The Character of Spiritual Leadership

For the first eight years of my ministry, I was on a quest, a quest to be successful. Tragically, the standard I used to measure success was faulty. I often would look to preachers I admired and used their ministries and abilities as my motivation. I had this vision in my mind that I would be in a large church with a television ministry. This quest for success started immediately after the first sermon I ever preached.

I was in my freshmen year of Bible college, serving as a youth pastor in a small rural church. I was presented with the opportunity to teach the adults on a Wednesday night, and I agreed. However, I had never prepared a sermon, nor knew how at this point. Fortunately, I took notes from chapel the day before my opportunity, and was able to preach that sermon. After I finished my sermon, a deacon came up and told me I was a good preacher, and one day he would see me on television or hear me on the radio preaching.

For many years, I believed that to be true. I used that deacon's encouragement as a guide to success. My goal was to get into a situation where I could have a television ministry or radio ministry because that is what God wanted, at least, that is what I thought he wanted.

It took John Piper's book, "Brothers We Are Not Professionals," to remind me of my privileged calling as a pastor. In this book, Piper says, "We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry...professionalism has nothing to di with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry." Somehow, I lost sight of what it meant to be a spiritual leader. I was trained properly, and learned about spiritual leadership, but somewhere in my ministry, I lost touch with my calling as a pastor, a spiritual leader within the church.

I believe that part of the problem was the influences around me. There are tremendous amounts of books on leadership that have been embraced by church leaders that are practical and pragmatic, but they are not spiritual. There are conferences and seminars on leadership that often times focus on creativity and culture, but not on the spiritual aspect of leadership. There obviously needs to be a balance, and some do well in finding the balance, where others don't.

My goal, as a pastor and spiritual leader, is to be all that God wants me to be, and not get caught up with what is trendy, but instead, with what is biblical, spiritual, and faithful. So, what is the character of spiritual leadership? I have found in my study of scripture some foundational truths that answer this question.

Spiritual leaders must passionately pursue the Lord. You cannot pursue the Lord without obedience. Spiritual leaders determine to do the will of God. They pray as Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but your will be done."

Spiritual leaders must have a courageous confidence in the Lord. You will never please God without faith. A spiritual leader will trust the Lord when others are saying, "It's impossible." God is the God of the impossible, and spiritual leaders must have confidence in God's ability to do more than we ever ask or think.

Spiritual leaders must have a prevailing prayer life with the Lord. Prayer is essential to spiritual leadership. Prayer is the fruit of a passionate pursuit of the Lord, and a courageous confidence in the Lord. You will never be a spiritual leader apart from a prevailing prayer life.