Next Monday, I have a new book releasing with co-author Kate Motaung, called:
Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me).
This book is especially written for speakers, writers, and ministry leaders. If you know someone who might be interested, would you let them know?
Influence Quiz
If you haven’t done so yet, I invite you to TAKE THE INFLUENCE QUIZ. This post is a follow up of the first three questions in the quiz:
1) True/False: I have a passion to share a message about Jesus (either overtly or subtly) with the world.
2) As a Christian influencer, I lean toward being:
- Underconfident in myself or my message
- Overconfident in myself or my message
- Sometimes Underconfident/ Sometimes over Confident
- I see myself as humble, but confident
- Other:
3) On a scale of 0 – 5: I struggle with the idea of promoting my work since Jesus tells me to humble myself, not exalt myself. (0=not at all, 5=all the time)
A Quiet Dream
Dear {$name|default(‘Friend’)},
In the Influence Quiz, we posed the following three questions that have to do with confidence:
1) True/False: I have a passion to share a message about Jesus (either overtly or subtly) with the world.
2) As a Christian influencer, I lean toward being:
- Underconfident in myself or my message
- Overconfident in myself or my message
- Sometimes Underconfident/ Sometimes over Confident
- I see myself as humble, but confident
- Other:
3) On a scale of 0 – 5: I struggle with the idea of promoting my work since Jesus tells me to humble myself, not exalt myself. (0=not at all, 5=all the time)
A Quiet Dream
I’ll never forget the first time I felt the burning desire to share truth as a speaker. I was a young wife and mom sitting in the audience at a Christian women’s retreat, listening to the speaker tell a story about her bathrobe. I can’t remember who the speaker was but I remember thinking, “I want to do what she’s doing with all my heart!”
I didn’t tell anyone this. Not at the retreat or afterward. I buried it like a little seed in a garden of dormant hopes for years and years. Maybe you’ve done the same thing. Perhaps you have quiet dreams of influencing the world by telling your story, or telling stories in general, which you have kept to yourself. Maybe you dream of being an author, starting an organization or, or (like me) being a retreat speaker.
Don’t Bury Your Talent
Friend, are you waiting for someone to give you permission to use your gifts for the sake of the Church? If so, permission is freely yours! Don’t bury your talent in the ground like the foolish man in Jesus’ parable. Invest what you’ve been given, for the sake of those who need truth and light! But don’t do so in the way the world says to.
The world encourages us to put our confidence in ourselves. We’re told, “If you’re ever going to be heard in this noisy world, you’ve got to stand out. You need to be superior, louder, more eloquent, more perfect.” I’m guessing you’ve received this message, loud and clear. And how have you responded?
Trying to become superior, louder, more eloquent, or more perfect does not produce in us the type of confidence that God wants us to have–platform or not. Either we push forward, confident in our own abilities or gifts. Or we shrink back, convinced that we don’t have what it takes to make a difference.
Jesus never asked us to make ourselves heard above the noise of the world. He never asked us to be superior or even more eloquent. He doesn’t require us to be perfect to be used by Him. Instead, he invites us to become humble and broken; to become the “servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
If you are wrestling with how to steward your influence and spread your message yet still remaining humble with a servant’s heart, my co-author Kate and I say, “Great work!” You see, we believe that the struggle is refining. The heart work we do, as we follow God’s call to humble ourselves and influence the world is good work. If you weren’t struggling, we would say that’s probably a bigger problem.
Do you want to build influence, but do so in a Christ-honoring way? What have you found helpful in this endeavor? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Continuing the Conversation
If you’d like to keep talking about this topic of platform-building as Christians, we hope you’ll consider our new book, Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me) either to read on your own or with your writers/ speakers / leadership group.
Check out correlating resources and podcast interviews here.
Receive this 4-part Influence Blog series here.