(These principles are offered from the vantage point of leading in ministry, however, my experience leading outside the ministry supports the truth of these principles regardless of the type of organization. The second principle is specific to ministry, but if as leaders we execute the other three well, we may just lead someone in the most import direction… to Jesus.)

As I lead, I should…

1 – Share my Faith

Philemon v6
I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Anyone in leadership that is trying to lead well wants more knowledge. Leaders want to make good decisions that lead to team victories and increase team morale. Most of the time these victories come from the leaders effectiveness in creating the right environment or process that allows the individuals on the team to succeed. In this verse Paul say that if I am active in sharing my faith that I will “have full knowledge of every good thing…”.

How do I share my faith as I lead? I don’t think this means walking each team member down the “Romans Road” everyday, but do I think its as simple as leading by living out what I say I believe in as a follower of Christ. As a leader, I’m not one person at church and another at home and another at work. I walk the talk and as I instruct/challenge/discipline my team, I do it through the filter of my faith in Christ.

2 – Trust God

Philemon v8-9
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.

If you are in the position of a leader (there is a difference between being a leader and being in the position of a leader – other posts address this issue) then you can demand actions from your team. What Paul is demonstrating to me in this verse is that although he could demand action (because of his position), he is choosing to appeal to the Spirit that lives inside of Philemon.

To me, the biggest win I can achieve as a leader is to cultivate an environment where each person on my team carries out his/her role not out of duty but out of faith (Colossians 3:23). The primary benefit of leading in ministry is that each person on your team is a follower of Jesus (at least in theory). If I am following God’s direction to lead “by sharing my faith” then I need to trust God’s work in the person I am leading. Over time if I find that the person I’m leading is not responding from their own faith, but begrudgingly out of duty or not at all, then I have someone who rightfully needs to be led off my team or out of my organization.

3 – Invest in the Person

Philemon v14
But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced.

Simply, in this verse Paul is seeking Philemon’s buy in before any decisions or actions take place. My own experience has shown me that if I invest time into my team by seeking their input on a particular decision or course of action, then I am more likely to get their best effort in the execution of that decision. If I choose to not invest this time into my team, then there will be unanswered questions or confusion or a process that isn’t as good as it could have been with their input. That’s just bad and egotistical leadership.

4 – Serve the Person

Philemon v18-19
If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul… will pay it back.

My team needs to know that I will stand up for them no matter the personal cost to me. It is clear from this verse Paul is willing to go out on a personal limb for Onesimus. For me, if I don’t think my leader will take a bullet for me or seek to put himself out for me then I am slow to do the same for him. If I want to be led with that type of commitment, why would I not think I should lead with that type of commitment?

Leaders must first be servants of those they lead. Securing leadership equity (the need to call in and have something done with no questions asked by the team) will only happen if the leader earns it. I have found that the only way to earn that equity is through serving each individual on the team in a way that lets them know they are not on an island and that they are safe under my leadership. Leaders go first, take bullets, deflect criticism, and make sure the people on the team feel served… a guy named Jesus thought this was a good leadership principle too (John 13:1-17).

Leadership is as easy (and as challenging) as sharing our faith, trusting God, investing in our team and serving our team. And, its as easy (and challenging) as simply loving those you lead.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In any relational dynamic, Jesus is the stronger person. He states clearly in this passage that he intends to use his strength to lighten our burden. I believe this is true in any situation that we submit to his authority and, of course, the primary example of this is in his paying for the sin debt that we have no capacity to pay.

I’m starting to see that Jesus not only intends to lighten my burden as I trust him, but also serve as an example of how I should be in both actions and attitude toward the people I encounter.

In any interaction, depending on the particular situation, there will be a stronger and a weaker person. I need “stronger” people to pick me up and carry more of the load when I am too weak to do it… or don’t know how… or simply can’t find my way. Conversely, I need to be quick to recognize and be ready to respond when I can do the same for other people.

Jesus didn’t get frustrated with me because I couldn’t make a way to him. He, with great compassion, made his way to me. He covered the gap I never could have. My relationship with Jesus isn’t balanced… he is is the stronger person and so he carries more of the load. ( Just to be clear, in regards to my sin, I believe he carries the WHOLE load.)

So, if we are to follow the example of Jesus… when you are the stronger person, you must be willing to carry more of the load.

Oh yeah…

AND… not be frustrated by it but embrace the fact that God has equipped you for the task or the situation or the person.

Jesus is in a constant posture to take my burdens and make them lighter. I need to have that attitude when I’m called upon to carry the burden of someone else… because… at some point, someone will (and has) do that for me.

With that as background, here’s what I believe God has been trying to teach me over the last several months…

I don’t have to…

… have the last word because He is the only Word
… fight my enemies because He’s already defeated them
… defend my honor because I don’t have any, yet He has given me His
… worry about being right because He is the only One who is
… win because He’s already won

Influence: the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command; the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways

In the area of leadership I have been wondering what type of impact I could have and what the scope of that impact could be. Like many, I sometimes get distracted by the thoughts of doing something that really causes a wave of change or growth or increase. So, I’ve been considering what is the likelihood of that sort of impact.

