Finding Purpose And Meaning In Leadership

As a Christian leader, I believe everyone has a purpose and meaning for their lives. Everyone was created for something special in this world. In Ephesians 2:10, the Bible tells us that we are Christ’s workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works (purpose). 

You and I… We were not created by accident. We were created for something.

While I believe this purpose and meaning comes from the lives we live, we can find purpose and meaning in the things that we do. Including the organizations and people we lead. There’s a purpose and meaning behind this!

Finding Purpose And Meaning In Leadership

It’s funny that I’m writing this article when I am. The morning I was writing this, I began to take a look back on my leadership and writing journey. I began to think of the people I started this journey with.

Mentoring And Coaching: Developing Future Leaders

An essential part of leadership is training up the next generation of leaders. If you’ve been a part of an organization where a leader left and there was a lack of potential leaders in the organization, you found out how badly the organization suffered. You probably even saw a mass exodus of employees from the organization.

This is a great reason to begin training up future leaders. These are the leaders who will be there when the current generation of leaders are gone. They’ll also be the leaders who head out to other organizations to lead them well.

Mentoring And Coaching: Developing Future Leaders

But what does it take to mentor and coach upcoming leaders? That’s a good question. Another good question is whether mentoring and coaching are the same. Let’s look at that question first.

Bible Reflection: Be A Barnabas Leader

Youth pastor Sean Nelson recently preached a fantastic sermon to our church youth group. He shared the story of Barnabas, a man who is referred to as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).

The message stuck with me for multiple reasons. First and foremost, Barnabas’s life exemplified what a Christian leader’s life should look like.

Sean shared four characteristics of Barnabas. For each additional characteristic, I nodded my head and thought these are characteristics every leader should strive for.

I want to encourage you to be a Barnabas leader in this post.

Bible Reflection: Be A Barnabas Leader

What does a Barnabas leader look like? They have four characteristics that make them unique. These are characteristics you can work on as well. 

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From IT: Chapter Two

At the end of the original IT movie, the Losers Club (Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Martell), Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff)) believe they have defeated the evil clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård). In It: Chapter Two, we learn they only wounded Pennywise. He makes a violent return 27 years later to the town of Derry, Maine.

It: Chapter Two reunites the Losers Club 27 years to Derry. Mike had stayed in Derry to keep watch over the town. He knew he had to watch for Pennywise’s return. He was wise to do so.

Members of the Losers Club standing in the woods

When Pennywise returned, Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) began to call the old Losers (Bev (Jessica Chastain), Bill (James McAvoy), Richie (Bill Hader), Eddie (James Ransone), and Stanley (Andy Bean). He knew they had to make good on their commitment to return to Derry if ever Pennywise returned.

Bo Schembechler On Teamwork

The Chief Operating Officer for the organization I work for recently had the team watch a powerful, moving YouTube video about teamwork. The video was of a speech given by former Michigan Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler.

Bo passed away on November 17, 2006, at the age of 77. Despite being gone from this world, his words on teamwork and teams still live on.

American football players tackling others

Photo by Keith Johnston

I’d never heard Bo Schembechler’s speech on teamwork. When the video finished, I knew I had to share Bo Schembechler’s talk with you.

With the NCAA college football season just starting, I thought today would be a great day to share the speech. I hope you take away as much from his speech as I did.

You can view the short clip below. After that, continue reading for my take on Bo’s words on teamwork and how you can apply them to your leadership.