by Peyton Jones: Paul was so inspired by Christ’s example of suffering, sacrifice, and death, that he imitated his Captain’s acts of heroism. In turn, he reproduced heroic men, and drew brave men to himself on his missionary journeys. A good leader who inspires courage in others cannot be underestimated. Captain Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame was such a leader. While crossing the Rocky Mountains, a hardened mountain-man and explorer slid on the ice towards a precipice that would have resulted in certain death plunging him hundreds of feet below As he helplessly slid across the ice, panic stricken and unable to stop himself, he frantically cried out, “Captain Lewis! What should I do? What should I do?” In his final moments, he cried out to a man he trusted more than his own instincts, much like the trained fishermen woke Jesus as he slept in the hull of the boat, “Lord, we’re about to drown!”. Spirit inspired leadership causes people to abandon their instincts and to follow somebody that they are confident is hearing from the Captain of souls. This can’t be learned from a book; but is cultivated in the soul. It is the powerful leadership that this generation needs. They wait for somebody they can follow; somebody with undaunted courage in the face of an onslaught of opposition.
There are those who attack leadership. Church plants are prone to attracting such people because they mistakenly assume that there is a leadership vacuum. I’ve learned something over the years about people like that. The reason that they don’t want anybody to lead is because they do themselves. Don’t be fooled. Somebody always leads. The fact is, not everybody is a leader. Leaders have to make the tough calls, get up in the middle of the night, give their rations to their men, sacrifice their poncho to the soldier who lost his, and jump on a grenade.
A leaders primary job is to be hearing directives from Central Command in order to carry out the mission. Having a strong team keeps the mission at the forefront, and you as the leader in the background. After all, it’s not about you. It’s about the mission, and you lead the team in focusing on the mission. The team in turn leads the others in focusing on the same. You can’t do that alone.
Buy Peyton’s newest book “Reaching The Unreached: Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art” over on Amazon.com. You can also download a free chapter and watch a cool trailer for the book HERE or click the image below.
