The authors premise is that the church of today needs Christian leaders who are focused on leading their organizations into the plan and the path that the Lord Jesus desires. Society and the church world all need strong mature Biblical leaders. But many spiritual leaders are failing in their jobs and this has lead to some of the crisis we face in the church. We all experience the benefit of strong godly leadership and we all have experienced the lack of leadership as well in many other facets of life.
They wrote the book to help leaders become better, more informed, be able to understand their divine call, realize their key spiritual role, and learn the skills on how to effectively communicate the vision for their organization. They show the importance of moving their followers onto God’s agenda and not on to their own agenda. They spell out clearly how leaders must do the will of God not the will of man.
I feel the authors did a great job supporting their premise and giving practical ways of developing the spiritual leaders who read and digested this book.
In my own personal ministry over the last few years I have seen many challenges to my leadership decisions. It seems as if every decision I make is questioned and challenged. But I have committed to do what God wants to do in my organization. This means that I don’t do people pleasing and this has caused many to call me uncaring, not supportive of them, a false prophet, and even a poor leader. I have been criticized more than I have ever been in the past but I know that I am doing the right thing. Henry Blackaby challenged us as leaders to make sure that we are doing the right thing. That right thing and that right direction all starts with and comes from God not from men.
He stressed the importance of spiritual leadership commitment to prayer as being the guiding compass for the organization. He must hear from God and follow His will. I loved their section in chapter 2 in which they stated the following:
The spiritual leader’s tasks are as follows
1. The spiritual leader’s main task is to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be.
2. Spiritual leaders must depend on the Holy Spirit.
3. Spiritual leaders are accountable to God and we will one day give an account of what we did and did not do for God.
4. Spiritual leaders can influence all people, not just God’s people.
5. Spiritual leaders work for God’s agenda and they stay on God’s agenda.
Jesus becomes our role model here because he did not cast his vision for the church but cast and communicated the vision of God the Father to the world. We need to do the same as He did. We need to cast the vision that God wants for our organization.
We as spiritual leaders must hear from God for our organizations. In my case I believe the Lord has told me to do three things. 1. Become a house of prayer 2. Become a church that allows God’s presence to facilitate a healing to those attending – a place for people to encounter God tangibly and personally. 3. As a result of our church and leadership pressing forward in prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to move in our services and lives we will eventually become a healthy church and toxic ways of the past will be washed out. But I know that I have to walk through this cleaning path and trust God to cause the breakthrough. I have had to make tough decisions as the leader and stand on the truth of God’s vision for this church to come to pass. This is never easy but it is necessary.
I see God working in our church and I am committed to join Him in assisting Him any way I can. I see God working through our Sunday nights “Heart’s Ablaze Services.” His presence is showing up on Sunday mornings and people are being touched. We need too as the leadership of this church follow God and become involved in allowing God to lead us to revival.
The premise of this book and their other book “Experiencing God” is that we see where God is moving and become involved in that move of the Spirit. I don’t create my vision and say God come follow me. I die to self and follow God’s lead as He is moving in this place. I don’t want my goals or ideas to be the focus of this church I want God’s ideas and focus to be our focus. I know that I could be successful in implementing Mike’s ideas but if they are not God’s then in reality I am not successful but a failure because I followed my way and not His way.
I as a leader have to take the initiative to grow personally. For me this means first of all praying then reading, studying to improve my heart and my leadership skills. I must admit it takes discipline to do this because so many things can choke out this developmental time. There have been so many people pulling and demanding my time. But I know this must happen for my sanity and for maturity in the things of the Lord and for dealing with the changeups that occur in ministry on a daily or even a weekly basis.
I was impacted with the section in their book that said that life experiences helped in the development of leaders. One of the factors that seemed to surface to the top was this, “It seems that growing up with an aloof, abusive, or absent father figure often inspired people to strive for greatness as a means of enhancing their battered sense of self-esteem.” Wow, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, Winston Churchhill, Woodrow Wilson and more. I guess I am in good company because I grew up in a dysfunctional family with an abusive father who I rarely talk to this day. I got saved at 18 and my one premise in life was to never be like my father. He abused us as kids physically, mentally and I still have the scars on my body and on my heart. I do believe that what the Devil meant for evil to me and my family drove me to Jesus and to who I am today. Jesus took those painful memories and turned them around for good. Thank you Jesus!
Failure is another reason they give for either the making or breaking of a potential leader. Crisis is another catalyst for the development of a leader. I feel I am in the midst of these two pinnacle moments in my life and ministry today. But my motto is “I will not quit!” I have been called here and I will follow my God given destiny through to the end.
I am sitting here pondering the thought from the book of how hardship, struggles, and even suffering helps us to spiritually develop. Just the other day one of my missionaries called me to tell me to listen to a message from Mark Driscoll on the suffering servant. He said in this message that the best pastors and leaders are ones who have suffered because these times develop their character and their leadership qualities. It changes them for the good and it causes them to depend even more on their Lord and Savior. Wow, I need to take my hardships and turn them into an advantage not a disadvantage.
I know that I am in leadership within the church today because God called me to do this. I cannot do anything else because this is where He placed me. I like Mother Teresa’s thought with a Mike’s twist added in, ‘I belong to God and He does not need my permission to use me wherever or how ever.”
The book continued to emphasize how spiritual leaders need to really focus on casting God’s vision for their organization.
It’s imperative that we share God’s vision for the church and ministry not mine. The best way to communicate and get others to buy into the vision is to present and let the Holy Spirit work on the hearts of the individuals following. This can also be enhanced and developed by telling stories to the organization. It’s the idea from Revelation were it states, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” These stories need to be from the past reminding people of their heritage and the miracles God performed to get them where they are today. Then they need to be made aware of the way God is moving in people’s lives today. This will help them see that God is working in their midst. The third way to cast vision is to share stories of the future like the Lord did when He promised the Israelites a land filled with milk and honey. To me the vision for the future of Christian Hills is a healthy church, a church that facilitates healing to others. We have seen this start to happen and it’s exciting to be a part of.
Character is another one of their premises in making quality spiritual leaders. Character is so hard to develop and so easy to lose. But they are so right in saying that people will follow those who have it and leave those who don’t. Character is the ability to lead like Jesus as a servant leader and with a desire to help others to their next level of life. The greatest measurement of a successful spiritual leader is the presence of God in his life and ministry. We need to ask ourselves, “Do people see and feel God’s presence through the leader’s words, and life?
The next measurement of a highly successful leader according to the authors is, are they Christ-like in their daily lives. This is where integrity comes in which is the ability to be honest in tough times, good times and the determination to present the truth without any distortion. Wow, I feel convicted and so inadequate because of how easily we can mishear, misrepresent, and misinterpret a certain situation. I do it and I react like Paul who says, “The things I do not want to do these I keep on doing.” I have done it to defend myself, to push my agenda rather than God’s and it’s these things which undermine my leadership. They are right in saying that integrity is crucial for people to be able to follow you and to trust you. Why, because you have to be consistently honest and upright. This is my inner desire and heartbeat and I remind myself how I must admit my mistakes and come clean.
The book has many other great insight and I encourage you to read it!
