Pastor John Atkinson

Repentance

Yesterday Bil laid a big time challenge on the Management Staff. He challenged us to a "season of repentance." You can see his post about it on his blog. Bil wasn't talking about us going home tonight and asking God to forgive us for the general sins of pride, self righteousness, lust etc. He asked us to open our hearts to God and ask Him to reveal the specific sin in our lives that we may not have dealt with. The thought of taking that kind of challenge should scare pretty much everybody.

Why is it so hard for us to open up the darkest parts of our hearts and let the sin get out in the open where it can be dealt with once and for all? Here's some reasons that probably run through our heads.

1. Because it's  painful to deal with, so why not just leave it buried.

2. If I reveal it, it will hurt someone I care about.

3. If I reveal it, I may get fired.

4. If I reveal it, the world will know I'm not really who I've portrayed myself to be.

5. And the most harmful one, I don't think there's really anything to pull out.

So why should we take the sin out and deal with it in spite of the things above?

1. Because the pain that you had to endure to pull the sin out, pales in comparison to the lifelong pain caused by unresolved sin.

2. Because your lies may actually be hurting someone you love more than the truth would.

3. Because living a life of integrity in God's eyes is more important than a job.

4. Because you'll waste your life working on the image you want the world to have, of you, and miss God's purpose, for you.

5. Because we all have sin buried whether we want to admit it or not, and that unresolved sin will ultimately destroy everything in our lives. I can speak to this one personally because I lived it out for 37 years before this exact thing happened to my life.

Unresolved sin is like a computer virus, it's hidden deep down inside, and it's slowly destroying the hard drive of your life. Yes it will be painful to take out, but not as painful as it will be if you don't.

Check out Larry's blog where we've been doing a Q&A on Relational Leadership this week. Today I answered this question; how important is Relational Leadership in Coaching?

John

Relational Leadership Question Pt 2

We are continuing with the discussion on Relational Leadership on my pastor bud Larry's blog. Check out how I answered this question.

What would you say are the keys to Relational Leadership building amongst a team?

Hope you're enjoying this exercise. Join the discussion on Larry's blog. It would be great to hear from some BAF folks.

John

Relational Leadership Questions Pt 1

Last week I told you I had answered 5 questions on Relational Leadership for a pastor bud of mine. Today on his blog he has the first question and my answer.

What is Relational Leadership?

You can find my answer on his blog.

Andy, Rick, Bill, Craig, TD, Ed, and Joel, were busy so Larry asked me. If you're in ministry you'll know who these people are and therefore get the joke.

John