Leadership is a VERB not a NOUN…
I have had a few specific leaders placed over me in the past
that have really rubbed me wrong, yet I could never
understand why. Even though I tried so hard to be under that
leadership when it was placed over me, there was something that felt off…
Recently, however, there
are certain leaders in my life that really stir me up and push me into more of
my potential. If I had to name some great leaders, the ones in my life right
now would be at the top of my list…
I have been contemplating the difference between these two
types of leadership, and why one pushes
me to greatness, and the other into a battle of my attitude,
thoughts, and behavior.
As I lead this high school trip to Bolivia, I
have started to understand the difference. As a “leader� there are many
opportunities to delegate or tell those “under� you what to do, but it takes
true leadership to take action– To be
the one to demonstrate with your life and example first, To walk into places first, To
pick up the orphans first, To enter
into worship first. When I look
back, the leaders that just told me what to do had a sense of illegitimacy that was coming off of them.
Let me give you an
example, I was at training camp a couple of weeks ago, and we had a session on
children’s ministry. In this session I witnessed one of the people in
leadership over me lead a crazy song/dance, and I even remember saying, “I
could NEVER be that silly and loud in front of so many people.� It was
really fun and awesome, but I did not think that was for me. Well about 4 days later, I am in
Bolivia and our team is on stage in front of 150 teenagers. Next thing I know,
I find myself being asked to lead this crazy song/dance for all these teenagers.
My team was going to be my back up but they needed someone to be the crazy one
in front. (I had a
choice. I could “make� one of my students lead this, because after all I am the
“leader� or I could lead it the first time, and have one of them step up next
time. I chose the action.)
It was uncomfortable, BUT I was louder than I thought I could ever
get, I danced like a crazy person, and five minutes later I completed an “I
NEVER� statement. The best part of
the story, is the fact that one afternoon later, one of the students on my team
now had enough courage to lead this all by herself, because she saw me do it. (I didn’t even ask her, she
just went out and led it).
That example reminds me of a row of dominos that are lined up
in a pattern ready to collide with each other and make a beautiful chain reaction. There is so much that could happen, so
much potential, but the
first domino has to get tipped over so that it can hit the second
one and create the chain reaction that is
being anticipated. In this case I was the second domino. I followed the
lead of someone over me, and in turn, I could bump into someone even younger
than me and help them lead. For me, it is easier to lead when I don’t have the
“title,� because I just choose the action, but once you have the TITLE you have
the opportunity to delegate and it is hard to lead with “action,� because technically you don’t have to.
I don’t want to be the
type of leader that pushes others into a battle to fight their attitude,
thoughts, and behavior. I want to help push people into who they can become. So
I HAVE to go first. How
can I lead somewhere I have never been myself? I HAVE to do
certain things first so others can follow. I HAVE to go deeper in my own walk
and in my own worship, so I can bring others with me. I HAVE to look more like
the Father, so as others look more like me, they are really looking more like
Him.
***SPOILER ALERT***
This is NOT an EASY lesson to learn. I actually
learned it through a quite messy experience. It takes effort and initiative. It
takes humility and grace. It takes being uncomfortable or silly sometimes. It
takes action. Who wants to follow a leader that just talks and tells you
what to do and say, YET you don’t
see them operating in what they are asking of you? I know I don’t, so I
can’t be a NOUN, I have to be the VERB!
