John Stanko

“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’" - Acts 7:23-26.

Moses knew he was the rescuer of Israel. In Moses' younger days, however, he was full of himself and his own ways. Just in these few verses, we see that Moses decided, went, avenged, killed, thought, came upon, tried to reconcile, and spoke. Moses was trying to save the world, or at least the Israelites, in his own power. When he killed the Egyptian, perhaps he thought, "One down, three million to go!" God had to take Moses on the backside of the desert for 40 years to deliver Moses from himself. When God was finished, Moses did not even want to return to Egypt, let alone lead. Leaders must be set free from themselves if they are going to do great things, and sometimes God must remove them from leadership in order for them to have time to develop and become great leaders.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Are you removed from power or not at the leadership place you thought you would be at this point in your life? Your Step today is to map out a personal development plan or to reevaluate the one you currently have. That plan should include reading, education, new skills, respect for others in authority, journaling, self-reflection, and Bible study. Evaluate yourself in each of those areas (1 is poor to 5 is excellent) and set a course to improve and develop.

"Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action" - Acts 7:22.

Moses' foundation for leadership was his education; later on in life, God worked on his character. Yet without a doubt, he went to the finest schools and had the best teachers in preparation for what his foster mother assumed was a bright future in Egypt. Leaders cannot ignore their need for training and education, for leadership requires specific knowledge about the discipline in which they lead (banking, education, and the like) as well as a self-awareness that enables leaders to know their strengths and in what scenario they function best.

LEADERSHIP STEP: You cannot ignore your need for further education any longer. Today conduct a search of available programs in or out of your country (or online) without judging whether or not you can afford the time or money. Just do the research. Once you find one, how can you participate? Perhaps a summer program, an intensive seminar, or Saturday classes are possible. You need to make a significant investment in yourself, which will pay dividends to your leadership effectiveness for years to come. The time is now.

"The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service" - Daniel 1:5.

Daniel was taken from the security and comfort of his Judean homeland and forced to enroll at Babylon University, where he was given a new name and had to learn a new culture, including language, customs, currency, property rights, and religious practices. This was part of his preparation to lead in Babylon and God was the One who chose his course of study. Leaders must give themselves to education and training, and that is a lifelong experience and practice. Without this, there is no growth and consequently those leaders will not be able to lead effectively or embrace new initiatives or face complex challenges.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Think about your personal development plan to prepare for the future. Does that plan include more education? What is stopping you from pursuing that education? Today, pretend like you have all the money and time you need; then decide where you would go to obtain this education and training. Once you decide that, begin to research how that can happen. Don't assume it's impossible; work to prove that it is possible and it will happen.

"You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy" - Hebrews 1:9.

It is interesting that Jesus was anointed with oil, not of power or goodness or miracles, but of joy. It was joy that motivated and directed Him to activities where He was most productive. An anointing produces noticeable, even spectacular or supernatural results. Leaders are called upon to do many things, but they must and should focus as much as possible on whatever it is they do best, and that 'best' is often related to their joy—whether it is people, marketing, fundraising, innovation or team building. When leaders do this, they can then release others to do the same, thus building strong teams that all function in their strengths, producing good if not exceptional results.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Are you in touch with your joy? Your step today is to carry a notebook with you to keep track of what gives you joy throughout the day. It may be your staff meeting, a press conference, an interview, or an interaction with an employee or team member. When you have a few days of 'joys' collected, study the list to see what you learn and then determine how you can do more of what it is you truly enjoy doing and how that can help your organization.

"Do you see someone skilled in their work?
    They will serve before kings;
    they will not serve before officials of low rank" - Proverbs 22:29.

Success is no accident nor is promotion always a political or random act. God does not promote leaders with potential. He promotes people who have worked hard to develop the potential that He assigned them. That development is referred to as personal or professional growth, and takes place through practice, training, education, mistakes, learning from the mistakes and more practice. This produces what's called skill and customers and companies pay for skill with money, and the leaders who develop it earn a reputation that leads to more promotion and a bigger following.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Obtaining skill is never random. It requires focus, a plan, diligence and time. Author Malcolm Gladwell maintains that it requires 10,000 hours of effort to become an expert in anything, and expert is another word for skilled. Forgetting how young or old you are, into what area of work (or play) do you desire to invest 10,000 hours? How many years will this require? What activities will fill those 10,000 hours? What will you do when you have finished?

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" - 2 Peter 1:5-8.

