Excellence: Personal or Capital?

Personal excellence is something that you can not pay for, but it will pay your the highest dividends over the course of your life. It takes lifelong dedication to achieve personal excellence, whether it is in your business, your job, or your personal life.

Achieving personal excellence is a worthy pursuit and should be pursued above all else.

**Building Your Intellectual Capital is Key**

If you want to achieve personal excellence building your intellectual capital is where you need to start. There are three forms that you can gain.

Developing these forms of intellectual capital takes hard work and study, but they will pay you in personal satisfaction and higher income.

Your knowledge, skills, and abilities is the first type of intellectual capital that you need to develop. This is gained through education, training and experience. This Type of intellectual capital will determine how well you perform your job and the value that you can add to your business.

**Tacit Knowledge**

Your tacit(what's inside your head) knowledge of how your company runs internally is the second form of intellectual capital that you should possess and further develop in order to achieve personal excellence. Knowing the different methods, policies and practices of how your business operates makes you very valuable to your company and hard to replace.

Tacit Knowledge is very valuable, especially if you work for someone else. You would be the last person they would want to let go during a recession.

**Build Your Ability to Get Results**

Finally, your ability to get results, will be the determining factor on how marketable you are and your income level.

How well you know your customers, your serve and products will determine your ability to get results to meet and exceed your company or business goals.

You can not develop this overnight. It does take years of dedication and training to hone the skills your need in this area. As long as you continually invest in yourself in this area you will be able to increase your ability to get the results you need and live with a spirit of excellence.

Commit today to develop and increase your personal excellence.

Community Empowerment Event-Jacksonville, FL

Here's a special invitation from our Community Partner-- Great Women of God Abroad to attend the The KARS "Reel World Theatre" & Pizza Party Tour & Community Empowerment Day in Jacksonville on October 11th! Only 60 spots available. Register today!

Challenges of Women working in Church Ministry

In these tough economic times many churches and ministries are tempted to scale back on planning events so that it won't put any added burden on women who are struggling to make ends meet. The problem is that this is exactly the time when we need to gather for fellowship and encouragement. Here is a "Top 10" list that can help women's leaders plan more effective events that are perfect for this tough economy.

1. Use your own members: Organize an event that uses your own members as the leaders. You can find different women who have specialties and have them lead small groups or you may have someone who would be able to teach a large group time. Look around and see who has a story to tell that others can relate to and go from there. You may want to gather several women and hold a panel discussion on a specific topic. be creative and allow God to direct you to the right women.
2. Reinvent the covered dish: Most often the cost of an event is largely tied up in the food. Keep costs down by either asking everyone to bring a dish to share or enlist a team of women to organize the different dishes you want to offer and let them designate who brings what. You could decide on a theme and plan the food around that.

3. Network with Other Churches: Find some other churches in your area and share or trade Bible Study materials with them. Your church could buy one study and theirs a different one then after you finish, trade studies.
4. Plan 1 night events: Schedule your next event on an evening so that your costs can stay low. You even start a little later so that everyone has dinner before arriving then offer a dessert fellowship after the program.
5. Serve Others: Remember that if the economic crisis has hit you hard then it has devastated many others. Organize your women to focus on helping others. Service projects are a great way to build strong bonds and show people the love of Jesus in a practical way. The bonus is that your struggles tend to diminish in the face of what others may be dealing with.
6. Start a Support Group: Offer the opportunity for women who have lost their jobs or who's husbands have lost their jobs to gather for support and encouragement. Let your community know it is available and you may be surprised at the outreach it can become.
7. Get Out of the Church: Take your Bible Studies out of the church and hold them in different homes in the community so that people don't have to spend much time or money on gas to be involved.
8. Decorate for Less: Women's events always have the issue of decorating. Go old school and use things you already have at the church or enlist different women to hostess each table and make decorating her table part of her duties.
9. Simplicity and Relevance: Don't ignore the issues that people are dealing with but rather plan a event to specifically address them. Make it a brown bag night or just very simple in all details. Offer topics such as how to dress, dine, decorate on a budget. Consider inviting a financial specialist to speak on practical advice in troubling times.
10. See the big Picture: Plan your events to coincide with other large gatherings like just after church or when the youth or children are already doing something. Take the stress off of women who are worried about being all things to all people and who feel guilty for taking time out for themselves.

These are just a few ideas. Whatever you decide to do, don't give up on ministry. Women need encouragement and support more now than ever before.

