Leadership Series, Part 4: The Five Pillars of Servant Leadership

Welcome to the final post of my four part series on leadership. This one is going to be shorter than usual because I only have one thing to cover, and that is the five pillars of servant leadership. After that we can reminisce about the past topics and sum this thing up. During my last post we talked about the two kinds of leaders, the Charisma Driven Leader and the Character Driven Leader. Those gave us the basic characteristics of each type of leader. Now I want to look at the core attributes of leadership, the specific values that we can put into practice.

In short, the five pillars are

-Meekness

-Integrity

-Vision

-Attitude

-Empowerment

-Meekness. Firs of all, there is a wonderful post done on this topic at Avery’s blog, I would highly recommend that you check that out. But, to add to what Avery says, Meekness is controlled power. Remember how we found out that if you have influence you have leadership? I may not have explained the core reason why, but it has to do with the fact that when you have influence you also have power.

Power

The way you use that power determines what kind of leader you are. Keep in mind that power in the hand of a human is a dangerous thing. Not only should we practice meekness, but we should also ask for wisdom, discernment, and insight from The Father because He is the one laying the plans, the only Good Shepherd, the One who made everything, yet was not made. If we try to manage our power on our own we are foolish.

-Integrity. When Worldview Academy taught about this one, they told me a cool word, its Wysiwig. It is a real word despite what my spell check thinks, and it means; what you see is what you get. (by the way it’s pronunciation is wisy-wig.) In leadership it is important (no duh) to be trustworthy, and to be who you say you are. We can connect this back to my first post. You have got to find out who you are in Christ, so you can stay consistent in the way you act regardless of who’s around. We should not act differently around other people to fit their likings. We need to be consistent in who we are so others can trust us.

-Vision. Short and sweet, vision is the ability to see God’s presence, power, and plan in spite of the obstacles. Vision = intimacy. The better you know God and His word, the better you will be able to see his hand.
More intimacy = More vision. That is why it is crucial that we stay in the word of God and work towards getting to know him better. 2Ti 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

-Attitude. Your attitude will influence your followers’ attitude.  Phl 2:5 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:” If we were to use the example of a team, it is obvious that the view that you take and portray to others will significantly affect the way they act and look at the same thing. After all they follow you don’t they? You attitude is not solely responsible for theirs, but it really does have a big impact. That is why it is so important that we 1Th 5:16 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

-Empowerment. Giving leadership away. God did not put us here to be the only leaders; we should invest in making our followers good leaders, and the best way to do this is through example.

Lead by example

This is another reason why us following these guidelines in our everyday lives is crucial. Whether we think we are leaders or not, there are those who look up to us and they are watching our every move… and the scary part is that they are learning from us. Whether you actually train leaders or are an older sibling, your actions count. Live well, lead well, and do it all IN HIM. 2Ti 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

Those are the Five Pillars of Servant Leadership.

I hope that this four part series has really helped you grow in your walk with God. I wanted to show you how important good leadership qualities are, and that we all need to pay attention to them, because we are all leaders. And this goes much deeper than just leadership. These should be applied to the very way we live our lives, because we have influence on people daily, and that influence makes or breaks a lot of things. Another point I want to leave you with is the importance of God in all this. So many times we live our lives in our little comfort zones and we feel no need for God, because after all we have it taken care of.

We can not just apply God to certain parts of our lives

Either your in or your out of the boat, you can’t just straddle the fence. One the biggest things that I have learned is that I need good counsel. I have come to love wisdom and this counsel because it helps me make better choices that I can feel confident about. The thing about both of those however, is that only God has them. And that’s why I love them so much, because I am forced to come to God on a daily basis to get my guidance. He gives me the good counselors, and the wisdom I thirst for.

I don’t know what you desire, or how saturated your life is with God. But I do know that increased God in any life makes a beautiful picture. God is the only one who makes beautiful impacts, influences, and leaders. Keep in mind that He is the back bone of all this. This series wasn’t just to show you how to lead well, it is also to show you how to live well, because life is so full of leadership opportunities and because a lot of this stuff can be cross applied.

So, in this series we began with Part 1: What is your name? Where we looked at the importance knowing who we are in Christ. Part 2: The land between, talked about how dangerous our comfort zones are, and that in order to walk on water we need to get out of the boat. Part 3: Thermometers and Thermostats. This particularly long post focused on the two types of leaders, The Charisma Driven Leader and The Character Driven Leader. And last but not least, Part 4: the five pillars of servant leadership, you just read it so you should know what it is about.

