Video Transcript: Lesson 31 Defining Leadership

Welcome back to Christian leaders Institute. I'm John Kenny, as you know by  now, and we are heading down just to our last several lectures here, on this  incredibly important topic of church revitalization. And starting now, till we get to  the end, we're going to be talking about the very important subject of leadership. In these next three lectures, we're going to be talking about Applied Leadership,  and really figuring out what it means to be a leader. Because I'm sure you know  that being a leader in an organization is not just a title. If you're in the business  world, just because you're the boss, it doesn't mean like everybody follows you.  Or, if you're in the military, and somebody has a higher rank than you, it doesn't  naturally necessarily mean that they're like a natural leader, and people follow  them or, or, you know, respect them and honor them and want to serve well  under them. So the same thing is true in ministry, just because you might have a title of pastor or elder or whatever it is in your ministry, that in itself does not  mean that people are going to want to follow your lead and be inspired by you.  So what I'm really saying is, is the position doesn't make the leader. And so  we're gonna, again, spend some time talking about what it is that makes a  person a leader, oh, what does the Bible have to say about leadership. And so  we're going to really press into this a lot, again, our next, these three, and then  the following three, after we're going to be hitting this topic of leadership really  hard. So let's pray and get going. Father in heaven, thank you for this day.  These lectures are being listened to. I pray, Lord, that you will build up an army  of leaders in your church Lord, an army of revitalized leaders, who will seek your will, who will seek your glory, and Lord that through your Spirit, you will empower them to do great things for your name's sake. So we're blessed this time that we have together today to discuss these things. We ask this in your name, amen.  Okay, so we're going to start off with today by looking at two different definitions  for leadership. The first one is going to be a one again, from my good friend,  mentor, Harry Reeder. And this is a definition that he uses in his book, The  leadership dynamic. And it's also he speaks about this a little bit in his book on  church revitalization. From embers to a flame. Well, anyway, Harry gives a a  broad definition of leadership that I think is very helpful. And if you do any kind of a Google search, and you say, you know, what is leadership, there's gonna be a  million different definitions. But I'm going to stick with Harry's because I think it's  really helpful. And in Harry's goes, like beyond what churches, it's just in general leadership. And so what Harry defines it as a leader influences others, to  effectively achieve a defined mission together. And so we're going to just pull  this definition up into pull it apart into three sections. And really what makes a  leader, a leader. Okay. So the first thing is, as you'll notice, a leader is  influences. So a leader has an impact on others, a leader changes the way  other people think the way other people behave the way other people  understand things, you're an outside force that kind of redirects them or changes them. So there's influence you're, you're a leader is helping them get to a place 

they probably might not have gotten to on their own. And there's a lot of different ways that a leader can do that. We're going to talk about it and you can be a  model. You can mentor them. You can manage them, you can motivate or  inspire them or, you know, all these kinds of things that you can do. Now, I really like Harry's definition here about influence, because you can't make people do  something and that's one of the lessons I learned in ministry. You can't, you can't fix people, you can't make decisions for people, you can't, you can have the  most wonderful idea and be so excited. But you can't automatically just get  people to do that, the most that you can do is to influence them in a very positive way to, you know, to catch a vision to be inspired to realize that something in  them needs to change. So, leaders influence and I would go as far as to say, if,  if there's no, if you're not exerting any influence at all, then you're probably not a  leader, right? Okay. So the second piece of this is, leaders have a measure of  effectiveness about them, that leaders, they influence others, to be effective,  okay, so you're not just influencing people to, you know, pick up a habit or, you  know, you're, you're, you're, you're influencing them to become more effective  in. And we talked about being effective, it's, you know, in a sense, like getting  the job done, we have, we have a goal, we have a target, we have an objective,  we have a mission, whatever you want to call it. And being effective in  accomplishing that and getting it done. Now, in ministry, though, the ends don't  always justify the means you can't, you know, kind of be a jerk, or just kind of the bull in a china shop and just, you know, run roughshod over your people, you  can't be unethical about how you're trying to get something done. It's not just  being effective to reach a certain goal or target. It's about also how you get  there. And I like how Harry Reeder says, He defines effectiveness, he says it's  doing the right things in the right way, at the right time. for the right reasons. I'll  say that, again, it's doing the right things the right way, at the right time, for the  right reasons. And so that's, you know, a good, I think, a good understanding of  what it means to be effective, because as leaders within the Church of Jesus  Christ, I mean, this is exactly what we want to do. I mean, we want to do the  right things, we want to do things that are going to restore health and vitality to  the church, we want to do it the right way. We don't want to manipulate things,  we don't want to take an unbiblical path, we don't want to take a shortcut, that's  not really going to help us get where we want to go. We want to do it at the right  time, we want to be sensitive to the Spirit's leading and, and where are people  at, and we certainly want to do it for the right reasons for the honor and the glory of the Lord. So what we have here, so far as a leader is someone who's exerting influence, you're an outside force, pushing people in, in a good direction, that's  going to help them effectively accomplish something. Okay. And then, finally, the third piece for this is a leader helps people do things together. So we're not just  like your ministry, we're not just this like mob of people who are loosely  connected. We are people who, within within the church who are in the capital C

