How can we grow in our leadership? What things can take us to the next level and how can we intentionally engage with them?
In this episode, Jo and Steph discuss things that have enhanced and grown their leadership, from specific people, learning about their own personalities, resources they have read and people they have observed.
They also share how God has been growing them recently in leadership and what He has been highlighting to them.
Being led by others is also an opportunity to learn about leadership both by observing their strengths and their weaknesses and Steph and Jo share personal experiences of things they have learned by being led by others.
Discussion questions:
1) What things have helped you grow as a leader?
2) Share one thing that God has taught you about leadership as you have led others.
3) Think of someone you have led under that you have respected and what they have taught you about good leadership. Where have they have highlighted a different way of leading to how you would lead out of your own personality?
4) The Bible says we will reap where we sow. Where we have judged others, we will do the same if we do not learn to forgive. Where do you need to forgive leaders who have hurt you so that you do not end up leading the same way without realizing it?
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In this episode Jo and Steph discuss leadership, starting with the definition of leadership being influence.
Sharing from their own journeys into leadership, Jo and Steph highlight signposts on the way to realizing they were leaders and look at prominent biblical characters and the ways they lead others even before they came into their calling.
Being a leader is also about recognizing our own limitations as well as our giftings. Steph and Jo both share about their ‘shadow sides’ - their weaknesses and areas where they intentionally seek out help and support from others as part of being the body of Christ and influencing others together.
Discussion questions:
1) Where do you have influence right now? Who is following you or could follow you?
2) What were some of the strengths and weaknesses in David’s leadership and influence both before and after becoming king? (Don’t just go for the obvious ones, try and dig deeper!) What about Esther’s influence? Where was she strong and where did she lean on others?
3) What are some of your strengths and giftings as a leader? What does your ‘shadow side’ look like? Where are you weak and need help? (Discuss this with some close friends too!)
4) What intentional steps can you take to grow in your strengths and weaknesses as a leader? (Joining a leadership group, finding a mentor, reading, training etc…)
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Jo's Blog on What do you see when you look in the mirror: http://www.josaxton.com/2016/02/08/what-do-you-see-when-you-look-in-the-mirror/
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
Connect with Steph at: www.pastorsteph.com @pastorsteph
Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Video: Failure of Nerve Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgdcljNV-Ew
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Continuing to answer your questions on life in the wilderness, Jo and Steph discuss the diversity of different wilderness seasons, from becoming parents to infertility, singleness, unemployment, sickness and church discord.
Zephaniah 3:17 - God desires to quiet you with His love.
Discussion questions:
1) Describe a wilderness season where you have felt suddenly isolated from a person or people who have previously been part of your core community. How did God use that time to draw you closer to Him?
2) If you knew you were about to step into a wilderness season in six months time, which areas of your spiritual life would need focusing on now to strengthen your trust in the Lord? Are there any spiritual disciplines you could embrace or books you could read to strengthen those weaknesses?
3) Throne or phone? Which one do you head to first in times of difficulty? Is it just habit or are there trust issues (with God or others) that send you there first? Do you allow both God and others to speak into your wilderness times?
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Jo and Steph take some time to answer your questions relating to the wilderness.
Questions this week include:
Discussion questions:
1) When you think about different wilderness seasons in your life can you think of one where God has lead you there although you couldn’t recognize it perhaps at the time?
2) How well do you embrace the positives of the wilderness and do your best to survive well in that arid landscape? Think of a wilderness season right now. In what ways has God met you in the midst of it? Perhaps take a moment to write a list and thank Him for where He has provided in this season.
3) Take some time to do the daily examen for this past week or 24 hours. Where has God felt present and close? Where has God felt far away? When have you felt desolated and when have you felt consoled?
4) Are there disappointments in your life that you need to take time to grieve and heal? Are you spreading heartsickness? What practical steps can you take to make time to embrace the healing you need? (A retreat day, prayer counseling, healing course or conference?)
