What I Learned From CGA: Reader Digest Version
My time at CGA is coming to an end. I have spent the last eight months learning about leadership, worship, and more importantly about myself. This is my readers digest version of what I learned.
Semester I: Leadership & Calling
Position ≠ Leadership: Many people who are looked at as leaders are simply managers. They are given a position based on the assumption that he or she will fulfill the role to the expectations of the person handing out the role. Leadership must come from within. It is cultivated from the inside out. The leadership model I have learned has five steps.
Know Yourself – Lead Yourself – Know Others – Manage Others – Lead Others
Put Simply, knowing yourself is learning about your personality, tendencies, learning and leadership patterns, as well as your weaknesses. Leading yourself is the goals, dreams, and desires you have and learning the disciplines and tools necessary to get from here to there. Knowing others is as simple as learning about how others operate, listening to others, and what will best help them grow and learn. Managing others is learning the tools and methods to logistically manage individuals or teams efficiently and healthily. Then Leading others is that extra influence. Learning where you can make an impact that changes minds, breaks hearts, and stirs souls to follow you no matter where. Without knowing who you are, what type of leader you are, and how you can best lead others; you cannot learn to become a great leader.
Passion ≠ Calling: When starting here at CGA, there were many times I overheard people speak about there calling. Some would say they felt called to a specific country, or to open a certain ministry overseas, or partner with a certain organization or people group. I soon learned that these are dreams or passions. This is what you would love to do someday or what makes you passionate. Now sometimes your calling aligns with your passion, but they are not the same thing.
Your calling is a specific role that you are blessed with that stems from your gifts, skills, abilities, and your passion. It is something that you can do anyplace at anytime. Your calling is not restricted to a location, ministry, or time of life. I have a passion for the Japanese people and country. I still believe that I will one day be living among them and sharing Jesus with them, but my calling can be fulfilled now, where i am.
To read about my calling check out Calling
Semester II: Worship & Identity
Music ≠ Worship: The word worship has come to be synonymous with the fifteen minutes or so before the sermon on Sunday morning where we sing and listen to hymns or songs. This is just a small part of what worship is. Worship comes from the old english, meaning acknowledgment of worth, or worth-ship. Worship can actually be ascribed to anything, but for this instance I refer to worshipping GOD. We can acknowledge His worth in so many ways. God is worthy of thanksgiving, and we can acknowledge that through prayer, service, or giving back to God. Another example is that He is worthy of our love. He loves us so much and sacrificed so much for us, He is worthy of our love. We can express love for Him in so many ways. Some examples are…
Singing – Dancing – Painting – Writing – Praying – Working Out – Listening to God
…and so much more. As long as you are in a posture of crediting the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit with what they are worthy of receiving, it can be worship.
Past ≠ Past: There are many things that happen in one’s past, good and bad. So many of us, myself included, have adopted the phrase the past is in the past. But is it? You carry memories of regrets, failures, and even shame from years ago. These events affect how we live out our lives. We come to believe things about ourselves and others that are just not true. Learning to remember the past and seek the difference between the truth and lies in those moments we carry can change how we live for the better. The past is not the past, you carry it with you always, so learn from it.
This is just a small summary of what I learned in my time here at CGA. There was so much more and I cannot express how much I have changed over this time. It has changed my life forever. I am eternally grateful to my instructors, teachers, disciplers, mentors, and fellow apprentices. I will miss you all so much.
