Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail. (Proverbs 19:20-21 NLT)

Who are your wise counselors? Can you name them? We need to plan well but learn to hold our best plans loosely enough in order to always be ready to yield and adjust to God’s better plan. Be sure to plan like it all depends on you but execute your plan realizing it all depends on God. He will work in your plans, through your plans and in spite of your plans, to accomplish His purpose. We only truly accomplish the best when our plans line up with His plans and purpose for our lives.

When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?… “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. “You’re going to wear yourself out-and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.” (Exodus 18:14, 17-18 NLT)

Now what if the key player is you? If you get all the playing time, that certainly isn’t good for the overall strength and depth of your team. Let’s face it, others on your team may not perform at your level and do things as well as you. But here’s the basic rule of thumb for developing members of your team to be able to step into your shoes. If they can perform at about 80 percent as well as you, it would be worth investing in developing them. The best way to develop them is to give them “playing time in a real game.” In order to do this successfully, you must be secure in yourself as a leader. Insecurity will cause you to feel threatened by the idea of developing someone who could replace you. Only mature and secure leaders can do this. Let me encourage you to embrace the truth that you are incomplete as a leader. You need other people to complete and compliment you. Once you embrace this fact of leadership, you will freely pour yourself into others to make them better. When they get better, your team is stronger. You have sufficient bench depth.

Watch this video from the first of January for Dave McAuley & Matt Overby to explain a bit further:

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So, is there any better investment than Silver and Gold to help protect you in challenging times? According to King Solomon, there is:

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. (Proverbs 3:13-15 NLT)

There is nothing more valuable and secure than godly wisdom. Let me challenge you today to be intentional about investing in wisdom. Consistently read God’s Word, prayerfully reflect on His truth, and humbly seek godly wisdom from others you respect. A daily “cost averaging” investment approach to gaining wisdom is guaranteed to pay eternal dividends that will never lose their value. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Leadership ability must be filled with humility. Humility is the ground wire that protects you when lightning strikes. Storms happen. Your leadership ability is not tested by fair weather but rather in the storms that come your way. Do you handle the toughest challenges with grace and humility? The people around you also have storms to deal with in their own lives. One of the greatest tests of good and godly leadership is in how you treat people around you when they fail the test of a storm in their life. Here’s what the Apostle Paul has to say about this very issue:

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (Galatians 6:1-3 NLT)

Doing this well will increase your level of influence with others to new heights. However, failing to practice this principle will most certainly erode your effectiveness as a leader. You must choose to do this well in order to not only grow your capacity as a leader but to also help others recover and grow as well. Are you ready for the next storm? It’s coming!

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control...this is a pretty good list of qualities to value and apply.  In Galatians 5:22-23, this list actually describes what the Apostle Paul calls“The Fruit of the Spirit”.

 It’s important to note that the word “Fruit” is singular and not plural.  This list of qualities capture the essence of the totality of what the Holy Spirit desires to produce in and through us.  If I were to ask you to describe an apple, you might describe its color, texture, taste, juiciness, aroma, size, seeds, etc.  You would use different words to describe each aspect of the apple but it would be just one apple.  When the Holy Spirit produces “Fruit” in our lives, people who encounter us should describe it as “Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control”.  Each quality is inter-reliant on the others with the intention to be expressed collectively in our lives.  So, that being said, how is your fruit measuring up?

That’s the question we tend to ask, but it is absolutely the wrong question!  Our fruit will never measure up to “The Fruit of the Spirit.”  I remember walking through an arts and crafts supply store one day and seeing a display of paraffin fruit that looked very real.  The thought occurred to me that when I try to manufacture “The Fruit of the Spirit” in my life, it may look like the real thing from a distance, but it won’t pass the “taste test”.  Only the Holy Spirit can produce God’s fruit in your life, real fruit that has all the qualities He desires to produce in and through us.

 As leaders, we are influencers.  Just imagine the positive influence you could have in people’s lives if they tasted the sweetness of Holy Spirit’s fruit because of you.  Begin the process of bearing “The Fruit of the Spirit” in your life by simply asking God to do it in you and through you by His power and not by your own effort.  You will be amazed by what the Holy Spirit can do through you as you present yourself to be used by Him.

Leading to serve,

Dave McAuley

Founder & President

“Let us take care that we exhibit our Master, and not ourselves, so that we can say, It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.”

~ Charles Spurgeon