Hey guys, I wanted to send out an encouraging note for you coming out of the conference that we went to this weekend. I wanted to write something that applies to not only your work or business and aspirations, but also your life in general. The content subject is leadership and your dreams. Please do me a personal favor and get into a quiet place to read and focus on this message. It is long, but please read this all the way through.
This morning I began reading one of the books that some good friends, Michael and Kimberly Smith gave us, it’s called “Developing the leader within you” by John C. Maxwell. I am currently on page 2. I stopped on page 2 because it prompted me to send you this message.
This weekend I was personally really challenged to step up my leadership abilities, not only in my business, but also in my family life, ministries and life in general. We all have God given leadership influence over our circle of influence. What we do with this influence is what determines the “stamp” or the “legacy” that we will leave on this earth. When we die, material possessions will not matter, bank accounts will not matter, how big you’re TV or car is will not matter. What will matter are the effects that your life had on other people’s lives. I believe that if you sow into and help enough people accomplish their goals and dreams, then your legacy will live forever. I encourage you to live forever through the things that you impart to your friends and families; and in turn, encourage them to do the same to their circles of influence. If you do this, then your legacy or “stamp” on people will be great.
Growing up as a Pastor’s son a lot of times I felt like I had much higher expectations on my life than many of my friends had. I was often really stressed out because I felt like every word and every action was being analyzed and criticized. The truth is…… It was.
There are 2 types of people/leaders.
#1 the type of person/leader that recognizes, accepts and embraces the call of leadership and rises to the occasion!
OR
#2 the type of person/leader that runs from the call and waits for another leader to step up and “handle” their circle of influence.
It took me a long time to accept the mantle of leadership that I have been blessed with. It took me years to finally step up to the plate and be the first type of leader! Why you ask? One word, SELFISHNESS. I was too concerned with my needs and desires to worry about the people who looked to me for leadership. What type are you, #1 or #2?
Here is a quote from the book that I mentioned above: “Rate your leadership abilities on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest). This is what I know: The effectiveness of your work will never rise above your ability to lead and influence others. You cannot produce on a level higher than your leadership abilities.In other words, your leadership skills will determine the level of your success---and the success of those who work around you”
This paragraph punched me in the face this morning. The sentence that says “you cannot produce on level higher than your leadership abilities” hit me hard. When asked to rate your leadership abilities, where did you put yourself? I put a 7 for myself.
Now, if I asked you to rate how high you want your success to go on a scale of 1-10, we would all put a 10, right? But, if my leadership abilities are only at a 7, and I can never produce on a higher level than my leadership level, how can I ever reach a 10 on success? I can not.
I know that I have a different background than all of you; I know that I am a different person that each one of you and my upbringing is different. I am telling you….none of that matters.
If you are reading this right now, YOU ARE A LEADER. You did not get this note by accident YOU are reading this by design! The only question is: Will you be a #1 type of leader? Will you push to hone and develop your leadership abilities to a level 10? I promise that if you and I do…..Our success will follow closely behind and we will leave a lasting impression on everyone around us.
I want to close this letter with 3 thoughts and 3 video clips.
Thought #1 Guard your thoughts and your words, people are watching and following. This is the number 1 key to leadership. Speak life into your family, your business, your ministries and your friends. People are looking for a leader, and I am telling you that YOU are that person!
Thought #2 if you have a dream to be better. Better life, better attitude, better business; whatever your dreams are……go for them! Do not surround yourself with negativity. Do not let people with little or no hope speak death into your dreams! In case no-one has ever told you this before, I will tell you now…..so read closely: YOU CAN AND YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH YOUR DREAMS. Life is too short to not believe that! Just push for it, be diligent, work hard and do not let people steal your dream!
Thought #3 Who or what do you fight for? Why do you lead? Why do you run the race? For your family? A better life? A better future? Why do you dream what you dream? Write down your purpose and read it every day. Here is mine and Krystal’s purpose, “To maximize our lives on a daily basis and to live forever through the things that we instill into our kids and our circle of influence, To live the life that God has called us to live” Who do you fight for, what do you fight for? What is your purpose?
Please respond to this by telling us your purpose, I want to help you all be accountable to reaching your dreams, and I expect you to make us accountable as well. It does not matter to me if your purpose is ministry related or not, we want to be there and help you reach you purpose.
Some of you may have not know Krystal and I very well before reading this…..now you know our hearts.
God has placed you in mine and Krystal’s lives. We are here to support you and help you to meet your dreams and achieve your purpose. We thank God for you all and I speak LIFE into your dreams!
-Justin Coffman-
Posted by Justin_Cof on Mon 28 Jun 2010 2:50:46 pm | 2 comments
Yesterday the Lord put a word on my heart during worship at church. I wanted to write it out and share it with the rest of the body…sooooo, here you go!
Last week my daughter Brooklyn (who is way to smart for her own good) was at school, she is in kindergarten. Her teacher assigned her the somewhat difficult task of writing a single word out 100 times on a piece of paper. She asked her teacher “can I choose the word” and the teacher gave her permission to choose the word, any word in the dictionary. So my daughter (very cleverly) chose the word “A”. She wrote it out 100 times.
