How To Take God To Work With You

In the Bible it appears that God’s work brings him satisfaction. In the Genesis account of creation, God makes the heavens and the earth in six days. When all was said and done God stepped back and commented on it all. He basically said, "I did good work and I am proud of it!" This is the CSV version, (Calloway Substandard Version). How do I take this attitude that God has about work into a place that may be hard, callous, un-appreciating? Perhaps your workplace is a place that is a joy to be at and you need to be reminded of the blessing you have. Here are my suggestions. (more…)

How To Make Your Work, Work For You

Let me ask you a question

Do you realize that your worth is more than your work? You are more than what you do. This is especially true among men, I can’t say how much this is true among women but I know it’s true among men. A group of guys together that are just meeting each other for the first time. The testosterone starts flowing, the pecking order is getting established, the competitive juices are abundant. Then somewhere about five minutes in the question is asked. “So what do you do?” Behind that is a sharp edge. “Is your work big? Is it profitable? Is it prominent? Is it significant?” The central message that seizes control of this confrontation between men like gunfighters on a dusty noonday street that says, “Mister, you are your work.” (more…)

Putting Words in God's Mouth

It always scares me when I hear someone say, "What Jesus meant was... or What Jesus was really saying was..." I understand very well first hand how this can be played out having served as a pastor, church planter and missionary. While well meaning in trying to help people understand the Bible, God's Word, we can inadvertently put words in God's mouth that in reality are not in the Bible.

Pastors, teachers, seminary professors and any Jesus follower need to heed the warning of scripture. Regardless of biblical scholar's interpretations and commentaries, scripture tells us, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8. Regardless of our attempts to explain scripture, it will be around long after you and I pass on from this world.

This is a very subjective area, as those who preach, teach, and share from God's Word feel the need to expound on what is written in the Bible and rightly so. We are told to rightly divide the word of truth so we can correctly teach it to others. My guess is that one hundred percent of those who teach, preach, or just have every day conversations about the Bible don't believe they are putting words into God's mouth. Growing up in church my entire life and having served as I have, trust me, I have heard people put words into God's mouth. I must confess, I too stand accused of having done so. While trying my best to expound and expose what is in scripture, I am sure I have added my, "What Jesus really meant was..." many times. So, I hope you understand I am not pointing my fingers at anyone, because I am certainly to blame as well.

So, next time you sit down to talk about what is written in the Bible, make sure not to put words in God's mouth and I promise not to as well.

Leadership Lessons From Phineas and Ferb

If you are unfamiliar with the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb, you are missing some great leadership material to use in your organization. The storyline of the show is that Phineas and Ferb are two brothers who are on a seemingly continuous summer vacation and each day brings a new opportunity. Before I continue, I have to give the disclaimer that I am familiar with this show because we have a four year old grandson who has attached himself to all episodes we can find on Netflix. While I don't have time to go into the entire plot of this show, it does beg to mention that both of these brothers have high IQ levels and build things that of course can only be done in cartoon land. For more information on the show please visit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_and_Ferb

What can we learn from these cartoon characters that has anything to do with leadership you might ask? I believe there is one great lesson that can be learned form these two enjoyable, good natured brothers. Follow along after the break.

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Learning Leadership Multiplication From Great Leaders

I did not consider myself a leader when I was young nor did I have aspirations to be a leader, but I became a leader. Leadership is contagious. When you are around a great leader, you learn, you grow, and you want to become like that leader. You know when you are around a great leader as others seek to be around that leader as well. Hopefully you have had the opportunity to be mentored by someone like I am describing. That person could be your parent, a teacher, a pastor, or a supervisor, manager or executive at the company you work or have worked for.

There is a very simple but profound leadership principle that I am not sure who to give credit to, but goes like this, “I do, you watch. I do, you help. You do, I help. You do, I watch. You do, someone else watches.” I want to unpack that into three steps. Follow along below the image to learn how to recognize a great leader.
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Five Ways To Build Balance Into Your Life

Remember as kid trying to walk across one of those beams in a playground at school or a park and doing your best to hold your balance? Or the image of an Olympic gymnast on the balance beam is probably etched in your mind. An object that is not naturally a part of the beam works to maintain balance from beginning to the end. Our lives are much like the kid on a beam in the playground or the Olympian on a balance beam. It takes lots of energy to balance and stay on the beam and not fall off. Thats how it is with life that is going on within and around you. How in the world do we do that on an consistent basis that doesn't literally wear us out?