Click here for: DAILY EXAMEN TOOLS Post from our friend @sallybreen48 on expectations:
http://storiesfromthesheshed.com/what-do-you-expect/
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What does it look like to experience purpose in the wilderness?
This week Jo and Steph look at key men and women in the Bible who were given a calling and a promise and then for an extended period of time they recieved the exact opposite to what God had promised.
They also take time to look at Joshua and Caleb, faithful leaders who were ready to respond to God’s invitations to enter the Promised Land but who were held back by others.
Who would have thought that the crazy wilderness journey which is opposite to the promise is actually the journey to the promised land itself?
Discussion questions:
1) Do you know what your purpose is? What has God called you to do, not matter what season you are in? Jo mentioned that hers was ‘equipping others to be all they are meant to be’. Spend sometime developing a personal missional statement.
2) Have you ever felt held back as a leader by other people’s lack of faith? How did you respond to that disappointment?
3) What happens when you are the person who sees the giant and is afraid to go in? Are you prepared to believe? Are there giants that are sabotaging your life right now?
4)When you have longings do you tend towards despair or hope? How can you invite God into your longings so that they are transformed into hope and faith?
5) Are you paying attention to what God is doing in the midst of waiting? Steph mentioned how learning plumbing through broken toilets was not her desired calling, but it has prepared her for later in life in her calling. What things are seemingly pointless in your life right now which God could redeem?
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
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Jesus has two significant experiences before His ministry begins - first His baptism and then He is driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan. First he receives a declaration of love and approval from His Father before He has done anything, and then He is driven into a harsh physical wilderness. In this episode Jo and Steph discuss Jesus’ wilderness journey in Matthew 3:13-4:11. They look at the three temptations Jesus faced from the enemy and discuss where the enemy has similarly tempted them in those areas: 1) Appetite 2) Approval 3) Ambition After facing those temptations, Jesus comes out of the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit. Steph shares about her wilderness journey into ministry, where God broke down her desire for approval from others, and Jo shares how God made her step out of worship for a season to address unhealthy ambitions. Take-aways: 1) The promise of the wilderness is God’s power. God’s Spirit is with you in the wilderness and it is God’s power which will lead you out. 2) Surrender to God in the wilderness. Not necessarily surrender to it, but surrender to God. He is still the safest place to be. 3) Let God expose those three A’s in your life. It is the safest way. Discussion questions: 1) Which of the three A’s are you struggling with right now? How is that affecting your life in a negative way? 2) Where do you need to surrender to God in the current wilderness? Do you believe God is the safest place? Why or why not? 3) Think back to a wilderness you have come through. Where has God’s power been manifested in your life as a result of that season?
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Identity is one of the areas God often puts a finger on during our wilderness seasons. We may suddenly find ourselves stripped of our identities or taking on an identity in an unhealthy way. Often wilderness seasons lead us back to the question: ‘who am I actually?’ and hopefully then onto finding out who God says we are: His masterpieces. Before Jesus starts ministry His identity is declared: This is my son, who I love, with whom I am well pleased. He is then driven into the desert to face temptation. If He had forgotten who He was, He would not have been able to face those temptations. This week Jo and Steph share about how the enemy has attacked them in the area of identity and how they have practically taken a stand against those attacks.
Discussion questions:
1) Who are you really in God? Take a moment to discuss or write a list of what God says about you as a child of God and the gifts and callings God has spoken over you. Where is the enemy trying to get you to deny your true identity?
2) We can be tempted to try and earn God’s love, thinking that we can only be His children if we are perfect. Where have you been tempted to earn your identity as God’s masterpiece and His love?
3) Read Psalm 139: v1-18 & v23-24 out loud . Do you feel you are too much or not enough? Why? What does God say about you? Where do those feelings hold you back?
