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Antidotes to Stress

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More than three-quarters of adults report symptoms of stress, including headache, tiredness, or sleeping problems.

American Psychological Association, 2019

Everyone knows what stress is, and many people experience it often. We feel we are facing more than we can handle. The expectations on us are too much, or we are in uncomfortable situations without a way to gain control or get out of it. It affects our mind, our emotions, and our bodies. Some of our medical issues are even caused by stress.  And just because you attend church does not mean you immune to stress. Many of us even experience stress as we serve in the church.

At a recent visit to the doctor I saw this poster on the wall: Stress Coping Skills for Everyday Life.

There are a number of great ideas to put into practice when we are experiencing stress. Some of them are physical exercises such as “go outside” or “stretch”. Others are mental exercises such as “be positive”. There are social exercises and suggestions for eating better and drinking enough water.

These might all be good ideas. They cover most aspects of a person’s life – social, physical, emotional, and mental. But I couldn’t help noticing that there was something missing. Where is the spiritual aspect?

As people who know God, we should recognize the value of going to God in our times of stress. In fact, if we have put our faith in Christ for salvation, then we have also received His Spirit that lives within us. He is God within us. He wants us to have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

Like the psalmist David, we can cry out to God in our times of need.

When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way. (Psalm 142: 3)

 Lord, you are the God who saves me;
    day and night I cry out to you.
May my prayer come before you;
    turn your ear to my cry.

 I am overwhelmed with troubles
    and my life draws near to death. (Psalm 88: 1-3)

Yes, there are many different things we can do to try to alleviate the feelings of stress, but why not call on God to help?

Call out to God for help. Pray. Spend time reading scripture. Allow God to speak. Meditate on passages of scripture or dwell on God’s attributes. Spend time in worship. Sing songs of praise. Listen to songs of praise. Ask God to calm your spirit and empower you by His Spirit to tackle the day with confidence.

When stressed, do what you can to trust God to walk you through it.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

The Protecting Role of the Leader

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Few leadership books address the protecting role of a leader. Yet, if you are a leader, you a responsibility to protect those who are following you from distractions that will stop them from following you or moving toward your vision. Business leaders, too, must ensure that they are aware of outside forces that might derail those under their leadership from pursuing their purpose and vision. This might happen in various ways, such as someone speaking negatively about you and the goal you are pursuing or the distractions of life that keep your team from being fully focused on the task at hand.

Church leaders – pastors and elders – need to understand their protective role too. Even as they are looking to help people grow in their knowledge of and love for God, they need to be aware of the influences that can undermine their leadership. Let’s consider a few influences that a church leader may need to protect their congregation from.

False teaching

Much of the church leader’s role teaching. The church needs to be taught about who God is, how to love and obey Him, and how to communicate with Him in prayer. Leaders use the Bible as their main teaching tool and the basis for all they believe.

False teaching is ideas and teachings that conflict with scripture. If a church is begins to follow false teachings, church leadership should steer them back to the truth of scripture. Church leaders need to recognize when someone within the church is misleading people and needs to be corrected or even removed.

False teaching can also creep in from the world. Our culture influences us all as we live in it. In the same way the early church lived within a culture that often opposed Jesus’ teachings, there are some things being taught and accepted in our culture that are in direct opposition to God and His Word. For example, it is not okay to end a pregnancy just because it is seen as an inconvenience. God is clear that all life is precious and He is the only one who can determine the end of someone’s life. Similarly, euthanasia is becoming common in Canada, where you can choose to end your life medically, for a number of reasons. Again, life is precious and only God can determine the end of someone’s life. Church leaders need to remind their church of what God teaches in the Bible so they can recognize when what they hear or see does not match up to God’s Word.

