenage convict-quarterback surprised everybody and asked if he could pray. He prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what just happened so I don’t know how or who to say thank you to, but I never knew there were so many people in the world that cared about us.” On the way back to the bus, under guard, each one of the players was handed a burger, fries, a coke, candy, a Bible, and an encouraging letter from the players from Faith Academy.”

Frustrated

“What could be wrong with them?”, I’ve asked myself on occasion. Then it dawned on me that I was the common denominator on every scene. I began to change the question. “What’s wrong with me?” You know they say if seven horses stand at a pond and six won’t drink the water, but the one will, there’s something wrong with the water. But if the six drink it and the one won’t, there’s probably something wrong with the horse. Time for a reality check, Kevin.

What I’ve discovered about myself is that I have a love for truth and justice. Is there anything wrong with that? You see, I believe that every gift from God has a warning track – a place where you can go overboard. Too much of a good thing is excessive, even if it is good. For instance, I’m a peace-maker. That’s a good thing. Jesus said I’m blessed for that. But my warning track for that is that I can become a people-pleaser while trying to be a peace maker. I want everyone to be at peace. I can’t live my own life in peace until everyone has peace. Since that never happens, I am in jeopardy. I must learn to be balanced in the gifts God has given. I also am a leader/shepherd, but I have noticed a bit of manipulation in my gift. I perceive that this path is the best one to take and am a bit peeved when someone doesn’t take it. Once I have made my stand on the proper path to take, whether it has to do with the smallest things in life or it has to do with eternity, I find myself slighted, undermined and misunderstood when others take a different path. “Why would they do so when this is so obviously the best path?” My leadership compels me to urge them to the “correct” path but my humanity taints my response to their response and causes me to begin the push… the obnoxious push. A short while ago I tweeted, “Just lead. Don’t push.” It solicited many retweets. Maybe I’m not the only one.

I recently was called upon to preach the funeral of a man who committed suicide to spare his family the processes of a fatal illness. I found myself so conflicted emotionally and philosophically. Part of me understood and part of me felt he had taken the cheaters way out. I sensed those emotions were in the crowd as well. Then I realized that it was not my job to hold this man to my perceived standard of justice. It was my job to remind the people that God is the Judge and that He is faithful. I released peace to them and entrusted them back into the hand of the Father. This is what Christ did on a daily basis. He delivered the new philosophy of the Kingdom and then left them to the dealings of the Father by the Holy Spirit. My anger, which triggers my obnoxious behavior, stems from a leadership gift that feels that its lost control. Jesus knew who He was and saved His anger for those who victimized the crowd in the name of religion. They were the wolves and the goats. But with the sheep, He kept His cool and never took their rejection personally.

God, help me to trust daily in You and Your care for my life. Not holding people around me to the letter of the “law” does not compromise my love for truth and justice. It simply puts me in the balanced place of Christ’s likeness. In the words of my late, great Uncle Frank Jones, “Some people try to out-Jesus Jesus.” I’d just rather follow Him.

Cowboy up!
That’s what we say sometimes when things get a little rough
But I’m looking at you, and you’ve been here before
Standing in front of this old, locked door
And all your best laid plans
Just came crumbling down to nothing
Right there in your hands
I guess you’re looking around to see
That there’s a whole lot of wisdom
In just a little bit of humility
There comes a reckoning time for every man
When he sees he needs help from above to stand
So if you’re getting tired of losing
And you’re ready to get tough
Then, Cowboy, up
That’s right
Look up!
Cowboy, up!

By Kevin Herrin

This is dedicated to all those who finally gain the wisdom to realize we need a Savior.

Special thanks to Richie and Hevyn Allen for making me look a little like a real cowboy. Enjoy the video. It’s the lead-in for our sermon series called “Cowboy, Up!”

The blood flows through veins in an unseen realm of the body and holds the DNA, which makes us who we are. It has been argued for centuries which is the more powerful – nature or nurture.

A child can be taken from an orphanage and placed in a good home only to have the DNA of the biological parents trump the good that the adopted parents did. On the flip side, a child with good genes can be exposed to much ugliness and still weather the storm to come out okay in the end. This is the power of nature.

We’ve also seen someone with a lot of DNA baggage in the blood who, given the chance and proper godly nurturing, comes out the other side different than their generations before them. This is the power of nurture.

The debate could be put to rest by acknowledging that both are important. I believe it takes both working together – nature and nurture.

A piece of steel may be worth $5. Make it into horseshoes and its worth is $10. Backtrack! Manufacture sewing needles out of it and the value rises to $350. Better yet, use it to make springs to power Rolex watches and the value skyrockets to $250,000! The raw material remained the same – a hunk of steel.

You’ve been given the same thing – raw material in the form of DNA. So, you have a spirit that cries out for God but a nature that desires destructive behavior. What do you do?

Too many people make excuses. “I wasn’t born into the right family.”

Jesus didn’t pick the perfect lineage to be born into. Yes, Mary was a virgin, but she and Joseph’s lineage was far from perfect. It was a beautiful blended mess.

Have you ever heard that country song by Darryl Worley that says:

I love this crazy, tragic,
Sometimes almost magic,
Awful, beautiful life

That was Jesus’ lineage. Phil Munsey said in his book “Legacy Now” about Christ’s lineage:

“There were great leaders, successful entrepreneurs, scholars, farmers, and preachers, many of whom were quite impressive and had outstanding character. Others were quite the characters. Liars, thieves, adulterers, prostitutes, and con artists. There were the single moms, the divorced, the widowed, the orphaned, the adopted, and the blended and broken families. Dirty genes, wrinkled and worn-out genes, blue (depressed) genes, stained and ripped genes. From the functional to the dysfunctional, the wise to the witless. From the prosperous to the poverty stricken, there was every gene imaginable! In spite of their spite, everyone and their genes mattered. Everyone contributed to the greatest legacy ever – the parents of Jesus Christ, and therefore, the legacy of Jesus Christ.”

