The last night of my daughter's Christmas vacation, we decided to watch together the BET's Celebration of Gospel.
As we both watched James Fortune and FIYA perform their number 1 hit, I Trust You, my mind traveled back two years ago.
I served as a church administrator for one of the fastest growing churches in Houston, Texas.
And I shared the office with a young man that spent his time managing the worship department in between running back and forth to the studio to record is upcoming album.
Both of us had the enjoyment of living out the purposes that God had for us for that particular season, but time seemed to not be enough to get everything done.
The hustle and bustle of the behind the scene work that goes into organizing a Sunday service to most congregants is foreign.
Not to mention we both had families.
He continued in his effort to select worship songs for the choirs to sing, he scheduled worship rehearsals, developed proposals for new worship and praise programs, searched the internet for new books to read on his industry, left during his lunch break to pick his wife up, picked up the children and then back to the church office for his weekly staff meeting.
And after seeing the performance of the young man on national television, which I had the pleasure to share an office with, I saw some key elements that lead to his SUCCESS! #1 When you love what you do, the work that you're doing is not work.
He never complained about the work.
He had a passion and he knew his purpose.
#2 To become something great in any industry you have know your stuff.
He loved getting new material and books to educate himself on his industry.
I still believe 'readers are leaders.
' #3 And to concur with the author of Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk: "Be who you are and don't back down from it.
" This young man was funny, outgoing and sometimes a little outrageously crazy, but he was the same person in the office we shared, at the meetings we attended together, and in front of our pastor.
(Smile) These three elements are benchmarks for those of us pursuing our destinies.
Success of a person, not the person can be duplicated.
But effort, hardworking and passion are still foundational building blocks for greatness in any industry.
As we both watched James Fortune and FIYA perform their number 1 hit, I Trust You, my mind traveled back two years ago.
I served as a church administrator for one of the fastest growing churches in Houston, Texas.
And I shared the office with a young man that spent his time managing the worship department in between running back and forth to the studio to record is upcoming album.
Both of us had the enjoyment of living out the purposes that God had for us for that particular season, but time seemed to not be enough to get everything done.
The hustle and bustle of the behind the scene work that goes into organizing a Sunday service to most congregants is foreign.
Not to mention we both had families.
He continued in his effort to select worship songs for the choirs to sing, he scheduled worship rehearsals, developed proposals for new worship and praise programs, searched the internet for new books to read on his industry, left during his lunch break to pick his wife up, picked up the children and then back to the church office for his weekly staff meeting.
And after seeing the performance of the young man on national television, which I had the pleasure to share an office with, I saw some key elements that lead to his SUCCESS! #1 When you love what you do, the work that you're doing is not work.
He never complained about the work.
He had a passion and he knew his purpose.
#2 To become something great in any industry you have know your stuff.
He loved getting new material and books to educate himself on his industry.
I still believe 'readers are leaders.
' #3 And to concur with the author of Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk: "Be who you are and don't back down from it.
" This young man was funny, outgoing and sometimes a little outrageously crazy, but he was the same person in the office we shared, at the meetings we attended together, and in front of our pastor.
(Smile) These three elements are benchmarks for those of us pursuing our destinies.
Success of a person, not the person can be duplicated.
But effort, hardworking and passion are still foundational building blocks for greatness in any industry.