The theme of this year's mega awesome conference, Catalyst '08 , was "together", and every peace talked about community, partnership and strength through working together. Yet one of the things that often happens to pull people a part is the absence of unity.
One of the speakers spoke directly from his experience leading a successful business about how they build unity in their organization as well as how we can do that in the church. So, let me share some of Dave Ramsey' s thoughts with you I unload some good thoughts for the last night (there are many other great thoughts that I will put pieces in through the following weeks).
There are 5 Main Enemies of Unity:
1. Poor Communication --- when the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, strife sets in.
2. Gossip --- A successful leader develops a culture where negatives are handed up and positives are handed down. Gossip is when a negative is discussed with anyone who can't help solve the problem.
3. Unresolved Disagreements --- problem when we don't know they exist or when we as leaders avoid confrontation.
4. Lack of Shared Purpose --- when a leader doesn't restate and share often the goal, the vision and the mission of the organization.
5. Sanctioned Incompetence --- When you allow someone to goof-off or not live up to their potential, you damage your witness. Members will eventually stop being motivated when someone on the team can't or won't do their job and a leader will not take action. When unity is valued, the team will also act to keep these enemies away.
John 17:23 (nlt) --- I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.
As we talked about this past Sunday at the Community, peace is something we have to fight for and push for. Unity doesn't come when there is no plan. We have to stretch for it. Work for unity and seek God. Are we working hard to make our business' successful? Lets work just as hard to make our churches even more successful. Unity is NOT a plus. Unity is a must!
His comments about our economy were huge, and I have been listening and reading his perspective for a few weeks. Fear is not something we can live by. In fact, as Dave said, it is best to keep on doing what your doing because the past is the best predictor of the future. The market and economy are in tough shape, yet things will level out and get better.
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