The start of a new series in this leadership blog on the power of a team. Today, I want to talk about something dear to my heart and that is about raising up people as you move forward, rather than stepping on people to move forward.
If you are a leader you will move forward and rise up. That’s part of the nature of a leader. But if you go alone, it is a lonely place. If you take others with you, can you share the fruits of success, and that is far, far better.
Having no-one to share your joy with is not a good place to be! Joy shared is double joy! When you can speak freely about how God has blessed you because the people around you are also blessed, that is better. People who can relate to you is something so precious.
Also, being the top leader is a position of vulnerability. If someone wants a piece of your thing (and sadly there are always unscrupulous people out there), they will attack and malign you. “Oh he has built something great, but he has his flaws” is the attitude of Absalom that still infects many selfishly ambitious Christians today!
If you are the only pastor with a nice house, people will see. If all the pastors have nice houses that is better. If you are the only pastor who travels, that is the way it is, but if the others travel too, then that is better. Sometimes you should stay at home, and let the other pastors travel.
Finally if you are the only one at the top, people will try and bring you down. Those crazy people I mentioned earlier – they want you to fall to their level of self-frustration. But if you are all at the top, they can only pull you to the side!
This is what Jesus was like – when He got a wedding invite, He brought the disciples. He ate with his disciples. He even invited a thief to join Him in paradise when He was dying.
If you are a leader, when was the last time you invited someone somewhere nice?
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 