Leading Together with Merle & Cheree Shenk

Hello friends! Today we are going to talk about what it looks like to steward prophetic promises and walk by faith. It is all part of the journey of learning to walk with Jesus, and simply listen and obey His voice. We hope this message is an encouragement to you!

-Merle & Cheree

Resources Mentioned in Today's Podcast:

Our Story – Tools that Marked our Ministry

This week we share on the importance of have people who can speak into your life and the value of investing in relationships by being open and vulnerable. We share how this resulted in breakthroughs in our lives. We also talked about growing in how to lead through conflict and high stakes conversations that everyone faces in some way or another, but especially people in leadership. We share a key tool that helped us grow in the area of having crucial conversations. We also talk about how our discipleship and outreach ministries were changed when we learned about Discovery Bible Studies.  We share all this and more in this week's podcast conversation.

Resources Mentioned:

Our Story —Growing in Leadership 

In today’s podcast, we are share part of what felt like the unglamorous and challenging seasons in ministry, when we felt stuck, isolated, and like we were carrying a heavy weight alone as we were leading and were pastoring a church. Many pastors will relate to these years of struggle in ministry. 

We talk about what it was like to lead, when God gives you a picture of a Vision and you are plowing to see that happen. And how it takes years of serving and sowing, in trial and error, and that this wrestle is not in vain. So don’t stop or quit in the season of pressure, or in the wrestling season. God is developing growth and capacity in you, as you learn and grow in leadership. And that even if it doesn’t look the way you expected it to look—that maybe in sharing our story, you will realize that this is part of the process. It doesn’t mean that this happens without the process of us being poured out in our own lives. We grow and become better leaders, we grow in our skills, by sowing into the Kingdom. And even if it doesn’t look like the journey that you expected it to look like, our job is not to give the increase. God gives the increase. Our job is to be faithful servants, to what God has called us to do. So if you are supposed to disciple, mentor, pastor, minister, pioneer…..in order to be successful, you need to be obedient. Sometimes obedience means, not quitting, and following the last instruction of your Father. 

 Notes from Today’s Podcast:

1.     Believe and pray persistently, for refreshing and encouraging relationships for yourself and your children.

2.     The Value of Catalyst Relationships—you can do so much more in synergistic relationships and with a team then you can do alone.

3.     Don’t despise the small beginnings, and the work of prayer and praise in the small place.

4.     Processing when people you love, leave your ministry and feel called elsewhere.

5.     Learning healthy cycles of rest and disengagement.

• You have to do more of what fills you, than what drains you in the tension of the business of life. Because when life is draining and stressful, most people tend to cut out the things that fill you up. And this scenario, left long enough, can lead to burn out. 

6.     Celebrating what God has done, with your team.  Honoring those walking with you, appreciating and encouraging them. Look for opportunities to celebrate together!

7.     Developing in leadership

• Cultivating Buy-in vs Agreement when vision casting
• Put the vision to Paper! Habukuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision and make it plain….that he may run that reads it.” 
• Communicating vs assuming that those you lead will somehow understand what you see as a leader
• Creating a Strategic Leadership Vacume, by not trying to meet all the needs ourselves: and allowing others to see a need, and use their gifts to meet needs in the ministry. 

8.     Sometimes obedience means, not quitting, and following the last instruction of your Father.  We can be committed and work with all our heart, but remember not to fall into striving and allowing God to bring the increase in His timing.

Book Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast: