INTRODUCTION:
Leadership
determines everything. Jesus said “…If the blind leads the blind…” Jesus
believes that a leader can be blind. Because somebody is in leadership does not
mean they can see. If the blind leads the blind they both fall into the ditch.
So go the leader so go the organization. An organization can never rise above
its leader. If you want to improve an organization, improve the leader. When
the leader grows, the organization is growing. When a leader expands his
knowledge base, the organization has expanded its knowledgebase. When a leader
reads a book, the organization has benefited from its content. If a leader is
blind, ignorant, in the dark, the organization is ignorant. Reading this is not
just for your benefit but for your entire ministry and wherever you may find
yourself. You cannot give what you don’t have. You can only lead people as far as you’ve gone yourself. You must constantly
explore new territory, new information, and new experiences. You cannot lead
from behind.
The word “Leadership” implies going to the place
you’ve never been. You as a leader, your job is to move the people from where
they are to where you have been. Where have you been? VISION. That is why leadership is impossible without a vision. You
cannot exist as a leader without a vision. Vision qualifies you for
leadership. It makes your leading
legitimate. It is illegal to lead people to no-where. You must have a clear
vision. So clear to be documented on the paper and communicated to the people
which is the new territory you have been and is taking the people. Managers maintain but leaders innovate. Leaders
determine everything. You are exactly where someone led you. Everybody is. The
leaders you follow will determine your destination. That is why it is important
to associate yourself and to submit yourself to leadership that is progressive,
innovative, CHALLENGING AND BREAKING NEW TERRITORY.
What is leadership?
“Leadership is the capacity to influence
others through inspiration, generated by a passion, motivated by a vision,
produced by a conviction, birth by a purpose.” The definition above took Myles twenty eight
(28) years to discover. The definition is long and comprehensive. It contains
everything that makes you a leader. If you want to become an effective leader,
take the definition from bottom to top. “Birth by a purpose, produced by a
conviction, motivated by a purpose, generated by a passion”.
Purpose is the
reason you were born. You must discover your reason for being born. You must
have an encounter with God to discover this. Purpose produces a Conviction. A
conviction is a belief that you were born to do something. Leaders believe in
their own conviction. Their conviction becomes their life. You will never
become a great leader until you discover a conviction that is important than
life. A conviction produces a passion. Passion is a product of conviction and
purpose. Passion is a desire that is stronger than opposition and death.
Without passion, you will never be an effective leader. Passion is a desire
that makes an alarm clock unnecessary. A person with passion doesn’t need an
alarm clock to wake him up in the morning, passion does that. A true leader has
passion. Passion is not finding something to live for but finding something to
die for. Have you find something to die for? Jesus said if you want to make a
difference in life, do not seek to save your life. Seek to lose it and you will
gain it on planet earth. Passion produces Inspiration. This is very important.
Most of the people we call leaders are not leaders but professional
manipulators. True leaders do not manipulate. They inspire. If you can inspire
people, they will submit their energies to your dream. If you can inspire
people, they will submit their gifts to your vision. If you can inspire people,
they will commit their time to your dream without waiting for money. The key to
leadership is inspiration. If you cannot inspire, you will manipulate and the
moment you start to manipulate, you cease to be a leader. That’s why true
leaders have no gimmicks. They inspire.
HOW DO YOU INSPIRE PEOPLE?
It is very
simple but yet important. It is PASSION.
People are inspired by your willingness to die for a dream. If you are not
willing to die for your ministry people will not be inspired by you. Nelson Mandela
inspires all of us. He had no degree in leadership course. He found something
to die for. Mother Teresa was four feet high, 98 pounds and she spoke to United
Nations. She inspires the world even beyond her death. Why? Passion! She found
something to die for. True leaders never seek followers. They are too busy
following purpose. Followers seek true leaders. Find something to die for. Where there is no purpose, there is no
passion, where there is no passion, there is no inspiration. Where there is no
inspiration, there is manipulation. When you inspire people, they allow you to
influence them. True leaders do not manipulate people, they inspire them. True leaders are willing to go alone! True
leaders are still leaders even when no one follows them because they found
something more important than people. They found an assignment from God. Jesus
asked His disciples when they suddenly grew from 12 to 70 “Why do you follow
me?”. You can only ask that question
when you are secured. There are people
who are with you but not for you. They come for your gift and not for you.
Jesus said to the 70 if you want to be a
part of my company, you must eat my
flesh and drink my blood. What does He mean? Don’t follow me for fish and bread;
follow me for my own self. Pursue the dream I am carrying. A leader must be
willing to go alone. If you need people to validate your assignment, you are
not a true leader. People should come after you because God validated your
assignment. Have you found something that you are willing to do for even when
no one follows? Every true Vision only has one believer at first. God will
never show you what is not possible. People may come, people may go, but you
should stay.
A visionary must
stay. What makes him stay? He has developed character. The number one priority
of any leader is not power, gifting, talent, skill, techniques, education,
influence, or anointing. The number one ingredient is Character. The number one disgrace in the body of Christ the world
over is lack of character.
Character means:
1.
Fixed
2.
Predictable
3.
Statue
The alphabets
are called characters because they never change. The numbers are called
characters because they never change. The world need you to be leaders with
character; fixed, predictable and statue.
Your character
is developed in your most challenges, tests, and difficulties and you feel
pieces falling off. They are not destroying you, they are making you.
Great leaders
are not gifts; great leaders are results. Can you be trusted in the dark?
Character! Character is what you will do when no one watches. If you are going to
become a leader sitting on a throne and influencing people, you must develop
character.
