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Leading From The Edge

Leading From The Edge

Written by: leadingfromtheedge
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 A Leadership podcast on how to live courageously at the peak of your leadership capacity, all while having the margin to enjoy life. It is about knowing your God-design and being faithful to grow in WHO you are!Copyright 2020 All rights reserved. Economics
Episodes
  • Do or Do Not... There is No Try

    Do or Do Not... There is No Try
    Jun 9 2021
    I feel like the only issue we have with reaching a goal sits within our effort... I know that can feel a little unfair - but with all the times I have seen persistence win, or perseverance, or patience win the day... Could it be that we are giving ourselves too much "room" for failure? Today we talk about... Do or Do Not... There is no try.   Listen on Spotify Or iTunes or Youtube Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leading-from-the-edge   Want to know more? Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leadingfromtheedge/ Join the conversation on my website: http://www.leadinfromtheedge.net     SHOW NOTES         Before I begin I want to share a testimony and an apology  I have been absent for the past month getting ready for our first camp… and it was amazing!!! I will be putting a video together, but let me say that the families that were here had such an encounter with the Lord that we believe it will forever be a part of their lives!   Todays leadership podcast is titled…   Do or do not - there is no try   I am not a big Star Wars guy LOVE Star Trek - shout out to my dad on that one   But there is a figure in the Star Wars saga of a teacher, a creature that teaches the young Luke Skywalker how to use the fullness of his abilities… and in this particular scene, Luke says that he can’t do something (that Yoda the teacher KNOWS he can)… Actually Luke says Alright - I will give it a try Yoda says no… try NOT   Do or do not, there is no try…. That is the theme of todays session on leadership   I have been blessed to group coach an amazing set of young men at the church over the last few months.  When I say amazing, I mean young men who WANT to honor God, become better men and prepare for Gods future for them.  These guys sacrifice half a day a month to learn about how to be a purposeful, godly man and they seem to enjoy it Ha ha  In these meeting we are talking about a LOT of things from knowing themeselvws and how God designed them    To knowing WHO God has placed in ther lives and their responsibilities to them   Even into discipleship and discipline  But we hit the wall on something as a group concerning discipline    It’s a wall that is super common among men -  prob common amount  everyone   The wall is the space between what we want to do  and what we actually do!   Paul writes it this way Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I..   IN other words The things I want to do - I don’t The things I don’t want to do - I find myself doing   When Paul writes this - we can feel his pain! We know that feeling of doing what we don’t want to do, abd not doing what we know to do!   But I feel like we make the words of Paul a get out of jail free card.    Paul wasn’t declaring surrender or defeat, it was voicing what is likely the biggest battle that we will face.     Doing what we know to do   When we look at the life of Paul, there were many things that he obviously overcame -  denying the flesh,  living a life of servantude to the Lord Sacrificing his life for the call     But as Christians - well we play around with sin.   Instead of “warring” against our flesh or our desires... we accept them.     Or worse - we just “try” to change them    Why do I use the word Try   Well that is where I realized the wall that these young men were hitting.     And it’s not unique to them We all use this word... try   So in one of my charges I shared  that spending time with the Lord on a daily basis  is the FIRST and MOST IMPORTANT step of a  foundational walk with the Lord.     That at the minimum they should be having a daily walk with the Lord - r eading the word,  praying and listening to the Holy Sporit.     When we went around the room to declare our actions steps    I heard several say “I’m going to try to wad my Bible everyday”...   And it hit me I “try” a lot of things I try to lose weight  I try to eat healthy  I try to be a good example to my kids I try to love my wife the way Christ would   And in all those areas I have accepted a “failure” rate  or at Best the  “good enough level”     I mean why is that?  Why is it that we give ourselves safeties -   I will only have Taco Bell once a week   My wife just made a decision that blows me away -  Not going to tell you what it is - but it reminds me of the promise I made Years ago that I wasn’t going to have Taco Bell for a whole year. Believe it or not - I did it and it was HARD But New Years eve I picked up Taco Bell and ate it after midnight Seriously     It’s like we don’t want to look at ourselves in the mirror and consider ourselves failures  Of anything that we attempt to do that we don’t get it done completely.    So instead of seeing a failure, we avoid it by throwing the word try in there.   But let me give you some of the dangers of the ...
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    21 mins
  • What happened 30 years ago???

