FOLLOW THE LEADERprophets almost always called the people to a radical change of thinking
with a corresponding radical change of lifestyle – which is what repentance
means! The Greek word for repentance is the verb metanoeo, which means
“to think again; to change your mind.” This rethinking was to result in a
redirection of one’s life. The prophetic message of repentance has never
been very popular because of its call to change your beliefs so that you
can change your behavior. Jesus said to the resistant religious leaders of
His day: “...you kill the prophets and stone those sent to you...” (Mtt.
23:37; c.f. 5:12).
Paul Powell wrote: “I cannot give you a formula for success, but I can give
you a formula for failure – try to please everybody.”^1
The unpopularity of speaking prophetically is one of the reasons that
prophetic leadership is still not popular today – whether in the world or
in the church! But authentic leadership is not a call to popularity. It is a
call to obedience to a ‘heavenly vision’...a higher calling...a compelling
inner voice...a holy compulsion...a vision for the future that must be
shared – regardless of the cost. Let the verbal or physical stones fly, a
prophetic visionary cannot easily be silenced! Unfortunately, a prophetic
leader is often not fully appreciated until long after he is dead and gone.
Sometimes it takes years, even decades or centuries, for his vision of the
future to be realized, and his reputation to be vindicated. That’s why
Charles Cowman wrote:
Often the crowd does not recognize a leader until he has gone, and
then they build a monument for him with the stones they threw at
him in life.^2“Th e man who leads the orchestra must turn his back on the crowds.”
(Thomas Jefferson)It is because of the initial unpopularity of a prophetic vision for the
future that visionary leaders are often ridiculed and rejected. Suffering,
pain, and sacrifice go along with visionary leadership. Prophetic leadership
often leads to self-sacrifice and persecution. But it does not stop there. If
the communication of a prophetic vision leads to persecution for the
visionary, it also usually results in some pain to the followers. That’s why
there is so often short or long-term pain involved in the communication and