5 Leadership Lessons in 4 Years

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5 Leadership Lessons in 4 YearsDaniel Darling

I'm nearing my fourth year as Senior Pastor at Gages Lake Bible Church, whichmeans I'm just beginning. I'm still learning.John Maxwell need not fear. I won'tbe dethroning him from the position of Leadership Guru anytime soon.

However, being on the job has taught me a few things about leadership,especially for young guys. Some of these lessons I've learned the hard way, othersthrough the wise mentoring of older men. Here are five:

1) Young Leaders Must Resist the "Push-Off" Model of Ministry.

In their book Sifted, Larry Osborne, Francis Chan, and Wayne Cordeiro talk

about the tendency of young leaders to get their leadership energy by "pushingoff" the perceived mistakes of other ministry models. They use the example of anOlympic swimmer, who gains forward thrust by pushing off the pool wall. Forleaders, it could be their legalistic, fundamentalist background that they despise,so every decision is made through the lens of how their parents or pastors orprofessors "got it wrong." Or it could be the desire to be distinct in yourcommunity, so you're going to sell yourself as the "only" version of your ministryin town. I've also seen the tendency to "pendulum-swing." So if the staff cultureyou left was very lax, you're tending to enforce a more rigid culture. Or if the staffculture you left was too rigid, you're "the grace guy."

The problem with a "push-off" model is that the forward thrust from the pool walleventually loses energy. You need energy to sustain you in the race. I believe this

must come from your own personal walk with the Lord and your own study. Ihave found that God may use a negative previous environment to push us towardsomething better, but ultimately our leadership must be based, not on what wedon't like elsewhere, but what God is teaching us in the present.

2) Young Leaders Need Old Guys

There is a fallacy in the world that younger is better. Young leaders havecharisma, vision, energy. This is good and God uses this. But there is one vitalcomponent to leadership that we young guys lack: wisdom. Wisdom born from

experience. And the only place to get this is by subordinating our ego andlistening to older men. This means several things. First, we need to realize thatwe don't have all the answers, that we are sometimes wrong, and that perhapsthe previous generation had some wise and important things to say.

Young energetic leaders tend to think that the old guys are washed up, that they

are out of touch with today's generation. And maybe some of them are, but forthe most part, older, experienced pastors are fonts of spiritual wisdom. Use them.

I've made it a practice to cultivate relationships with some experienced pastors.Why? Because they know things I just don't know. They now the Word. They've

made difficult choices. They've wrestled with the discouragements and fears that

come my way.

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I think every young pastor should have at least one, if not two or three, older

pastors who are speaking into his life. He's woefully under-equipped if he doesnot.

3) We Must Die to Our Messiah Complex

If you're a young guy in ministry, somewhere along the line you felt you were theanswer to what the world needs. Or at least the answer to what your church oryour community needs. But the truth is that you are not the answer. Jesus is the

answer and you and me are simply humble representatives. We may have giftsand talents, but those too were created and distributed by God.

And here's what I've discovered: People sense when you have too high an opinion

of yourself. It creates a frustrating and chaotic leadership environment. It shutsoff your ability to listen, learn, grow, and apologize. The Scripture reminds us in

many places that God "resists" the proud but "gives grace" to the humble (James

4:6; 1 Peter 1:5). My friend, you and I need grace in our ministry. We don't needGod's resistance.

The bottom line is that gospel ministry is a privilege, a stewardship. It was herelong before we arrived on the planet and will be long after we are gone. I'velearned that the sooner I get over myself, the easier and better it is for me to lead.You've got to die to yourself.

4) You Are Responsible for the Culture You Create

Someone once said that sons do in excess what fathers do in moderation. This is

true in leadership. I recently preached through the book of James. What struckme as I studied James 3 is just how pointed this chapter is for Christian leaders.At the end of the chapter, James contrasts two different Christian cultures. Oneis characterized by chaos, dissension, fear, and strife. The other by peace, love,harmony, and joy. James is quick to remind us that the former is not aleadership culture that reflects Heaven, but earth. In other words, if you'reculture is constantly beset by strife, there is a leadership problem. Leaders setthe tone. What we emphasize, what we celebrate, what gets us angry is what weare telling people we believe is most important.

I've seen this played out vividly. Faithful church members will act on those thingswe have told them are most important to God. So if we find that people ourchurches are overly legalistic, it's not enough to say, "Well, that's not what Imeant or intended." There's a communication problem. They're getting the wrongmessage. On the flipside, if we find people are casual about church or flippantabout following God, it's not enough to say, "People just don't get it." No, they doget it, we're just delivering the wrong message.

I'm not saying a leader is responsible for every action of those who follow him.People make their own choices. But I am saying that the words we say, theemphases we make, the actions we model -- have far greater impact than werealize.



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5) You Must Put the Work In

There is no app, no download, no program that will enable us to circumvent hardwork. Yes, we're fueled by the Holy Spirit. Yes, our ministry is grace-driven. But

God does not reward laziness. God honors hard work. This means we'll have to

study on some Saturdays when we'd rather be watching sports. We'll have totravel to the hospital when we'd rather be reading a good book. This means we'llneed to get our hands dirty with some areas of ministry that are "not our gifting."

Good messages require lots of study and hard work. There is no shortcut.Discipleship requires time and effort and money and patience. A loving family

means an investment of our best time and efforts. Prayer and Bible study requirediscipline.

The ministry requires late nights and sweat and toil. Paul said that he "worked

harder than them all" (1 Corinthians 15:10). I don't think he was bragging, just

letting people know that doing God's work requires ... work. It's not evil. It's notbelittling. Work honors God. Pastors can be workaholics, but pastors can also belazy. We must fight both tendencies.


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5 Leadership Lessons in 4 Years