Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--T.D. Jakes--Combustible Passion

Coming into the final session of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit and hoping T.D. Jakes will give more insight on developing combustible passion for Operation Christmas Child.

Bill Hybels says the church is the hope of the world but in order for it to reach its potential it has to be well led. That means people with leadership gifts have to step up and have to step it up. Bill says he does leadership development just out of discipline not because he feels like it. Leaders take responsibility for your leadership development and read more to get better. Ask others to help develop you. Go where leadership is taught. The church would fold if it weren't for marketplace leaders who step up to minister in the church.

T.D. Jakes--how to impassion and motivate those who serve under you--

When people are passionate about what they do they are far more effective at what they do. Church leadership is unique--people don't come to follow you, they come to follow Jesus--and then they get stuck with you.

We cannot be clones when it comes to passion. It's not about mimicking other people.

God used Samuel to bring Israel through transition. Leadership is not just maintaining--it's bringing us from 'here' to 'there'. People follow people who move. God can't use people who don't have a real connection with Him to do His work. Samuel's first job was to make sure the lamp in the temple did not go out. Our job is to make sure the lamp does not go out in our ministry, leaving people serving without passion.

What you envision happening should not be diluted or polluted as it comes down "from the head to the beard to the skirt". The passion and vision should be the same all the way down the line.

Constantly evaluate people to be sure they can do what you're asking them to do. Challenge them without overwhelming them. No one feels passionate if they're defeated. You need to have a good sense of gift assessment. People often recognize giftedness in others better than in themselves.

Make sure the staff under you delivers on the promise you've projected. Being a person of faith is an asset because you have divine assistance. If you do something that's from your heart, for everything that comes up short God will make up the difference.

People are ignited by passion which is more than emotionalism. Passion is the fuel that makes the engine go.

Two different kinds of leaders--builders and bankers. Builders can make a fire out of little or nothing. Joseph was a builder. He prospered in Potiphar's house; he prospered in prison. He could build out of anything. Generally builders are better at building than at maintaining. Builders need bankers to maintain. Banking the fire makes it burn all night without going out. Builders tend to want to hang with other builders instead of bringing some bankers around them. We need both types to build a ministry and keep it going. If you're only surrounding yourself with people like you they compete with you instead of completing you. Builders need bankers. And bankers need builders to create and start the ministry. Jesus started His ministry with 12 people and NONE of them did what He did. Good teams are not teams with people who are good what you're good at. Good teams add to you and accessorize your life. You need people who are assets and not liabilities.

Confidantes are your personal friends and if you have 2-3 in your lifetime you're a rich person. Confidantes are "for you" no matter what.

Constituents are not people who are "for you"; they are people who are "for what you are for". They serve with you because they believe in your mission. They are your scaffolding. Don't try to hold people too tightly who are meant to come and go. (Some people are like the King James Version--they came to pass.)

Comrades are people who are "against what you are against" and are motivated by the fight. You need to keep at least one 'ear cutter' on your team. Joshua was a fighter--not a briefcase carrier. If you don't know how to use them, they will end up fighting you. Handle them to get them to fight for you and not against you.

Good leadership takes the passion of the leader and divides it on the team. You work best with people you read well. If you're going to lead people like Jesus you have to be willing to show them your wounds. Jesus, after his resurrection, showed his wounds to the believers so they learn as much from His struggle as they do from His strength.

You have to fight not just battles but normalcy and mediocrity. It's the long walk between the battles when you have to keep people motivated. You can get tired of encouraging people because they take your courage and you become discouraged.

The Good Samaritan offered a small amount to the innkeeper to take care of the man he found on the road and said he'd pay him when he returned if he owed him anything. And that's what Jesus says to us.

When you find yourself running low and your fuel tanks are blinking and your smile is low and you're tired--you have a God to Whom you can turn and say, "Help me so I can help them and give me fire so I can pass it on."

What do you do when you wish you had someone to encourage you? When my heart is overwhelmed, I go to the Rock that is higher than I. Renew my strength. Increase my faith and send me out there and I'll do it again.