The primary responsibility of a leader is to think.
A leader’s thoughts must be bathed in prayer, sifted through wise counsel, and compared to experience. Your leadership never rises above your thought patterns.
I can remember as a young leader, and a few times as a not-so-young leader, someone saying to me: “What were you thinking?!” And the honest answer was, “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
You’ve noticed, haven’t you?
Leading a local church is more complex than ever.
It’s still the most rewarding and greatest purpose I can imagine, but the challenges are not for the faint of heart.
Building an extraordinary team is a huge endeavor. It’s exciting, rewarding but it’s also hard work. It’s just never done.
It’s a little like gardening. You just get everything growing great and looking good only to have a severe weather change, or you got busy and forgot to water or fertilize. Maybe a pest gets in your lawn. We’ve had a gopher now for two or three years. It’s a battle and he’s winning!
But if you work hard and stick with it, the result is beautiful. It’s organic, so it’s never perfect and always changing, but it’s worth the effort.
It’s true that no one wants to follow an insecure, indecisive, or ineffective leader.
Qualities like confident, decisive and courageous are essential and needed. Great leaders can handle the tough circumstances that come their way.
But tough-minded leaders must also be tender-hearted, or their leadership becomes cold and hard.
The strength and power of Jesus’ leadership was signified by things like a dove, a cross, and a towel. These are clearly symbols of qualities such as humility, sacrifice, love, and obedience to name just a few.
Dan Reiland is the Executive Pastor at 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He previously partnered with John Maxwell for 20 years, first as Executive Pastor at Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, then as Vice President of Leadership and Church Development at INJOY.
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