    What happened 30 years ago???
    Apr 21 2021
      I've been questions about what happened 30 years ago that made me want to change my life? It's probably not the story that you would have expected - it's actually a time that I completely ignored God and it may have cost my friend his life...   Want to know more… Check it out!   OR want the show notes...  Just scroll down!     Listen on Spotify Or iTunes or Youtube Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leading-from-the-edge   Want to know more? Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leadingfromtheedge/ Join the conversation on my website: http://www.leadinfromtheedge.net     SHOW NOTES  Its been 30 years And for my friends the Stevens family Its been 1 582 weeks   30 years of saying yes to the passion that God has placed on the inside of me to lead   See - its a journey of leading others to find their God-given purpose   And because of that - you have this feeling on the inside -  that it is our leadership responsibility to do eve tying in our power to help  Others achieve their God-given purpose   You know - this week I want to do some explain why I say it been 30- years I get asked this several times, about why I look at a specific date…   I can’t say that I started logging the time at that date, but I will say that when I look back in my life at an event that shook me An event that made me look at myself in the way of being responsible for the gift that God has given me and the people that He has put around me.   I have to go back to my sophomore year of High School In a little town in Louisiana - Leesville Good of LHS and the amazing wampums cats!~   I moved to Louisiana when I was in 8th grace and decided that summer before (when we spent two weeks in Wst Virginia while dad was getting everything ready) that is as going to be a trumpet player I LOVED jazz and blues type music and wanted to learn something My aunt Kathy had been a trumpet player and she had given my parents an old ambassador trumpet that they had redone for me right before we left Germany.     I remember sitting on the driveway at my grandmamma's house and playing - I am sure it was difficult for the neighbors as well as my mom - but hey, I was a budding star!!!    When we got to Louisiana I didn’t fit it - I’m a military kid at a public school that must be moved from Europe where culture is different AND I’m a Christian by faith that wants to be a Christian…     So, my only place that I found that I fit in was the band!!! And let me tell you - I loved the band - it was my place to connect and grow and belong There was this one particular guy (who was better than me - at the time) who was in that band who also played trumpet that we started getting along pretty good - his name was Eddie Garcia     Over the next 1.5 years rest of 8th grade and all of 9th grade He and I worked our way up thr0ugh the ranks of trumpet players  We would challenge each other for first chair positions We would challenge each other  and our abilities to the point that we were both in the symphonic band at LHS almost immediately - as a freshman. So here we are in 2nd row 1st and 2nd  position behind all the better juniors and seniors - but we were on the team!   Fast forward into the summer right before our sophomore year - we are loading up to go to band camp (2 weeks of marching practice and song development ) and Eddie and I determine that we are going to room together! We both loved music   Leading up to band camp I had a summer where I started working on. My walk with God I was blessed, I saw my parents every day spend time with God - they had Bible studies all the time at the house, opened our home for people to come and grow in their walk with God - it was very special to        use and it was something that I wanted to do - I wanted to be close to God So I started reading my bible  everyday I started praying more and asking God about what I should be doing in the future…  In short - I had started having my relationship with God Not only that - I remember hearing from our church that I needed to be spending more time telling people about my walk  with God What if there is something this important to me, I should make it part of my    friend lives. We took my sister to a youth conference and I r3emeber seeing her being more about God too - so, it was like - I need to do this     So back to our story...   We are on the bus to go  to camp and for what I remember as being the first time in my life I felt like God was talking to me. I felt this voice behind my ear saying - Ben, tell Eddie about me…    I was excited, scared, afraid of rejection, but super stoked at the same time to share God with Eddie  I decided that - that night I was going to get my bible out and read it, and then Eddie may ask me what I am doing and I can share with him about God.    Well, we got to camp  and immediately we were practicing - out on the concrete parking lot going over our ...
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    26 mins
  • Don't quit your job... yet

    Don't quit your job... yet
    Mar 31 2021
      Why do you do what you do? Are you feeling like you are still in the same place you were 10 years ago? Today we are diving into the NUMBER 1 reason why we make bad decisions and get frustrated... we lose sight of our PURPOSE! Want to know more… Check it out!   OR want the show notes...  Just scroll down!     Listen on Spotify Or iTunes or Youtube Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/leading-from-the-edge   Want to know more? Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leadingfromtheedge/ Join the conversation on my website: http://www.leadinfromtheedge.net     Good morning, afternoon, or evening - if you listen to podcasts as I do…    I wanted to take a quick tangent on my podcasts to share a little about why we do what we do…    Now, this podcast is all about how we develop the best versions of ourselves so that we can live out our faith and our leadership to its highest place!   So that we can truly be responsible for those that God has given us charge over, or the opportunity to serve    That goes for pastors, that goes for fathers, that goes for business leaders or new entrepreneurs as well!   But today - I want to talk about your why…   Too often we set goals, we set up dreams but we don’t take the time to connect our “why” to our actions, our goals, our jobs, our leading opportunities.   Have you stopped to pray about what motivates you?  Why do you work 40-70 hours a week  Is it so that you did a good job  Is it so that you provided jobs for your employees Is it so that you can have 2 days off on the weekend?    Why is it that you do what you do?  What truly motivates you?    Now - because my faith is what drives me Let's read Matthew 20: 20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye, know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. 24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. 25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye, know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.     think about what is going on - all these guys are following Jesus, still unrenewed and all of a sudden there is the possibility that two of them are going to be elevated - - what??>    And they got their mom to ask… that’s a low blow right?    Well - this story is when we find the reason why Jesus came - we found out his WHY!!! This WHY is what drives him to do what he came here to do!   To minister and to give his life as a ransom for many…   What did you come for? Why are you here and have you taken the time to find out?    When I think about why I am on this planet - I get excited, confused, and overwhelmed at the same time…    I am on this planet to encourage people to become a better, more dogly version of God's plan for their life.    It has been that since I started operating in relationships with Others It is why I raise my kids the way that I raise them It is why every business idea I have, has to be centered around that purpose…    I guess that is another word we could use instead of WHY Purpose…    So - do you know your purpose?  I will tell you - it doesn’t come easy And it isn’t a 20 question survey to find your purpose…    No this one comes through prayer and seeking the Lord So I am not going to have 3 points on how to find your purpose…  BUT I am going to tell you three things KNOWING your purpose will do for your life and others! 1 - It is your litmus test - when you know why you exist, then when opportunities, jobs, ministry, locations, moves, purchases come top… you can take your purpose and ask… does this line up with that? My purpose is to passionately pursue God by silently serving-man …. Did you know that I am not a pastor of a mega church>? Could I be>? Yes, I believe I Could be - I believe that if I were to start a church that it would grow quickly and it would become as large as we wanted it to be - BUT that is not my call and that is not my role. ...
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    20 mins
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