Below you’ll find articles about Christian and pastoral leadership plus other topics important to church pastors

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Leadership

Coach Vince Lombardi once observed, “One must not hesitate to innovate and change with the times and the varying formations. The leader who stands still is not progressing, and he will not remain a leader for long.”

 

In her recent book, Team of Rivals,
Doris Kearns Goodwin focuses on the political genius of Abraham
Lincoln. Goodwin notes that after Lincoln won the presidential
election, he put his Republican rivals on his cabinet. This displayed
two important facets of leadership. First, it showed that Lincoln was
not afraid to surround himself with strong, intelligent, talented,
and independent people. He was also not afraid to forgive those who
had wronged him. These two qualities are surely commendable virtues in
Christian leadership.

_______________

J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.

General Eisenhower
would demonstrate the art of leadership with a piece of string. He’d put it
on a table and say: “PULL it and it will follow wherever you wish. PUSH
it and it will go nowhere at all. It’s just that way when it comes to leading
people. They need to follow a person who is leading by example.”

At another time
he said, “You do not lead by hitting people over the head–that’s assault,
not leadership.”

 
– Michael P. Green,
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching

What Makes a Good Leader?

John W. Gardner, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, who directs a leadership study project in Washington, D.C., has pinpointed five characteristics that set “leader” managers apart from run-of-the-mill manager:

* They are long-term thinkers who see beyond the day’s crises and the quarterly report.
* Their interest in the company does not stop with the unit they are heading. They want to know how all of the company’s departments affect one another, and they are constantly reaching beyond their specific area of influence.
* They put heavy emphasis on vision, values, and motivation.
* They have strong people skills.
* They don’t accept the status quo.

-Success Magazine

Look For the Gold

At one time Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in America. He came to America from his native Scotland when he was a small boy, did a variety of odd jobs, and eventually ended up as the largest steel manufacturer in the United States. At one time he had forty-three millionaires working for him. In those days a millionaire was a rare person.

A reporter asked Carnegie how he had hired forty-three millionaires. Carnegie responded that those men had not been millionaires when they started working for him but had become millionaires as a result.

The reporter’s next question was, “How did you develop these men to become so valuable to you that you have paid them this much money?” Carnegie replied that men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold; but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt – one goes in looking for the gold.

That’s exactly the way we pastors need to view our people. Don’t look for the flaws, warts, and blemishes. Look for the gold, not for the dirt; the good, not the bad. Look for the positive aspects of life. Like everything else, the more good qualities we look for in our people the more good qualities we are going to find.