Chapter 1
Teflon RhinoBeing a leader is not for the faint of heart. The critics are always there waiting for you to fail and to remind you of your inconsistencies. The obstacles, at times, appear insurmountable.The pressures to conform, to compromise, and to give up are always there. However, the Teflon Rhino will not give in to the critic or to the conflict. Nothing can penetrate their skin. Nothing can stick to them. They are a Teflon Rhino.
Chapter 1– How Far Do You Want To Go?
Where are you going? What is your purpose for being here? Those are questions that all of us are seeking to answer. It is important to understand your purpose, but it is more critical to know how to get there.It is good to know the end of the journey, but it is the journey itself that determines the end. The brilliant German writer of the 17th century, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) said that knowledge is not enough; we must apply.
At the time of writing this book, I am working on my Doctorate. My motivation is not a great one, but it is a cool one. The only reason why I'm getting my Doctorate degree is so I can take it and put my degree in the face of all these smart people and say, "I have a doctoral degree, but I still drive the Sunday School bus and care for kids!"
The casual observer has no idea what it took to getwhere I am, and if they did, I am certain they would not choose that path. We want the glory, but do we want the cross? We must come to understand that the path to resurrection glory will take us by the way of the cross.
Because you are reading this book I am assuming that you want to get somewhere. Your desire is to get to the place that God has designed for you. You want to fulfill your destiny. The desire is with you. The question is, "How did I get there?" There are four roads that you must travel.
Chapter 2
There is wherever Jesus is.
When you find there, you find the place that will become a catalyst for conquest.
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night
When you find there, you find the place that will become a catalyst for conquest.
The first step to getting to there is in knowing where you are right now. If you don’t know where you are, you will never get anywhere. I have known so many people whose focus is way down the road. Projecting themselves into the future, they are trying to find the will of God. Here is the problem with that kind of futile and frantic pursuit. In the process of trying to find there, they miss here, and when you miss here, you’re never going get to there.
Being present in the moment of opportunity is a critical issue of life. Most of us are present, but few of us are very present. I can tell when someone is present. I can see the glimmer in their eyes that tells me, “I am here.”
American educator and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) put it so appropriately with these words.
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night
Every sacrifice of our life strikes a chord that will vibrate in eternity. Eternity awaits us. He awaits us, and when we get to there, all of our here will be worth it. Your there will always be preceded by you’re here.
Work while it is called night for a day is coming when no man will work (see John 9:4), and we will finally be there. Decide today that you will be here, so that one day you will be there—in that city that is called The Lord is there.
Chapter 3
There are moments in every life where something happens that turns out to be a defining moment. You cannot predict or even imagine how or when that time will encroach upon the normality of our daily existence.
In today’s Christian community our language is filled with clichés and buzzwords. Empty clichés that are grown in the greenhouse of empty religion have always been a problem for the Church. A cliché as defined by Webster as “a trite phrase or expression; a platitude, a tired phrase, hackneyed, stereotyped.” Get the picture? A cliché is something that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse.
One of the great overused and misused words of our time is the word faith. The problem with buzzwords is that they carry different meaning depending on the person who is using them. The word faith has been annihilated by television evangelists using this word to support their own cause. So, when most people talk about faith, it is used in abstract terms that have no depth of meaning. For some people faith becomes magical. If you have faith, you will get a new car, money in the bank, and your house will be paid for.
I believe in the importance of faith. Without faith my life would be insignificant. But it is not the same kind of faith that I hear talked about in many churches across this country. Faith needs to be redefined for this generation. The faith that I believe in is the faith that Jesus saw in the lives of the four friends of this man with the palsy. It wasn’t blind faith. It was visible faith, as we will see.
It’s not enough to just bring somebody to church. It’s not about bringing somebody to the house. Let’s just get them to the church. That is not enough. You have to find a way to get them to Jesus. This is the heart and the way of a true soul winner and a true friend. Get them to Jesus!
We stand on the precipice of urgent times. If we don’t do something, there’s a whole generation of folks who are going to die. Somebody somewhere has to look out at a generation and say, “If we don’t do something, who will? Who? Who in this city is going to do it?” Our cities are in the throes of death—death by poverty, death by crime, and death by drugs. Where are the people who care? Where are the ones who will act?
All of us have been confronted with great opportunities that are often masked by a precarious predicament. Sometimes we can’t see the door because it is camouflaged by difficulty. The courageous only have eyes for the door.