Mat 28:18 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

God Bless

~Nathan

Leadership Series, Part 3: Thermometers and Thermostats

During the last two posts I kind of focused on some of the roots of leadership, now I want to get into the leadership specifics. After the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they decided that they wanted a physical king, like the ones their neighbors had. So, they asked Samuel to anoint a king for them. This was a really bad choice, but that is not what I want to focus on. Instead let’s look at the leader God chose and how it ended up. By the way, you can find this in 1 Samuel chapter 8.

Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel, and the hand of God was with him. As time went on however, things began to change. God predicted that since the Israelites had rejected Him as their king, in exchange for an earthly one, they would have to deal with the consequences. That, of course, came true. Saul became prideful and in the end rejected God. But it started with a simple mistake that took place in 1Sa 15:24 “Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.”

Hmmm. Did you catch the key phrase in there? If you didn’t that’s okay because I will point it out later. Before I do though, let’s compare Saul’s words to David’s. 1Sa 24:10 “This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’”

Do you see the key phrases now? Ha ha, I can feel the suspense… okay whatever, maybe you don’t find this as much of a cliff hanger as I do. But since you don’t I guess you wouldn’t mind me delaying just a bit longer. The main things I will look at in today’s post are… who can be a leader? And the two kinds of leaders that there are, and which one we should strive to be.

Diving right in lets answer that question, who can be a leader? Or more importantly, is God looking for leaders? To answer the first question, anyone can be a leader. In fact, everyone is a leader. Put simply,

If you have influence you have leadership

Whether you like it or not

If you influence the way people or things work, you have a level of leadership. And it is because we do have this influence (leadership), that we should be concerned about what kind of influence we are having on others, or the type of leader we are in our society.

Is God looking for leaders? Yes. Jer 5:1 says, “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” That doesn’t say leaders, but it does point out the need for normal humans who deal honestly and seek truth. And this is understandable, because if we do these things, we will have a positive influence on the people around us.

Also Eze 22:30 says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” So God is obviously looking for people who are upright, but is he looking for leaders? Let’s look closer at these verses. Why would he be looking for these kinds of people? Simply because these individuals can influence their society in a way that pleases God. If you have influence you have leadership.

Okay, so now we know that we are leaders and that God is looking for humans that will have a positive influence on others, how can we be that kind of leader? Let’s look at that next. To refer back to David and Saul (I know you have been waiting oh so anxiously for this part.) The key phrase that I wanted you to catch in the first quote was, “I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.” Now compare that to the quote by David, “Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’” Saul did what the people wanted him to do, he wanted to stay popular.

David, however, worked by a set of ethics. Whether his men wanted him to take the life of Saul or not, he wasn’t going to do it, because he knew that Saul was God’s anointed one. This is the key distinction between the two leaders I am going to be talking about, that is why I titled this post, “Thermometers and Thermostats.” Either you mirror and do what your surroundings do (you become a thermometer), or you determine what your surroundings are like (you become the Thermostat.) We can label these two leaders as…

The Character Driven leader (Thermostat, David)

and

The Charisma Driven leader (Thermometer, Saul)

I drew some cool diagrams to illustrate this, I hope you like them (I got the design from Worldview Academy, but I drew them myself. *feels proud of himself*). Saul is Charisma Driven leader. Charisma means “gifted” or in this case popular. He was handsome, and for a short period he was successful. Then he got prideful, rejected God, and started listening to the people. He became a thermometer.

Ooops, sorry wrong picture.

The circle is the “sphere of influence” or basically all the people we have influence over. In this case Saul influenced all of Israel, which was his sphere of influence. The Charisma Driven leader extracts from this sphere, Recognition, Realities, Relations, Resources, and Rights.

The five R’s.

Some of these are pretty self explanatory, but Realities, Relations, and Rights could do with a bit more explanation. “Realities” in this case means the multiple lives or realities that the Charisma Driven leader takes in. He doesn’t make a reality, per say, but he takes in all the different views and truths and looks at them through the perspective of “whatever floats your boat.” This way he can stay popular, because he hasn’t told anyone that they are wrong.

A good example of this is when Saul was told by the Lord to wipe out the Amalekites, along with all their livestock. This occurred in 1Sa 15:3. He did wipe them out, but when they were finished the soldiers wanted to take the plunder. Saul didn’t want to say no, but he also wanted the plunder as well. He figured if they took the best of all the animals and sacrificed them to the Lord, He wouldn’t mind him taking them. He allowed the soldiers realities to alter the reality that God had commanded. Not only that, but he tried to change that reality by skewing it to fit his desires. That was Realities.

