Be a Leader: Lead Yourself
By Stovall Weems
Leadership is basically about two things:
- Being an example.
- Taking people somewhere they have never been.
That is why God calls leaders. God needs examples to lead people into His purposes. Everything rises and falls on leadership. If you feel God is calling you into leadership, the first person you need to lead is yourself.
Many people confuse leadership with productivity or giftedness or ability. While you do need all those things (and more) in leadership, at the core of church leadership is being like Christ. Your character is the strength of your leadership. So as leaders we need to be constantly growing in our Christ-likeness as well as our giftedness.
This leads to the subject of change. If we, as leaders, are going to lead others and ask them to allow God to change them, then we need to lead by example and allow God to change us. I will be talking about this in future blog posts, but the first step to change is taking responsibility. Show me someone that is blaming others for their actions or circumstances, and I will show you someone who is not ready for change.
If you find yourself needing to defend why you are in the situation you are in, or if you are blaming others for your shortcomings then you are showing God and others that you are not ready for Christ-like leadership.
This victim attitude leads to several other negative attitudes.
Stop. Be like Jesus.
Jesus took responsibility not only for His actions but for all of ours as well. Taking responsibility is the first sign of spiritual maturity. Stop blaming other people for your problems. Stop making excuses as to why you are in the place you are in. Start leading yourself. Taking responsibility is the first step.
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I love this one a great leader have to have key factors in their life love, responsibility, actionit will set a postive and spiritual impact on others It’s more than action than a role i seen this at my college i went to it was post up on the wall. A leader whether you have two or thousands of follwers is like a mirror to others it going to reflect offsome of the members the growth or infant stage from the leader it will tell where the leaders level of growth it’s very important for a leader. keep doing your thing i’m learning from you. love 4 ever
Pastor,
This post really lines up with what GOD has put on my heart recently. In an interview I did in classroom A after service on Sunday, I told the interviewer how service at Celebration has changed my life.
In a church like ours, we are so big, and there are so many opportunities to serve. Supernatural changes began taking place in my life, and the life of my family when we began to pour into the church. Our attitude shifted from “what can the church do for us” to “what can we do for the church, and others”
I am a leader in the men’s ministry, the parking ministry, the couples ministry, and I lead a bible study at Daniel House. Erika (my wife) is a lead teacher in the children’s ministry, and also co-leads the couples ministry with me. She is also invilved in a women’s group.
Once we allowed the Holy Sprirt to lead us into a life of service and giving, thats were the supernatural blessings and peace came from. Our life is a purpose to serve JESUS, and our family is truly blessed.
If you dont serve at Celebration, you should. Sacrafice is how CHRIST showed his love for us, it is also how we can express our love for HIM.
What is it that Pastor Stovall always says to us when we are parking cars for CHRIST
“Great is your reward in heaven”
I say that the reward is also great here on earth
JB