What kind of leader are you?
leading alone
Most people in America would rather work alone than in community. Most people would rather hunker-down, get the job done, work to finish the project, than have to deal with unreliable people in order to accomplish a task.
Robert Putnam unpacks this in his book Bowling Alone, suggesting that part of the demise of our culture is that we no longer naturally work together in community.
Case in point, I recently saw a book on amazon called Working Alone. The author, who probably wrote the book alone, tells his readers how to build an entire house by themselves.
group projects
Remember group projects in high school or college? Sometimes they were the worst. One or two people did all the work, while the rest goofed off or slacked off, focusing on something else.
It's not easy working with people, accomplishing things with a team of people. And yet, if you are going to lead people? If you're going to be a leader in some form or another? You need to work with people to get things done.
you are not able to do it alone
There's a story in Exodus where Moses is leading the people of Israel into the wilderness to find the promise land. There's about a million of them in the desert. Like most people they begin to fight, have disagreements, need to settle disputes. Since Moses is the leader, they bring their dirty laundry to him. He now, is spending much of his time making judgements on what is right and wrong.
Jethro, who is Moses' father-in-law, visits Moses. When he gets there he sees all that God had done to set his people free from Egypt and he celebrates. They eat. They drink. They sacrifice a burnt offering.
The next day Jethro watches the daily events of the community. He is shocked. He watches as Moses is the go-to man for every decision regarding the needs of the people, large and small. Jethro says to him: "What you are doing is not good. You and the people will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone."
a leader of leaders
Jethro tells him that he must become not just a leader, but a leader of leaders. He must leader the people not just in wise rulings and decisions. He must lead the people to learn to lead themselves.
5 pieces of advice to become a leader of leaders
He then proceeds, to give Moses five pieces of leadership advice. A leader of leaders:
1. Represents Vision to the People - A leader of leaders acts as the visionary head of their people, guiding them in 'who they need to be' and 'where they need to go'.
2. Tells of the Values and Codes - A leader of leaders knows the ins-and-outs, the details, the codes of the community and walks people through them.
3. Make People Aware of What They Must Do - A leader of leaders practically helps people know what they are called to and how to live it out.
4. Looks for Able Bodied Leaders - A leader of leaders looks for people who are of characters and trustworthiness. (Notice how he examines their character before giving them responsibility.)
5. Finds Places of Leadership for Such Leaders - A leader of leaders looks for ways to place leaders in places of leadership. He assigned them over 1000s, 100s, 50s, and 10s.
the result is God's peace
He tells Moses that if he is willing to bring this kind of leadership to his people, the result will be peace: "Your people will endure and flourish as a result."
Peace is "flourishing in all areas". The idea here is when every member of a community knows who they are and what they should be doing in a way that brings purpose, meaning, and hope into a community of people.
Leaders of leaders help bring people - individual and corporate - to a place of flourish.
here's my question for you?
What kind of a leader do you want to be?
FAMILY: Do you lead your family by being the smartest person in the room or do you humbly walk by your spouse, your kids, and constantly, slowly, over time lead them to Jesus?
WORK: Do you lead your job by dictating awesomeness from your throne or are you working with people to develop their character in the work place?
PRODUCTIVITY: Do you find yourself focusing more on production, getting-the-job-done, or pouring your life into the building up the people around you?
COMMUNITY: Do you look at the church as a place to receive or a place to give and become a leader of leaders?
RELATIONALLY: What's your view of relationships? Are you selfish merely giving and taking what's relationally convenient? Are you intentionally shaping your friendships to be a place of peace?
You are called to be a leader of leaders. So start acting like one.