When leaders stop growing, their leadership effectiveness diminishes over time. Then leaders start to rely on their past accomplishments or their leadership power to establish or maintain leadership. The four keys words in this passage are 'effort,' 'increasing,' 'ineffective,' and 'unproductive.' You must make every effort as a leader to grow, which means that personal development must be among your top priorities. Done properly, your effort will help you be both effective and productive as a leader. In other words, you will do right things and do them well.

LEADERSHIP STEP: What is your plan for personal and professional development? What classes are you taking? What books are you reading? What seminars do you plan to attend? What new skills are you developing? Give some thought to these questions today and then map out a plan for the coming year that will enable you to grow with a view toward being effective and productive.

As you approach the New Year, what are you prepared to do about your purpose progress?  To help you, I am reviving my PurposeCoach program of a few years ago, which was quite cumbersome to ship and manage.  Now I have digitized everything so that we can work together via email and Internet.

The PurposeCoach program involves six months of reading and study to help you find and fulfill your purpose, just like Erna did on her own. The cost is $199 but I am offering a half-price sale during January of just $99.  Once you pay, you will receive once a month for six months audio and reading purpose resources. You will also be able to communicate with me via email to get the help you need and, who knows, perhaps some face-to-face coaching, depending on where you live.

You can pay for your PurposeCoach Program via Paypal or by sending a check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 8881, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0881. Make the investment in your life today. Happy New Year to you and may it be the most purposeful ever!

Last week I had a one-on-one with a person here in Kenya to talk about purpose. Here is the feedback this person sent me this morning:

"Meeting you was life-changing and the morning of 20/8 will be forever etched in my memory. I can only thank God who made it possible and do my best to develop my full potential. It's hard but I am certainly going to do the best I can. I pray the God will continue to use you to transform many more lives as you have mine."

This is why I do what I do. I have worked the last 20 years to become the best I can be at what I do, and God has helped me. Now I pray He will help me multiply my effectiveness as I work to set His people free from their old thinking and limitations. How about you?  Are you ready to change and move on?

This is why I believe God is opening more doors for me in media, so that the purpose message can reach and touch more people. I am available and ready; His will be done.

Also, if you are interested in the progress of the library we help found here in Kenya, you can see the pictures from my visit here.  This is just another example of more good stuff happening here.

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REMEMBER KENYA:  I will be a guest on Easy FM Wednesday morning at 10 AM.  Please listen in!

I recently went to Seattle for a week's training at The Pacific Institute. I struggled with being away from my duties back home especially since I had just come back from Kenya.  Yet I knew in my heart I was supposed to go, and God opened the door for me to do so.

While I was there, I met many new people.  On the last day, I was talking with a man from Colorado, who gave me the title of a book that I just had to read - according to him. I wrote the book down to research it, only to discover that I had the book and had met the author in Zimbabwe (Dr. Caroline Leaf).  I won't go into the details of the book just yet, but I have started to read it and it is very helpful.

My point is that the trip to Seattle was worth it just to find and reconnect with that author and her book! That made me think of Proverbs 2:2-5:

¹ My son, if you accept my words
   and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
   and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
   and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
   and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
   and find the knowledge of God.

To get wisdom, you have to search, dig, cry aloud, look, and call out. Those words are anything but passive! What are you doing to gain insight and to grow?  What price are you willing to pay? I want to grow and help others grow.  If that is my objective, what price is too high to change or save a life from the doldrums of mediocrity, produced by fear and bad thinking?

What is in your heart that you have not done that you need to do, something that will contribute to your growth?  What is stopping you from going for it? I turned 62 last week and have no idea how many days I have remaining.  That is why I want to make each one of them count for something.  I am determined to follow my heart where it leads me, trusting that God has shaped and molded that heart to follow after Him and His desires for my life.  That trust led me to Seattle and I encountered Him in many ways, but especially on the last day when a man I met for the first time directed me to a valuable work that will add more value to my valuable work. I want the same dynamic present in your life.

In preparing my biweekly Bible study from Philippians, I ran across a list of ten ways to deny or humble yourself that I found a number of years ago.  This list is so practical and relevant that I thought I would share it with you.  Which ones have you perfected and which ones need some work?

1.     Not being hurt or insulted when forgotten.

2.     Not being angry when misunderstood.

3.     Not becoming defensive when someone disregards your advice/opinion.

4.     Lovingly and patiently bearing any disorder.

5.     Confront insensitivity in others with love and without being judgmental.

6.     Being content with food, income, clothing, climate, service and disruptions.

7.     Not always referring to yourself in conversation.

8.     Loving to be unknown and unrecognized.

9.     Rejoicing in others’ prosperity when your needs in that very area are more desperate than theirs.

10.  Approaching life with a general focus on the well-being of others.