How is your voice?
Mark Twain had a bad habit of using profanity in his speech. Twains wife was as refined and cultured as her husband was raw and coarse. Her husband’s uncouth manner of speaking offended her sensibilities, and she tried many ways of curing him of his bad habit. In desperation, she tried the shock technique. "Maybe if he hears what he sounds like and I become a sounding board, he’ll be so shocked at what he hears, he’ll change his ways." So when he came home one afternoon, she met him at the front door with a stream of obscenities, throwing back at him every bad word she could remember coming from his lips.
The classical curser listened quietly until she finished, and then said: "My dear, you have the words, but not the music."
A historians job is to tell the truth about the past.
A dentists job is to tell you the truth about your root canal
A theologians job is to tell you the truth about God…
A leaders job is to rise to the occasion, to imagine the best possible future,
and to tell you the truth about how to get there.
Put aside vision for a moment… vision is vital to your success ("Where there is no vision, the people perish" Proverbs 29:18), but what leaders are judged most on is the music to their words.
"I have a dream" - 30 years later Martin Luther Kings voice remains.
George Bush is ridiculed most… not for his vision, but for his voice. Think of all the ‘Bushisms’ you have heard, better yet do a search for some at Google!
Mohammed Ali - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee",
Ali’s voice not just his sport remains!
What we must do for our teams and leaders, is not just fill them with vision, but help them find their voice – think of your team boldly and confidently speaking — music in their words as they proclaim the very truths God has placed on their hearts. Do they speak of underprivileged, homeless, street children? Do you get tired about hearing how the children need more of the word of God? Does your leader constantly remind you that ‘we need more personal contact’ with the kids?
Raise them up, let them speak, give away the ministry to them! Help them find their voice and spur them to action… believe me when a passion is unearthed, you won’t be pleading for leaders to come back after one year.
One of our key team found her voice over a year ago… she lives and breathes underprivileged kids! I certainly don’t have to remind her of the Saturday morning program we run for these children. She has found her voice and nothing is going to take her away from the ministry that God has placed in her hands.
Lets create an atmosphere where leaders are constantly growing and discovering
their voices!
