Wow. Doug fields just gave my favorite message of Orange so far, I absolutely loved it, and hope and pray Orange will do what it takes to get him back in 2012 for a third year.
This morning he talked about the importance of being a spotlight leader, that really there are all kinds of leaders out there, you can be an Orange Leader, a Transformative leader, a Simple Leader, whatever. But however you choose to classify yourself, make the distinction of being a spotlight leader.
A spotlight leader, as Doug put it, is someone who is pushing others into the spotlight. All leaders deal with the spotlight, but some push others in while more push others out. Doug broke it down that a spotlight leader is 3 things |
1 | A spotlight Leader is Secure … Doug told of when he was first writing Purpose Driven Youth Ministry and gave a copy to Jim Burns to review and tell him he was done so he could stop with the inner turmoil of trying to write. But Jim told him he wasn’t done, and that if he stopped writing now without improving, Doug would be letting Jim down. In essence, Doug told us, Purpose Driven Youth Ministry is the success of a book that it is today because there was a leader behind it who didn’t worry about protecting his own kingdom, but made the conscious decision to put others in the spotlight, even at their own expense, for the greater good of Christ’s kingdom. A major problem today is in this crazy subculture of church leadership, we have bought into the myth that bigger is better, and insecure people want to be better, so they strive to be bigger, far too often at the expense of others.
2 | A spotlight Leader Searches… Doug told another story about his skin cancer, and how often he has to go to the dermatologist to have every square inch of his skin examined by this man , while close by a lady sits drawing every flaw the doctor finds on a rendering of Doug’s body, and really just how crazy awkward it is, but by doing that the dermatologist is saving Doug’s life. Similarly, a spotlight leader scopes out his sphere of interest looking for whats good, and then looks for how it can become better. The next little part of what he said is SO HUGE for all leaders, and for me, it totally resonated, and if you’re in ministry, you more than likely will find truth in this as well. But he talked about how a detailed scope by a spotlight leader may not Save lives like the dermatologist, but it will Make people come alive.
when you’re a spotlight leader, you not only change that person’s life, you change their family.