Sometimes as a leader, I find myself making decisions so dumb that it’s almost like I’m drunk on something.
There are obvious elements that can intoxicate leaders: pride, jealousy, sin, lust…
But lately I’ve been thinking of some less obvious leadership intoxicants that often seem to impair my judgment.  Here are just a few:

1. Paranoia.
Occasionally I hear of one or two families who have left the church, and I find myself playing out 45 scenarios as to why they left, what I said that made them mad, and who might leave next.
Overdosing on paranoia causes a pastor to reduce his congregation to the lowest common denominator, and operate out of suspicion, needlessly punishing good, loyal people.

2.    Momentum.
Sometimes success and momentum can make a leader cocky.  You ever seen a drunk redneck start talking trash, looking for a fight, and get himself hurt because he didn’t even bother to size up his opponent?  Kind of like that.  I think this happened to Joshua after he defeated Jericho, and strutted into Ai without his best men.
At times, I have presumed that God will keep doing tomorrow what he did yesterday, no additional faith or effort required.
And this always ends badly.

3.    Doubt
You’ve got to be careful.  Someone might slip something strong into the punch bowl while you’re not looking.  Proverbs 4:23 warns you to guard your heart above all else, because the issues of life flow from it.
When you let people who don’t have your best interests at heart speak into your life with open access, they can contaminate your pure faith with drops of discouragement and doubt.  And next thing you know, you find yourself inebriated by insecurity.

Leaders, we’ve got to sober up.  We’re carrying precious cargo.

“…The god who answers by fire-he is God.”
1 Kings 18:24

What do you do when you really need rain, but instead, God answers by fire?

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah declares to the people that God is going to show up and prove himself after 3 years of drought.  And God does exactly that.
But…
When it hasn’t rained in over 3 years, and you hear that God is about to show up, wouldn’t you expect him to show up by sending rain?

I wonder how many of us are praying for God to send rain into an area of our lives, but it seems like He’s turning up the heat instead?
-Praying for God’s provision…but the bank account continues to dip
-Praying for God to grow your church…but another disgruntled faction just took their tithe and moved their membership elsewhere
-Praying for God to heal your marriage…yet your husband seems to be getting colder and more resistant by the day

It can be difficult to trust the intention of God when He’s forecasting more fire in your already scorched situation.
Remember:
God eventually did send the rain that Israel so desperately needed.  But first He had to reveal His glory and authenticate His sovereignty by fire.

God often answers by fire before He sends the rain.
The fire incinerates our altars of idolatry, and burns away all of the false securities that we tend to trust in.
That way, when the sky finally opens, and the rain starts to pour, there’s no doubt:
He is God.

1 Samuel 16:1
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

It broke Samuel’s heart to realize that Saul’s reign as king was coming to an end, even though it was for the best.
When God brings a season, an initiative, or a relationship to an end in our lives, it can be devastating, even if it’s for the best.

If God is currently bringing something to an end in your life, your church, or your business, consider what God said to Samuel:
Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.
Move on.  Receive a fresh anointing and continue making progress.

You lost a staff member?  Learn from it, be gracious, and be on your way.
You lost your job?  Adjust the family budget, draw near to God, overhaul your outlook and be on your way.
Your boyfriend broke your heart?  Maybe he just wasn’t worthy of you…delete his number and be on your way.

The oil of God flows freely to those who make a conscious decision to stop mourning over what God has rejected, fill up, and get moving.
Be on your way today.

Guest Blog: Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

Last Sunday at Elevation Church we decided to stop telling the married couples of the church to go on a date and actually send them. Pastor has been challenging men over the last few weeks to “date their wives”.

With the economy hanging on by a thread (at least if you watch the news), we wanted to be proactive and actually remove all excuses. So we gave every married couple the opportunity to get a $30 restaurant gift card and get reimbursed for 3 hrs of childcare.

Several months ago, we made the call to set aside the resources to do this for our church and just because people are waiting in line for gas we weren’t going to back down. I have to admit, when Pastor came to me with the idea I immediately got the calculator out but this speaks volumes to his heart to see married couples date and communicate.

The response was overwhelming. Looking at our demographics, approximately 75% of the married couples in the church participated. Below is an example of a print piece we used and some basic details on what we did. We weren’t the first church to do this and our hope in posting this is that we won’t be the last.

Details:
Pastor announced it during his sermon. Everyone was given a card with the same information on the voucher above and picked one of the 12 pre-selected restaurants (we worked with the restaurant managers to make this simple). People then went to one of the many volunteers in the lobby at multiple stations and exchanged their completed card (contact info and restaurant choice) for a date night envelope containing the voucher and a childcare reimbursement form. The volunteers just made sure to mark the voucher for the restaurant they selected. We then created a master spreadsheet for everyone that signed up and created guest books that we took to the hostesses at all the restaurants and purchased the enough $30 gift cards for all the guests. Couples will now simply go to the restaurant they chose and give the hostess their voucher for their gift card and then send their childcare reimbursement form to the church offices. We set a 2 week window to go on the date to prompt action, limited it to married couples, and told everyone to tip well!

Here are a few more resources.