Single, Marriage & Ministry....Whoa

You are single and you have never been married, and God has a calling on your life for full time service to Him. You have a zeal for God and you only want a lady that has a zeal like yours to serve God. In essence you want a lady to partner you with a great anointing of God on her life also. This article is written for you. Enjoy reading and if you agree pray the prayer and write a comment on the article.

**TIP 1** Be honest with her and yourself

A lady with an anointing on her life for full time ministry is a person that treasures honesty and she is love with Jesus, someone that NEVER lies to her. A lady needs a husband that can lead her house and be the head, and if you are not up to the task it is best that you don't try and pretend that you are!

You can kid yourself and think that you are a spiritual person, but there were many spiritual people when Jesus walked the earth also, even New Age people are a lot more spiritual then many Christians.

If you are sold out to Jesus and the will of God, then by all means seek the hand of a lady with a calling on her life.

**TIP 2** Be Sold out For God's Will in Your Life

Don't kid yourself or God. To win the heart of a lady called by God, you and her visions for your future should be the same. If God has been calling you to go to Africa for years you should be pursuing that for God. You should not be searching for a lady who also has a calling to Africa on her life.

This is part of being honest with yourself and with her. In some of the very first conversations with a potential lady you should not be afraid of mentioning that God is calling you to Africa.

You should take the lead when you talk about where you are called. You will know the "right" lady when as you mention this, she is quick to tell you that she has also had a calling to go there also.

Paul said it is best that a man does not marry and therefore devote all of his time and resources to God. I agree, many men spend all of their earnings on a wife and family, and these men could have done a lot more for God if they had remained single.

Be prepared to go to Africa without a wife man of God! Do firstly what God wants you to do. Seek first the Kingdom of God and He might bless you with a helpmate.

The Lord God is a jealous God. He would rather you be single then for you to have a wife that hinders you from completely doing the will of God. God does not favor men and women that make an idol out of their partners.

A woman that has been called by God for full time ministry will see this zeal on your life and your passion too serve the King of Kings and this will attract her more then any romantic words spoken by you could!

**TIP 3** Make it clear that you want to serve God first in your marriage

Living in Africa can mean that you don't have the electricity of the West and toasters, jugs, electric blankets and all manner of luxuries of the West. To have a wife with a calling on her life fall in love with you means that you will serve God, no matter how much you have to go without.

Many people don't serve God in their life because the world is so attractive with its high wages and all that they can buy. But to have the servant heart of Jesus you might not be a person that puts much stock in the goods of the world and the life in Africa would not be such a huge cost for serving God for you.

Many women want to serve BOTH God and their families. But a precious women of God with a great calling on her life will care little for the things of the world and the luxury of the West. They will already be the women that Jesus and the Father speak to tenderly and you might find that they are quite old and have been waiting patiently for the man of God that has been promised to them so many years ago.

They won't be married once and wanting to have a second marriage with you.

***Mark 10:11-12 (New International Version)

11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." No matter what the world says, second marriages are adultery. So the woman called by God won't have been married once and now want to marry you.

No, the women called by God might even be in her forties or older, yet she would have always been waiting for a man of God. A woman called of God would not have settled for a lesser man of God to starve off her loneliness as Jesus would have been her partner for years.

No matter how many gifts a woman of God might have, if she has been married once and her ex husband is still living; she is not the woman for you. You have to be strong and prove you will serve God first and not her want for you.

**TIP 4** Be patient when it comes to God's will in your life.

Many people tend to march ahead of God and move and do things that the Spirit has not asked them to do. Having a website might be a popular thing to have if you are in ministry. But, you must not make a website UNTIL the Spirit of God tells you to move and do that.

Jesus only did what His Father told Him to do through the Holy Spirit. You also need to learn only to move when the Spirit calls you to move.

This may be very important when it comes to asking a lady out on a date. A woman called of God might have noticed you, but she may need more evidence that you are the right sort of guy for her.

If you are interested in a woman with an anointing by God, be patient until the Spirit gives you the go ahead to ask her out.

This applies to nearly all your decisions that you make and most certainly the big decisions. It is vital that you let patience have its perfect work in you. Jesus could have started to preach when he was 14 years of age, but he waited till He was 30 years of age, the minimum age of a Rabbi.

As a man of God, it is a tremendous responsibility to be called by God to serve Him full time and double as much responsibility for you to marry a woman with an anointing by God.

It is vital therefore, that you learn to move as the Spirit of God moves. If revival breaks out, you might want to go and check it out, but you must first consult the Spirit of God, as to if you can, and when you should go.

The Holy Spirit might want you to start another fire at the same time from your own ministry as the same angel that came to the first revival comes over and anoints you.

