11 Ways 11 Pastors Gave Me A Competitive Advantage In Business

Recently I wrote a post entitled 14 Things Your Church Can Teach You To Have A Competitive Advantage As A Businessperson.  It was incredibly well-received and has helped many pastors identify who sits in their services on a weekly basis and how to better communicate in such a way as to add value to their lives Monday through Friday.

As I reflected on the post, I thought back to pastors who are personal friends and how their lessons have made me a better leader at INJOY Stewardship Solutions.  Many of the lessons I have learned can make you a better leader as well.

The following are 11 Ways 11 Pastors Gave Me A Competitive Advantage In Business:

1. Crawford Loritts Makes Me A Better Communicator – My current pastor at Fellowship Bible Church is generally considered one of the best communicators in the world.  During a Crawford Loritts message, you will get a multitude of tweetable comments.  Crawford has taught me to communicate to my team in a way which is memorable and will stick in their minds.  For quotes from Dr. Loritts, click 91 Leadership Quotes On Shaping The Next Generation.
2. John Maxwell Taught Me The Priority Of First Adding Value To Business Leaders  – John made many realize one of the world’s greatest mission fields is the business community.  He taught us you can preach the Gospel everyday at my work and simply not quote chapter and verse.  Adding value and doing exceptional work then gives you the credibility to talk about Jesus.
3. Ike Reighard Taught Me How To Build Mutually-Beneficial Relationships With Business Leaders – The amazing pastor of Piedmont Church speaks with business language.  He reads business books and applies business concepts in all he does.  No wonder he builds bridges between the business, academic, non-profit and faith communities as well as anyone in America.  Click 12 Practices Of Highly Effective Churches Who Serve Their Community With Excellence for examples of this.
4. Mike Linch Taught Me The Importance Of A Positive Attitude – The pastor of NorthStar Church is one of my best friends and the most positive individual I know.  People want to be around Mike.  Because of this, he has an amazing ability to connect with others. For more on a meeting I had with Mike several years ago, click 20 Practices Of Highly Inspirational Leaders.
5. Jeff Henderson Taught Me Brevity – I am a teacher at heart.  This means I have no problem accumulating content.  In fact I usually have too much.  Enough content to fill my time as a communicator is never an issue.  Cutting the content down to the most compelling information is a skill I learned from Jeff, the pastor of Gwinnett Church.
6. Derwin Gray Taught Me The Impact Of Unconditional Love – Pastor Derwin of Transformation Church is a former NFL player.  He once noted the NFL taught him everything about conditional love.  He then learned everything about unconditional love from Jesus Christ.  You always have to achieve your goals and objectives as a businessperson, but may I always show the unconditional love of Jesus as we carry out our assignments.
7. Johnny Hunt Taught Me The Importance Of Being Accessible As A Leader – The senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock (GA) is omnipresent in the city in which I live.  If you go to J. Christopher’s for breakfast, you may likely see Pastor Johnny.  If you go to Dixie Speedway on a Saturday night, you will likely run into Pastor Johnny.  If you walk the halls at FBCW, you will likely find Pastor Johnny praying with someone.  Pastor Johnny builds relationships with people from every walk of life – from those living below the poverty line to the wealthiest business leaders.  To demonstrate my point, click 12 Practices Of Highly Successful Pastors Who Love People.
8. Mark Marshall Taught Me How To Invest In Others – It was Mark who ordained me, baptized me, performed my wedding and gave me my first staff position in my early 20’s.  He also gave me my first John Maxwell book, Developing The Leaders Around You, which changed the course of my life.
9. Rob McDowell Showed Me What Top Business Leaders Value – One of my great joys this past year was sitting down with the Lead Pastor of North Metro Church along with Operations Pastor John Maggard to discuss the church’s receiving of a million dollar gift.  Click The Story Of How One Church Received A $1+ Million Gift And How You Could As Well for the entire story.  It may changed the way you serve all people.
10. Carey Nieuwhof Taught Me How To Initiate And Manage Change – No one likes change but a baby but change is critical to a business’s long-term success.  Cary taught me how to do this.  Click 40 Leadership Quotes From Leading Change Without Losing It from his book to learn more.
11. Crawford Loritts Taught Me Self-Leadership – Going back to Crawford for a final thought, he taught me the most important lesson of all.  He taught me the difference between leader development and leadership development.  Leader development is becoming the type of leader God can use.  This has to do with long-term sustainability.  Leadership development has to do with the assignment itself.  There is a HUGE difference.

What is one thing from this list which will make you a better businessperson?

Subscribe to this site and get my latest FREE eBook Skinny Jeans And A Tattoo Does Not Make You A Leader.  Featuring leaders like Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels and Perry Noble, this resource includes 999 additional leadership quotes from the 2014 Double, Global Leadership Summit, and Catalyst  Conferences.  Click HERE or on the image to the left to sign up and get your FREE resource.