Some say that leadership can be learned… I understand that idea, but I disagree. Leadership skills and methods can be learned but I’m of the opinion that true leadership ability is a gift that cannot be learned or grown into. A real leader doesn’t need to read a book or blog to increase his/her leadership ability, he or she does so to sharpen their insight and gift.

The number one challenge for NewSpring Church (not to mention all churches, groups and organizations) is finding leaders. We want to grow and grow in the right way, but without passionate and competent leaders the effort is stunted. It is difficult, at best, to find a leader. Not just someone who has led something, but a true leader. Real leaders can be hard to find because some without the gift have mastered the art of mimicking it. It is when those who mimic the gift are placed in the fire (especially the fire of ministry) they are exposed and unfortunately the wake of destruction they leave is usually wide.

So, how does one distinguish a leader from a pretender? I don’t know for sure, but here are a few thoughts I have in regards to the qualities that should be found in a real leader.

A real leader…

• looks to get involved in solving problems instead of running from them.
• defends his team first before making excuses for himself.
• rejects offers to leave his team for the sake of personal advancement.
• knows when he is placing a lid on the ones he leads and is quick to get out of their way.
• inspires those he leads with his commitment, care, attitude and effort… and then his words… if necessary.
• is followed.
• speaks truth in love and never forsakes the vision or lowers the bar.
• inspires growth without demanding it from those he leads.
• is one his people want to be around and not one they dread seeing.
• has a desire to be led and not left alone.
• realizes that he is a part of the team… not above or better than the team.
• encourages and invites critique of his abilities from the ones he leads.
• sees defeat as a learning experience and not the end of the world.
• stays calm in the midst of calamity and does his best leading when the times are the toughest.
• doesn’t make decisions by looking at popular opinion or traditional values.
• challenges the status quo and risks his reputation to do so… not for notoriety or gain, but because its the right thing to do.

Just a few thoughts of my own…. I’d love to hear what you believe to be the qualities of a real leader.

… The Tough Get Going… but where do they go?

When our circumstances get tough we have only two options… we can be refined or we can run. We can seek relief from the pressure or we can persevere through the pressure. We can give up or we can give it all we got.

Here’s the dilemma for me… my flesh wants to run, but the Spirit wants to bask in it. When the heat rises my head tells me to move away, but somewhere in my soul I feel like this is something I need to walk through.

Vince Lombardi once said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” I believe he is correct… but is there a tangible way to distinguish between my will and God’s Spirit? Does this even matter?

God’s word says that “everything that does not come from faith is sin” and because that is true there must be times where I can “gut” through something really tough, but actually be in sin. In contrast, there will be times that I will want to run but even against my own will I will stay in the fire and make it through only because God carried me through it… literally against my own efforts to run. That is what I take from Philippians 2: 12-13:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

At the end of these thoughts I’m left with the truth that God wants me to persevere even in the toughest of situations because that is what Jesus did for me. My only gauge to know whether I have persevered in sin or as a saint is to check the condition of my heart once the trial has passed…

1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

… am I feeling better about myself or am I marveling at how awesome Jesus is?

My personal history reminds me that when I have survived by the efforts of my flesh I should expect that a similar trial is on its way… because God will not allow me to steal what He is trying to give me.

Anyone who works in ministry will testify to the fact that the physical work required by ministry is tough, but is only a part of the call. The toughest part of ministry is the emotional and spiritual toll it places on the ones who workout that calling. If that is true, then the primary burden placed on one who leads those who are in ministry is to protect their souls.

As one of those leaders, I want to make sure that I look at my responsibilities very carefully. I know that the physical burden of ministry will always exist. I know that there will always be work to do that will require time and effort beyond the norm. I’m ok with that because ministry is a gift that should be cherished and worked at diligently. As the leader, then, I want to make sure that I don’t lead in a way that will increase the spiritual and emotional burden my team already feels.

I consider my role in ministry as that of a shepherd. I do not believe I have earned the position, I believe God called me into it and just as David was called from tending sheep to leading God’s people. Anyone in ministry leadership has been given the position by God and given the same charge the Lord gave David… to be a skilled shepherd with integrity of heart.

Psalm 78: 70-72
He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

In my current role I lead a team of artists and because artists are wired up and gifted very differently than most other people, I have been asked many times what strategy I employ to lead to them. I have a few cute leadership formulas that can rattle off, but in reality I have one strategy… I invest in their soul. Over the last couple of years I have become convinced there really isn’t a list or formula for leading artists…. or anyone else, for that matter, who work in ministry. I’m to be a skilled shepherd with integrity of heart and I believe my primary focus has to be the shepherding of the soul of the ones I lead. (By the way, artists are really no different than anyone else in ministry they just have heightened sensitivity to their surroundings and that freaks some leaders out.)

I believe that is what Paul was to Timothy. He certainly gave Timothy direction on how to physically carry out his ministry role, but Paul also focused on Timothy’s soul. Paul understood that the call into ministry came with great hardships that required the one called to make good use of their time. But I believe Paul’s exhortation of Timothy was as much on keeping Timothy’s soul focused on the Lord as it was on what to do… the reason behind the doing.

As Paul starts out in his instructions to Timothy on what to do in ministry, he encourages him first to “hold on to a faith and good conscience”.

1 Timothy 1: 18-19
Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

Then as his second letter to Timothy begins its obvious that the ministry is taking a toll on Timothy. So, Paul shows empathy and then focuses on Timothy’s soul before he focuses on the duties of Timothy’s ministry.

2 Timothy 1: 3-14
I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears…I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Paul goes on to encourage Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5 to “discharge all the duties of your ministry”. So the investment into Timothy’s soul was to equip and encourage him to discharge the duties of his ministry. You can have a ministry that is based on duty or you can have one that is based on an overflow of the heart… as a leader, I suggest that if I invest in the soul of the ones I lead, the “duties” will flow out of them. Whereas if I invest solely (pun intended) in the duties, in the end, pride or discouragement will win and no worthy and lasting ministry duties will be discharged.