Roadblocks to Kingdom Influence - Pastor Chuck McCollum of Psalm84 church

Last Saturday Chuck McCallum shared brilliantly about God's plans to expand his Kingdom through us into every facet of society to bring His life-giving influence wherever we go. You can listen to that podcast here. As a successful CEO of a business as well as pastoring a church, Chuck brings his unique perspective of how we were never meant to keep our light inside of the four walls of a church building. Listen to his wisdom in response to this question: Chuck, as someone in the business world, how do you bring Kingdom core values and influence in your day to day dealings with people? Influence is an important part of leading and creating success. However there are a few roadblocks to growing influence: Judgment One of the first steps to increasing influence is avoiding judgment of others that separates. There are two types of judgment: 1) judgment that separates; 2) judgment as discernment.  To judge with discernment is walking with wisdom, but judgment that separates is a punishment and it removes your kingdom influence because when you judge another in this way, you can no longer connect with them. People can feel this separation. If you work in business and you want to influence people, chose connection instead of judgment. Judgment can arise when there is a disagreement between two people. Treat people in such a way that they know that you value them, even if you disagree with them. Many times while dealing with people, I can disagree with their opinions, but because they feel the value I have for them and their opinions, they allow me to speak into their lives because there is no judgment in my heart against them. There is a tension in the business world of maintaining values that are strong while working with people that don’t share the same values. So, how do you work with people like that? You simply begin to find out what they do carry that you can affirm in them. The prophetic ministry of Bethel Church in Redding calls that 'calling out the gold' in people. How you do that in the business world is to begin to see what makes a person amazing and to start calling that forth into the true identity of who they are called to be. Pretty soon, they start acting more like that person you are calling forth. And because there is no judgment, you now have influence and can speak into their lives as a result. An Inability to Learn From Others  Judgment is only one barrier to growing influence. Another roadblock is an inability to learn from others. Part of learning from others is to listen well. If people feel like you are not listening to them, you will lose the power of influence. Knowing when to speak up and when to listen is key to having influence. This is another example of living with tension. This takes true discernment to be successful in any kind of business relationship. People have a difficult time listening because they themselves are afraid they are not going to be heard. Listening first and knowing when to appropriately interject input into the meeting is crucial to developing influence with that group because that creates the intended impact within the room.​ Mismanagement of your Time Managing your time well is another key element to growing influence. Not managing time well creates another barrier to accomplishing this. Understanding the tension of harmony versus balance and the difference between the two is what will make or break your ability to do this well. Harmony is more important than balance. Many people try to only balance their time by doing a little bit here, and a little bit there. They find the 20 things they need to accomplish and that is how to get it done. But the most effective people learn harmony, because harmony actually focuses on doing the right thing at the right time….with the right people. Harmony is more about knowing the flow of what you should do in the present moment. It’s also a matter of personal balance. It’s like a pendulum. Sometimes the focus should apply heavier towards work, and more worked hours should be the result. While at other times, when the pendulum swings the other way, more family time is the order of the day. Sometimes people are not willing to put in extra hours of work, because they walk the fine line of balance, or dividing work and personal time evenly, even if more time is needed on one or the other. The reality in this is that there are times to invest in something more than usual (work or family/personal) and it requires more focus on that area for a season of time. Getting Sucked Into the Drama Finally, the last roadblock to be wary of is, DON'T GET SUCKED INTO THE DRAMA! So many things come at you each day that has the potential to create drama. I have a client who is threatening to sue us on errors and omissions on a particular project. When reading their material, I could get wrapped up in the emotion and be traumatized by the threat or I can actually focus and have the ability to see what they are saying has no legitimate cause. They are simply trying to manipulate me emotionally to get me to respond to their demands. Drama comes from people. It comes from miscommunication. It comes through fear, and from people who are more focused on themselves than they are on their teams. When we focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time (and sometimes with the wrong people), drama results. This is directly opposite of harmony. Beware of the blocks to growing influence, and remember to focus on the right things at the right time, which causes harmony in your life. How do you know when you are focused on the right things? You will see the fruit--When you are focusing on the right thing at the right moment in time you will see the fruit of your success, so that what you've been working towards grows into something bigger. It doesn't take effort to create fruit. The effort went into growing the tree or the roots taking hold beneath the tree where they are unseen. Then one day...you see the fruit, which is the beautiful result of that unseen work. You will have a sense of confidence in rest—There will be a peace to it all. When you feel anxiety and fear, pay attention to the voice you are listening to and it may be indicative of focusing on the wrong things. These should be your warnings to find that sense of rest. When you see people around you succeeding and doing well, you will build that sense of confidence quickly, because that is a sure fire sign of success and that you are focusing on the right things in a company. You will find momentum as a leader—When other people join what you are doing and are thrust forward into success, you will know you are on the right path. Helping others find success is an obvious sign that you as a leader are doing something right. You will find the potential in the situation and in people—When Jesus looked out on a crowd and looked at them being helpless, he saw a great harvest. One of the things that marks a successful person is the ability to see what other people don't see in the middle of things.