Justin Answers Your Questions Part III

You're tuned into Made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Justin Lester is an average guy who refuses to let Mondays control him. Justin is a husband, dad, pastor, student and Jesus follower. He's done a lot, he's learned a lot and he wants to see you at your best. Let's win Mondays. Hey Justin, what's up today?

Well, hey everyone. Welcome to Made for Mondays. I'm so glad you guys are tuned in and I'm happy that you guys are here. I pray that no matter where you are across country that you're having an amazing Monday and knowing that this truly is your best week. We're in the middle of a kind of a mini series. It's just me answering some questions that I received from some of you online. And so today we're going to continue that. I saved some of these for this particular day just because they were kind of similar. They were kind of quick hitter questions and a lot of things that I just, I think I'll just share and be kind of fun to talk about. More resource driven than anything else today. As you go into this day, I want to take a moment kind of to encourage all of us. I spoke to my church about this this weekend and I want to give this to you as well. One of the practices I think we don't employ enough is lamenting and just weeping. As you go into this week, as we do so much to adapt and to shift and to be present and to change and to be flexible, I want to make you take the space for your own well being and own self and realize that it's okay to weep over some things that just did not happen. The coronavirus and politics and marches and life and everything else in between can cause us to adjust so much that we don't take time to see where we're adjusting from. And as we're preparing to adjust into something new. So take the time to ensure that you recognize there is some loss that we've all experienced, some loss of experiences, some loss of friendships, loss of relationships, loss of people, whatever that is, loss of ideas. Take the time to realize the places you're hurt so you know where you really need to heal. And as you go into this week, I really want to challenge you to lament and weep. And in that process, I think you'll learn a lot about you and you'll learn that weeping is not a sign of weakness. Weeping actually is a sign of strength. Let's jump into this. There are four questions I want to answer today and we'll see where this goes. So first of all, the question received today was what books are you reading right now? What books are you reading right now? There are four books I'm really into at this moment that I'm reading. Every January I read the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster like clockwork. That was a habit I picked up from my pastor before he passed away to read Celebration of Discipline. If you haven't read that, I really suggest reading Celebration of Discipline. That's something I'll pick up in January. And then I'm constantly reading my Bible. But in terms of new books right now there's this one book I fell in love with by Brendon Bouchard called High Performance Habits. That book just really helped me. He has a great section at the end of the book that talks about sustainability of high performance. I think if you're a high performance person, High Performance Habits is a must read for you. Secondly, I'm reading this book currently called the Future Leader. And the Future Leader talks about seven different mindsets, personalities of leaders for the future. And I love looking and forecasting what the future is going to have. And this particular book kind of unpacks the future, unpacks leadership, unpacks what to do right now in order to be prepared for what's coming in the future. The third book I'm currently reading and kind of just perusing through is this book called 2030. It's a book called 2030. Now I want to mention this, this book is updated to include Covid as well. What this writer did is she took trends and took spot trends and trend spotted throughout the world and started to see things that are going to happen in the next 10 years that we ought to be prepared for. Looking at stocks and looking at relationship between men and women and gender and sexuality and the climate and health and race. And so it's really great to read a book that kind of forecasts what the future is going to look like before the future gets here. And you guys have heard me talk about it constantly that leaders are those who grab the future. You change for the future, you adapt to keep the future and then you change constantly while you're getting to the place where the future is going to take you, right? We have to be future minded people. 2030 is a book I'm personally reading just so I can be prepared for what is science saying? What are the trends saying? For example, Sub Saharan Africa is going to be the place to move to because that's the next big economy that's going to happen. Women make up, I think like 4, 40% of the. No, 20% of the wealth right now. And in due season we'll make over 60% of the wealth in our world. Their relationships are going to go all the way down. So school systems are going to change, having children is going down and that's going to change that. The urbanization of our communities, I could go on and on, but the urbanization of our community. So everything could be within a 15 minute walk, not a 15 minute drive. And Covid has accelerated a lot of these things. Also, the relation of just things going on in our communities and culture in terms of race and gender and age are really showcased as well. So that book has been helpful. Lastly, I'm reading this book called Dark Matter and it's a compilation of Afrofuturist work. One thing I'll say about me, I