4) Jo mentioned reading Psalm 139 over herself in the mirror during times when her identity was attacked. How can you practically embrace God’s truth about your identity? (Have a verse written in a prominent place, paint or write out your identity, memorize scriptures…)
Myers-Briggs Personality Test: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes1.htm
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It is the beginning of Lent, a season where the church has traditionally laid aside things in order to create space for God.
The start of a new series of Life in the Wilderness, Jo and Steph discuss those times we all face but all would prefer not to - those desert times.
They discuss what the wilderness may look like and has looked like for them: times where we feel spiritually dry, where our faith has been tested or where God has used difficult circumstances to form our character. Jo shares about adapting to a new life in the US after a fruitful season in the UK, and Steph shares about her journey with singleness and dating.
Looking at the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt, we learn the the distance between slavery and the Promised Land is the wilderness, and how God uses that time to correct the wrong mindsets the Israelites had in terms of their identity, purpose and relationship with God.
God sees you, He is with you in it and He wants to walk with you. You are not forgotten.
Discussion questions:
1. Describe a desert time in your life that has now passed and you have now seen breakthrough. What did it feel like physically, emotionally and spiritually during that desert time? How did God meet you in that desert time and form your character?
2. Where in your life are you still in the wilderness? Where are you seeing the opposite to what you believe God has promised right now? The Israelites were given truth in the wilderness. What truths do you need to remind yourself of and how can you do that practically? (Have a verse in a prominent place, set a timer weekly to re-read words spoken over you, have a time to meet regularly with someone to pray about the wilderness season).
3. Where are you wrestling against God’s purposes for you in the wilderness? Where do you need to surrender and trust that God sees you and is with you and wants to meet you in the midst of this wilderness?
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Jo and Steph continue on in part two of three episodes on the topic of leadership. The focus for this episode is on how leaders must look for those who will invest in them as well as live intentionally to invest in others. Who is investing in you? Who are you investing in?
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In this episode, Steph has the opportunity to interview a friend of her and Jo named Gwen Adams. She is the executive director of a ministry called Priceless that helps to rescue women from sex trafficking in Anchorage. To learn more go to: www.PricelessAlaska.com.
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Jo and Steph begin part one of three conversations on Leadership. The focus for this episode is on how deeply leaders must rely on their relationship with God if they are going to lead out in Kingdom ways. They ponder the questions: How do leaders hear from God? How does our relationship with God fuel our leadership and influence?
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A new year is a chance to step into new invitations that God has for each of us. It's time to say "hello" to 2016. To do that, we may need to say "goodbye" to some things that God is inviting us to let go of and leave in 2015. Jo and Steph discuss their process of stepping into the new year with God's purposes and direction. What are you saying "hello" to in 2016? What are you saying "goodbye" to in 2015? Let us know! Download "Hello/Goodbye" worksheet here.
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
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Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Thanks for listening! If you know others who would benefit from conversations about leadership, life experiences and living life on mission, pass it on! #leadstoriespodcast
A new year is a chance to step into new invitations that God has for each of us. It's time to say "hello" to 2016. To do that, we may need to say "goodbye" to some things that God is inviting us to let go of and leave in 2015. Jo and Steph discuss their process of stepping into the new year with God's purposes and direction. What are you saying "hello" to in 2016? What are you saying "goodbye" to in 2015? Let us know! Download "Hello/Goodbye" worksheet here.
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
Twitter: @LeadStoriesVox
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Facebook: LeadStoriesPodcast
Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
Connect with Steph at: www.pastorsteph.com @pastorsteph
Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com
Thanks for listening! If you know others who would benefit from conversations about leadership, life experiences and living life on mission, pass it on! #leadstoriespodcast
Follow Lead Stories Podcast to interact with Steph and Jo:
Twitter: @LeadStoriesVox
Instagram: @LeadStoriesPodcast
Facebook: LeadStoriesPodcast
Connect with Jo at: www.josaxton.com @josaxton
Connect with Steph at: www.pastorsteph.com @pastorsteph
Subscribe on iTunes to have the podcast automatically download to your device every week or listen at www.leadstoriespodcast.com