Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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You Can Lead with Influence

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Innovate 4 Jesus recently re-published my article “You Can Lead with Influence.”

When a teacher has influence, students seek a relationship outside of class and ask advice on topics outside of the curriculum. When a manager has influence, employees pitch in on projects without being asked. When a pastor has influence, Christians find any excuse to join his Sunday morning coffee hour conversations. When an older sibling has influence, the closeness lasts well into adulthood. In each case, we follow influential leaders, not because we have to, but because we want to.

An aspiring leader might start off with this vision for influence, but over time the rookie’s eagerness can fade into a fog of authority and experience. Experience assures the leader that entrenched behaviors can’t be broken, touchy people need more leeway, and elder meetings must be boring. Thus, forfeiting influence, the former idealist starts to rely on his own authority to get results.

Consider the difference between authority and influence in this simple illustration. An authoritative parent might compel his teenager to keep her curfew. But only an influential parent can trust his daughter won’t sneak out when he’s asleep.
The article goes on to explain from 1 Thessalonians how the recipe of influence has two key ingredients: humility and hope.
Check it out!

Leading with Influence Live Show

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Join me this Tuesday, August 5, (11 PDT / 2 EDT) for a live show on Innovate 4 Jesus as I join Chris Hogan, Joshua Reich, and host Justin Blaney to discuss leading with influence.

Do you have questions about leadership and influence? Tweet your questions with #I4JLIVE or comment on the blog post here: www.i4j.org/lead. We’ll be taking questions from right now until Tuesday’s show!

To jog your thinking, you may want to check out the article I wrote for The Gospel Coalition about 1 Thessalonians and how Paul led with influence.

You Can Lead with Influence

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Gospel CoalitionOver the last few months, I’ve written about how Proverbs helps us to gain not only a godly perspective on our own lives but also the influence required to lead others. Last week, The Gospel Coalition published a guest post I wrote on the topic of influence.

Paul’s recipe for influence was simple. It had two primary ingredients: hope and humility.

Paul divulges these not-so-secret keys to influential ministry in chapters 2 and 3 of 1 Thessalonians.

Humility means caring more about others than about yourself. It means being honest about your need for grace. It means refusing to trample others on the way to your own success or personal fulfillment….

Hope means believing God is at work through Christ, so anything can change for the better. It means approaching others’ sin with patience rather than anger and refusing to complain about everything that’s wrong with the world, instead thanking God for what’s still right. It means being honest about difficult things while remaining confident God will use them for good.

For a more detailed look at humility and hope, see the Proverbs series on this site. For a more condensed look at Paul’s employment of these traits in 1 Thessalonians, see the Gospel Coalition post.

Check it out!

Question: What other ingredients have you found to build influence in your leadership of others?

How to Win Your City

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Knowable Word LogoThe Gospel Coalition recently published a guest post I wrote called “How to Win Your City.” It’s a study of Daniel 1, explaining how to live as strangers and exiles in our communities.

World-changers are a rare breed. But they don’t have to be. If displaced youths can revolutionize the kingdoms of the earth in God’s name, you and I can transform our communities with the gospel.

Consider the year 605 B.C., as the nation of Judah is losing power and significance. Babylon rules the world, with Nebuchadnezzar as king and general.

Then the unthinkable happens. Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem, and the city falls because God hands it over to him. Thus begins the book of Daniel: clarifying who truly controls the situation, thereby revealing Daniel’s secret confidence that inspires him in three key world-changing behaviors. Since he knows God rules all earthly kingdoms, he can settle down, start small, and win big.

Please check out the full article!

Why Should You Read this Blog?

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When God sets everything on fire, two things will endure: his Word and his people. I want to invest my efforts there, and I hope you do too. I’m sure it will be worth it. Sort of like those who put their money in Apple stock all those years ago, but even better.

Many online resources excel at teaching what the Bible says. What makes this site unique is that I want to help you learn how to study the Bible. God’s Word is a Knowable Word.

I don’t want to give you great Bible studies; I want to help you become great Bible studiers.

I don’t want to publish a Sunday School curriculum; I want to train skilled Sunday School teachers.

I don’t want to tell you what to think or do; I urge you to trace every thought and action from the text of Scripture.

I don’t just want to influence you for Christ; I want you to influence your world for Christ.

In fact, I don’t just want you to influence your world for Christ; I want you to teach others to influence their world for Christ.

Everything on this blog aims for this purpose: to help you understand the Knowable Word, be changed by Him, and teach others to do the same.

I strive to be:

  1. Clear – written in plain language for ordinary people. The epistemological and hermeneutic nomenclature ought never obfuscate either our ecclesiological praxis or the post-diluvian orthographic transmittal and its linguistic ramifications for the faith community. In other words, I’ll do my best to avoid too much technical Christianese jargon.
  2. Accurate – true to the text. I believe God has communicated to us through the Bible, and we can understand him rightly only when we understand the text rightly. I’ll focus on the main points of passages rather than on minor sub-points, personal feelings, or preconceptions. Guest bloggers might even disagree with each other on some points, but we all agree to submit to the clear teaching of the Knowable Word.
  3. Imitable – I want you to try this at home. I hope you’ll imitate me as I imitate Jesus, who knew the Word because He Himself was the Knowable Word. Those who know Him represent Him. I’d like readers to respond more often with “I can do this, too” than with “That was an awesome post!” Please let me know if you ever have trouble identifying how I did what I did.

Jesus promised that knowing Him is eternal life. He’s made Himself available to ordinary folk like us. Would you join me for the ride?