had to come to the realization of it, and I didn't really want to admit it, is that I am a closeted Afrofuturist who's finally admitting that I'm okay with being an Afrofuturist. And Dark Matter is a compilation of the essential Afrofuturist works. And so I'm currently reading Dark Matter as well. And that's more. There's some fiction and some nonfiction in there and so I'm enjoying reading that. So those are the four books I'm reading right now, the High Performance Habits, The Future Leader 2030 and Dark Matter. To every leader out there, I really suggest, if you haven't read High Performance Habits, if there's a book that you need to get to read, please do that. Second question I received today is what are you worried about? Or what are you scared about right now? The funny thing is, to be honest with you, the first moment I saw that, I went right to scripture. God hasn't given me the spirit of fear, right? And he hasn't. But there are some things I look in the world that bother me. And I think that's to me a better word than worried or scared. First of all, I'm really worried and scared about relationships with people right now. You guys know, for me, I'm an African American male. And I have to admit that the day after the election when we went to Target, nobody said anything, nobody did anything. But there were certain things that I put onto other people assuming about who they voted for and what they thought about me just as a black person. And it made me think about other relationships. I may do that with friends of mine. I may do that with others around me. I may do that with and how they might be done to me as well. I'm worried about relationships right now. I'm worried about healthy relationships. I'm worried about friendships. I'm worried about how people are going to judge people because of what state they grew up in in the next 15 to 20 years. I'm really concerned about relationships. And I believe it's on us as leaders, even as you guys go to work today, to be intentional about our relationships with others and to be really great in communication. You guys have heard me say this before, that leadership and relationships are down to two things, communication and managing conflict. That if we communicate well, we can manage the conflict that comes along with relationships. Right now I think we've had just really, really bad communication among races, among genders, among socioeconomic statuses, among locations, among social political locations. Like all of that. I think we've had a really poor communication and now we're in conflict. And I'm really worried and scared about relationships. I'm worried and scared about just people in general. I don't think people are present with ourselves and present with the people around us. And because if I'm not spending time with myself, I definitely cannot cultivate and spend time with others. And so I'm worried about people. But I do believe that us as leaders can also rectify those situations as well. About how we can be the ones to be present with ourselves, be honest about our journeys and get to a place where we're not just interested in something, but we're committed to something. There's a difference between being interested in your purpose and being committed to your purpose. I want you to be committed to it. I'm worried about long lasting effects of COVID 19 beyond the health effects. It seems that we're gonna have a vaccine that comes along sometime soon. And I'm worried about the long lasting effects of a year of shutdowns and open ups and mask wearing and politicization of so many different things. I'm worried about the long lasting effects and how this will have on hiring and firing practices, what this will have on businesses, what this will do to the healthcare industry. I'm consumed and concerned with that a little bit. I'm worried about, even for me as a pastor, what it's going to do to nonprofits in the church, the long lasting effects of what it means to be virtual in church for over a year. That's going to have a long effect. I also believe it's incumbent upon us then as well as leaders to be innovative, adapt and then plant roots it's one thing to bend. It's another thing to bend and plant roots as you bend. So that's one thing. Those are the things I'm really consumed with. Relationships, people, and long lasting effects. I do believe they're all things that can be rectified and changed. But I think if we're gonna go back to trendspotting and go back to just kind of envisioning the future, I'm concerned about relationships, I'm concerned about people, and I'm concerned about the lasting effects of this COVID 19 pandemic on a literal basis, of the long lasting effects of what it means if someone received it and healed from it. The loss of relation, the loss of people, literally. But then also the effects that it's having on our economy, the effects that it's having on our world, the effects that it's having on our minds, our bodies, our psyches, our homes, where we purchase, how we live. I'm curious. And then that also plays into even how we vote, right? So if we're all moving to urban cities and voting is succumbed down to urban cities, things like, I mean, there's so many different things that I think we need to be concerned about and bother me a little bit. So that's a great question. I hope you guys are enjoying this. I'm having fun doing this. I love this type of stuff. Thirdly, what are you excited about for the future? Now, these were out of order, but I'm just going to do it because it kind of plays into the last one. What are you excited about for the future? I will say this. I really believe this is the season of the leader. And I'm really excited about two things and I want you all that are