Leadership & Follower-ship

Numbers 11:16 The LORD said to Moses: "Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. [17] I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

If you have ever been responsible to lead people you will understand these observations.  It is especially true in churches.  A leader must lead from a sense of personal credibility.  He/she has no leverage with which to accomplish his/her purposes.  People must voluntarily decide to follow.

Observations relative to leaders.

1)     In the middle at all times.  Ahead of the people, behind God.

2)     5 steps ahead, you’re a martyr, 3 steps ahead you’re a leader

3)     He sees things that other people don’t see.

4)     He is concerned with things that other people are not always concerned with

5)     He is accountable to God

6)     A leader must move people unless they have arrived.

7)     All by himself

8)     In a glass house, the minute you step forward to lead you are vulnerable.  If you don’t want people to think negatively of you then you should never lead.

Top Ten Ways a Church Choir Director Can Tell Someone They Can't Sing.......

10.  I'm sorry, we've run out of robes.

9.  We need strong singers like you in the congregation to help them sing' the hymns.

8.  I wouldn't want you to strain your voice.

7.  Did you know singing can aggravate sinus problems?

6.  We still need good people for the handbell choir.

5.  Here's a book on spiritual gifts, why don't you look through it and we can find another place in the church for you to effectively minister.

4.  It's a shame composers don't write more songs in your style.

3.  You have a unique range - you hit both notes well.

2.  Did you know there is a new Bible study starting the same night as choir practice, I think you'd get a lot from it.

1.  You have excellent posture.

"If I wanted to drive a manager up the wall, I would make him responsible for the success of an organization and give him no authority.  I would provide him with unclear goals not commonly agreed upon by the organization. I would ask him to provide a service of an ill-defined nature, apply a body of knowledge having few absolutes, and staff his organization with only volunteers.  I would expect him to work ten to twelve hours per day and have his work evaluated by a committee of 300 to 500 amateurs.  I would call him a minister and make him accountable to God."

p. 54 - Pastors At Risk

Choose Your Leader

Its time to elect a world leader, and your vote counts. Here's the scoop on three leading candidates.

Candidate A:

+ Associates with ward healers and consults with astrologists.

+ He's had two mistresses.

+ He chain-smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B:

+ Was kicked out of office twice.

+ Sleeps until noon.

+ Used opium in college.

+ Drinks a quart of brandy every evening.

Candidate C:

+ Is a decorated war hero.

+ He's a vegetarian.

+ Doesn't smoke.

+ Drinks an occasional beer.

+ Hasn't had any illicit affairs.

Which of these candidates is your choice?

The Ethics Of Influence – E.M. Griffin

To love the people and to treat them justly.

|  A Theology of Leadership  |   |   |

Some Thoughts on Follower-ship

n      The character of the Christian is revealed in their willingness to follow.  Remember David?  This is a principle that contributed to David’s recognition as a man after God’s own heart.  He refused to fight the leader that God had set over Israel even though God had rejected him and he was the anointed leader to follow.

n      People who serve well are the most influential people with any leader.

n      We need to always focus on solutions.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  To identify problems is relatively easy.  To find answers requires real creative intelligence and a heart for people.

n      The past has no right to teach us that something cannot be done.  It can only teach us that it has not been done.

n      Solutions are always more evident to people who do not have to deal with the ramifications of their decisions.

n      Avoid generalization when you speak of problems.  You cannot speak with authority for anyone other than yourself.  Don’t us “all” or “everyone”.

n      It is never right to fail to think through your criticisms and concerns before you give them.  Frankness gives a person no license to communicate in any manner other than love.  The scripture tells us to “speak the truth in love.”  If you do not do this then frankly, you are wrong no matter how right you may be.

n      The best “confronters” are those who do it infrequently and with great discomfort and pain.

n      Timing is one of the most important aspects when it comes to giving input.

n      In anger you can never accomplish anything that God wants.

Some Possible Changes

1)     Sunday Morning Schedule.  Not necessary that everyone arrives at the same time but it is necessary that everyone arrives on time.  Everyone will be late once in a while.  Consistent tardiness would be a reason in my mind for a person to find another ministry to participate in.  What happens on Sunday AM is sufficiently important to justify promptness.

Ø      10:00 – 10:15 – Everyone ready and practicing.  Practice ends no later than 10:15.  Pre-service music @ 10:15AM

Ø      9:45 – 10:00 – Sound man arrives.  All instruments tuned and ready to go.  Worship team arrives somewhere in this time frame.  Bathroom trips made, make-up on – ladies too on the platform ready to go by 10:00.

Ø      9:30 – 9:45 – Ruth is on-site and preparing to practice with everyone.  Available for any questions re: the AM service.

