Releasing My Grip

Last week my boss, Doug Franklin, wrote a post on his blog called "Being In-Charge vs. Leadership." It was a short look at what it means to truly lead. Too often we want to be in charge of something, especially in ministry. Being in charge lets us be seen and heard, gets our ideas and agendas out there, and is normally associated with personal glory. But this isn't leading. Leading takes sacrifice. Leading takes commitment. Leading isn't always glorious.

I've been thinking about this lately. This fall I've started to step up in leadership at my church. I wanted to bring positive change to our adult small group ministry. It's been going really well and I've seen great fruit come out of it as we move forward in supporting our small group leaders. Throughout this process though I've been learning about what it means to truly lead. Last week a decision was made about our small groups and it didn't include me. I was suddenly struck with the feeling of being left out, and immediately thoughts entered my head like, "But I'm the leader! How could they not include me?"I wrestled with these thoughts and feelings as though it was something of importance before I realized these thoughts were coming from someone who wanted to "be in charge" vs someone who wanted to lead. I needed to release the grip (more like a strangle hold) I had on being in charge and truly lead.

As a leader, I should be pushing glory to others, especially my senior pastor. I should get off my high horse and be willing to get dirty as I serve those in ministry around me. I'm learning more and more of what this means and it is helping so much.

"When we lead at church tons of good things happen. People get cared for, folks lead through their giftedness and selfishness is put aside. Now is the time to lead; our churches and our students need to see great leadership and they need you to show them a new way to lead at church." -Doug Franklin