Now let’s look at Relations. Relations are the connections the Charisma Driven leader makes. They are not relationships, friendships, or lifelong commitments, they are simply relations that he can refer to if he or she ever needs something. Rights is the final one I want to look at. Every Monday night, I go to my Troop Scout meeting, were I am a patrol guide and something like an advisor. One of the biggest obstacles I run into when I am training a new patrol leader, is this Rights issue.

Typically, for this little boy, it is the first time that he has led a group of his pears like this. The semi first thing that comes into his mind (the majority of the time) is, “since I am the leader. My peers need to treat me a certain way.” To an extent this is true, and this mentality normally isn’t a blatant or prideful characteristic at first, but as time goes on it can become so and we end up with a tyrant. I have seen this first hand and I can say that our troop has had its fair share of tyrants.

The thing that we have got to remember in this circumstance is that we should not take advantage of our position; we should not abusive with our influence. We should not claim Rights in leadership, we should earn them.

The second type of leader is the Character Driven Leader. This is the kind of leader that David was, and it is the kind we need to strive to be like.

A character driven leader sends out into his or her sphere of influence, Relationships, Righteousness, Reality, Rewards, and Responsibilities. To build on these further lets compare them to the 5 R’s of a Charisma driven leader we mentioned earlier.

Character D. L.          vs.       Charisma D. L.

Relationships             vs.       Relations        = A character driven leader actually starts friendships and starts life long relationships in his sphere of influence, instead of simply making acquaintances that he or she can to refer to later if they need something.

Righteousness            vs.       Recognition    = A character driven leader works for the Glory of God, and the benefit of his followers in a self sacrificing manner, rather than acting in order to be recognized.

Rewards                            vs.   Consuming Resources = Kind of self explanatory.

Responsibilities          vs.       Rights = A character driven leader sends out responsibilities that build himself and his followers, rather than demanding rights and keeping everybody apathetic.

Reality                        vs. Realities = A character driven leader follows what he or she knows to be right regardless of what others think. A character driven leader makes a single reality, instead of accepting everybody else’s.

Those are the 5 R’s of a Character Driven leader compared to the Charisma Driven leader. The key difference between them is that one is influenced by the sphere and the other influences the sphere.

The question I have for you now, is what kind of leader are you? We now know what kind of leader we should strive to be, and now we know the specifics on what to do to become like that. We already know that whether we like it or not we are leaders, whether we become mothers, fathers, coworkers, etc. we are leaders to an extent, and we need to lead to the best of our abilities. God is looking for leaders, and both Saul and David were leaders that He chose; the difference between them is the way they led. One led to please, the other led because he believed.

What kind of leader are you?

The Charisma Driven leader’s kingdom will not stand. 1Sa 13:14 “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” The Character Driven Leader however has a secure fortress.  Prov. 14: 26-27 “He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress. And for his children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.”

Thermometer or Thermostat?

What’s it gonna be?

See you in the next post!

Leadersip Series, Part 2: The land between

Do you know any body by the name of Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, or Geuel? Probably not right? These are not names that are used a lot today. But these are real people. Maybe if I give you two more names you will remember who they are.

Caleb and Joshua.

Do you remember them now? Ahhhh, you are a smart cookie. These names come from  Numbers in the 13^th chapter. They are the 12 spies that Moses sent out to explore the Promised Land. Now why, out of all those names, are Caleb and Joshua the only names that we use today? If you remember the story, Caleb and Joshua were the only ones, out of the twelve, that stood up for their faith in God. The others were spreading a bad report amongst the people and discouraging them, but Joshua and Caleb maintained that God could bring them in and drive out the nations before them.

We remember those names because they were the heroes; they were the good guys, and who wants to name their kid Geuel anyways? We remember them because they did the right thing, and it was out of their comfort zone. That is what I want to look at today, our comfort zones and how they stand in the way of leadership. First I want to link this story into my first point, where we will talk about comfort zones, and the land that we find when we step out of them. Second we will look at our “promised lands” or our goals. Then finally, just like we did last time, we will look at how this applies to leadership.

