Six Things Leaders Need for Success in a New Season
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are blessed with vibrant season changes. Each one is a unique expression of God’s beauty and design. However, some wisdom is needed for how to navigate these seasons properly. What works in the Summer with regular 100°F peaks won’t work with the cold, rainy, gray late fall.
The same is true of leadership of any capacity; there are constant seasons of change. What worked in one season may not work in the next. God’s word, however, gives us the undercurrent of grace for how to flawlessly move from one season to the next. These are six things that leaders need for success in a new season.
1. A strong desire for encounters with God
Exodus 33:7-11 (NKJV) “7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp … 11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.”
• Where is your tabernacle of meeting?
• Any “ministry” you do should be an overflow of your time spent meeting with God in the secret place. If you’re not first ministering to the heart of God, you can’t minister to His people.
• You can’t meet with God if you don’t make space and time to meet with Him.
• Expect to meet with God through powerful manifestations.
• Is fire falling when you spend time with Him?
• When was the last time you had an upper room experience?
• Your places of meeting can actually create a deeper hunger in those you are leading than you’ve ever experienced.
• What if you just stayed a little longer than normal after meeting with the Lord?
• Who is your Joshua? i.e. Who are teaching to enter into the Presence of the Lord?
2. Clear understanding of the vision
Habakkuk 2:2-3 (ESV) “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
The ministry I lead has the following vision plainly displayed and taught often:
“Revive Youth exists to share the love of God authentically and powerfully.”
“Every student will be known, loved, cared for, and discipled. We want them to know that they are called to be leaders in their schools and communities. Each student will be equipped to walk out in their spiritual gifts and develop a mindset of calling heaven down to earth through signs and wonders to build up the Kingdom of God and glorify Him.”
This vision helps me stay on course when it feels like the ground is shifting beneath me.
This vision encapsulates the heart of what we do. Essentially, I want people to leave our meetings and activities feeling that:
“I am seen according to my destiny, not my history.”
“This is a safe place to encounter God.”
“I can thrive and grow here.”
“When I take a risk in faith, I will be celebrated.”
“Failure isn't fatal.”
“We are sons and daughters - we know our identity.”
“I am believed in.”
“I will be empowered to succeed.”
“I can’t leave without being encouraged.”
I encourage you to prayerfully find your vision, make it plan, and teach it often.
3. Intercessory prayer that’s specific
1 Timothy 2:1 (NLT) “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.”
Romans 8:26 (NKJV) “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
• There is no gift of intercession. Every saint is called to it.
• Those we would call intercessors are just those who pray more than we do.
• Intercessory prayer should be very specific.
• Go from the abstract to the personal (ex: School - administration - staff - students - families)
• Go on frequent prayer walks around your neighborhood.
• Take time before a meeting to “bathe” the room in prayer.
• Pray for those you serve by name on a weekly basis.
• Praying in the Spirit is a great way to intercede.
• 1 Corinthians 14:18 (NKJV) “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all”
• Make it a point to pray in tongues every single day. Why not go for broke like Paul did? Pray in tongues a lot!
4. A hunger for salvations, miracles, signs, and wonders
2 Peter 3:9 (AMPC) “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.”
Mark 16:17-18, 20 (NKJV) “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover … And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”
• Ask God for a heart that burns for the lost.
• Old-timers called this being a soul-winner.
• Proverbs 11:30 (WEB) “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.”
“It is the great business of every Christian to save souls.”
- Charles Finney
• Miracles, signs, and wonders are not periphery issues.
• Demonstrations of power should be regularly seen.
• We have the Divine Healer, the All-Powerful God, living inside of us. When we preach the gospel, He is faithful to confirm the message with power!
• Come to your meetings expecting to see God move.
• It is mature and true to say that God moves sovereignly and can move without us, but it is immature and ill-informed to believe that He does not want to do so through your hands!
5. A resolve to maximize your grace
Romans 12:3-8 (NKJV) “For I say, through the grace given to me … Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them...”
• What has God given you grace for?
• How can you maximize this for the purpose and plans for the ministry?
• Aim to be the best at what you do - take it to the next level!
• Don’t downplay what God is doing through your life. You are on your team for a reason. You are needed!
6. A renewed joy for ministry
Psalm 51:12 (NKJV) “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.”
Hebrews 1:9 (NLT) “Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”
Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
• “Rule number one: have fun in ministry!”
• Even in tough times, ministry is a privilege and a joy.
• Nehemiah 8:10 (NKJV) “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
• Ask God to be baptized in joy.
“If you have no joy, there’s a leak in your Christianity.”
- Billy Sunday
I promise you that if you root yourself in these six things, your life will be unshakable; not because they are in my blog, but because they are found in God’s word!
