Proverbs 12:1 "To learn, you must want to be taught. To refuse reproof is stupid."
I'm convinced that in order to grow in my faith, or in any other area of my life I need to make the commitment to be a lifelong learner. Here are some of the ways I'm putting this into practice in my own life.
1) I'm committed to learning from Scripture. I actually believe that the Bible is God's inspired word/direction for my life. Some of the ways I am learning from God's word are: daily quite times, listening to other pastor's messages, and my personal message preparation.
2) I am committed to reading between 50 and 100 books a year. I began this practice when I was a Freshman in college and have been doing it for the last 12 years. Some years I come closer to 50 other years 100, this year it looks like between 70 and 90 (I still got 3 months left). I've probably read between 1,000 and 1,200 books in the last 12 years. Some more profitable than others.
3) I read the online blogs of other leaders, not just pastors and not just Christians. I subscribe to about 15 blogs, and read about 5 of them a day. I have a program that pulls the most recent post from each of the blogs I subscribe to. All I have to do is get online, see which posts look relevant to my situation, and read. I take about 10-15 minutes, right after my quite time to learn from other leaders this way.
4) I'm committed to continuing professional education and personal education. I'm currently taking 3 classes that are helping me to become a better leader and pastor. This past spring I took a parenting class with my wife, that was offered in conjunction with another church.
5) I'm committed to meeting in a monthly gathering with other pastors in central Illinois. I learn from their experience, both their successes and their failures.
6) I'm committed to being mentored by others. Both personally and professionally. (I wrote about this in an earlier post, but thought it should be repeated here).
So that's some of what I'm doing. In addition to those things, I also seek constructive critisism from people I trust about my leadership, preaching, and family life. I also do a semi-annual review of my own inner life using the Christian Life Profile.
That's what I do. What are you doing to develop and grow in your learning?
I'm convinced that in order to grow in my faith, or in any other area of my life I need to make the commitment to be a lifelong learner. Here are some of the ways I'm putting this into practice in my own life.
1) I'm committed to learning from Scripture. I actually believe that the Bible is God's inspired word/direction for my life. Some of the ways I am learning from God's word are: daily quite times, listening to other pastor's messages, and my personal message preparation.
2) I am committed to reading between 50 and 100 books a year. I began this practice when I was a Freshman in college and have been doing it for the last 12 years. Some years I come closer to 50 other years 100, this year it looks like between 70 and 90 (I still got 3 months left). I've probably read between 1,000 and 1,200 books in the last 12 years. Some more profitable than others.
3) I read the online blogs of other leaders, not just pastors and not just Christians. I subscribe to about 15 blogs, and read about 5 of them a day. I have a program that pulls the most recent post from each of the blogs I subscribe to. All I have to do is get online, see which posts look relevant to my situation, and read. I take about 10-15 minutes, right after my quite time to learn from other leaders this way.
4) I'm committed to continuing professional education and personal education. I'm currently taking 3 classes that are helping me to become a better leader and pastor. This past spring I took a parenting class with my wife, that was offered in conjunction with another church.
5) I'm committed to meeting in a monthly gathering with other pastors in central Illinois. I learn from their experience, both their successes and their failures.
6) I'm committed to being mentored by others. Both personally and professionally. (I wrote about this in an earlier post, but thought it should be repeated here).
So that's some of what I'm doing. In addition to those things, I also seek constructive critisism from people I trust about my leadership, preaching, and family life. I also do a semi-annual review of my own inner life using the Christian Life Profile.
That's what I do. What are you doing to develop and grow in your learning?
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