Leaders Retreat Presentation June 19, 2010: Specific Mindset, a New Way of Thinking (Part 1)
Dr. Roberto Miranda
(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY: The speaker discusses the importance of having a specific mentality or mindset when approaching challenges and tasks in life. This mentality involves strategic thinking, planning, and a scientific approach to problem-solving. The speaker notes that many Christians may not have had the opportunity to develop this mentality without rigorous academic preparation, but it can be acquired over time. The speaker also references the story of the unfaithful steward in Luke 16:1-9, where the master praises the steward's shrewdness in dealing with his situation. The speaker emphasizes the need to think in a way that aligns with the challenges and complexities of the 21st century in order to achieve excellence and effectiveness.
The parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16:1-13 highlights the importance of strategic, specific, and systematic thinking and planning. The Lord praises the steward for his way of thinking, not his lack of honesty. This mentality is characteristic of secular, non-spiritual rational people, who control all other worlds of culture through money. However, this way of thinking seems to be in conflict with the supernatural or spiritual mentality that believers subscribe to. The Church must learn and cultivate this way of thinking while not neglecting the spiritual dimension. The Church moves on the margins of power and influence because it resists this strategic, entrepreneurial mentality. The secular world manipulates the evangelical vote because of their strategic thinking, while the Church lives in a parallel world. It is complex to change the culture, but the Church must operate in that way.
The speaker discusses the importance of adopting a strategic business mentality in order to effectively change culture and conquer the world for Christ. They reference James Davison Hunter's book "To Change the Culture" and argue that although changing culture is complex, it is necessary for Christians to learn how to operate with a strategic mindset in order to make an impact in the world. They use the parable of the talents and the story of Nehemiah as examples of this strategic thinking and discuss the importance of having a clear goal and specific actions to achieve it. They emphasize the need for efficiency, organization, and discipline in ministry and suggest that spiritual people may not appear spiritual but are effective in their actions.
The Book of Nehemiah in the Bible is a great example of a strategic, specific, and scientific way of thinking that Christians need to cultivate for excellence, productivity, and effectiveness in the complex and challenging world we live in. Nehemiah's detailed planning, reconnaissance, diagnosis of reality, development of strategy, infectious leadership, and delegation of tasks led to the successful rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem despite opposition and difficulties. Christians should not see this mindset as contradicting the supernatural, but rather complementing and enriching it. It should become a personal philosophy of life that determines every action and decision.
The parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16:1-13 highlights the importance of strategic, specific, and systematic thinking and planning. The Lord praises the steward for his way of thinking, not his lack of honesty. This mentality is characteristic of secular, non-spiritual rational people, who control all other worlds of culture through money. However, this way of thinking seems to be in conflict with the supernatural or spiritual mentality that believers subscribe to. The Church must learn and cultivate this way of thinking while not neglecting the spiritual dimension. The Church moves on the margins of power and influence because it resists this strategic, entrepreneurial mentality. The secular world manipulates the evangelical vote because of their strategic thinking, while the Church lives in a parallel world. It is complex to change the culture, but the Church must operate in that way.
The speaker discusses the importance of adopting a strategic business mentality in order to effectively change culture and conquer the world for Christ. They reference James Davison Hunter's book "To Change the Culture" and argue that although changing culture is complex, it is necessary for Christians to learn how to operate with a strategic mindset in order to make an impact in the world. They use the parable of the talents and the story of Nehemiah as examples of this strategic thinking and discuss the importance of having a clear goal and specific actions to achieve it. They emphasize the need for efficiency, organization, and discipline in ministry and suggest that spiritual people may not appear spiritual but are effective in their actions.
The Book of Nehemiah in the Bible is a great example of a strategic, specific, and scientific way of thinking that Christians need to cultivate for excellence, productivity, and effectiveness in the complex and challenging world we live in. Nehemiah's detailed planning, reconnaissance, diagnosis of reality, development of strategy, infectious leadership, and delegation of tasks led to the successful rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem despite opposition and difficulties. Christians should not see this mindset as contradicting the supernatural, but rather complementing and enriching it. It should become a personal philosophy of life that determines every action and decision.
We are here this morning precisely because we want to improve our performance as leaders, we want to improve our performance as a congregation, as a church, as ministries to which we belong, we want to exalt or raise the level of our leadership, and we also want to live a life of excellence. Because after all these principles apply to the way we live our lives. And from there, then, the other implications of that mentality of which I want to speak emerge.
My purpose this morning is to alert all of us to the importance of a type of thinking, what I would call a mindset, some would say a mental model, others would say perspective, others would call it a life stance; a way of approaching life situations, life challenges, problems, ministry challenges. It can refer from how to solve the problems of my emotional life, the hurts of the past, how to approach the structural problems that exist in my marriage, how to be a better professional, how to be a better housewife.
My purpose this morning is to alert all of us to the importance of a type of thinking, what I would call a mindset, some would say a mental model, others would say perspective, others would call it a life stance; a way of approaching life situations, life challenges, problems, ministry challenges. It can refer from how to solve the problems of my emotional life, the hurts of the past, how to approach the structural problems that exist in my marriage, how to be a better professional, how to be a better housewife.
