Most people assume some people are just born to be leaders. But the truth is nobody is a born leader. Leaders are developed and shaped into certain roles. I once read a thought-provoking story by Rich Brott about a group of tourists visiting a quaint village. They approached an elderly man sitting by a fence and wanted to know more about the history of the city, so one of the tourists approached the older gentleman and asked, “Were any great men born in this village?”
The old man replied, “Nope, only babies.”
In reality, no one is born a leader. Only babies are born. I’m a father. But I wasn’t born a father. I’m now a grandfather. But I wasn’t born a grandfather. I was a pastor. But I wasn’t born a pastor. Like everyone else, I was just born a person. When I was delivered, the doctor didn’t say, “Oh, Mrs. Williams! You’ve given birth to a pastor!” He said, “Mrs. Williams, you’ve given birth to a little boy!”
Leaders are not born; they’re developed.
Genuine leaders train others to be leaders. Fruitful pastors always equip church members to be ministers. They educate, impart, then delegate.
Ephesians 4:11-13 (v. 12, author’s emphasis)
11 He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers
12 for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ,
13 until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a complete man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
Leaders are not born. Leaders are ordinary people who have been equipped by other leaders. In fact, the word “leader” doesn’t mean a whole lot by itself. You can be a lousy leader, an incredible leader, an ignorant leader, an incompetent leader. It’s the modifier that matters. Some people like to fancy themselves leaders, but nobody is really following them.
One time at our church we had a shrew, a little gray mouse-like creature, who took up residence in the building. We made him our mascot. He wasn’t afraid of anything. I would be eating my lunch, and he would walk right up and sniff around. I would take a piece of cheese and feed it to him. When I wanted to lead that shrew around, all I had to do was grab my pencil eraser, hold it in front of him, and he would follow me anywhere I wanted to go. I guess you could say I was a leader. But I was only leading a shrew.
Only when you are training others in leadership are you being an effective leader yourself.
Levels of Leadership
I have studied leadership in every arena of life for over 40 years—business, ministry, education, home life—and I’ve only been able to identify three levels of leadership.
The first level is superficial leadership.
Superficial leadership is in title or position only. Picture a situation where the company puts the owner’s son over a department. He has no skills and may even be an unconscious incompetent. They can call it “leadership,” but it’s not real leadership. Superficial leadership typically does more harm than good. King Ahab is a good example (I Kin. 6:33).
The second level is adequate leadership.
Most leaders today fall into this category. They are adequate at what they do, but not excellent. If superficial leadership is surface only, adequate leadership is shallow. It accepts and enjoys the position of leadership but does not excel as a leader. This kind of leader does not study to improve. He or she merely gets by and is rarely focused on serving or training others. This type of leadership is average and common in every sense of the word. These leaders typically “shoot from the hip” because they are ill-informed. Everything they do is based on an opinion or a hunch rather than research, knowledge and the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The third level of leadership, the one we are aiming for, is Master-level leadership.
This kind of leadership will bring you before kings. It will give you a great followership. It is the kind of leadership that will take you places you have never been before in your family, your finances, your business and your ministry. This is the Jesus kind of leadership. It is deep leadership, servant-hearted leadership and extra-mile leadership.
These leaders enrich every life they touch. They project vision and confidence. They’re committed to excellence. They have purpose, direction and focus. They have a unique edge that keeps them going when the times get tough. They know what God is doing, and they’re becoming a part of it instead of shooting from the hip, dreaming up schemes and asking God to bless the scheme. These leaders say, “God, what are you doing and how can I be a part of it?”
Master-level leaders are those who train others in leadership. And that’s exactly what Jesus did with his 12. He did not ignore the crowds, but He focused on equipping his disciples. He then delegated important tasks to them, “Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1).
Adequate leaders may lead others, but master-level leaders train, equip and release others into significant leadership roles. The reward is multiplication and increase.
Master-level leadership: That’s the level of leadership you and I want. {eoa}
Charisma House has just released Dave’s latest book, Hope in the Last Days.
Dr. Dave Williams served for over 30 years as pastor of Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan, with over 500 outreach ministries around the world. Dave led the church in giving over $40,000,000 to world and local missions. His leadership training course, The Art of Pacesetting Leadership, is credited with catapulting one church from 226 to over 4,000. Another church went from 8 to over 1,000. His all-time best-selling book, The New Life: The Start of Something Wonderful, is a practical, step-by-step guide to help new believers become established in their Christian walk and has sold over 2.5 million copies. His latest book, Hope in the Last Days, is published by Charisma House. Dave now focuses on helping young ministers whenever he has an opportunity.
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