Attempts to derail the vision

The church exists to help people love God and love others. To do this, many churches have an agreed-upon vision that guides them. They have spent time praying and talking together and gaining an understanding of the needs of their community. As a result, they have come up with a vision that is their response to the needs around them. It is important for churches to adhere to this vision. For example, if you are a church that believes your main role is to reach out to the poor in your community, then protect your church from those who are pushing for you to do more to reach the professionals in your town. No matter what your vision is, there will be some who do not agree or fully buy in. There may also be some who deliberately try to derail that vision and cause confusion in your midst. You need to protect your congregation from that confusing voice. Questions and debate have their place, but you want to make sure that people have a clear understanding where you are going and why.

Busy people

Churches often fall into the habit of making people busy in the church with all kinds of activities. Church leadership needs to recognize when some of the good things going on need to be removed. Leadership needs to protect people from busyness that prevents them from being able to participate in pursuing the church’s vision.

There are times church leaders need to make some very difficult decisions about what ministries need to be cut so people have time to do what is more important.

Satan

Of course, the one who truly wants to mess with the church, with the followers of Jesus who make up that church, is the evil one – Satan. He has messed with people right from the time of Adam and Eve until now, trying to confuse us and doing all he can to make us wander away and deny God. Church leaders need to protect their people from Satan’s attacks. They need to regularly pray a covering over their church. They need to remind people that we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of the unsee world. Even when people are doing wrong and causing disruption in the church, it is Satan who is behind their actions.

Church leaders, you have a role of protecting your people, even as you lead them. Be aware of what is going on and when you need to confront or speak up about where people are being misled. Ask God for wisdom and discernment in the process so you can recognize when danger arises and how to combat it.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

3 Ideas to Renew Your Passion

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A while back I realized that my passion for my job was fading. When I started the job, I was excited and could see new opportunities. I loved the vision and purpose of the group I was leading. I loved working with these people because of their heart for the church and their desire to grow in their relationship with Jesus.

There are times in my life as a pastor that I have had to renew and restore my passion for my role. I always want to give my best and be excited about what I am working on, but I realized that initial excitement had faded. So I decided I needed to work on renewing my passion for that role, and here is what I did.

Add Variety

One reason I tend to lose passion is because I get bored with routine. I long for some creativity and variety.

I add variety in my preaching. This is an area that I have control over, so may be one of the first places I can work at renewing my passion. For example, I might use a video or story to help people connect with the sermon. I might use an object lesson and provide those items to each person when they arrive at church. Beyond Sunday sermons, I might identify a project that I could initiate with others to help us work toward our vision.

Celebrate something.

Sometimes the boring monotony can be awakened to new passion when I take a moment to reflect on the exciting things happening. Good things are happening. God is at work. People are being changed. Programs are reaching people. People are responding to sermons and applying what they learn. When I get stuck in feelings of boredom, I can identify reasons to celebrate. I might celebrate by myself, or with my family, or my coworkers or church. It’s amazing what praising and thanking God can do in lift my spirits and reawakening that passion for my role.

Talk to God about it.

There are times I have taken a mini-retreat – maybe even just an afternoon away from my office – where I can stop everything and talk with God. I talk with Him about what is going on and how my passion is fading. I ask him to show me where I need to focus. I ask Him to give direction. Often this time with God reaffirms my calling, renews excitement in me about what God is doing and inviting me into. Sometimes I come away with new ideas, other times it is a re-enforcing of what I already knew I was to do. But the time with God reminds me of my role and what I need to be doing.

There is often an ebb and flow in the intensity of our passion for the work we are doing. Don’t let it fade too long. Choose to renew your passion again and again so that you will enjoy your role and will continue to contribute well to the vision you and your team or church are pursuing.

What are some ways you have renewed your passion? Let me know.

Keep looking up,

Andy

Confronting Carefully

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Like most leaders, I am in a position in which I must occasionally have conversations with people that I would much rather avoid. I had to confront someone recently. I had to address a problem that had come up. This is never an easy conversation to have and one that could easily go wrong. A conversation like this should not be rushed into quickly, but prepared for carefully.

Here are a few things I have learned over the years about how to confront carefully.

Engage the Person Respectfully.

No matter what the issue is, or how terribly they may have messed up, when you meet with the person be respectful of them as a person.