The Old Testament revolves around the story of the Israelites. God brought them out of Egypt, and into the desert, then finally after much delay into the Promised Land. This story correlates beautifully with our own lives because we all have our own little “Egypt’s.” Our nice little comfort zones that we grow to detest, but when we get out of them we kick, bite and scratch to get back into them. Sure, we were slaves there, but at least we got three square meals a day and we knew what to expect.

Joshua and Caleb are not remembered because they stayed in their comfort zones.

Peter is another one of my heroes that got out of his comfort zone. What did he do? He got out of the boat. Meanwhile, the others stayed there. Sure the boat was leaking and they were wet, but it was a lot safer to them than out there on the waves. Peter didn’t like that.

Neither should we

We need to get out of our comfort zones because when we are in them, we know what to expect, we have everything planned out. And we end up feeling that we have no need for God, and that gets us in trouble fast.

This leads us to a crisis, because after all, comfort zones are hard things to get out of. They’re comfortable, predictable, and outside of them, is the desert. Let’s look at that next. Once we step out of our comfort zones, then what do we do? When the Israelites left Egypt and waltzed into the wilderness, they began to complain. It was hot, the food was the same everyday, water was a “maybe,” and not every one had enough sun screen. They faced trials, and they complained and wanted to turn back.

They were uncomfortable.

When ever I read this passage it really makes me wonder if they had forgotten what they were doing there in the first place. Moses didn’t take them there because he enjoyed the sand, but because they were going to the Promised Land.

The Promised Land

And right now, they were in the Land Between

When we step out of our comfort zones we have to keep our eyes on the Promised Land. Otherwise we get side tracked and we complain while we are in the Land Between. And that is a difficult place to be. If we don’t keep our eyes on the goal, then we end up like a bunch of four year olds in a minivan, crying because we aren’t “there yet.” Don’t let the hardships of the car drive deter you from the end result of having thanksgiving at Grandma’s house. Remember the Promised Land, remember who is standing just across the water, and be faithful through the times of trial. That is the only way to get out, and stay out of our comfort Zones.

Finally, your probably already know how this relates to leadership, but I am going to tell you anyway. You can’t reach Jesus if you don’t get out of the boat and walk on water, you can’t get to the promised land if you don’t put down your bricks and step into the desert (with or without sun screen), and you will never make it to Grandma’s house if Dad ends up having to “turn this car around.”

You have to step out, because you can’t lead from the back seat. That is called back seat driving and it doesn’t get you anywhere.

So…

Who are you?

Are you a Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, or a Geuel?

Or are you a Caleb or a Joshua?

To be remembered is not why we lead; we lead to make a difference and because God calls us to.

And you can’t do it if you’re still in the boat.

See you in the next post!

Leadership Series: Part 1, What is your name?

One on the biggest things we as teenagers struggle with is our identity. Last Wednesday, at my youth group, my youth pastor asked us what we felt our God given purpose was. Only two of us answered. Identity and knowing your purpose is a crucial part of leadership, but it is so hard to place. We are swimming in a sea of faces, and we look like all the rest. But we don’t like that, we know that we were made for something beautiful, and we are tired of being the average commonplace youth, we are tired of having to rely on the people around us, to give us a name.

That is why I am writing this post, specifically as the first part of my leadership series, but also to ask questions that will hopefully help us find God’s purpose for our lives. I want to start out by looking at the corpse that some of us  may be carrying around. After that, we can look specifically at how to find out who we are in Christ Jesus. And finally we will look at how this applies to leadership, (don’t skip this part if you don’t think you are a leader. It builds up to my third post, so bear with me.)

One of my favorite verses is Rom 12:2 and it says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.” The pattern of this world is sin and death, its crowd is the “sea of faces.” They all look the same, and they are all dead. When we conform, and act like every body else, we also become dead spiritually.

In Rom 6:11 it says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” When live according to this world we are dead because of sin, we are figuratively a “corpse.” But when we accept Jesus, he doesn’t revive us per say, but he replaces us. As 2Cr 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” we are made completely new, and we become a new creation.

So the question I have for you is who’s your friend there? When God made us new, he didn’t say “grab your bags and follow me!” He asks us to drop everything and go. But sometimes we hold on to our old habits. In the church we have a nice way we say it, we say that they “haven’t given God all their baggage yet.” I think that is sugarcoating it, that “baggage” is our old self.

Meet your corpse

One of the biggest things we  fall into is returning to our old habits. We turn back to being what our friends want us to be, and we pick up our old corpse and drag it around with us. I do this too, so you are not alone.