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How A Good Leader Organizes - Part 2

This is part two of How A Good Leader Organizes. In this post I highlight four other principles good leaders execute to be good organizers. Examine part one along with the list in this post and make a plan of action of how you as a leader will be more organized in 2014.

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My Most Visited Blog Posts in 2013

I am not going to bore you to death with a list of the Top Ten posts I written, because if you are like me, I really don't have time to read ten blog posts right now. So, I am going to bore you with the five most visited blog posts I wrote in 2013. Enjoy!

1. New E-Book Available - http://www.jeffcalloway.com/new-ebook-available.html

2. Four Quick Signs of Bad Leadership - http://www.jeffcalloway.com/four-quick-signs-of-bad-leadership.html

3. Dealing With Difficult People - What About Bob? - http://www.jeffcalloway.com/dealing-bobs-life.html

4. When You Start Something, You're Asking For A Battle - http://www.jeffcalloway.com/when-you-start-something-youre-asking-for-a-battle.html

5. Gospel Movements - http://www.jeffcalloway.com/movements.html

The Meaning of Christmas

Since the beginning of the biblical record, God promised God's people that someday He would dwell among them. No more wondering what God is like, no more wondering if God really cares, because with the coming of this Child of Promise we can each know that God understands us. We can be assured that God identifies with our problems, sorrows, hopes, frustrations, and joys. God knows us so well not because He made us, not because He is all knowing, but because He became just like us - he became one of us - a person like you and me. As one of us He can show us the way to heaven, and make sure that we each get there.

Christmas is about the promise of God's presence among us. But we've still go a problem don't we. What can we do about the way things are today concerning the crass commercialism and the fact that so many people have lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas?
I saw a 1998 survey that said that only 34% of Americans believe there is any religious meaning to Christmas at all.
In Japan, which is only 2% Christian, over 60% of the people there celebrate Christmas. Santa Claus and gift giving has become big business in Japan.
What are we going to do about that? Let me offer four things each of us can do to about this situation.

First, REMEMBER the true meaning of Christmas.

Do this by making your Advent season a time of spiritual preparation for Christ's coming. Some of us have lists - decorate tree, buy gifts, clean house, cook food. Here's a guarantee from me to you. If you'll be as intentional about your spiritual preparation for the season this year as you are about all the other aspects of it, you'll have a wonderful Christmas.

Second, REJOICE in the gift and the season.

Christmas is a season of joy. Some Christians I know go around with gloomy faces because commercialism has "stolen" Christmas - that's the wrong attitude! Christians, above all others, should be rejoicing and decorating and celebrating this season. So what if some expert claims decorating Christmas trees is a holdover from pagan culture, or that the date of Christmas is a date borrowed from a Druid festival - it's OUR holiday! Jesus IS our reason, so let's celebrate!

Third, RECLAIM the season with great love and compassion.

This kind of goes with rejoicing (above), but I separated it because I want you to please notice that when we reclaim the season, we need to be compassionate about it and not beat folks over the head with the fact that Jesus is the reason for the season.
Look for creative ways to witness to non-believers about the true meaning of Christmas. Studies have shown that people are more spiritually open during this time of the year - consider the time an opportunity for a great harvest for God. But realize that you're not going to do so if you give someone a dirty look and scold him or her for leaving Jesus out of the picture.

Finally, RESPOND to the Christ-child yourself; welcome the Son of God into your heart and into your home.

I read about a pastor who was walking down the hallway of an assisted living center looking at the Christmas decorations that residents had made for their doors. The decorations were small and were not very complicated or expensive. They'd probably been made in a craft session there at the center. A few were obviously variations on a single pattern. But one was very different. It had no tinsel; no colored Christmas seals. It looked more like a place card with just a few decorative pen strokes. It read simply, "Welcome, Lord Jesus."

How To Use Your Time Wisely

Ben Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time for it is the stuff that life is made of.”

Time is a gift from God.

For many of us we treat time more as a commodity than a gift. Time is a gift. It is something to be treasured. It is something to be used for God’s glory. It is something to be enjoyed. The truth is every second of life that I have, ever second of life that every one of us has is a gift, given to us by God.

Here are three definitions of time management. See which one best fits maybe the way you’ve been managing your time.

1. Time management is the art of squeezing more out of every hour of each day. For a lot of people that’s all that it is. But that’s not enough.

2. Time management is the art of being less stressed about the pressures of everyday life. Although it’s great to be less stressed that is not the only object of time management.

OR

3. Time management is the art of treasuring and using my days as gifts of God.

Everybody gets the gift of time. The question is how do you use those gifts.