When you become a pastor, you become a leader.
I’m often asked specifics about my administrative style,
but I think leadership
style is just as important. Understanding basic, universal
leadership concepts is essential to your success.
Here
are six non-negotiable facts about leadership…
1. Nothing happens until someone provides
leadership for it.
This is a law of life. For instance, the Civil Rights Movement made little progress until a man came along named Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “I have a dream.” The NASA space program was quite limited until John F. Kennedy said, “We’re going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.”
Saddleback
Church started because God said, “Rick, I want you to be a
leader and get the thing off the ground.” When problems arise in your own
family, nothing happens until somebody assumes leadership and says, “We’re
going to do something about it.”
Everything rises or falls on leadership, and many problems
can be traced to a lack of competent leadership.
I believe one of the greatest problems today is a
leadership shortage within our churches.
2. Leadership is influence.
If I had to summarize leadership in one word, it would be influence—for good or for bad.
Have you ever watched a playground at school? Within about
five minutes you can usually determine who the leaders are—and whether they’re
good leaders or bad ones.
Every time you influence somebody, you’re assuming
leadership. (Tweet this!)
In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul told Timothy, “And don’t let anyone
put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by
demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity” (The Message).
Age has nothing to do with leadership. You can be an
influence at any age, and you’re a role model whether you like it or not.
3. The test of leadership is, is anybody
following?
If you want to know whether you’re a leader or not, simply
look over your shoulder.
My friend John
Maxwell says, “He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one
following him is only taking a walk.”
If you have to remind people that you’re a leader, then
you’re not one. The Sunday I stand up at Saddleback and say, “Folks, we’re
going to do it my way because I am the leader”—that’s the Sunday I’ve ceased to
be a leader.
4. The foundation of leadership is character,
not charisma.
You may have enough charisma to be a televangelist, but if
you have no character, you fail. The foundation of leadership is character, not
charisma.
In fact, you don’t have to have charisma to be a leader,
but you do have to have character. This kind of credibility is essential
because without it, no one will follow you.
5. Leadership can be learned.
Everyone can be a great leader. Philippians 4:9 says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put into practice” (NIV).
Contrary to conventional wisdom, leaders are made, not
born. There is no such thing as a born leader. Leaders are made by the way they
respond to circumstances.
The priority of training leaders can be seen in the
ministry of Jesus. Mark 3:14 says, “He appointed 12—designating them
apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach”
(NIV).
Jesus had a public ministry and a private ministry. His
public ministry involved preaching, teaching and healing. His private ministry
involved training the disciples.
Even within the Twelve, he had an inner circle—Peter,
James, John—who got to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Transfiguration.
They got extra attention.
In Galatians 2, Paul said Peter, James and John were the
pillars of the church. Jesus invested the maximum time with those who would
bear the maximum responsibility. He fed the masses, but he spent most of his
time training leadership, and that’s one reason why I believe leadership can be
learned.
6. The moment you stop learning, you stop
leading.
All leaders must be learners. The moment you stop learning is the moment you stop leading.
I believe that the moment I as a pastor stop growing,
Saddleback Church will stop growing, too. You must always be developing and
growing and becoming what God wants you to be.
Learning to be a leader takes a lifetime.
Source:
Dr. Rick Warren is passionate about attacking what he calls
the five “Global Goliaths” – spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership,
extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy/poor education. His goal is a
second Reformation by restoring responsibility in people, credibility in
churches, and civility in culture. He is a pastor, global strategist,
theologian, and philanthropist. He’s been often named "America's most influential
spiritual leader" and “America’s Pastor.
This article originally appeared here.
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