Doing Marriage Right

If there is one thing we all want to get right it's our marriage. Whether you're single, dating, or already married this 3-week seminar is meant to help you succeed in your relationship.

Starts Thursday, February 11 @ 8pm

Ready

For those of you who may not know, I live in the city of Doral and anyone who knows Doral knows that it is a city surrounded by golf courses. So, every day, when I go out to walk my dog, Dino, I usually come back with two or three golf balls. One day my wife asked me, why is it that when I walk the dog I never find any golf balls? I asked her, do you look for them? She said, no. I answered that’s why you never find them. The next time she walked the dog she came back and said, honey, I found four golf balls. I asked her, how did you find them? She replied: I looked for them.

Every leader is unique, but every leader has the same goal. Leaders all share a desire to progress and to reach their distinctive goals. But let’s face it no matter how good a leader you are, a successful leader understands that having good luck is part of the equation. That sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. In leadership, good luck is what happens when readiness meets opportunities. But if good luck knocks at your door and you’re not ready, it’s too late to get ready. Since we don’t know when opportunity will knock at our door, we must be ready with the necessary tools and skills to meet opportunity.

Our goal at CDA Miami is to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus. My goal is to make sure that each one of our leaders, in spite of their unique duties and responsibilities, understands that a big part of our success is being prepared to meet the opportunities that may come our way. That is why as CDA Leaders we ask you to be ready by:

Committing to regular and timely attendance

Regular and timely attendance is extremely important. It doesn’t matter how gifted or talented you are, if you’re not present and on time, the opportunity will pass you by. Regular and timely attendance is like finding golf balls, you have to look for them. More than likely you won’t find golf balls in church but you will encounter people who you could help lead in a growing relationship with Jesus. The problem is you never know when an opportunity might present itself. It’s like the parable Jesus told of the two groups of ten virgins, ten were ready but the other ten were not. Ten of them were blessed, while the other ten were not ready and at the last minute they sought to prepare themselves but it was too late.

Committing to come ready

Regular attendance and timeliness are just one step towards readiness. We must also come prepared. Our “Worth It” principles are the core values that allow us to meet any opportunity that might present itself. The more familiar we are with them, the better prepared we’ll be to take advantage of the opportunities.

Committed to looking for opportunities

The fact that you show up on time does not mean that opportunities will fall on your lap. Sometimes you have to look for them. We should never be so busy that we’re walking right by opportunities without noticing them. My wife walked the same route I walked but never found a single golf ball. But once she began to look for them, she found them. You may not see any opportunities, but believe me, you walk by them every day. Jesus said, seek and you will find.

Committed to creating opportunities

Usually, on Sundays, I’m responsible for sharing the Word. But the Sundays that I can just sit down and receive, I’m searching the room looking for opportunities I otherwise could have not taken advantage of because I was preaching. If I don’t find any opportunity then I look around the room to create one. In the parable of the sower, a farmer went out to sow seeds. But this farmer was peculiar in that he sowed seeds where ever he went; some on the road, others in rocky places, some in shallow ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil. The sower understood that the good soil would produce the good fruit, but nonetheless, he sought out opportunities wherever he went. The truth is you never know what God can do.

Committed to taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves

My prayer is that our CDA leaders would always be committed to regular and timely attendance, to being ready, to looking for opportunities, or looking to create opportunities. But more importantly, I pray that they’d be committed to never letting an opportunity pass them by.

Pastor Bobby Cruz Jr

Humility

The leader’s passion and goal is to succeed; to make things better and to do them better. The most effective leaders are not motivated by glory, they’re motivated by progress. Research shows that the most successful leaders are humble leaders. Humble leaders have more, influence, they attract more followers, they earn more loyalty, confidence, respect and achieve more progress than those who rely upon their pride. It’s interesting that when we think of great leadership qualities usually the first thing that comes to mind are talents, abilities, charisma and tenacity. But the truth is that humble leaders are the most effective leaders.

The Humble Leader

The great Martin Luther once said, “If you have nothing worth dying for, you’ve got nothing worth living for.” A humble leader is always driven by a cause or purpose greater than him or herself. A cause and a purpose that the leader is not only willing to live for but also to live out his or her life for. No other leader exemplifies humble leadership more than Jesus Christ. It was his greatest asset. When the Apostle Paul summed up Jesus’ life and ministry the attribute that he found most impressive was not Jesus’ knowledge or miracle-working power. The attribute that most impressed Paul was Jesus’ humility.