The teacher then graded the worksheet and gave her a 100 because she had completed the assignment as asked, but asked her to challenge herself more next time by choosing a bigger word.
I believe that we need to “write a bigger word” on the heart of the Lord. Often times we tend to just do enough to get by, we come to church and even though we are earning a passing grade, we need to challenge ourselves to reach higher and climb those mountains.
What does that look like? That is between you and the Lord….It might be…getting to church early? It could be sitting on the front row, inviting friends to church, lifting our hands in worship, dancing before our God, bringing a word, studying more, praying more, giving more, loving more, It may be Challenging yourself to step into ministry, or helping a widow or an orphan, it may be presenting Jesus in a better light to our friends, family or co-workers, etc……..you get the point.
Whatever it may be…It’s between you and God, I just feel like its time to step up to the plate and challenge ourselves! I am going to quit writing small words and start pursuing a more difficult challenge! I challenge you to prayerfully do the same. Amen? Amen!
Posted by Justin_Cof on Mon 22 Feb 2010 4:20:23 pm | 1 comments
I woke up this morning with this song on my heart. My Prayer for today: Father awaken what is inside of me. tune my heart to all you are in me and even though you are always here, God come! .....May the vision of YOU be the death of me. Awaken what is in me today. Tune my heart toward you Lord. Amen
Posted by Justin_Cof on Wed 21 Oct 2009 10:09:15 am | 3 comments
The links on the HHC homepage now work......in other words, you can click on any of the slides in the slide show to get more informatiuon about that topic.
Just thought you should know.
Posted by Justin_Cof on Wed 25 Mar 2009 2:34:22 pm | no comments
Hello church, I hope you all are having a great week so far! I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that this Sunday afternoon is our monthly "Family Fun Night". It is this Sunday afternoon from 5- 7ish. Please come, bring friends, family and snacks.
We had a great time at the last fun night with the appearance of "Mr Big Stuff" and the Men beating the Ladies at Family Fued.
If you are interested, here is a link to the uncut "Mr. Big Stuff" video, please foward this to people who know Pastor Nelson or Charlie. Im sure they will get a kick out of it!
Hello All! I hope that everyone is doing well this week!
I was sitting here thinking about our recent services and it hit me! We have been having some really powerful services lately. Our services have had awesome worship, great messages and even prayer for healings. I believe that having the children worship with us in the corporate service has really added an awesome dynamic to the service. The Lord is moving in 2009!
If you missed last week's service.....The Lord has been setting the vision for Harvest Hill through our Elders. The main, underlying, vision for our church is to seek after the Lord and experience his presence in our lives on a daily basis and to spread the good news of Christ to all we come into contact with.
This year specifically... we, as a church, want to focus on family...church family... That means that when you joined HHC, you joined a family. A family that may not have the same blood, but we are a family that is all washed in The blood. We all need to grow closer as a united family.
How do we do that???
Well, I’m glad you asked!
Now, we already worship together and we spend some time together……But, what if we broke down those invisible walls and went out of our way, even more, to get to know the rest of our church family? What if we actively pursued opportunities to invite and welcome church family into our homes on a more regular basis just to socialize and get to know them better? What if we knew more of their likes, dislikes and prayer needs? What if we committed to attend as many “church activities” and “gatherings” as possible? What if our church family suddenly turned into our best and most trusted friends?
Sound exciting?
Too good to be possible?
It is possible, but it is going to take effort. But I promise that it will be worth it!
Your very first opportunity is this Sunday afternoon from 5-7pm at HHC’s Family Fun Night! Come and share some laughs, games and good times.
Join the rest of your Harvest Hill family as we eat, play games and make lasting friendships through fellowship. So bring your friends, family, snacks, drinks, games and a big smile! Come ready to have some fun!
These are the types of events that will take us from being a church - to being a family! Don’t miss it!
What do you think? Do you have any ideas?
I would love you feedback!
Have a blessed rest of the week!
-Justin Coffman-
Posted by Justin_Cof on Thu 22 Jan 2009 10:10:08 am | no comments
I just wanted to take a second send a special thanks out to everyone who was involved in the Christmas Production of "a Snapshot Christmas". We had wonderful volunteers and a great cast, both the characters and the "behind the scenes people".
Thanks to Mike Westlund for stepping in at the last moment, Thanks to Tiffany Dennis for playing the role of a (Male) shepard, Thanks to Patti Guevara and Alicia Gonzales for "herding" all of the little angels, thanks to Rusty, Kirk, Joey and Justus for all of their sound/video/lighting expertise (they were the key to success) , Thanks to Shannon for belting out some amazing notes in those songs, Thanks to Helen and Shelbi for organizing the "happy Birthday Jesus" song with the kids, Thanks to barbara Day for doing a great job with the narration, Thanks to all of the other dedicated characters and helpers (great job)
Lastly, thanks to Linda Dennis for having this idea and seeing it through, she also was a key part in the organization of the play and handled the awesone costumes, thanks Linda!
The Harvest Hill Family is blessed to have so many great people who are willing to give of themselves to minister to others! I believed that the congregation was blessed by this production, great job to all !!!!!
Posted by Justin_Cof on Tue 23 Dec 2008 11:35:04 am | no comments
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