This is not a time to make them feel inadequate, but a time to be clear on what they are doing wrong and how it can be fixed. Ideally, the goal is to fix the situation even as you maintain a good relationship.

Confront Prayerfully.

One of the ways to make sure that you are being careful is to ask God to guide your conversation. Ask God into the conversation. Ask God for wisdom. Ask Him for the ability to listen and truly hear the other person to make sure you are not making assumptions as you confront. Pray about this beforehand, and during, and even after so that neither you nor the person you spoke with will misconstrue things that came up in the conversation.

Clarify the Issue.

It helps to clarify the problem. Make sure you know what it is that you are addressing. This is not about some vague feeling something is wrong, or doing something because someone else is pressuring you. If you are going to confront someone, you must be clear on what the issue is. Clarify the issue in your mind, and then be clear when you address it in your conversation. If you need to, write down a few key points, or even the main statement you want to make so you don’t waffle in the middle of the conversation and back off the issue to the point the person has no idea what you are addressing. You want to make sure you address the issue correctly.

Determine a Solution.

If you are addressing someone about a problem, it is essential that you have an idea of how to fix the problem. Simply pointing out a problem doesn’t solve the problem. Once you are clear about the issue, then become clear on one or more ways of addressing it. If the issue demands one specific response – for example, “be on time”, then be clear that is the response required. If the issue allows for a number of solutions, identify a few options that the other person may choose from. Make sure that the solution matches the problem.

Arrange the Meeting.

Where you meet will determine the atmosphere, and even the conversation. If there is a specific problem about a role at work, then meet in your office, or the board room. If there is an issue with someone you know well, and you want to be less confrontational, you might do it over a coffee, or a meal. Remember that when and where you have the meeting will play into how the confrontation will go. It might be good to give the person a heads up about what you will be addressing.

Listen as you Converse.

As you point out the problem, listen to the response from the other person. You want to make sure, first, that you are correct in your own understanding of what they did wrong, but also listen to make sure they understand what you are telling them.

Be clear and precise on the problem. Allow them an opportunity to defend their actions or clarify why they did what they did. Present the solutions as you see them, and then invite a response to see if they understand and whether they will respond as you need them to.

Know Your Next Steps Ahead of Time.

When you confront, you need to be clear on what you will do based on how they respond. If they agree with you and accept a solution to try, then you have made good progress. If they deny everything you are saying and try to blame others, you need to know if you will give them another chance or if it is time to part ways. If you are willing to move ahead together, you may want to set up follow up meeting with them soon after to see if issues have been resolved or not.

Confront carefully. You want to be clear what you the problem is and what the solution can be. You also want to be clear that you are focusing on the work the person is doing or how they are relating to the rest of the team, without putting them down personally.

Yes, we do need to confront occasionally. Hopefully we do it well. We want to honour the person and honour Christ even as we have the tough conversations.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Book Reviews: Andy’s 2023 Reading Experience

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I will be sharing a brief review of every book I read this year. Hope you enjoy and hope it encourages you to keep reading.

GETTING NAKED – by Patrick Lencioni

Getting Naked: a Business Fable, by Patrick Lencioni is exactly that. It is a well written story of a businessman sent to check out a smaller company that has just been acquired by the company he works for. He expects that, because it is a small company, it will not have anything to teach him. He is surprised by the things he discovers. He learns that they have a much better way of handling clients and doing their work than what he is used to. Lencioni concludes the book with a few key points that are already clearly shown at work in the story. A great book on how to benefit from being vulnerable in business.

7 Steps to Becoming a Disciplined Leader

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Last week I wrote about what it is like to be a disciplined leader. Today I want to continue focusing on that topic by showing how you can develop that discipline in your own life.

Step One: Determine where you lack discipline.

Know your strengths and your weaknesses. If you have no problem showing up to work on time, count that as a strength. If you are always struggling to meet deadlines, that is a weakness. Choose only one or two weaknesses to work on at a time. If you are really brave, you may ask a colleague what some of your weaknesses as a leader are and work on those.

