{"id":238,"date":"2010-06-03T21:20:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T21:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briandoddonleadership.wordpress.com\/?p=238"},"modified":"2010-06-03T21:20:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-03T21:20:55","slug":"your-churchs-furnace-just-blew-up-a-story-of-inconvenient-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/2010\/06\/03\/your-churchs-furnace-just-blew-up-a-story-of-inconvenient-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"“Your Church’s Furnace Just Blew Up” A Story of Inconvenient Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I had to work this past Memorial Day<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 It was definitely something I wasn’t looking forward to.\u00c2\u00a0 I needed the rest.\u00c2\u00a0 Responsibilities, however,\u00c2\u00a0often come into play.\u00c2\u00a0 The Foursquare Church was having its annual convention and I needed to man the booth for our company\u00c2\u00a0in the exhibit hall.<\/p>\n<p>I have learned in these environments\u00c2\u00a0that <strong>the fruit is always on the end of the branch<\/strong>, meaning that the best opportunities never come in\u00c2\u00a0an easy fashion.\u00c2\u00a0 They come late in day or when I am physically tired.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<strong>There are no shortcuts to success<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Therefore, I just\u00c2\u00a0knew from experience that something good would happen if I just carried out my assignment with excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 You know what, I was right.<\/p>\n<p>At approximately 6:00 PM, <strong>I had the privilege of meeting arguably the most successful church builder in America.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong> What struck me was not his intelligence, his kind nature, his portfolio or even his impact on the Kingdom, though they were\u00c2\u00a0all significant.\u00c2\u00a0 What struck me was how he got involved in serving churches.<\/p>\n<p>To make a long story very short, <strong>a church where he used to pastor was destroyed when a furnace blew up due to a bad thermocouple<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 He was asked to rebuild the facility\u00c2\u00a0and the next thing he knew he was suddenly working on eight additional church projects as well.\u00c2\u00a0 It was then that he\u00c2\u00a0started a company and the rest is history.<\/p>\n<p>As I listened to his story,\u00c2\u00a0several questions began to challenge me\u00c2\u00a0–<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What\u00c2\u00a0themocouple\u00c2\u00a0is going bad today that you don’t even know about\u00c2\u00a0which will result\u00c2\u00a0in\u00c2\u00a0re-directing and changing your life forever in a\u00c2\u00a0positive way?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What furnace just blew up?\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00c2\u00a0Who needs your help?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How many more are just like them and have the same need?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is going on\u00c2\u00a0currently on the other side of town (or the country)\u00c2\u00a0that unbeknownst to you is going to unleash significant blessings in your life?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>As leaders, we don’t have all the information<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Success is largely determined by things we\u00c2\u00a0can control\u00c2\u00a0such as sweat equity and preparation.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0However, <strong>success also comes through discernment and being open to new opportunities and “inconveniences”.<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 It is the chance meeting, the new book someone recommended,\u00c2\u00a0the random suggestion or the unexpected phone call\u00c2\u00a0that\u00c2\u00a0when properly leveraged can take\u00c2\u00a0your organization (or life)\u00c2\u00a0to the next level.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The enemy of Inconvenient\u00c2\u00a0Opportunity is marginalization and over-extension<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 If we are too busy to listen and be open to new ideas, that will limit our growth.\u00c2\u00a0 If we don’t have the proper margin in our schedule or thinking, we will never be able to identify and take advantage of\u00c2\u00a0new opportunities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leaders, free up time in your schedule and create margin.\u00c2\u00a0 I beg you, Blow Up\u00c2\u00a0A Furnace!<\/strong> (metaphorically speaking)\u00c2\u00a0 Then utilize this margin to do something for the first time.\u00c2\u00a0 Read a book from different genre.\u00c2\u00a0 Listen to argument you don’t normally agree with.\u00c2\u00a0 Go somewhere you’ve never been.\u00c2\u00a0 Call an old friend.\u00c2\u00a0 Develop a new skill.\u00c2\u00a0 For all you know, it could change your life forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had to work this past Memorial Day.\u00c2\u00a0 It was definitely something I wasn’t looking forward to.\u00c2\u00a0 I needed the rest.\u00c2\u00a0 Responsibilities, however,\u00c2\u00a0often come into play.\u00c2\u00a0 The Foursquare Church was having its annual convention and I needed to man the booth for our company\u00c2\u00a0in the exhibit hall. I have learned in these environments\u00c2\u00a0that the fruit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":1,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[96,114,259,435],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-leadership","tag-church","tag-construction","tag-leadership","tag-success"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}