How Not To Do It

"Don't lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your good example." - 1 Peter 5:3 NLT

Are you called to be a leader in the home, the workplace or the church? Do you aspire to leadership? If so, you need to know thisabout the current generation: they are unwilling to submit to (or even follow for that matter) those who practice the old "top down" style of leadership that says, "I'm in charge, and the sooner you figure that out the better." You cannot demand leadership; you must earn it every day. How? By being a servant!

By putting others first and yourself last, you model the very truth Jesus taught and practiced. None of us have been called to be at the top of the pyramid. That position belongs to Christ. The New Testament model for leadership is an inverted pyramid with you at the bottom, supporting the others, holding them up, bringing out the best in them, laying aside your own comfort and desires to serve those you're called to lead so that the job can get done with efficiency. This means gently correcting mistakes and tying up loose ends while people learn. It also calls for breaking a sweat and getting dirt under your fingernails.

A.W. Tozer wrote: "A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position of leadership by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit, and the press of the external situation. A person who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God's heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing and altogether as ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more talented man than himself has appeared."

Reposted by permission from http://www.jathministries.com/.