A woman that has waited many years for the husband that the Lord of Hosts has destined for her does not want to be disappointed with you with you making a financial commitment or some other decision "without" the Holy Spirit giving you the go ahead.

God does some of his greatest works through men and woman of God that have waited twenty or more years for their visions coming into being. There is just such a special anointing reserved for people willing to go through the refiner's fire and storms of life for many years before God raises them up into major ministry.

Only a patient man will win the heart of a very patient woman of God. An anointed woman isn't looking for clever talk; she is looking for well developed fruit in your life. Sure, she may "feel" the anointing when you preach or "feel" the anointing on what you write, but many men have the anointing and lack the fruit to sustain the sort of calling she has on her life.

Can I pray for you:

Father of Lights:

We come to you today and seek Your Will in our life when it comes to marriage. Father give us the patience to seek only your best and to do only Your Will. Lord lead us more and more by You Holy Spirit. Teach us only to move when we see You Moving. Teach us to become leaders and not followers. Lord anoint us to break new ground for you and bring into our life the fruits of the Spirit through the storms of life. Lord give us the wisdom to read and re- read this teaching so that we know what we need to do to win the right anointed woman to be our partner.

Father, anoint us, give us the power to do Your Will, lead us by Your Spirit and keep us learning the things that we need to know to do Your will in our life. Keep us away from distractions and keep us from touching those things that are not pleasing to You. Teach us from every medium we experience, and mentor us through the voice of the Good Shepherd and Teach us the Word of God from the Teacher, the Holy Spirit.

Give us the endurance to weather the storms of life and keep us from sin to the appointed day that we marry the lady for us.

In Jesus name we ask

Amen

If you have prayed the prayer take a second to rate this article by pressing how many stars out of five, or writing a comment that will take a few minutes.

Our Monthly Newsletter!

Hey, if you have not had the opportunity, take advantage of this one and click on the link above to see/read our monthly newsletter. The newsletter is an updated body of information to keep you informed of "What's New?" and "What's to Come". We have several upcoming events this month and are really excited about what is coming forth.

You can also subscribe to the monthly newsletter for FREE at www.leadershipexch.com! Do not let this opportunity pass you by. We are here to serve and would love to have you join us in whatever way you can.

God's Best,

Sherell Edwards,Founder
Great Women of God Abroad, a subsidiary of
The Christian Women's Leadership Exchange

Leaders: Born or Made?

A recent television reality show featured three chefs in a competition. They received the same list of ingredients and were to prepare several courses. Each chef had the same amount of time and could use only the ingredients on the list.  When the gourmet meals were finished, a panel of judges picked the winner. This is a good example of what happens during leadership development. Given the same individual, different mentors develop leaders differently; and, of course, leaders respond to each mentoree differently.  There are several implications here. Leaders should have multiple people developing them. Not only should we develop the leaders under us, but we should encourage them to seek outside mentors who can also develop their ingredients.

People often say, "He is a born leader." I respectfully disagree. Leaders aren't born; they're made, like bread is made. Leadership development is an intentional activity. Raisin bread doesn't appear by itself even if we leave the ingredients on the kitchen counter overnight. Someone must consciously take ingredients and knead them together, put the mixture under the right amount of heat and allow it to rise, then punch it down and start over again until the dough is the perfect consistency. Only then will it rise above the pan. Helping a leader rise takes this same kind of intentional activity.

One reporter wrote:
I believe everyone has the ingredients needed to be a leader. We are leaders at different times and places. Dad might be a manager in an office. The people who work for him acknowledge that he is a leader. But Mom is also a leader. She leads a Cub Scout troop, she leads the family in getting chores done, and every morning she leads the kids to school. But Junior could be a leader too. Maybe he is the academic pacesetter of the fourth grade or is the captain of the dodgeball team at recess. Even the dog can lead with his bark when a stranger comes to the front door. So if everyone is capable of being a leader, how do we explain the difference in ability between leaders? If we could measure people on a leadership scale of one to ten, some people will only rise to a level three while others will rise to a ten. The ingredients are there, but they never seem to come together to their full potential. That's where we come in. With the proper training, dogs are taught to lead blind people through busy streets. What can our leaders accomplish if we invest time in developing them?

Women's conference headed to Fleming Island | jacksonville.com

Women's conference headed to Fleming Island | jacksonville.com

Great Women of God Abroad is one of approximately eight co-hosting churches and/or ministries that have volunteered with the Fresh Grounded Faith event with Jennifer Rothschild. WE are excited, greatful for the opportunity to serve and so look forward to the Jacksonville event!!