Christ can give you a new nature, but how will you nurture it? My Dad taught me, “If you can be stopped by any excuse, the devil will make sure you always have one.” No more excuses. Nick Vujicic was born with no arms or legs but is now one of the most sought after speakers in the world, speaking over 300 times a year, changing his generation. He has no limbs. What do YOU not have? He has heart. He has new DNA from Christ. What do you have?

You can call your DNA deoxyribonucleic acid; or you can call your DNA Divine Nature Acquired! You have a chance at new life through Christ. Well?

My Dad, when once dealing with a fellow leader who was handling some affairs in a less-than-honorable fashion, said, “Don’t mistake my meekness for weakness.”

We’ve all seen the coaches on the sidelines, ranting and screaming obscenities at the officials. I suppose a coach needs to show his team he’s fighting for them once in a while – I acknowledge that. But some coaches lead this way all the time. Tony Dungy, former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, believed that a calm, quiet leadership built respect in his men. Though many thought him weak, he stood on the platform with the Super Bowl trophy in his hand and said to the world, “This is for those who believe it can be done through my particular brand of leadership.”

I had a man recently tell me that leaders in his life have been heavy-handed. He was concerned that I was not going to continue that tradition in his life. He wanted to know that I would call him out if I felt he deserved it as a member of my team. I assured him that I would never hold back on speaking the truth to him, face to face, when needed, but that it would be in a different spirit than the experiences he told me he had encountered in the past. I said, “God knew you needed that in the past, but it was because of your immaturity. Now, God has brought you to me because it’s time for a promotion on your part.” Immature men need heavy-handed leaders. Men who know who they are and who have an understanding of the importance of authority in their lives do not need this kind of treatment. They walk in honor and get the job at hand done without someone constantly looking over their shoulder. Weak men fear they do not possess the strength they need to make it in the fray so they “fire their weapons” a lot, do a lot of screaming, and speak harshly toward those leaders who would “control them.” They believe that being in submission to authority is akin to weakness.

Swamps VS Rivers

A swamp can flow wherever it wants to go. It has no boundaries. Yet, it is stagnant at most points. Nothing can be done with it. But a river, which is bound between two rigid banks, flows in a certain direction. Its course is determined and dams have been built to harness the power of the river which provides power and light to millions of people. Which is more powerful? A bayou cannot handle a supertanker load of provision unless it has been dug deep. Only then can it host the tanker full of blessing and promotion. A would-be leader must be willing to submit to the meek (controlled strength) leadership of one who has his/her best interest at heart and let the “digging” process be completed. Then, and only then, can we qualify ourselves to be promoted as trustworthy and understanding of what true leadership and strength is all about.

A man walked into my office a number of years ago and said, “I’m sorry for disrespecting you as my leader two years ago. I brought shame to your team and this ministry. I never understood the true value of authority until I went through police academy. I ask your forgiveness.” Wow! What a great day in his life. It was the beginning of many heartbreaking moments avoided for him. What a legacy he will be able to hand down to his children if he will continue to walk in that philosophy.

We fear, so often times, being taken advantage of and feel we have to “show our teeth” to prevent it. Wolves are aggressive and sheep are unprotected accept for the shepherd. Most would choose to be the wolf. Yet, today wolves are endangered and have been on the verge of extinction while sheep populate the earth by the millions. I believe the key here is twofold: don’t be afraid to walk in meekness and make sure you’ve got a good shepherd to whom you’re accountable who’s got your back.

Be blessed.

Away in a manger. Not in the big city. Away… in a barn. It should have been in a palace. It should have been in a king’s chambers. He was a descendant of King David, after all. He would become known as the King of all kings, as a matter of fact. But, no – it was away…in a manger. Not in a mansion, not in a castle, not in a luxury hotel, not even in a house. There was no room for Him in the Inn. No…a cave, a stable, a feeding trough filled with hay – away… in a manger.

Symbolic it was. Symbolic of the distance between God and us. Away. The God who made mankind for fellowship with Him. The God who walked with Adam in the cool of the day – now separated from His creation by sin and rebellion. He would not – He could not touch sin as the perfect Sovereign. A gap lay between them. Who would bridge the canyon between God and man? Separated. Away from God. Blocked. Inprisoned. Walled out. Away from God because of sin. Away.

And so God would take on flesh and become a man, but how?
Wait…how?
A baby, you said?
A seed planted in the womb of a teenage girl…by the Holy Spirit? Come on.
God…a Baby?
Born where? Away…in a manger.

Not in the focal point of all society. Not in the who’s who of births that day. Only lowly shepherds would come. His birth wouldn’t even register on the social scene for about another year, when wise men from the east would come searching for the prophesied King of the Jews.

Could it be? The Messiah had come? Emmanuel? God with us! Imagine that! God in a manger! The separated Sovereign – the away God – come near…in a manger.

Could it be that this Baby, away in a manger, would be A WAY in a manger?

A way through sin? A way through darkness for humanity? A way past depression? A way past fear? A way past sickness and disease? A way past divorce? A way past suicide? A way past hell? A way past Satan? A way past our past?

God came near. The cast of Christmas looked into the eyes of the Babe away in a manger, but would eventually realize they had been looking at a way in the manger. This Baby would grow up and be the very One who would declare to His disciples, “ I AM the Way.”

Whatever form sin has taken in your life by way of a separating wall of awayness from God, I encourage you to look again at the Baby in the manger. He is the Way. You have been given direct access through the darkness, back to God, through a Way in a manger.

(Special thanks to my friend, Marty Varnell, for the inspiration for this thought.)