events that unqualified leaders often rise to the top through might and
the exercise of raw power. The fact still remains: all truth is God’s truth...
all gifts are God’s gifts...all leadership originates from God. It matters not
whether the recipient acknowledges God as the Source of his leadership
gifts, his abilities still originate from the sovereign Hand of a gracious
God. He may prostitute his leadership abilities through selfish perversion
- or be manipulated in the expression of them through satanic deception –
but his ability to lead still comes from God!
Principle: “Whether carnal or spiritual,
all leadership comes from God.”With those thoughts in mind, let’s look at a several helpful definitions of
leadership.
- A short definition of leadership is this: “A leader is a person with
followers.” In other words, “If you don’t have followers, you are not
a leader!” As someone said: The person who thinks he is a leader,
but has no one following him, is just ‘taking a walk!’ If you are
‘walking alone’, then you are not leading. On the other hand, if
you are a leader then you will have followers with you on your
journey. But, no followers – no leader! D.E. Hoste, of the China
Inland Mission, was once asked about the test of true leadership.
After pausing a moment to reflect, Hoste replied: “It occurs to me
that perhaps the best test of whether one is qualified to lead, is to find
out whether anyone is following!”^3 How true! - A longer definition of leadership is: “A leader is a person who
influences people. He motivates them to follow him toward
a particular goal.” One of the key distinguishing marks of
leadership then is motivational influence. It takes influence to get
people to follow you toward a particular goal. - I like the definition of spiritual leadership by John Piper:
Spiritual leadership is knowing where God wants people to be
and taking the initiative to use God’s methods to get them there in
reliance on God’s power.^4