| 141 - Sustaining Momentum Through Relationships |
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| Written by Patrick Morley, David Delk, and Brett Clemmer |
| Wednesday, December 10 2008 12:27 |
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This excerpt adapted from No Man Left Behind helps leaders understand how to sustain spiritual progress with men. Military history is filled with stories about soldiers griping about surrendering ground they shed their blood to gain. “Take that hill!” they are told. “It is an integral part of our strategy!” And they do it, fighting valiantly to defeat the enemy and capture the ground—only to abandon it when the strategic winds shift in the command center. Pretty soon, the soldier loses confidence that there is any strategy at all. The cost is too high, the reward too fleeting. Every effort you make that draws a man forward in his spiritual journey has a cost of its own: the time, energy, and focus of the leaders who planned and participated; and the opportunity cost to the man who chooses to participate in this activity instead of some other priority in his life. If you work hard to gain ground in the battle for men’s time and attention but then don’t find ways to sustain that effort, you’ll just find yourself starting over. And the men themselves will begin to lose heart, feeling that nothing ever changes. As leaders, we must apply consistent effort, since progress in a man’s spiritual journey is usually measured in small steps over a long period of time.
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