, like the big church in those Christians, we are people who, who are working  together for the same purpose. And so the idea is that we are going to  cooperate in what we do. Certainly, the Bible has much to say about this, but we function as a body, you know, that there's all different parts and the arms and  the legs and the ligaments and the bones and the muscles and the nerves and  you know, everything is working together to get somewhere, you know, if I  wanted to walk across this room, you know, my right and my left leg and my  arm, like it all has to work together to get there. And that's what a leader does. It  helps individual people get to this defined mission together that they can  achieve it together. So the idea is a leader is getting everybody pulling in the  same direction. So in our church, in our children's ministry, we have this rope  and it's kind of like a circle. And sometimes the kids will play a four way tug of  war. So you're 4 teams and everybody grabs kind of one section of the rope,  and then they just start pulling, and guess who wins? Nobody because  everybody, you've got people pulling in four different directions and all that game does it just tire out the kids. That's all it does. And, in fact, that's what we use it  for when they're wound up, they're high strung, they need to burn off some  energy because they're trying to be squirrely bring out the four way tug of war  rope, let them pull on it for three or four minutes. And let them burn off some of  that, that energy that they bring in with them. Think of that versus is everybody  on a tug of war, you know, it was on a rope and everyone is pulling in the same  direction. How much more effective that is that your your hard work, it's not  cancelling each other out. But you're really pulling together. And that's again, I  think what we think about in terms of like, a good leader, is you're pulling  everyone together, moving in the same direction. So I think Harry's definition of  what a leader is, who is a leader and forces others to effectively achieve a  defined mission together. That's a great definition, a really broad definition for  leadership. Again, I think this works in the church. I think this works in the  business world, I think this would work in the military, any place. This is what a  leader is. But I did say that we're gonna look at two definitions. And the next one are we're gonna look at is from Henry Blackaby. And Henry takes it a step  further. And he defines what spiritual leadership is. And this is from his book,  spiritual leadership, it's a wonderful book, by Henry Blackaby, really of covers a  lot more spiritual leadership than we would have an opportunity to do in this  course. But I would highly commend that book or that resource to you. And so  anyway, what Blackaby says, is a spiritual leadership is moving people on to  God's agenda. So let's break this down too. And we're going to look at two  different pieces of this. So first, spiritual leadership is really about movement. It's about getting people from point A to point B, if we use the biblical imagery of  shepherding, it's about getting the flock from going to this pasture, to this  pasture over here. And it's about getting them to where they are, to where God  wants them to be where they need to be. So, again, it's just influence but 

influence in terms of movement, and, and the shifts and action being taken. But  where are we moving them as spiritual leaders, we are moving them onto God's  agenda, okay. And that is just really, really, really significant here. Because what  

