Mark Sayers on "Leadership as Avenue to Stardom"

Saw this post by Mark Sayers this morning on his views that the culture of today is raising people to be stars and not servants.  While I agree, I think the church has been in the habit of raising servants to be stars - that is we serve to draw others, to open doors, to be seen, etc.  Serving PROVIDES benefit for others, but it is not FOR the benefit of others.

 

When I spent some time researching the lives of young leaders in ministry I saw this phenomenon in action. The idea of servant leadership seemed so passe to them. The aim was to get on stage and to get known, to them that was success in ministry. Those of you training young leaders need to be aware of this dynamic, we need to again promote the idea of servant leadership, not as a vehicle for becoming known but rather as a tonic for the soul.

 

Mark is absolutely correct.  We "serve" as a tonic for our own soul.  We serve because it is ultimately of benefit to ourselves.

 

But we have to be careful that we don't make "stars" out of serving.

 

That's why some people get burnt out serving.  They do it for others -- and "others" always want more.  And in their own way, they create the image that they are a "star" at serving.  Even as we teach, we become the "star" at teaching how to serve.

 

We need to examine our reasons for serving, and how (and why) we teach others to serve.  Rather than wear us out, serving should invigorate and draw us closer to God.

 

Jesus never did everything others expected.  He didn't serve them at their leisure.  He only did what He saw the Father do, and served at the Father's leisure.

 

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Watching the Wind Blow

I am sitting in my office this morning watching the wind blow.

 

I can look out to the front pasture and see the trees moving rapidly.  But the trees at the house are still.  As I watch, the trees in the front pasture get still and the trees at the house move back and forth.

 

The wind doesn't blow the same everywhere all the time.  But it is blowing.  I just have to look and see where it is moving things.

 

I sometimes hear people say (while they watch God move powerfully somewhere), "Well, God can move like that here, if He wants.  I don't need to go there."  And that's true.

But if I am hot and tired, I don't want to wait for the wind to blow.  I want to find where it is already moving.  I want to be refreshed.

 

When you are refreshed, it makes it easier to go back to where God has placed you and continue to work, waiting for the inevitable wind of God's Spirit to come and blow there.

Because God's wind will come, if you are looking for it and have taken down the walls of resistance to it.

 

In the "meantime" (which is the place where much of our lives are spent), you can go and be refreshed...where the wind is blowing.

 

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This Day in Audio Land

My ears hurt.  I have spent a lot of the day with headphones on editing some audio from conferences that IHH did last year.  These particular sessions were from "Soaking in God's Love" weekend.

 

The session I edited this afternoon was entitled "It's Not What You Do."  It has to do with acceptance and our tendency toward a performance orientation.  When Jesus said "It is finished," he did not mean everything was done -- just everything that the Father had asked him to do.

 

The difference is dramatic.

 

And that difference was emphasized by the fact that he knew he was accepted by the Father not because of what he did, but because of why he was doing it.

 

It is not what we do.  It is why we do what we do.

 

Accepted

 

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APEST and the Future of Church Leadership

I ran across this article in Leadership Journal entitle Three Over-looked Leadership Roles by Alan Hirsch.  In it, he chronicles the rise of the shepherd (pastor) and teacher roles in the church today and the loss of the apostle, prophet, and evangelist roles in the church.

 

We needed a new type of leadership, one with the courage to question the status quo, to dream of new possibilities, and to innovate new ways of being the people of God in a post-Christian culture. We needed missionaries to the West, but our seminaries were not producing them. If we take the five categories of church leadership from Ephesians 4:11, they were training leaders to be teachers and pastors for established congregations, but where were the evangelists, the prophets, and the apostles to lead the mission of the gospel into the world?

 

I have contended for a number of years that the healthy church model is to have each of the 5 ministry offices in place in each local church, or if that is not possible to be in relationship with women and men who will partner to act in that role in that particular local church.

 

It doesn't make sense to follow the CEO model or the "charismatic leader" model.  There needs to be a team in place (full-time/part-time, paid/volunteer) that work together to see that God's plan is implemented for that local expression of Christ.

 

So, who is (or is not) in your leadership team?

 

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Links Fixed and Feeds Ready

Well, after a little code tweaking the links are now working.  Also, you can subscribe with your feed reader if you would like.

 

Thanks for your patience.

 

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Taking Care of the Problems

For some reason all of the links OUT of this blog return you TO this blog.  It works fine in preview mode but not out in the wild.  So please bear with us as we try to figure out what is going on.

 

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Pastors Wisdom from John Ortberg

In my readings this morning, I came across this blog entry from Jesus Creed.  They asked Pastor John Ortberg about what he would do if he were starting over again.

 

If I could begin ministry all over again, I would spend time seeking to become a healthier person, emotionally and spiritually. I spent a chunk of time serving in an area where I simply did not fit well, where some of my deepest convictions were not congruent, because I was not self-aware enough to have a clear sense of what I valued and believed. I was stuck in a tradition and setting that was familiar and comfortable, but where I did not feel like I could truly be myself; where I could not really talk about the ideas and beliefs that resonated most deeply in me. And I needed people’s approval too much to be able to serve them well. And my neediness made me too defensive to be able to learn from the criticisms that are inevitably a part of ministry.

 

So, go read the article, and then think about what you would do if you were starting over again.

 

Then go ahead and do it.

 

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