Rom 6:14 “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Sin is no longer our master, we are free. We will always struggle with this, but the two key things that we need to remember is that as long as we focus on Jesus, then the corpse will be harder and harder to come back too. And we also need to remember that we can’t change unless we let it go. The old is gone and the new has come!

Now how do we get rid of this thing? It is a lot easier said than done, but a good place to start is to find out who we are in Christ. I want to start out by bringing you to Genesis chapter 32. Jacob is heading to his brother Esau’s house and he is really nervous. After all, he swindled him out of his birth rite and his blessing. So he is sending tons of gifts in front of him, trying to sweeten up Esau before he makes his appearance. Evening comes, and he is still so scared that he takes his two wives, all his sons, and his possessions and sends them across the river. Now he is alone and they are safe.

This is where the well known Bible story occurs. A man wrestles with Jacob till day break, and at the end of the struggle the other guy dislocates Jacob’s hip and tells him to let him go. But Jacob replies, “not until you bless me.” The stranger’s response is interesting, Gen 32:27 “The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.”

Weather you believe this man was God, an angel, or simply a passing professional wrestler, I want you to look at it as if was God just so you can understand my following point. The part that catches my eye all the time in this verse, is the fact that God asked Jacob what his name was. That seems a little strange considering that God knows everything. So I thought about it, and here is what I think he meant by it. Remember how Jacob had stolen Esau’s blessing? He put on a goat skin and served his father something his mother had cooked up. His father, before blessing him, asked him his name. And Jacob replied, “Esau.”

I think that was what God was really asking was not simply, “what is your name?” But, “who are you? Are you Jacob or Esau? Take off the goatskin boy because I have bigger plans for you than the person you are pretending to be.”  This brings me to my second question.

What is your name?

Who are you?

I mean this like God meant it for Jacob. Not simply what do people call you, but who are you? We wear masks, we put on goatskins, and we drag around our corpse so that we will be like others, and then maybe they will like us. There is something that stands in the way of all of us, it bears different forms but is the same monster. We cover up who we are in Christ with masks and goatskins. It’s about time we got rid of those.

There is no magical solution to find out who you are in Christ. In fact it may actually be very difficult, it is a very personal thing. But the best place to start, as always, is talking to God about it. After all He made you, shouldn’t he remember what He had planned for you? He is the name giver and the picture painter that knows you front and back. As for how and when you find out, is between you and God. You may not know for a long time. While we wait for him to show us who we are though, we need to remember to follow Him step by step, all of our days. That is our ultimate purpose, just follow Him. He will show us our purpose when we are ready, but as for right now, he just wants us to follow.

Finally, how does this relate to Leadership? Short and sweet, once you know what your name is, and who you are in Christ, then you will have the confidence that is needed to lead. How can you lead others if you yourself don’t even know who you are?

What is your name?

Drop the Corpse you look better without it

Now you can lead

See you in the next post!

Leadership series: Intro

“One on the biggest things we as teenagers struggle with is our identity. Last Wednesday, at my youth group, my youth pastor asked us what we felt our God given purpose was. Only two of us answered. Identity and knowing your purpose is a crucial part of leadership, but it is so hard to place. We are swimming in a sea of faces, and we look like all the rest. But we don’t like that, we know that we were made for something beautiful, and we are tired of being the average commonplace youth, we are tired of having to rely on the people around us to give us a name.”

That is the opening quote to the first post of my four part series on leadership. If you are wondering where the rest of it is, visit this blog again on Wednesday and I will have the first part up. This is the introduction to a lot of writing that I think God has been calling me to do for the past three months or so. It all started when I went to Worldview Academy in October. They did a lecture on leadership, and I loved it. I was going to do an IO on it but that never really came together. As the days went by I learned more and more about the crucial parts of leadership, and I took notes on sermons and other experiences.

So this is the final result. I hope you will join me as I relate to you what I have found out about this incredible topic. Also don’t let the word “leadership” turn you off. I wrote this for everyone, because we are all leaders (as I will show you in my third post.)  But as we walk through this series, I want you to remember a few things. The first is that if you read them at all, read them well and think about what I say. I should not be accepted as the final word on the issue, and have everything I say swallowed whole. The best read, is the one you chew on. Second, please comment on what I can do to improve my writing. You will find in the upcoming weeks that I need improvement… lots of it. I appreciate constructive criticism the most, because it tells me that you read it well enough to feel comfortable critiquing it.

In conclusion, I hope that you get a lot from this upcoming series. And I look forward to writing with you.

See you in the next post!