Work with Purpose Conference | Keynote 6 | August 2024
Description
Discover what it looks like to lead by honoring the people you work for and with and hear applicable tips to practice this is every area of life. Learn more about Work with Purpose, here.
it was a Saturday we had all
been called into work so I was gathering
at our conference table I had my files
that I needed I had my computer we were
we’re getting ready for this meeting our
boss had called us in for and she came
as she always did she sat at the head of
the table and she would bring these big
binders with with all the work that we
needed and so she starts the meeting she
has these binders she has her computer
and it seemed like as soon as it started
something triggered her and she started
yelling and cussing and she shoved her
things and so as her things went our
stuff’s flying around the table and then
she just gets up and leaves
I remember
thinking th this is what I gave up my
Saturday
for and as a Believer what do I do with
that you know I I know it says in the
Bible that we need to honor
Authority but how do we do that when the
leader doesn’t deserve
it it’s because of Jesus and what he’s
done for us
us because of Jesus and what he’s done
for us Romans 58
oh Romans 58 says but God demonstrates
his own love for us in this while we
were still sinners Christ died for us
you see when we didn’t deserve it Christ
died for us when we didn’t deserve it he
died for us and his sacrificial love
should infiltrate every corner of our
lives and not only does he love us
unconditionally and
sacrificially but he equips us for each
day listen to this quote from the hidden
piece it says imagine a future you
walking into every room at work with
family and social settings with a humble
confidence formed by the Holy Spirit how
powerful and stabilizing would it feel
to be certain that regardless of any
situation you walk into positive or
negative you are connected to him his
love and his resources whatever would
happen you know in your bones God’s got
me I’m going to be okay and he will get
me through it see he equips us for each
moment of each day I think that’s been
evident over and over today that he does
that and so when we understand
that he loves us and that he equips us
we understand that there is a calling on
our life and it’s different and it’s
difficult especially when the leader
doesn’t deserve it and it’s
countercultural but because of Jesus and
what he’s done for us we we Lead Out by
honoring up and so what does that look
like first we see the value in people I
have a friend Rebecca she works for one
of the top four accounting firms and
recently she was telling me that the
fatigue that the toxic environment that
her leader had created in their work
space was so much it was starting to
impact her physically and she knew she
couldn’t go on like that so because
she’s a Believer she went away and she
started to pray and she told me that
when she started to pray
she began to see the value in her leader
she said I just somehow started
practicing empathy when I was praying
for her she said I would ask myself what
pressure might my leader be facing right
now and she said I even asked myself if
I were in her
shoes how would I want my direct reports
to treat me and then I started treating
her like that she said I prayed that the
Lord would bless her in fact that he
would bless every area of her life life
and she said I found that when I started
to pray for her success I couldn’t hate
her
anymore and she said that at the end of
their busy season her leader came up to
her and said hey you gave me a lot of
empathy and I want to thank you see her
leader saw that Rebecca cared for her
because Rebecca saw the value in her as
a person it’s a way to Lead Out by
honoring up
so what else does leading out by
honoring up look like it looks like
humbly bringing your best I love the
story of Esther in the Bible with King
Xerxes so Xerxes was a evil selfish King
he was Pagan he listened to evil people
as well hmon was one of those evil
people and hmon comes and has this idea
to kill all the Jews in the kingdom and
it almost seems like on a whim Xerxes is
like sure we’ll do that and if you look
in Esther 3:15 it says and the king and
hmon sat down to drink but the city of
Susa was thrown into confusion and when
the city was thrown into confusion we
see Esther who once doubted her identity
as a child of God it’s Esther who stands
up and she humbly brings her best to the
situation and what I love you can read
in chapter 4 it said that she fast she
prayed to God and she asked her friend
friends to pray for her and then there’s
that famous verse in in chapter 4: 16
where she says I will go to the king
even though it’s against the law and if
I die I die she humbly was bringing her
best but what I love about Esther she
brought her best strategy if you read
Esther 4-8 I think she had this divinely
inspired wisdom and social awareness
with how to interact with Xerxes she’s
so strategic if you read those four
chapters
see she plans a banquet and then she
even thinks through how she should
approach the king and she thinks through
the timing to approach the king and it’s
like that so she could get the best
response from him and those are all
strategic tips that we can use in our
workplaces today and when she does go to
the king and speaks the truth he listens
to her and reverses the law and the Jews
are saved she brought her best but may
maybe humbly bringing your best looks
like my friend Heather she owns a
