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.”
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.
The Holy Spirit and church growth are intimately connected. We intuitively know that’s true.
But the moment things get practical and the pressure is on, that relationship gets fuzzy pretty fast. So how is it supposed to work? Is there a “right” way?
How much of church growth is God’s favor and how much of it is your leadership?
Is church growth completely dependent upon God’s power? I have great friends and colleagues that would represent very different views.
You may hear “comments over coffee” about who has jobs that are easy and who has jobs that are hard. I have. They often seem to get quickly connected to levels of fatigue.
I think there is more to it than that.
Most jobs are not hard or easy by themselves; it’s context and perspective that makes the difference.
You can name teachers, plumbers, sales associates, pastors, and business owners that work very hard and some who barely work.
Each of us has a unique context and perspective that makes all the difference.
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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