The Apostle Paul: ” (Jesus) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name …” - Philippians 2:6-9 NIV

Becoming a Humble Leader

As leaders the apostle Paul commands us; “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…” – Philippians 2:3-5 NIV

No matter how gifted or talented you are you’ll not achieve your fullest potential as a leader without developing a humble attitude. Here are some mindsets you can make a part of your leadership practices that will turn you into a humble leader.

Humble leaders have a serving attitude. They understand that the key to successful leadership is to possess the ability to influence others. They understand that influence increases or decreases according to the level of the relationship. The weaker the relationship the weaker the ability to influence. The stronger the relationship the greater the ability to influence. Humble leaders understand that the best way to build a strong relationship is by seeking opportunities to serve others. The better you serve, the better the relationship. The better the relationship, the more the influence. The more the influence, the greater the leadership success

Humble leaders have an attitude of appreciation. They understand that people are more productive when their work is appreciated. In a recent study, a researcher randomly divided university fund-raiser employees into two groups. Each group worked independently of the other. The researcher instructed the director of fund-raising to express gratitude to one group and not to the other. By week’s end, the workers who had heard the message of appreciation made 50% more calls than those who did not.

Humble leaders have a work-on-themselves-first attitude. They understand that humility leads to growth and that arrogance is an impediment to growth. Arrogant leaders love to work on others. But humble leaders prioritize working on themselves first. And working on themselves more than they work on others. They understand that the better they become as leaders, the better the people around them will become.

As a leader ask yourself:

1. How can you best serve the people you lead?

2. Are you consistently expressing your appreciation to those you lead? How can you specifically express appreciation to them?

3. What have you done to better yourself as a leader over the previous 90 days?

January 2019 | Better

Those of us, who are privileged to have been called to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus, should hold a relentless commitment to doing things better. Doing things well should not be the goal, doing things better is what we should strive for. As leaders, there’s always room for improvement, and the urgency of our mission demands that we do nothing less than our very best.

BETTER YOURSELF

Often times leaders feel that they’re doing a good enough job therefore they don’t see the need to change. As leaders just as in life, if you’re not getting better at what you do eventually you’ll begin to fall behind. Progress and growth require that you better yourself.

If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.

— Ecclesiastes 10:10 NLT

Leaders are fueled by a desire to succeed. Success is the product of developing and sharpening the necessary skills to fulfill our mission. Here are some basic but fundamental and important tips that will help sharpen your skills and lead you to become a more effective leader.

BETTER YOURSELF PHYSICALLY

Most people do not take into account the impact of their health on their leadership until their health begins to fail them. The irony is that most illnesses are preventable. The problem is that good health requires that you eat right and exercise at least 30 minutes five times a week. Leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus is not a sprint but rather a lifelong process and the healthier you are the farther you’ll get.

For physical training is of some value …

— 1 Timothy 4:8 NIV

BETTER YOURSELF SPIRITUALLY

It’s nearly impossible to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus if we ourselves don’t maintain a consistent relationship with him. It was Jesus himself who said, “without me you can’t do anything” and it was the Apostle Paul who said, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me”. Studying the word of God and praying should be a daily routine in our lives.

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

— 1 Timothy 4:8 NIV

BETTER YOURSELF MENTALLY

Leaders understand that results are preceded by actions and that actions are preceded by their thoughts. They understand that the right thoughts will lead to the right actions that produce successful results. But they also understand that feeding ill-conceived thoughts will result in ill-conceived results.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

— 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

BETTER YOURSELF SOCIALLY

Leadership is all about influence. Our ability to lead people will be determined by our ability to influence them. The better we become socially, the more successful we’ll become in leading them. The better the relationship the stronger the influence.

BETTER YOURSELF THROUGH EVALUATION

Evaluate your leadership; experience alone doesn’t make you better. It’s your evaluated experience that will make you a better leader.

• ASK “WHY” WHEN THINGS GO WRONG.

• ASK “WHY” WHEN THINGS GO RIGHT.

• NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS ALWAYS ASK, “HOW CAN I DO IT BETTER?”