LEADERS ARE PRAYERFUL
- In my sixty years in business, nobody has said, “I have a flawed
character.” It is much easier to admit a lack of skill than to
admit to a character weakness. Yet from 75 to 80 percent of the
failures I’ve seen have been character failures. The church must
be involved in character building, helping men and women
to grow into the maturity of Christ. Leaders are responsible for
modeling and encouraging character and integrity.^25
- B. F. Wescott once remarked, “Great occasions do not make
heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men.
Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow
strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows us what
we have become.”^26
- ...what makes a champion. Not strength of arms, not wizardry
at spreadsheets, not a charismatic speaking style, but strength
of heart, conviction, and passionate faith...^27
- ...“The within is ceaselessly becoming the without,” said James
Allen, author of the classic As a Man Thinketh. “From the
state of a man’s heart proceed the conditions of his life; his
thoughts blossom into deeds, and his deeds bear the fruitage of
character and destiny.”^28
- Building character strength is like building physical strength.
When the test comes, if you don’t have it, no cosmetics can
disguise the fact that it just isn’t there. You can’t fake it.^29
- Educating the heart is the critical complement to educating
the mind. In the words of American educator John Sloan
Dickey:
“The end of education is to see men made whole, both
in competence and in conscience. For to create the power of.
As John Haggai said: “A leader without energy is like a
pianist without hands or a runner without feet or an
orator without corresponding direction to guide the use of that
power is bad education. Furthermore, competence will finally
disintegrate apart from conscience.”^30