we're trying to do, as leaders within the church is not to get people to do our  thing. We want them to do God's thing. Now, our role is not to, to just try to come up with an idea. And then ask God to bless it and hope it works. Our our role  isn't to, you know, corner up in a room and come up with a bunch of strategies  all on our own independent, studying, you know, whatever about our community, in our church. And we think it's often it's up to the leader to come up with the  vision and the plans and all this. Well, that's not really the way it works. That's  the way I'm sure it works in a business setting. But it's not really how it works in  a church. What we are trying to do with spiritual leadership is move people on to God's agenda. And a couple lectures ago, we talked about vision, and just kind  of revisiting that. A vision is the process of discernment. It's like where is the  Lord leading? What would God have us do? Where is the Lord actively working? Okay, where do we see his, his fingerprints? Where do we see his movement?  Where do we you know, observe people being transformed and changed what  what doors or windows is God opening for us to go take advantage of. And so,  we are a spiritual organization by definition, right? We and so, if we're talking  about leading others and vision and all this kind of stuff, there has to be this very heavy spiritual component to it. Okay. So, I really like what Blackaby says it's  about moving people on to God's agenda, taking them from where they are to  where you see God working. Okay? In this is really if we want to take a step  back and just say, Well, what biblical merit does this have? This is very much  the way that Jesus was a spiritual leader to other people, how Jesus influenced  people how Jesus got them to move from where they were to where God  wanted them to be. So, John 15, or John 5, excuse me, John 5:19-20, listen to  what Jesus says, very, truly, I tell you, the son, can do nothing by himself. He  can only do what he sees his father doing. Because whatever the Father does,  the son also does. For the Father loves the Son in shows him all he does. So  Jesus says, I'm not coming up with all this stuff, I look to see where the father is  active. And then I just do what he's doing. That's spiritual leadership. That's how  Jesus is moving and leading. He says something similar in John 8:26-28. And  he says, I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is  trustworthy, in what I have heard from him, I tell the world, they did not  understand that he was telling them about his father. So Jesus said, When you  have lifted up the Son of Man, which is talking about his death, and pending  resurrection, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own,  but speak just what the Father has taught me. So Jesus, again, he's like, what I  do, and what I say, it isn't from me, it's what I see My Father doing, I see his  agenda, I see what he's trying to accomplish. And then I do that. And certainly,  that was what led Jesus to the cross, because he saw that was the saving 

activity that God was at work doing. And he participated in it right. And then one  more verse, John 12:49-50. Jesus says, For I do not speak on my own, but the  Father who sent Me commanded me to say, all that I have spoken, I know that  

his commands leave to eternal life. So whatever I say, is just what the Father  has told me to say. You know, again, I don't want to hammer the point home. We see though, Jesus leads by identifying where people are at on what God is  doing, and then helping people to move on to God's agenda. So I guess the  question we might want to say then is in terms of we're thinking about  leadership, and our leadership is, how then do we do this? Right? How do we  help people discern what God's agenda is? How do we see for ourselves? How  do we help other people see it? And then how do we move them on to that?  Well, I think certainly, we look to the example of Jesus and how did he know?  Well, he had an incredibly close relationship with the Father. Right? He he was  spent so much time in prayer, just being with the Lord, and being with his father  and talking to him and listening to him and pouring out his heart and, and  asking, you know, and seeking where he was moving. So that's really the big  thing. How do you be a good spiritual leader? I think first and foremost, it's about being connected to the Lord, in a deep personal way. And this goes back a  number of lectures where we talked about leadership, kind of the character of a  leader. But one of the things he said is revitalization begins with revitalized  leader, revitalization begins with a leader who is in tune with the Lord, what he's  doing, what he's saying, where he is leading you in and your whole ministry. And so if you don't have that piece like that, that close connection to the Lord, you're  not going to know where he's going, you're not going to hear his voice. And  where you're going to be moving people is not going to necessarily be then onto  God's agenda. In fact, I can almost guarantee it won't. It's going to be moving on to your agenda or the popular agenda in your church, but it's going to be  misdirected. So just just a quick final challenge here for you Um, as we wrap this up, am I? Am I close enough to the Lord, to see him? And to hear him? I mean,  you're in your own devotional life, in your prayer, in your worship, in your  scripture study, are you in a place where you can see God at work in your  church, or your ministry in your community, in that place, where you really have  a sense of his leading, and that just takes a lot of time. And just patience,  because, you know, God doesn't always speak exactly when we want. And then  once I think you you're, you have a sense of that, you can share that with others. It's how, or what can I do to effectively influence others to join the Lord? And  that's the, you know, how do I how can I create this movement? How can I be  effective? How can I do the right thing at the right time in the right way to lead  them on to what the Lord is doing? So I think that's when we kind of combine the we kind of have this Reeder/Blackaby sandwich. And I think we put these things  together, these two things together, I think we get a pretty good, just basic  definition of what a leader is, what a leader is supposed to be doing, and how 

our relationship with the Lord kind of factors into all of that. So I'm going to pray  and that you will be just the leader that God is calling you to be. And we'll get on  to our next lecture soon. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much for this 

day. We're thank you that you have called leaders out of the crowd, out of just  the masses. And God, we confess that whoever we are, we are not, we are not  worthy of leading anything. We don't even we're not even worthy of being  received the salvation we have in you, Lord. And yet you you call us and you  equip us and you empower us, Lord, help us to just trust in you through this  process. And not be feel like we have to do it all on our own and figure it all out.  But we're just to trust you that you've been at work through your people for  1000s of years, and you'll continue to do so until the day you come back. So  give us peace and bless us in our leadership. We pray this in Your name, amen.