June 7 2018 – Click here to listen
I, along with four other guys, had lunch with famous author John Maxwell this week. John has sold more non-fiction books than any other author, over 30 million, and is a member of the Amazon Hall of fame. His books are primarily about leadership and if you are interested in that subject he has written over 100 of them.
I’ve met John a few times in the past including a retreat that he held at our resort. One time we had an in-depth talk and I asked him why he left being a pastor in favor of developing a business career. The short answer was he wanted to change the world and he felt that being a pastor would not enable him to accomplish his dream.
Today his books have been read far and wide and he has conducted seminars all over the world. He has met with world leaders and he and his team have trained people in every country in the world to lead like Christ.
He maintains that change cannot be brought about from the “bottom up” but from the top down. When he visits a country invariably he meets first with its President. His pattern is the same whether he is meeting the President of Guatemala or the King of Saudi Arabia.
Their strategy is to train leaders and have them train others until they multiple throughout society and cultural transformation occurs. I’ve read a few of John’s books and just about all his leadership tactics come directly out of the Bible. His leadership training seminars and programs use the same tactic that Jesus Christ employed as He sent His disciples out to change the world.
So many in this world ridicule the Bible. I dare to say that the overwhelming majority have never read much more than a few snippets. John has studied it as few have ever done. Though there is no question that on a personal level he has talent, is highly intelligent, charismatic, and articulate, I’m sure he would be one of the first to tell you that he primarily owes his unbelievable success throughout the world to his ardent study of the Bible.
Though my success pales into insignificance compared to John’s, I attribute what I have achieved to my own Bible study. I didn’t get a degree, nor did I attend the finest business schools. I did study the Bible daily right up through today and employed what I learned from my study into my daily life. It was exactly what I needed to raise a God-fearing wonderful family, have a marriage that has lasted nearly 48 years, write several books, achieve tremendous financial success in the business world, and so on. This all happened to me despite starting out in life as a homeless, God hating, meth-addict, and criminal. God used the Bible to transform my life.
Every word of the Bible was inspired by God. It is the greatest book ever written. Pick it up and begin studying it and become a warrior-winner for Christ. John Maxwell has written an outstanding Leadership Bible and I highly recommend it for those of you who aspire to be great leaders.
Psalms 1:1
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.