Katharine Hepburn, in her own words:

“Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter. That family made a lasting impression on me.

There were eight children, all under the age of 12. From the way they were dressed, you could tell they didn’t have much money, but their clothes were clean, very clean. The children were well-behaved, standing in pairs behind their parents, holding hands.

They were so excited about the clowns, the animals, and all the acts they would see that night. From their excitement, you could tell they had never been to a circus before. It was going to be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother stood proudly at the front of their little group. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking at him as if to say, ‘You’re my knight in shining armor.’ He was smiling, enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked how many tickets he wanted, and he proudly responded, ‘I want eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets.’ Then she announced the price.

The wife let go of her husband’s hand, her head dropped, and the man’s lip began to quiver. He leaned in closer and asked, ‘How much did you say?’

The ticket lady repeated the price.

He didn’t have enough money. How was he supposed to turn around and tell his eight kids that he couldn’t afford to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was happening, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and dropped it on the ground. We weren’t rich by any means. My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder, and said, ‘Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket.’

The man understood what was happening. He wasn’t being handed charity, but he gratefully accepted the help in his desperate, heartbreaking, and embarrassing situation. He looked straight into my father’s eyes, took my dad’s hand in both of his, squeezed the bill tightly, and with trembling lips and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied, ‘Thank you, sir. This really means so much to me and my family.’

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 my dad gave away was what we had planned to use for our own tickets.

Although we didn’t see the circus that night, we felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus.

That day, I learned the true value of giving. The Giver is greater than the Receiver.

If you want to be great, greater than life itself, learn to give. Love has nothing to do with what you expect to get, only with what you expect to give—everything.

The importance of giving and blessing others cannot be overstated because there is always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy through acts of giving.”

The ultimate gift: Jesus Christ left a perfect heaven, lived a perfect life, suffered a horrible death, all to give you and I the opportunity of eternal life in heaven with Him. That, my friend, is the ultimate gift.

Merry Christmas

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

In Dissecting the Serpent, my friend, now deceased, Rick Shoemaker shared a story from his third-grade math class. The teacher had privately instructed the three smartest students in the class to choose answer B to a math problem she was going to share with the class.

When asked for a show of hands for anyone who believed A was the correct answer not one person raised his/her hand. She then proceeded to ask who believed letter B held the correct answer. Once the three “smart” kids raised their hands, almost everyone in the class followed. Rick said, “It didn’t look right to me, but I raised my hand anyway. I didn’t want to look stupid.”

Then the teacher called for a show of hands for letter C. One girl, Elaine raised her hand. Elaine was the only one who chose the correct answer.

Rick says, “I don’t remember anything about the math problem that day, but I will never forget the powerful lesson Elaine taught me about standing alone when you know you are standing for what is right.

That class (or at least Rick) learned a valuable lesson in peer pressure that day. Satan loves to use the power of hordes or as Rick calls it “droves” to lure people to that which is wrong or evil. You’ve likely seen or heard, “Wrong doesn’t become right just because everyone is doing it.”

Peer pressure has proven to be detrimental to scores of people throughout history. It’s what led to Christ’s crucifixion. Many of the same people who, days earlier were shouting “Hosana to God in the highest,” as Jesus entered Jerusalem, were now calling for His crucifixion. Why? Had they seen something different in Jesus that week? No. Jesus was still the healing, loving teacher they had witnessed before. They followed the hordes calling for His death that morning.

Jesus shared in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

“Because everyone is doing it” is a ticket to the broad gate that leads to destruction. Before jumping on the bandwagon of popularity, check with the Holy Scriptures. That is where absolute truth is found. Truth is not found in individual beliefs or desires, that is the sure path to destruction. This Christmas season seek truth, study the Holy scriptures, this is the only way to life abundant and eternal for which Christ came. – Those are not my words, but God’s.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

In our last article we shared of Changing Directional thought processes to keep from falling into a rut or a ditch (a rut with the ends knocked out). This week I want to share three benefits that come from changing directional thought processes. Whether you are attempting to change the directional thought processes of an individual or an entire organization, these benefits will shine through.