The definitions above are provided by Webster, but I break them down to something more simple… Inspiration offers ideas that may fade over time where Influence causes change that becomes more powerful over time.

Now, from this point forward I am not claiming that what I say is absolute, but it is something that I’ve been pondering for a while in regards to this idea of inspiration vs. influence. When I have life or leadership questions I try to look at the life of Jesus and his relationships for guidance. In doing that on this issue I have what follows bouncing around in my head.

Think about how Jesus related to the twelve disciples. Jesus led them all but made an extra effort to pour more time into three of them (Peter, James & John). Now I don’t know the full stories of all twelve, but how much do we know about the nine others? We know that one denied him completely (Judas) and we don’t see much in the New Testament about the others.

Also, think about how many people Jesus spoke to during his earthly ministry. He preached to tens of thousands of people and did things in front of them that no one ever had done… yet when he ascended back into heaven only 120 people were there. (based on my definitions) Jesus inspired many but had real influence over just a few.

Here is where these questions and thoughts leave me. I can inspire many, at times, depending on the situation. It is possible for me to connect in some general way (through the various social networks) with thousands of people and say or write something that makes them consider my ideas. The likelihood, however, that it will have any lasting impact (real influence) is low.

Ok, Shane…. whatev… what’s the point?

Here is what the point is for me… I need to think about how I spend my time and what the motivation of my efforts are. Do I want to spend my time and energy to inspire many or do I want to spend my time and energy to influence a few?

Inspiration is like a nice breeze on a hot day that feels good for a minute then is forgotten the next time the sun hits your face. Influence is like a hurricane whose impact is talked about for generations.

Inspiration is a good sermon that we love while hearing it and then forget by the time we reach the parking lot. Influence is the one thing somebody said to us years ago that we cannot forget.

Inspiration’s greatest achievement is name recognition for a season and then nothing. Influence’s greatest achievement is a legacy that builds in strength over the generations to come.

I have no doubt that this line of thinking is flawed in some way… but… it really causes me to think about how I spend my time… to inspire (for now) or to influence (forever)…

Just a thought…

I was so wrong… both in my discernment for this person’s demeanor and where they hoped to go in their ministry.

Instead of being met with a grateful heart and a relieved spirit, I was met with a fire and passion I had not recognized before. As anyone who knows me would guess, I combated fire with fire for a bit because I always drift to a “might is right” mentality. Somewhere in the midst of the heat something was said that God used to really get my attention.

Him: “I need this!”

Me: “… huh??? You need what?”

“I need this type of access to you so I can see your passion and hear the fire in your voice and know you are fighting for me.” … Oh, here we go, I thought. You see, the person I was talking to didn’t report directly to me. Our organizational structure was such that this person’s leader reported to me so it would be rare that direction would be coming directly from me. So, my instant reaction was that this person was angling to get around their leader.

Again, I was wrong.

This person was simply trying to express the occasional need that he and his peers have to receive vision cast and questions answered from someone who is closer to the epicenter of the vision. The guy explained that his leader was doing a great job, but he felt that as information was past down the chain of command something was lost. After much discussion the thing that was being lost was not correct information and it wasn’t vision dilution. It was simply access to the thoughts, heart and passion of his leader’s leader. Not direct access all the time, but occasional access to feel the temperature of the fire that was burning in me.

Wow! That conversation flattened me. I thought I was doing everything right as a leader. I followed the chain of command and avoided cutting the leadership legs out from under the guys that report to me and I casted clear vision and direction so that they were equipped to lead their teams. All those things I had apparently done well, but I was falling short in noticing the importance of this type of access that would increase the health of our organization.

As I processed all of this I realized that I should have caught onto this concept much earlier. You see, my leader, Perry Noble sets a great example in this area. I don’t know if he would call what he does providing access, but he leads a monthly all staff meeting where his passion and vision are clearly seen and heard by everyone on our staff. Also, almost every week he takes a group from our staff to lunch to ask and answer questions. He even builds time into his busy schedule each week to simply walk around the office and to talk with as many people as he can. He creates avenues of access for his extended team (the whole staff) and at the same time is able to learn from those who are involved in the specific ministries of our church.

Why wouldn’t that principle apply to me? Why wouldn’t I make it a point to have monthly meetings with my extended team and be more intentional about lunches and striking up conversations around the office?

One reason I think that I haven’t seen this need is that I sit as close as is possible to the epicenter of our vision. I have lost sight of how I might feel if I was removed from my current position. Just as this person understood, I would not expect Perry to be available to me all the time. I would understand the need for an organizational hierarchy and the efficiency it creates. But, I would also have a need to feel like I have voice and that I am a part of the bigger team… not just someone who carries out a necessary function.

So, I owe a major thank you to someone who was willing to “lead up” and remind me that as a leader, I need to be sensitive to everyone’s need for access. Not access that circumvents the structure or the vision… but access that clears up communication gaps, clarifies vision, gives everyone’s voice a place to be heard and makes me a better leader.

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.

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.

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.