16 Quotes to Help You Be An Extraordinary Leader

Jenni Catron

Recently, I read Jenni Catron’s new book “The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership”.  I have followed Jenni for a while on various social media platforms and when I heard she had a new book coming out, I knew I wanted to read it.

About the Book 

You have the capacity to become an extraordinary leader – if you are willing to embrace a deeper definition of leadership and take action to apply it.

In “The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership”, Jenni Catron, executive church leader and author of “Clout”, reveals the secrets to standout leadership found in the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Weaving a winsome narrative filled with inspiring real-life stories, hard-won wisdom, and practical applications, Catron unpacks four essential aspects of growing more influential: your heart for relational leadership, your soul for spiritual leadership, your mind for managerial leadership, and your strength for visionary leadership.

16 of My Favorite Takeaways

There were so many great nuggets to take away from this book that have given me a lot to process in the weeks moving forward.  However, I thought I’d share 16 of my favorite quotes that I hope will help you (and me!) be an extraordinary leader in 2016.

Extraordinary leaders are faithfully leading in their places of influence, whether high-profile or in seeming obscurity, but with such depth of purpose and sincere intentionality that has significant effects on those they lead.

As leaders, we need to passionately protect momentum. Leadership expert John Maxwell expresses it this way: “As a leader, your responsibility is to understand momentum, to get it moving for your organization, and to sustain it over time.” 

Extraordinary leadership takes courage, intuition, discernment, and prayer. It takes energy, patience, hope, and determination. Extraordinary leaders step up to help make decisions and to guide the way, especially when circumstances are complex.

Here are a few tough truths that we need to understand about self-leadership: No one cares more about your personal development than you do. No one is responsible for your leadership development. You can’t wait for someone else to lead you. No one owes you leadership.

Leadership, by definition, involves working with others. The independent spirit that got you to the leadership seat can also be an avenue to derailment if you are not aware of your tendency to leave others behind.

Actions speak louder than intentions. Our leadership will be evaluated by what we do, not what we intend.

Self-leadership is the hard work behind the scenes that prepares you for great leadership.

Connecting is one of the most important tasks of leadership. In order to lead others to new ideas, to goals, and to action, we must first be able to connect with them.

Wisdom may very well be the most important trait we should seek to develop as leaders.

Everything we do in our organization is either keeping alignment with the vision or it’s derailing the vision. There is no neutral. 

Find out more about this great book here!

Did you read “The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership”?  What was one thing you took away from it?

16 Books on My 2016 Reading List

2016 reading list

Happy New Year, friends!  I hope you’ve had a great (albeit short) start to 2016!

A new year brings so many possibilities, doesn’t it?  It’s a time most of us reflect on what we’ve done, what we’d like to do.  Many of us aim to do more of this, less of that

I have always loved to read.  Whether for pleasure or professional development, reading has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a teenager.  In 2015, I read more than I have in recent years.  Not because I had more time (I didn’t) but because I made it more of a priority.  Every day.

One of my goals for 2016 is to continue to feed my soul through books.

I have chosen 16 books to read in 2016:

For The Love by Jen Hatmaker (I started this book in 2015 – looking forward to finishing)

Move: Nine Conversations to Build Your Kids Ministry by Brannon Marshall

Leading & Loving It: Encouragement for Pastors’ Wives and Women in Leadership by Lori Wilhite and Brandi Wilson

Team Up! The Family Ministry Playbook for Partnering with Parents by Phil Bell

Every Child Welcome: A Ministry Handbook for Including Kids With Special Needs by Katie Wetherbee and Jolene Philo

Do Over by Jon Acuff

The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner

Teams That Thrive by Kal Otis and Michelle Marx

7 Family Ministry Essentials by Michelle Anthony and Megan Marshman

Wholly Kids by LifeWay Kids

The Bee Eater by Richard Whitmire

Dear Mary by Sarah Jakes Roberts

Tweetable Leadership by Jim Wideman

Audacious by Beth Moore

The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

Your Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larson

What’s on your “To Read” list for 2016?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Online Book Club for KidMin Leaders

Hi Friends!

This morning, I unveiled (on Periscope – gasp!) that I will be launching an online book club for kidmin leaders!  This is something that I have been feeling God nudging me to do for the past year or so but I have put it aside until now.  Stepping out in faith is hard sometimes, right?

I love being with other kidmin leaders and as I’ve had conversations with leaders and have participated in online forums, I have noticed that there are two things that kidmin leaders crave: (1) connection and support with other leaders and (2) great resources.  It’s my prayer that this book club will marry the two!

KidMin book club graphic

Here are a few logistics:

  • The book club will be moderated online (through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – and maybe Periscope).
  • I’ll select a book for us to read together – our first two books are AWESOME!
  • On the first Thursday of the month following the book reveal, I’ll host a Twitter and Facebook chat at 9pm EST.  We’ll use #kidminbookclub.

The first book I’ve selected is written by my friend, Ryan Frank.  Give Me Jesus: Gospel-Centered Children’s Ministry That Changes Lives brings together children’s ministry veterans from across the country to share what they’ve learned about gospel-centered ministry to kids, youth and families.  You’ll find practical, flexible strategies to make the good news of Christ accessible to children of all ages and abilities, train volunteers to effectively disciple kids as followers of Jesus, and weave the gospel into every lesson and activity.

Earlier this year, I interviewed Ryan about the book.  Here are highlights from our conversation:

Kathie Phillips: What was the inspiration behind your book, Give Me Jesus? 

Ryan Frank: Conversations are happening in kidmin about the newest products for ministry, but there is no power in the shiny, flashy things.  The power is in the Gospel.  It’s the driving force behind programs and volunteers.

KP: You invited friends to write portions of the book.  Why did you feel that having different viewpoints about this topic was important?

RF: It’s important to get different perspectives from different people: Children’s Ministry pastors, para-church leaders, bloggers, all from different denominations and different size churches.

KP: How does a Children’s Ministry leader make ministry fun and engaging while keeping the Gospel front and center?

RF: Start by making it memorable.  That can be achieved through (1) solid curriculum that is Gospel-centered; (2) creative new ways to present the Gospel (through story, object lessons, visual aids and personal testimonies); and (3) engaging parents to have Gospel conversations at home.  Provide them with tools and resources to help make this happen.

One of the things that Ryan said that stood out to me was this:

When the Gospel is the focus of my ministry, the Gospel becomes more important than the methods.

I’m so excited about this book club and I hope you’ll join me!  I’ll host our first Twitter chat on Thursday, November 5th at 9pm EST.  (I’ll give you a little more time since we’re nearing the end of September).  Find me here or by searching #kidminbookclub.

Pick up a copy of Give Me Jesus here or enter to win an autographed copy of the book by emailing me by 11:59pm on Sunday, September 20th!  I want you to have this book as soon as possible!

Happy reading – and spread the word!

Let me know that you’ll be part of this book club by leaving me a comment below!

Flashback Friday: My Favorite Online Reads (Week of May 4, 2015)

This Week’s Favorite Online Reads

Here’s a sampling of some of the online reads I enjoyed this week:

{MINISTRY/LEADERSHIP}

What’s Your Leadership Made Of – Steel or Straw by Margaret Feinberg

The Best Way to Get Buy-In by Dale Hudson

Expand Your Vision: Partnering with Parents by Orange

How to Acclimate a New Volunteer by Orange

How to Lead A “Creative Team” by Brian Dollar

The One Thing You Must Focus On To Succeed in Children’s Ministry by Dale Hudson

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I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I did.

Did you read something this week that inspired or encouraged you? Share it with me so I might check it out, too!