Consulting business and what I’ve
watched about Heather is she brings her
best attitude and her best work she has
this one client who is just chaotic in
how they operate there’s always chaos
they don’t communicate from an outside
perspective I would think they don’t
deserve much but Heather instead has
chosen to extend Grace and care with
them in fact she told me one day she
said Lauren I just don’t enter into
their chaos I don’t enter into their
chaos but
instead I’ve watched her she brings
excellent work that’s done on time and
she doesn’t scramble see she’s leading
in a different way she’s showing them
another way to do work she humbly brings
her best and it’s a way to Lead Out by
honoring
up and then lastly speak truth I don’t
know that there’s a better story than
Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar
was another evil King he was Pagan he
had conquered Jerusalem taken captives
Daniel was one of them Nebuchadnezzar
has this
dream and it was believed that the dream
would impact the future of his kingdom
so he even had interpreters and wise
people on staff to interpret the dreams
and these people can’t do it on this one
and he threatens to kill them because
they can’t interpret the dream and again
we see a follower of God’s Step Up in
Daniel in Chapter 2 he’s so wise in his
response and it actually parallels a lot
of how Esther handled it it’s
fascinating first he asks his close
friends to pray he prays then he goes
again boldly to the king and speaks the
truth he interprets the dream he gives
credit to God and again peace in the
kingdom and we know from history that
Daniel remained a source that pointed
Nebuchadnezzar to God’s truth and later
in life Nebuchadnezzar is humbled and he
actually confesses the one true God and
my study notes in my Bible they say that
God used Daniel’s faithfulness to bring
light to Nebuchadnezzar you see an
undeserving leader came to know God’s
mercy because a follower of God was
willing to Lead Out by honoring up and
what I love about that is the god who
did that over here with Daniel
Nebuchadnezzar is the same God who’s
still working today and he wants to use
you just like he’s using my friend
Rebecca in her accounting firm just like
he used Esther just like he’s using
Heather in her Consulting business and
just like he used Daniel so Lead Out by
honoring
up this is my family Brandon my husband
our little iy Haden you can likely tell
the spicy one her name is Carolina Tate
last year we moved to Nashville we got
Haden in soccer right away and as soon
as we sign him up we get an email that
says thank you for joining your team has
no coach and I was like uh-uh this is
not on us we just moved here somebody
else needs to step up we get a second
email and a third email and so finally
Brandon my husband replies all and says
I’ve never played soccer I don’t know
how to coach soccer but if no one else
is going to volunteer I will be the
soccer coach and so you can guess
Brandon became our soccer coach so our
very first practice we’re at this park
Brandon has the guys over here they’re
practicing and there’s a playground and
Carolina Tate’s playing on the
playground and I don’t even think she’s
paying attention to what’s going on and
later that night she came up to me and
she said Mama I am just so worried and I
said what are you worried about and she
said I’m worried that Daddy doesn’t have
any idea what he’s doing as a soccer
coach and I said he
doesn’t but we’re going to figure it out
sis and so here is a picture of the blue
Predators had a really strong dut game
and so as the season goes on we get to
know these families and we learn that
some of the guys on our team are going
through hard times and Brandon every
week was fun
and loving and encouraging and I
remember huh maybe it’s bigger than the
game and then we had the really hard
loss and Brandon was lining up the guys
to go high-five the other team as you do
so Brandon’s in the lead and he’s
walking and he goes to high five the
team and what he doesn’t see is that
these cuties when they get to the
opposing team they put their hand behind
their back and refus to shake the hand
of the other team and all the the
parents are like Brandon Brandon and he
turns around and he sees it and he
immediately is like everybody everybody
get down on the knee and he’s like that
is not how you lose when you lose and
you will lose in life he’s like you hold
your head up and you respect that team
and in the moment I thought huh maybe
it’s bigger than the game because see
that’s a life lesson that a little guy
takes with him as he goes on and what I
realized is that Brandon’s purpose
was bigger than his role see his purpose
was bigger than his role of an unpaid
volunteer coach to
5-year-olds who couldn’t
win his purpose was bigger than his role
and your purpose is bigger than your
role see the Lord has called us to
follow him and because of Jesus’s
sacrificial love love we do that right
and he’s called us to see the value in
people to humbly bring our best to speak
truth and to Lead Out by honoring up you
see your role it’ll likely change from
time to time it’s actually not as
important what’s important is that you
point people to our amazing God and his
amazing love in your job every day so
today as we leave let’s Lead Out by
honoring
up and so this is for
sure easier to say and harder to do
right so we’re going to make a plan in
your reflection time I want you to think
about what’s your first step that you
can take to honor up
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