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Key Bible Verse: You must teach these things and encourage your people to do them, correcting them when necessary (Titus 2:15). Bonus Reading: Titus 2:7-8

North Hills Church in Lingle, Wyoming, population 473, was my first pastorate. Every program I initiated fell flat. But then the need to build a facility for our youth required me to cast the vision. In the end, it wasn't my programs or training that did the trick. It was the cup of coffee at the café, a living room conversation about giving faithfully, or riding in a pickup across the pasture and asking, "How's your family doing?" The best opportunities to disciple our men came when we were building the facility. When we put down the hammers, break-time conversations became prime time to disciple.

Discipling people one-on-one in the area of stewardship opened them to growing in other areas, including leadership. Tom, for example, was angry when we first began. "This building is biting off more than we can chew," he said. But I encouraged him to consider stepping out in faith as vital to godly stewardship. A couple of weeks later, Tom came to me and said, "Thank you for revitalizing my walk. I'd never realized how much I was holding back from God before." Now Tom urges our congregation to single out others for prayer, evangelism, and men's ministries. He isn't "holding back" anymore.

—Brad Eakins in Leadership

My Response: One way I could informally influence a teammate is …

Thought to Apply: The transforming leader looks for potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy their higher needs, and engages the full person.—JAMES MACGREGOR BURNS

Adapted from Leadership journal (Summer/03) by permission.

Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to promote a shared vision and mesh my energies with those of others to achieve it.

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