Changing directional thought processes is not about brainwashing or coercing others to your desires. It is about producing a positive outcome for better living and better life choices for the individual and organization.

Some people seem to always have a negative attitude about most everything. Others just seem to continue making bad life choices. Most all of these are rooted in one or both of the quality characteristics, confidence and competence. Helping to redirect their thought processes will assist these people greatly while simultaneously aiding their organizations.

3 benefits of changing directional thought processes: Changing directional thought processes…

• takes people deeper in the learning experience. By asking the right questions (see previous article) individuals are challenged to personal introspection, not out of threat or accusation, but out of care and concern. Any time you cause someone to reflect through caring introspection, you cause him/her to move into deeper thought processes which creates a learning experience.
• Does not stop with attaching old information to new. To learn anything new you must first attach the new information to something you already know. If you learn of a new restaurant that you would like to try, you do not have to start over learning how to drive, you only need to know the directional coordinates on how to get to the restaurant. In reality, you will learn of familiar stores and restaurants close to the new one. Since you already know those locations, you not only attach the new to previous knowledge, your mind easily calculates the route to the new restaurant.

The same is true with all information. Once it is attached to something already in your memory base, a new learning experience can occur which can lead to a change in behavioral processes.

• Leads people in a discovery of what they had not previously experienced or considered Asking the right questions in right order will always lead people to ponder ideas and ways they had not considered before. Once learning of the new restaurant mentioned above you begin describing the path you would take, someone queries, “What about the ne new bypass, would it not be quicker and easier?” With this one non-accusatory question your thought processes have been challenged to consider new possibilities.

Learning to use questions that change directional thought processes is a powerful tool in helping others gain insight & create new behavioral patterns to better themselves and any organizations he/she is involved in. Creating positive reflective learning experiences changes the direction of thinking and behavior.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

It is easy to allow our thinking to get stuck in a rut and overtake our positive, forward-moving progress. Individuals and organizations often fall into this trap without knowing – until it becomes detrimental. Have you ever walked into an organization (church, business, factory line, or office) and very quickly realized this organization was stuck in an organizational rut?

In the religious realm there is a saying that the last seven words of a dying church is, “We’ve never done it that way before.” Or the flip side, “But we’ve always done it this way.” Organizations unwilling to admit change is needed, will likely never see forward progress.

Whether an individual or an organization, occasionally our thought processes need to be challenged to assist us in making future forward moving progress. Otherwise, our rut becomes a ditch. A ditch is a rut with the ends knocked out, it goes on and on.

How do you change directional thought processes? It is not always easy, but a great example can be found in a passionate preschool teacher/leader. As I’ve watched over the years, those passionate for working with preschoolers follow a pattern in assisting a child in correcting inadequate behavior. First, that teacher will kneel down on that child’s level in front of the child, not in a threatening or foreboding manner. Rather in a loving, gentle one.

Next, she will address the child’s poor behavior, calmly using words and terms within the child’s comprehension. Then she will ask a question, similar to, “Do you know why Marci cried when you did that?” Notice the question asked was not, “How would you like it if…” There may be a time and place for a question as the second one, but not yet. Often times, the experienced, passionate teacher will never have to ask that question, because the questions used help the child come to the conclusion he/she would not want that to happen to himself.

The questions asked remain focused on the outcome of the incident, not on the child. This allows and even guides the child, at his own level of comprehension, to better possibilities of outcomes. His directional thought processes have been changed. Those outcomes will lead to a changed behavior. Admittedly, with preschoolers (and adults), sometimes it may take more than one occurrence to change a behavior pattern. Yet, with each occurrence of changing directional thought processes, the child is learning.

Does it work with adults? Yes, at times, individuals and organizations (made up of individuals) need a change of directional thought processes, and a similar process will guide them to a right and better path. A path of forward moving progress, enhancing the life of individuals and the organization.

