Thursday, June 25, 2009

leadership

i know it has been a long time since i last posted. i guess i've sort of been going through a dry spell and figured it was better to slip into the distance rather than make up stuff to say. fortunately i feel like i'm moving out of the desert and am getting my legs under me again.

today i can't get the issue of leadership off of my mind. last week i was talking to a group of guys and the subject of leadership came up. we threw out all of the cliches about leadership (you're only a leader if people are following you and etc) but knew in our hearts that there is so much more to leadership than catchy phrases and well articulated principles.

there is a great deal of information being distributed about leadership these days. john maxwell, andy stanley, patrick lencioni, aubrey malphurs, mark driscoll and countless others are churning out books left and right on how to develop leaders. the information in these books is really good stuff. these books provide insight as to how we can leverage our influence in the lives of others and lead them by utilizing their strengths and God given abilities. fantastic material.....no question about that!

i guess what led me into my little desert was being overwhelmed by all of the leadership information that I had been ingesting. somewhere along the way I became more concerned with being a good leader than i was with the following question: where am i leading these people?

this post my not make a difference for anyone out there but i suppose i needed to use it as a platform of confession. hopefully it challenges you to ask this question of yourself: where are you in your relationship with Christ? how much attention have you given your spiritual health? what "good things" out there have become a distraction to you in your pursuit of holy ilving and Godly leadership?