Step Two: Clarify your motivation.

As you consider the weakness you want to work on, what is your motivation? Why do you want to become more disciplined in this area? Is because someone else told you improvement was necessary? Or do you recognize the value discipline could bring to this area? If you are struggling to meet deadlines, your motivation for more discipline may be to have less anxiety or to have time to do a review of the project before the deadline so you do better work. Make sure you are convinced this is an are where you actually want to improve. Then your possibility for success will increase greatly.

Step Three: Sort out the problem.

Why is this an area of weakness? For example, why are you not meeting your deadlines? Are you procrastinating and putting in little effort until just before the deadline? Is it because of an inability to accurately estimate the the amount of time it will take you to work on the project? Once you figure out what the problem is then you can develop steps to improve.

Step Four: Develop a plan.

Let’s say you struggle to meet your deadline because you procrastinate. Develop a plan that gets you working on the project as soon as you take it on. Work back from the deadline and establish your own deadlines. You could also create your own deadline a week before it’s needed to give you time to review it. When reviewing your deadline, you can also break the job into smaller steps and set personal deadlines along the way that get you working on it sooner and keeps you going. These dates can lead up to your personal deadline and help you stay on track.

Another strategy is to actively develop better habits and create rituals that keep you on task. This could be creating more shorter deadlines for smaller parts of your projects. Maybe it could be working on your task first thing in the morning and checking emails or engaging in other tasks only at noon or at the end of the day.

Step Five: Remove distractions or temptations.

Why are you procrastinating? Are you always on you phone? Are you taking too many coffee breaks or constantly chatting with co-workers? Maybe set an alarm on your phone that reminds you to get back to work after a coffee break. Or leave your phone in your coat. Don’t check personal emails at work. Turn off notifications on your phone that continually remind you to check I through the day. Sometimes, it may be beneficial to close the door and pull the blinds so that you are not distracted by others who are walking by your office or chatting with each other. Find ways to remove distractions.

Step Six: Find an accountability partner, coach or mentor.

It helps to know that someone will be checking in on you. Ask someone on your team to check in with you occasionally to see how you are coming along. If you are the one in charge, maybe you have a secretary or personal assistant who can check in and remind you of deadlines you have set. Or hire a coach to check in with regularly.

Step Seven: Just keep on keeping on.

One who wants to learn discipline will continue to push through an try again and again even if they fail occasionally. Keep reminding yourself of your goals. And as you make progress, remind yourself of how far you have come. Did you meet that last deadline? Then celebrate it. If not, then figure out if some adjustment is needed and get back to the next task at hand. Don’t get down on yourself if you fall short. Forgive yourself and recommit to the plan.

Becoming a disciplined leader takes hard work, but you can do it as you work on one or two weaknesses at a time. As you do, you will become the disciplined leader you want to be.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Boor Reviews: Andy’s 2023 Reading Experience

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I will be sharing a brief review of every book I read this year. Hope you enjoy and hope it encourages you to keep reading.

NECESSARY ENDINGS – by Dr. Henry Cloud

In Necessary Endings: The employees, businesses, and relationships that all of us have to give up in order to move forward, Dr. Henry Cloud explains why good endings are needed for good beginnings. He uses a number of great examples to show how appropriate endings at the right time can be very positive for you personally and for the organization you are part of or leading. Some endings are forced on us, and some are ones we choose, in either case we can determine how we will use that ending as an opportunity for something new. When you end something, you have room for that next thing that can be even better than what you just ended. A very helpful book!

Make Your Sermons More Engaging

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I love preaching. I love opening a passage of scripture, expounding on it, and seeing eyes opened and hearts encouraged. The natural tendency is to make the sermon a monologue. Often this serves just fine, but I think it can be enhanced visually.

Personal Sermon Notes

Sermon outlines or notes pages can be included in bulletins or handouts that each person receives as they arrive at church. Adding visual aids in these notes can provide an additional way the congregation follows along with the sermon.

