Equipping Others

The second step for effective leaders is to understand our role in equipping others. Many times, as a leader, I have found myself frustrated that those under my leadership are not effectively living up to their potential. The Lord had to teach me a hard lesson on this issue before I finally understood it was partly my fault. I spent about 10 years in student ministry before being called as a senior pastor, and now as a hospital Chaplain. During one of these years, I was in Washintgon D.C. on a mission trip with one of the youth groups. We had numerous projects that we were working on throughout the week, including leading in some backyard Bible clubs, helping clean out an old building that a church would be using for Sunday School space, etc. Well, one of our projects was to hand out Bibles in the mall area in front of the capitol building, a project that I thought would be fairly easy. The night before the project, I was meeting with all the students talking about the assignment. One by one, the students began to ask me questions like: "What do I do if they ask me ...?", and "How do we handle someone that ...?". What I realized was a project that I saw as a fairly easy task was stressing out my students. The reason was very simple: I HAD NOT PROPERLY PREPARED THEM FOR THE TASK.
Many times, as leaders, we do just this: We try to lead a group of people down a road that we have not prepared them to walk. It's not that they aren't capable, and truthfully, not that they aren't willing, it's just that they feel unprepared. As I set in the middle of my youth group that night, I realized that the one who had failed was me. You see, one of the most important jobs of a leader is that of equipping others. How can we expect anyone to tackle a task that we have not prepared them to handle? We throw out new ideas, new ministries, new visions, which are all good and God driven, however we don't equip the people to follow in these areas. We want an effective children's ministry, but we don't give the people the tools needed to accomplish it. We get frustrated that no one shows up for outreach, yet we have not equipped the people to be effective witnesses. They don't meet our expectations because honestly, they don't know what we expect, and worse, they don't know how to achieve it. And the result: A FRUSTRATED LEADER TRYING TO LEAD A GROUP OF FRUSTRATED PEOPLE. And where does that take you? You guessed it, into FRUSATRATION.
As a leader, understand one of your first tasks is to equip those under your leadership to carry out the desired project. In doing so, you will build character, confidence, and ultimately new leaders themselves, fully equipped to handle the tasks that are before them. Maybe we should take some time to help train our new Sunday School teachers, or have a outreach/evangelism training course at the church. Send your student ministry teams to training camps and seminars. Whatever it takes, we must give them the tools needed to be the very best they can be. Remember, an effective leader must be in the equipping business.

Effective Leadership Must Be Earned

The first aspect of effective leadership is that it must be earned. Very few people are born with the rights and credentials to walk into a leadership position without that position being sought after and earned. Same thing goes for each of us as Spiritual Leaders. Now, before we go any farther, let me clarify what I mean by Spiritual Leader. Ultimately, we should, as Christians, all be Spiritual leaders. Whether you are a husband, a wife, a mother or father; whether your leadership position is within the church, or in the corporate world; whatever and wherever you find yourself in a position of leadership, you should be a Spiritual leader. To be an effective leader, one that will lift Christ and bring others closer to Him, we must be led by the Spirit, and by the principles and understandings we find in Scripture. So you, as a corporate boss, should lead under the principles set forth in the Word of God, and by the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life, and your role as a husband, father, wife, mother, etc. should all fall under this guidance as well. Now, can you image how much easier it would be, as leaders, if we all led like Christ led.
With that in mind, let's get back to our first point, that leadership must be earned. You and I must prove ourselves as leaders, and earn the respect of others in order for them to follow our leadership. For a spiritual leader, this can be simplified into the two greatest commandments: To first love the Lord with everything we have, and to second, love our neighbors as ourselves. You see, according to Scripture, leadership is driven by a love for God and for His people. An effective leader must have an active, growing relationship with the Lord. Prayer is a must, and an insatiable hunger for the Word of God. For it is there that you will find the power and strength to "press on" daily for the Lord. Also, if you want to lead like Jesus led, you have to love like Jesus loved. Look on others with compassion, with grace, with understanding, and seek to guide them in the areas they seem to struggle in. I promise you, love those whom the Lord has graciously placed under your leadership, and you will find a group of people who will follow with a smile on their face, and a hard work ethic in their heart.

Effective Leadership

The more I look at the world we have, from the church house to the White House, and every where in between, the more convinced I am that we need true Leaders. True leaders who will step up the plate, accept the responsibility that is before them, and be the leader that God has called them to be. I began, several weeks ago, writing out a personal leadership plan for myself as a pastor and chaplain. I want to be the most effective leader that I can be for the Lord, and in the areas of ministry that He has gracious allowed me to be involved in. Here's my listing of the musts for effective leaders:

Effective leaders must...
· Earn – provide the example
· Equip – provide the tools
· Educate – provide the knowledge
· Empower – provide the opportunities
· Energize – provide motivation
· Enlist – provide the team with capable members
· Evaluate – provide guidance to improvement
· Encourage – provide praise and construction
· Eliminate – help remove barriers and distractions that could hinder the desired outcome
· Entertain – provide a fun working environment
· Establish – provide opportunities for advancement
· Explore – provide a vision into future
· Expect – provide an atmosphere where perfection is desired

Over the next several weeks, I want to take each of these leadership attributes, and discuss why they are so important to the life of each leader. Please provide comments and suggestions as we go along, to help in our discussion.

Brad