a great leader...

Soooo last night was our second gn lead night for the books...i know that nights have gotten crazy with school, practices, homework...and theres a lot of you gals out there who are not able to be apart of it but have that desire to grow as becoming a leader..a GREAT leader at that =)...every wednesday after gn lead, ill be posting what was spoken the night before...my desire for ALL of you girls and ladies (college too...) is to become an insanely fabulous leader throughout your time in highschool and college...wherever your season has landed you this year..take heart. grab hope. grab endurance and pursue. pursue all that God has for you. pursue all of who He is...i'm rootin' for ya. I've got my pom poms. i've got my cup of coffee (which has absolutely nothing to do with cheering, i just reaaalllllyyyy like coffee) and am ready to see you move. i'm praying for you...i'm supporting your walks...i'm seeing huge things taking place in every single one of your lives because i believe that your time is now. that your time to rise is right. now.  it's your time to become all who God desires you to be. so get ready. buckle up. stay with me. and lets start the journey. 

Becoming a GREAT leader...

when you think of a GREAT leader in our world, who comes to mind?
when you think of a GREAT leader in YOUR world, right where you live, whether a big or small relationship, who do you think of?

(((i'm serious...stop. and decide who you would consider to be a great leader...like..im not kidding...right now...=)))

as you pin point who you consider to be GREAT leaders, think about this question... what about them has made them a great leader?? How do you think they got to where they are right now? The position and platform that they are standing on right now? Do you think that when they were your age, they knew exactly where God would take them in 10 years? 20 years?

No. a great leader does not wake up one day and decide that they are going to be great....that they are going to reach the top. That they are going to influence the world. That in 10 years, they will be selling over millions of tickets to a sold out concert, led by THEM (ima be honest, im thinkin' of Kari Jobe...she's legit).

-a great leader is not someone who possesses ALL of the ability to be amazing. A great leader does not start out on the top, but on the very bottom. The deep, deep rock bottom...

-a great leader is not someone who has makes it happen.a great leader is someone who realizes that THEY CANT MAKE IT HAPPEN. THAT THEY CANT CHANGE THE WORLD. THAT THEY HAVE NO ABILITY WHATSOEVER TO INFLUENCE THE NATIONS, MUCH LESS THEIR OWN CITIES…WITHOUT CHRIST.

-a great leader starts out alone....broken over their own sin....their own life....their own hurt and broken over what Jesus has done, NOT FOR THE NATIONS, BUT FOR THEMSELVES.

-a great leader doesnt start out as a great leader, but really, as a girl broken over the fact that a man named Jesus loves her, just because he can. Just because he wants to. Just because he sees what could be in her, even when shes messed up. When she doesnt have life figured out. When she doesnt know what direction her next step will be in. She clings to the fact that she doesnt know, but Jesus does. We talked last month about realizing who you are as a daughter of the King: his bride…a great leader begins doing just that. Giving jesus their time and energy, not in trying to change the world, but in trying to change who they are.

-a great leader doesnt start out trying to change the world, but they start out at Jesus feet. They arent up doing, they are still sitting....

Lets look at Kari Jobe for a second… ((totally stolen from Karijobe.com for the record..))

For more than 15 years, well-respected worship leader Kari Jobe has been using her gifts to lead people into the presence of God. When she began leading worship at age 13, she never imagined she would be nominated for a GRAMMY®, win a Dove Award or be praised by the New York Times. She only knew she had a heart for          broken people and a deep desire to lead them to the cross.

         Jobes third album, Majestic (Capitol CMG), reveals her lifelong passion for the Church. “Worship, for  me, has always been such a rescue place in my life,” she says. “When you get down to the very bare bones of worship, it is about us being thankful for the cross and magnifying the name of Jesus above all names. Anything past that is just feel-good music.”

Kari Jobe heard Gods voice leading her to pursue worship right where she was at the age of 13. It wasnt across the world. It wasnt in front of thousands. It wasnt in a recording studio. It was right where she was. And at 13, she fell in love with Jesus and walked through one small door to share his love with a tiny hand full of people.

-->a great leaders number one secret: its not about becoming a great leader. A great leaders intentions are not typically to become a great leader, they are to become like Jesus. They are to love.

-->a great leader leads through love. Thats where their ministry begins. Right where they are. Loving the people right in front of them. A leader sees and understands the love God has for them, and cannot help but give it out…not just to people who are easy to love, but the unloved and unlovable. Jesus uses us to supernaturally love the girls and people who are different from us..it's easy to love the ones who are just like us (most of the time..) but you start trying to love the ones who are nothing like you and the supernatual begins to take place..

-->a great leader is one who simply loves, everywhere she goes. She looks for opportunities to love. Not opportunities to shove Jesus down peoples throats, but to just love people. They realize that apart from the love that Jesus has shown THEM, they would be lost and destined to hell…they would be an absolute wreck.

look up 1 corinthians 13:1-13...like..right now. yes i'm talking to you. go grab your word and flip on over. it says that apart from love, nothing you do matters. it doesnt matter what you do or how spiritual you may seem, if you dont love, YOU ARE NOTHING. Nothing you do, apart from jesus, will matter or make a difference. So…how do you love???

Its one thing to read the scripture on love and to like what it says and want to do what it says, but apart from the supernatural power of God almighty, you will never be able to love. Not like he has called us to anyways. You may think you are loving, but your love is selfish and is conditional. Gods love is unconditional. How do we love? We walk in an attitude of prayer. We reach the end of ourselves, we lay down our pride, lay down our rights, we beg God to become more powerful in us than the enemy, and we PURSUE. We pursue Gods love until it hurts. We ask and ask and ask and ask and don’t stop asking for him to put his love in us. We beg him to break down walls and barriers in our lives that our gripping us. To break anger. To break unforgivenes. To break bitterness. To break resentment. To break a hateful spirit.  To break envy. To break a boastful attitude. We GET at his feet and ask him to undo us…thats where a great leader starts. Begging him to put his love inside of us to literally pour it out to other people...and girls...thats exactly what He does..sometimes your answer might not come right away...the love might not seem to be so easy to reach..maybe..just maybe..thats where God is waiting to see just how desperate you have become to reach his love...to reach your answer..how far will you PRESS INTO HIM to hear him??? if you have yet to hear him, could it be, that you are not pressing in hard enough? answer? its very likely.
 coulddddd ittt beeee......that you found your way to this blog with a calling on your life? Has God placed a passion in your heart that consumes your thoughts…a passion that wont escape you, not even in your dreams? Do you look at Kari Jobe, and say..God I want to be used like that…I want to be used as big as she has been used…the way to begin that journey in your life is a road less traveled but so worth the dust on your feet…it is summed up in one word. LOVE. No matter how big the platform widens for you, if you ever reach a point where you attempt to step into that great leader role and do it without Gods supernatural love in you, you will fail. Drastically.

Thats where you begin your journey to becoming a great leader. Its nothing fancy. Nothing glamorous. Its actually pretty filthy. You allow yourself to become vulnerable to other people and you begin to look for opportunities to love…all because you've sat at his feet and he has broken you...so lets do that. Lets do that in our ministry. lets sit at his feet, lets ask him to break us, and lets love the people in front of us. its the smallest step, put the first step to becoming a great leader...

Love IS the very first step, it is the most important step through your entire journey into becoming a great leader. The one who loves IS a great leader. The greatest leader of all, our leader, WAS love.

GOD IS LOVE.

love in Jesus, 

Ash