Slides accompanying the sermon

In addition to outlines for each person, slides can be used to highlight a point you are making or a scripture you are referring to.

As a visual person, I appreciate seeing slides that go beyond the text that the pastor is saying, and include relevant images or other visual aids. For example, when quoting a person, include their photo. A sermon illustration could be accompanied by a picture of what is being referenced. If you are speaking on the Lord being our shepherd you could have a picture or brief video clip of a shepherd working with his sheep.

Props

While pictures are useful, the real thing can be even better. Some sermons make it easy to bring in a prop. An easy example could be pointing to a cross  already in your church when you are preaching about Christ’s death. Communion includes props which Jesus instituted: the bread and juice. A sermon from Matthew 7:3-5 about the person with a log in their eye pointing out a speck in another’s eye would be a great time to bring in a 2 X 4 and a little sliver and visually show people the absurdity of that action. A sermon on reaching the world for Christ might be a time to bring in a large world map or globe to point out some of the least reached areas of the world.

Models

This past Sunday I asked my wife, and she agreed, to be a model for me. I am preaching through Colossians, and we were in chapter 3 where Paul writes to the church in Colossae about how to dress as a believer. He specifically talks about “getting rid”, and “putting off”, and “stripping away” certain things. Then he twice says “clothe yourself with” something.

I had my wife put on an old T-shirt over her clothes. Then, after reading the scripture, invited people from the congregation to shout out all the things that were of the old life and were to be put off. As they listed the items from the scripture, I had preprinted words and phrases that I taped to this T-shirt. When they were all taped onto her T-shirt I reminded them that verse 5 talks about “putting to death” the things of the old life. So I picked up a pair of scissors and cut the shirt off of her and through it on the ground. That has now been put to death.

Then I had her put on a suit jacket of mine. Now we continued in the scripture and as they called out the things that we are to “clothe” ourselves with, I taped those words and phrases onto the suit jacket. Once she was wearing all the good things, I had her walk around as if she was a runway model, displaying all the things Paul was telling us to “put on”. I concluded by pointing out how Paul finishes that section by telling us to do all we do for the glory of God. The New Living Translation says we are to be good representatives of Christ in all we do. We are like a model, continually displaying what a Christian should be like. I pointed out that this was not “Dress to Impress”, but “Dress to Express”. We are to put on the things of Christ to show the world what Christ is like.

Look for ways to occasionally bring in a visual to aid your sermon. There will definitely be some who appreciate your efforts.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Book Reviews: Andy’s 2023 Reading Experience

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I will be sharing a brief review of every book I read this year. Hope you enjoy and hope it encourages you to keep reading.

LIVE LIKE JESUS: Discover the power and impact of your true identity – by Putty Putman

Live Like Jesus: Discover the power & impact of your true identity, by Putty Putman

This is one of the best books I have read on the reality of our life in Christ. Putman asks questions and looks for answers that many Christians are afraid to ask. He does a good job asking questions that make a person think, and thus find answers that the average person is not looking for. If you want to be challenged in your walk with Jesus, this is the book you need to read.

Book Reviews: Andy’s 2023 Reading Experience

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I will be sharing a brief review of every book I read this year. Hope you enjoy and hope it encourages you to keep reading.

STARTING AGAIN WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP – by John F. Westfall

In Starting Again When You Feel Like Giving Up, John F. Westfall addresses the issue of feeling life has gone in such a terrible direction that it is sometimes hard to get back up. Life can be disappointing and disheartening when things go wrong and our goals are not achieved. I appreciate how, as he encourages the ones trying to get up, he addresses risk. Here are a healthy risks he thinks are worth taking. He expounds on the following:

  1. Risk getting turned down.
  2. Risk failing.
  3. Risk being misunderstood.
  4. Risk saying, “I love you”.
  5. Risk being yourself.
  6. Risk not being good enough.
  7. Risk being good enough.
  8. Risk getting hurt.

This might be just the book if you are struggling and trying to get back up again.