As in any leadership situation, asking the right questions is crucial to the outcome. Unfortunately, we are asking the wrong questions and as long as we ask the wrong questions, we will never come the right/best conclusion. For more on asking the right questions contact George Yates or pick up a copy of Coaching, A Way of Leadership, A Way of Life. You will be glad you did. It will alter your directional thought processes.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

To think about passion and goals in the same sentence seems odd, maybe even absurd. After all, aren’t goals things other people in an organization set for us to accomplish what they want or need? Is there anything about goals that truly stirs passion? Powerful, unifying goals stir passion and inspiration.

When I think of such powerful unifying goals, I think of George Washington and his frozen troops crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776. This was considered one of the Revolutionary War’s most logistically challenging and dangerous clandestine operations. Yet, Washington planned and prepared his tired troops with a powerful, unifying goal that paved the way to the birth of a nation.

I also am reminded of a more recent powerful, unifying goal in my own lifetime. It happened May 25, 1961 (my fourth birthday), as President John F. Kenedy stood and shared with the nation and world, ““I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

People born after that time cannot understand the magnification of that goal. The United States had only three weeks prior put its first man in orbit – and that flight only lasted 15 minutes. This was a huge undertaking, but it was a powerful, unifying goal.

Space engineers and others working on the space program would later share that they did not want to go home at night, and they were eager to get up early to arrive at the job. They had one common goal – a powerful, unifying goal. And they accomplished this – what many deemed, unbelievable, impossible goal, within the decade.

A powerful, unifying goal appeals to more than the mind alone. These goals appeal to the heart, universally to everyone involved. Powerful, unifying goals are not some big dream that a leader comes up with. They normally are derived as a team effort, after weeks or months of soul searching for the organization. In the church this of course includes much prayer.

Powerful, unifying goals must appeal to every person in the organization as a worthwhile quest. Not everyone will see the goal from the same perspective as the goal’s originators. Therefore, the goal should be designed and written inclusive of various perspectives of pursuit. Worthwhile pursuits need not appeal to higher order pursuit as “it’s for humanity”.

However, they should appeal to individual’s high-level performance. Regardless of a man or woman’s level in the organization or gifting, the goal should give each one the inspiration to contribute at his/her highest level of gifts of service.

Try designing Powerful, unifying goals (not leaders desires) and watch passion rise and your organization reach for the moon.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

One of the most read and great books on leadership in the first decade of the 21^st century is Good to Great. Its principles are timeless and worthy of any organization to consider. Jim Collins has written (co-written) several good leadership books. One is “Great by Choice” copyright 2011 Harper Collins.

In Great by Choice Collins and Morten T. Henson write about tension between consistency and change. Every organization must recognize the need for both. In the church, we sometimes find one without the other. Some churches are so into consistency they even have the mantra, “We’ve always done it this way.”

A scene in the movie “Hoosiers” represents this well. The scene takes place in a barber shop, after hours. Some of the men in the town are having an unofficial meeting welcoming the new high school basketball coach, played by Gene Hackman. One gentleman says, “Zone defense is what we’ve played in the past and it’s the only thing that’ll work this year.” To which several of the men in the room agree stating, “that’s right.”

Consistency without change kills organizations – including churches. Yet this remains the mantra for many churches – “This is the way we do things and it’s the only thing that’s gonna work this year.”

Finding the correct balance between consistency and change is a continual effort for any organization. One of the first keys is, Take your time in discovering and developing your consistent practices. This is where you develop your organizational framework for operations. This framework must be strong enough to withstand the pressures of cultural change and individual challenges, yet flexible enough to adapt to change only when absolutely necessary.

Built into the framework must be a structure that is solid and immoveable. In the church the operational framework of the church is found the entirety of scripture and pinpoint focused in The Great Commission.