leading people to notice this this week. Number one, I'm really excited about people in their lanes. If Covid has done something to our workforce, it's. It's given people the space to be in the lane that they're good at. Right? Like, I'm seeing some really great communicators. I'm seeing some really great creatives, I'm seeing some really great organizers, some really great coaches. I'm seeing some really great entrepreneurs. I'm really happy that people are in their lanes. And when we, when you're authentic, you have authority. When you're inauthentic, you don't have authority. And I believe people are taking authority of their lives and people are running in their lanes. And I'm really excited about that. I'm also really, really excited about this amazing creativity I'm seeing people willing to change, people willing to learn. This willingness and creativity I'm really excited about for the future. I'm also excited about what I see in terms of voting turnout. I'm happy for this next generation. Generation Z at first used to bother me. That's because me as a millennial dumbed them down to nothing more than TikTok. But when you really begin to look at this next generation, I'm really excited about the exposure, their tenacity, their intentionality. They remind us if you really want to stay, history repeats itself. Carter Woodson what's old is new. They remind me of baby boomers. Baby boomers were people who went against the norm. They were those individuals who changed things. I mean, they were the weed smoking hippies, right? I mean, they were, they were the ones, right? The freedom of sex and take your bra off and civil rights movements and marches and the civil rights bill and acts, the eradication of Reaganomics. I mean, they were the ones. And I'm excited about this new generation of baby boomers, which really are Generation Z. I'm excited about what they have to offer to the world and what their dreams are going to do and when they get in positions of authority, what's going to happen when Gen Z is starting to run the show, when they're not just kind of the side show on TikTok, but when they are the show. So I'm excited about the future people doing it, people running in their lanes, willingness, creativity, and also Generation Z. The last thing I'll give is a question I had on pastoring. I think this applies more to just pastoring, just anybody transitioning into a job or anything like that. The question is this, what do you wish you knew on your first day of pastoring? What do I wish I knew my first day of pastoring? I had a mantra, and I'll give this to any leader. Watch the first 10 people who come to your office door. Watch the first 10 people who want to tell you how to build something. I can go back and name off the top of my head the first 10 people who came to my office door. And two of them, two of them really, really meant something positive to the organization. And eight of them didn't. Right? Because. So what do I wish I knew on that day? I'm glad I knew that. Here's some other things I wish I knew. Number one, you've got to love people I loved on my first day, what a picture of ministry was, but not the people who ran ministry. And I had to learn over the course of my four and a half years now pastoring what it means to love people. I wish I knew on my first day. Man, you got to love people. To any leader out there, number one, you've got to love the people you work with. You've got to love the people you lead and you've got to love what you're doing. If you don't love the people you're leading and if you don't, if you don't love them, you're not going to want to engage with them. Like Lynn said a couple of weeks ago, nobody shows up to work doing a bad. Wanting to do a bad job, but when they become disengaged, that's when bad work begins to happen. You've got to love people. Your employees have to know you love them. You have to let them in, be vulnerable with them. Let them into your secret spaces. Control it. Strategically control your vulnerability. Right? Strategically control your vulnerability. That's one thing I wish I knew. I came in as a marketing person. I didn't come in as a leader who loved people. And that was one failure of mine. I will say I wish I knew. You gotta love people. I think I knew it. I didn't want to own it. Number two, that's a whole lesson of itself. It's knowing things and owning things. Right. Number two, don't take things personally. I started taking a lot of things personally. I came into a church that we were going to shift a lot of things very quickly. And as we started shifting things from the jump street, for example, our first week here, we changed the worship order and people got mad about it and I took it personally. I came to church the next week without wearing a tie. People got mad about it and I took it personally. There's some things I still remember that I need to begin to forget that I just can't seem to get off my head that are triggering when I walk into my building. Right. I want to tell you, going into your first day pastoring, whoever you are, do not take things personally. No one is ever doing anything to you as the leader against you. It's against really on some cases, what you represent against what you. Against what someone else desires themselves against what someone else is unable to do or really it's a lot of. It's out of curiosity. We've never seen it this way, but it's communicated differently. So don't take it personally. No one really ever really wants you to lose your job. At the end of the day, people don't Want to get people fired. They don't. And that's one thing I had to learn, probably didn't learn until like 8 months ago. People don't want you fired. Like, they don't want you on