2)     Criterion For Worship Team.  I believe that this needs to be developed.  For instance, there are times when people have been scheduled and just don’t show up.  There will be times we are unable to meet that commitment.  If we cannot make it then we need to call and let someone know.  It is preferable if we find our own replacements from the list of worship team members and let Ruth or the Minister of Music know of the change.

3)     Criterion for Band Members.  Same rationale as above.

4)     Change of Practice Schedules.  The board has not mandated that Ruth do choir but she is anxious to do it.  We have not determined the frequency of performance for the choir.  It may be weekly, bi-weekly . . .   However we want to find a way if possible to avoid one long evening of practice.

5)     Special Presentations – This year we will probably scale back in terms of set construction and those kinds of things.  I would see a Christmas and Easter Production, The Living Lord’s Supper, and a youth musical.  Perhaps we could have a year end choir concert on a Sunday AM which would be the “best of”

6)     A Focus on Worship rather than music.  I want us to pursue understanding and personal development as people who lead other people into the presence of God.  That is a total sensory experience and responsibility.  It involves our relationships with the people that we associate with when we are not in public services.  People are led in worship by what they hear and by what they see and by what they sense or feel.  The relationship between people on the platform must be open and free of tension.  People will sense when it is not so.

7)     Training & Development Opportunities – We will hold “seminar” times this year when as various groups and perhaps as a whole we will develop our ability to lead people toward God.

8)     Recruitment of Praise Team Members by audition.  As new people come to the church looking for involvement we will make the praise team one of those opportunities.  As the church grows and develops we will use people who make a deliberate effort to grow and develop in every way – spiritually, musically, relationally.  I have a daughter who has musical talent but does not deliberately try to develop that gift.  If we want to be chosen as platform representatives we must continue to take that opportunity seriously and take advantages of opportunities that we provide as a church to develop.

Other Concerns

We may not finish our discussions tonight.  Another week may be required.  As we discuss things together there are some ground rules. 

n      No one should speak twice until everyone has spoken once

n      Before you make your point you must restate the point of the person before you to his/her satisfaction.

n      Kindness and respect are the order of the day always.  No inflammatory language should ever be used in our discussions or any remarks made that degrade anyone else’s ideas or verbal contributions.

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Quotes Relative to Worship – please read and consider

God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship. . . . The very stones would praise him if the need arose and a thousand legions of angels would leap to do his will.

A.     W. Tozer (1897-1963)

I lay my "whys"

before your cross

in worship kneeling,

my mind too numb

for thought,

my heart beyond

all feeling:

And worshiping,

realize that I

in knowing you

don't need a "why."

 Ruth Bell Graham

If we haven't learned to be worshipers, it doesn't really matter how well we do anything else.

   Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- )

If worship does not change us, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy; it ends in holy obedience.

   Richard J. Foster (1942- )

If you can leave your church on Sunday morning with no feeling of discomfort, of conviction, of brokenness, of challenge, then for you the hour of worship has not been as dangerous as it should have been. The ease with which we go on being Christian sentimentalists is one of our worst faults.

   Paul Stromberg Rees (1900- )

More spiritual progress can be made in one short moment of speechless silence in the awesome presence of God than in years of mere study.

A.     W. Tozer (1897-1963)

A Frenchman once commented that Americans have three idols: size, noise, and speed. Worship runs in the opposite direction. It does remind us of the greatness of God, but it also reminds us of our littleness. Worship is being still and knowing God. Worship is waiting upon the Lord.

n      Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

The current phrase "worship experience" merely serves to confuse us.  Those who worship with the expectation that the act ought to generate certain experiences for them will undoubtedly have many experiences.  But they will probably not be the sorts of experiences that Christian worship offers to those who seek only the face of God through song and prayer, preaching and sacrament. 

Liturgists can generate many powerful experiences, but when experience is the aim, this becomes cheap theater at best and manipulation at worst.  Both are repulsive substitutes for an encounter with the power of the living God. 

n      Mark Horst in the Christian Century (Nov. 11, 1987).  Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 16.

I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God.

n      Charles H. Spurgeon in Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 11.  Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 1.

Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play, and to play at their worship. As a result ... their life-styles resemble a cast of characters in a search plot.

n      Gordon Dahl, Leadership, Vol. 3, no. 4.

Applause is like a wet puppy--once let in the house it is difficult to control.  Some aspects of vitality are not appropriate in a worship service.  Also, vitality has a short shelf life:  applause can become as perfunctory as any other ritual. ... Church should provide opportunities for participation that are less directly tied to encouraging performance.  Congregations are not audiences, and leaders of worship are not performers.  The role of the liturgist (and of the choir, organist, and ushers) is to enable the congregation to participate, not to win people's approval. 

n      Laurence A. Wagley in The Christian Century (Dec. 3, 1986).  Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 7.