Collins and Hansen state, “No human enterprise can succeed at the highest levels without consistency; if you bring no coherent unifying concept and disciplined methodology to your endeavors, you’ll be whipsawed by changes in your environment and cede your fate to forces outside your control. Equally true, however, no human enterprise can succeed at the highest levels without productive evolution.”[i]

Correct, sufficient consistency of all organizational practices must be built in with strong discipline to adhere under difficult situations. Another part of your consistency is to regularly and continually challenge your framework. Is it aligning with scripture without legalism or broad freedoms which could derail your organization at any point? If your organizational practice framework is designed sufficiently, challenge it regularly, change it rarely.

Find a copy of Great by Choice and read chapter six for a great example from our founding fathers on managing the tensions of consistency and change. And it still is working 237 years later! If you will take the time to examine and develop this type framework for your church/organization, you will become a much more effective, lasting organization fulfilling your God-given purpose.

[i] Great by Choice, pg 145, Harper Collins ©2011

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Do you have a personal mission statement? Working with churches and other organizations for more than two decades on writing mission statements, core values and other items for determining and focusing on purpose, I am convinced that a mission statement is good for individuals as well. I wrote my personal mission statement several years ago.

A mission statement can be a great assist in keeping focus on your purpose. A well written Mission statement can bring clarity to your life and to your God-given purpose. You were created by God with a specific purpose in mind. God desires you to live the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

God is a lover of the souls of men and He desires a personal relationship with you so you can live out your God-designed purpose to live that abundant life. Jesus also told us the primary purpose of all men in Matthew 22:37and 39; “ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

While this is our overarching purpose, God has designed each one of us with a particular means of accomplishing this overarching purpose. This is your individual God-given purpose.

Writing a personal mission statement can help you define goals for your life, determine your core values, and impact your course of action for life. Here are a few things to consider when preparing for and writing your personal mission statement.

1, What are the three things that you value most?

2, What are you passionate about? Think in at least three different areas of life, i.e. hobbies, work related, people types.

3, What skills do you possess? What are you good at, listening, working with your hands, mechanical, cooking, mental processing?

4, In addition to your skills, what other strengths do you possess?

5, What goals would you like to accomplish in life?

6, Pray. Pray that God would lead you in aligning these areas as He planned and purposed for you.

With these in mind begin to piece together a statement that embodies these five areas. Don’t accept your first draft of your mission statement. You will want to assess, rewrite, and tweak your wording – several times to assure this is God’s mission for you.

Gain clarity of and focus for God’s purpose for your life by developing you own mission statement. What is my mission statement? It is located at the close of every blog post. Assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. I’d love to read yours once you’ve developed one.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

In our previous post we looked at roles and responsibilities of a leader.  Leadership is not about position. You do not need a title or a position to be a leader. Many leaders throughout history were men and women living in the ranks of common everyday people. In fact this is where great leaders come from, not from positions with titles.

In the book of Acts we see a great example of this.  ^“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” Acts 18:24-28

Aquilla and Priscilla, tent makers by trade, were Jews who had been expelled from Rome, had met and spent time with the Apostle Paul in Corinth and later traveled with Paul to Ephesus.

Apollos, a very learned man with thorough knowledge of the scriptures came to Ephesus and was speaking/teaching in the synagogue. Aquilla and Priscilla recognized a need and put to use their God-given experience and understanding of scriptures. They, tent makers, invited Apollos, a leading teacher and scholar, into their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

Aquilla and Priscilla, working class tent makers, realized something was missing in Apollos’ teaching, baptism by the Holy Spirit. Having spent nearly two years with Paul, they knew well the full gospel and the importance of baptism of the Holy Spirit. They saw a need. They had the knowledge and experience to meet the need. They became leaders to the leader.

Reading of Aquilla and Priscilla, you realize they were missionaries, and Paul mentions them several times because they were willing to apply their God-given talents, knowledge, and experience with others – leaders without a title, missionaries.