the streets, homeless. They just don't understand things. They don't get it sometimes. And you've been there as well, and I've been there personally. And so your employees don't want you fired. Right. Your people you work with don't want you fired. Now, if you're a person who lacks integrity and you're a person who doesn't engage holistically, and you're a person who embezzles and steals and cheats, I mean, you deserve to be fired, period. You're just completely unethical and lack morals. But don't take everything personally because everybody's not trying to get you fired. All right, Number three, as a pastor, this is, and this may, this transitions beyond pastoral ministry. You're never right. You're never right. And I just want to tell you right now, you may know and you have the statistics to prove it, but you are not right. And you need to make sure you're bringing people along. And here's what I mean. Teach and train people along the way. Because if you're the sharpest knife in your drawer, your life is really dull. I'm going to say that again. If you're the sharpest knife in the drawer, you're dull. You're not always right. Bring people along the journey. So collectively, I believe leadership needs collaboration and adaptive leadership. You have to be able to bring people along with you. And if you can't explain the vision that God has given you and your congregation to a five year old, you're wasting your time. If you cannot ensure that the 5 or 10 year old inside of your home or to those of you who work in the world, if you can bring one of your employees, kids into the space and you can effectively communicate what you're believing and what this company is going to become, you really are not doing a very good job communicating. So you're not right. So I want you to know you are never the right person. You're as only as right as what you can show others is the right thing to do. So I want you to push yourself to be able to communicate effectively and bring people along the journey with you. Fourthly, you have a lot of things, but I'm done with these last two. Fourthly, work with people. I came in as a lone wolf and there were so many times Where I just did things to do things. I did things for attention. I did things because I. I knew it was possible. I came in and just put my head down and went for it. And I constantly wonder how different a very difficult year for us in ministry was 2018. And I wonder how different 2018 would have been if I wasn't such a lone wolf, if I worked with people, if I brought them alongside me, if I talked with them, if we engaged further. I want to challenge you, work with people. I want you to think about. And this is to everyone who's not even just a pastor. Where are the places in your organization, on your job that you were doing by yourself that you can bring somebody else along with you in? Right? Who. Who is the person to. Who's the person that you see could be 10% better or 1% better? Bring them along with you. I guarantee you'll feel more fulfilled. Leaders, we are fulfilled. When we see others become leaders, we're not fulfilled. And we're doing things by ourselves. We may say we are, but you're more burnt out when you're by yourself than you are working with someone else. And the last thing I'll give you. And I'll close with this today. What I wish I knew my first day. I wish I knew to love people more. I wish I knew not to take things personally. I wish I knew I'm never right. I wish I knew to work with people. And lastly, I wish I knew to pray more. And this goes to everybody who's not even in ministry as well. Prayer is what gives us power. And the one thing I wish I knew my first day of pastoring was to be a person of prayer. I was a person who preached. I was a person who was passionate. I was a person who pursued a lot of things, but I wasn't a man of prayer. And it took me some time to really sit down and really be a person of prayer again. I was before I left Nashville. I wasn't immediately in Rhode Island. And it makes me wonder how different my first day would have been if I came into my office not hoping to prove that I'm worthy to be in the seat, but came into my office looking to pray. I pray you guys are blessed by this. I didn't realize it was gonna take a moment to talk too much about my. As I was preparing my notes for this, I'll be honest with you, I was preparing my notes for this to record this, you guys. And I didn't realize I was gonna talk too much about things I did wrong. But I hope you can learn from what I did wrong to do a lot better on your first day of pastoral ministry and those of you in the world as well. So I pray you guys have a wonderful week. Remember, you were made for this day. I want to pause here. There are so many things going on in our world. So many things going on in our space. Marches and riots and protests and Covid and lockdowns and maybe you're listening to this at home because normally you're listening to it in your car. Maybe you're listening to this working out at home because the gym you're at is closed. Whatever that is. You were made for this. And you were made for this week. You were made for this day. You were made to conquer and not let the day conquer you. So let's say our affirmations together and let's go on about our business. But let's say together. If you repeat after me, just say, I am me, I can be me and no one will stop me from being me. You were made for this Monday. Now go and win your Monday. God bless you. Give yourself a license to live. Have a great day.

This has been made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Be sure to follow Justin online at MrJlester and online at www.jlester.com. see you next week. Go win. You were made for this.