It is my prayer that the Lord will raise up a generation of young people whose faith is manifested to the world by what they do! We need visible faith, radical faith, dynamic faith that is manifested by ridiculous acts of those who trust God and believe His Word
Chapter 4
At the beginning of time in an ancient garden God made this compelling comment: It is not good that the man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). And so God created a companion for Adam. It is clear that God never intended for man to live in lonely isolation. God created the first community in the Garden of Eden as a sign to future generations that friendship is a Divine idea.
Friends are our companions on our journey through this life. They laugh with us during our times of joy, and they cry with us in our times of sorrow. Friends will challenge us when we are wrong and support us when we need their strength.
Not all of our associates can be counted as friends. There is a huge difference between associates and friends. The difference is usually manifested in times of trouble. Friends come in the door while others are walking out. Friends choose to listen to us in our time of need, rather than seeking to get us to draw from their potpourri of human wisdom.
One book of the Bible that is a classic story of friendship is the book of Job. Nearly everyone knows the story of Job’s friends. It is the story of one man’s appalling affliction and the so-called friends that tried to help him find the meaning for his suffering. As we come to the 16th chapter of the story, Job has had enough of these pathetic comforters and their stinging advice. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
It is my conviction that we should eliminate the kind of Christianity that simply points a finger at the lost and hurting and says, “You’re a sinner. You’re out of the will.” We should marginalize those Christians who are not willing to lift up people who are in the valley of pain. It is critical that we understand that the best way to reach the world is to get out of the security of our cloistered communities and get into the places where people are desperate for our love and support. That is real Christianity.
We have a city that’s full of people like Job. There are neighborhoods that are dying and longing for someone to care. Too many people in my city are more concerned about building their ministry than building up people. We have too many people more interested in building fancy buildings and attracting the rich than they are in creating a place where people can have their needs met. Jesus made it clear in His Word what was the focus of His ministry.
The world doesn’t need the friendship of Job’s self-righteous friends. They need the love of someone who truly cares and will lift them up out of their sorry state and give them a reason for living. It is this kind of Christianity that will restore the reputation of the Church in a world of hurting people.
Chapter 5
Friends are like roses, you have to be careful of the thorns. Even the strongest friendship can be transformed into a nightmare. They can turn on a dime at any moment and leave us alone and forsaken. A friend’s words, if we are not careful, can lead us into perilous places. Not all friends are good for you. Friendships are so important in our lives, but if we choose the wrong friends, they can be detrimental and place us at risk.
No matter how you look at it, the people you spend time with have a huge influence on your life. I have watched people enter our program, and they are such wonderful people when they come to us. But if they get in with the wrong group, they end up becoming polluted by the negativity of those influences.
It is possible to spend too much time with your friends. If you are not careful you will find yourself drifting into gossip or negative talk that can result in all kinds of negativity. Once you start wandering into discussions about other people, if you are not careful, you will find yourself in caustic gossip. You can only talk about good stuff for so long. I don’t care how good a friend you have, you are limited on how long you can stay positive.
Dis-loyalty is ‘dissing’ those you should be loyal to. Loyalty is refusing to be drawn into disparaging discussions about other people. That is disloyalty. If you hear somebody criticizing your friend or a leader at any level and you don’t stand up and say something, as far as I’m concerned, you are guilty of disloyalty.
There is no good that comes out of criticizing others. All it does is tear down the other person and split relationships. Rather than criticizing people, we should be encouraging them. Rather than lusting after others, we should be praying for them.
It doesn’t matter where you are in life, there will always be bad friends knocking on your door. The key to life is in never opening that door. It doesn’t matter who they are because it will come back to bite you. All betrayal begins with trust and that is why you must always be careful whom you trust. Never say anything in private that you can’t say in public. If a friendship is broken, your words just might be put on the public stage.
The people near you must be tested. You must know that they can be counted on and that they are true friends. Here are some tests that will help you weed out the bad seed in your life (Read the full version of Teflon Rhino for the tests).
Pick your friends carefully. Men and women of God must be extremely careful about the kinds of people who surround them. There are only a handful of people that I allow into the inner sanctuary of my life. I test those that want to be my friend. They are qualified by their words and their actions. I don’t have time to engage in frivolous relationships. I must make every moment of my life count. I am on a mission, and I want people around me who can support that cause.
And so it should be in your life. You had better test the people around you. You had better make sure they are real friends. Choose your friends wisely!