Leadership is highly reliant on influence. Perhaps you can think of more biblical examples of ordinary people influencing others in ways to accomplish God’s purposes furthering His Kingdom. What about people in your life. Men and women who have had an influence on you, spreading knowledge, wisdom, and stimulus for your well-being.

The word lead is derived from an old English word, Laed, which means to guide or bring along with. Leadership is influencing others through educating and inspiring them to make right decisions and accomplish their God-given purpose in life. Leadership is not a title.

No matter your position in life, how are you using your roles and responsibilities to influence and guide others? How will you begin today to improve your leadership?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Have you considered or studied biblical leaders? Each one was a leader chosen by God. Each one was different. Each had different personalities, different characteristics, and different leadership functions.

While each of the following had more than one leadership roles, consider these;

Moses – Guide/Navigator

Joseph – Visionary

Abraham – Influencer

King David – Pacesetter

Paul – Leadership Enlister

Peter – Equipper

Leadership at times requires each of these characters and more.

To be a guide/navigator a leader must set the course. This does not mean a leader acts alone. Moses had his team that he consulted with and of course he consulted with God to set the course. Other biblical models include Joshua and Jacob.

An influencer is a person causing a change in behavior, character, thought, or action of another.

The enlistment part of leadership is to engage the support or cooperation of others. To actively engage in an enterprise. Biblical examples include Barnabas and the apostle Paul.

A leader must always be an encourager. Being an encourager is to inspire with hope, courage, or confidence. Paul was certainly an encourager. What other biblical leaders demonstrated this characteristic?

To keep an organization moving forward a leader must at times demonstrate pacesetter qualities. A pacesetter is an innovator, a person leading the way to new horizons. Be sure not to go alone. Pacesettters bring others along without coercion. Biblical examples include Boaz, Peter (Acts 2), Paul.

Visionary leadership is not about dreams and wishes. It is more about being a creative thinker with future-thinking, inventive design utilizing God-given gifts of the organization. Some of God’s visionary leaders include Noah, Abraham, David.

While these six are certainly not all-encompassing character traits of leaders, they represent vital character traits every leader needs to continually improve and upgrade.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

On October 14, 1912, while campaigning for president under the short-lived Bull Moose party, an assassination attempt was made on Theodore Roosevelt as he got up to speak at a campaign rally. After being shot, Roosevelt did not seek immediate medical attention. He went on to give his speech before going to the hospital.

It is reported, James Schrank, standing only six feet away, pointed a gun at Roosevelt’s chest and fired in the assassination attempt. The bullet ripped through Roosevelt’s heavy, thick overcoat at chest high. Inside the breast pocket of his overcoat was his 50 page speech, folded in half and his metal eyeglass case. The bullet passed through his overcoat, the 100 pages and the metal eyeglass case, lodging in his chest, stopping just shy of piercing his lungs.

The one hundred layers of paper and metal case are the only things that stood between life and death that day for Roosevelt. He began his speech stating, “I don’t know if you fully understand that I’ve just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”

The test of a person’s character comes under times of stress and duress. You can be kind and giving, strong and helpful, yet your true character will always shine in times of difficulty. Your reputation is what people think of you. Your true character is always revealed in times of stress and struggle.

The apostle Paul lived through perhaps more adversity and hardship for his faith than anyone before or since – except Christ. Yet, he stayed true to his belief and faith in God and Christ Jesus.

In your life when hard times come, what is revealed about your character? Do you act in rage and anger? Are you looking for, even praying for revenge on your oppressors? Do you use words and actions that are opposite of the reputation you otherwise try to exemplify?

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 reads, “We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹ we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.”

The apostle Paul was under pressure from Jews, Gentiles, church leaders, and the Roman government, yet he was not crushed. He was perplexed and persecuted but knew he was not abandoned by God. He was struck down and beaten (physically and mentally) several times, yet His spirit was never defeated.

Begin praying, asking God to help you this week to strengthen your resolve to persevere, in all things, in Christ-like character by His grace and glory. Then you can say it takes more than this to stop a Bull Moose Christ-centered Christian.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.