This morning, I turned on Facebook, and read a quote from my friend, and native pastor, Kennie Blacksmith, that got me to thinking.
Am I prepared to have great success, and not get credit for it?
In a previous note, I spoke about how Jesus died to the idol of reputation.
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
How He was so committed to the will of the Father, that He obeyed unto death.
This was played out in Jerusalem, when He entered in what historians call, the triumphal entry, where the whole city came out to see him, crying ‘Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord’, people laying clothing and palm branches before Him, as He entered as a conquering king would.
Yet, only days later, that same crowd is crying ‘Crucify, crucify!’.
As a leader, we must accurately hear and obey the voice of our Father, no matter what the crowds are saying or doing. Seems the people least like this world, have the greatest power to affect it for good.
I read a great book by Tony Dungy, called ‘The Mentor Leader’, where he talks about how greatly effective leadership doesn’t need the limelight on them to validate their success. I’ll pick it up on p 26
“Sure, if your business, your team, or your family does well, people will take notice – and they will notice who the leader is. And you may be accorded some of the credit you feel you deserve. But if you do it right-if you really mentor others-more often than not, people will notice what a remarkably talented team, staff, or child you have, rather than what a great coach, employer, or parent you are. They will all assume that anyone could win with your team or family, and they’ll say things like, “Just look at how well they work together. If I had selfless people like that, I could meet my quarterly goals as well.”
I saw this very thing happen with Chuck Noll and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coach Noll was an extraordinary leader, and catalyst of a team that won four Super Bowls in six years, but he was never voted Coach of the Year. Instead, people always pointed to the number of Hall of Fame-caliber players the Steelers had. But that is just the way Coach Noll wanted it-never having anyone guess that he might have been responsible for developing that talent.
If you do it right, as a mentor leader, you may make it all but impossible for other people to give you credit.
For years, I have attended Victory Christian Center, here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Over the years, as I have been developing as a leader, I look back, and see how at many, many crucial ‘valleys of decision’ in my life, my pastor Billy Joe Daugherty, would magically appear in my world, and in his soft spoken way, say, “Hey Chris, what’s going on?”
Sometimes I would tell him my struggles or crisis of decisions, as a business owner committed to integrity of conduct in every area, in a fallen world, where sometimes it appeared that if there had been a forgiveness meter on my heart, it had been hit repeatedly with a sledgehammer, by the treachery and betrayals of others. Yet, forgive I have, and pain has been a wonderful instructor, as has been Billy Joe, who, by the Holy Spirit, has spoken pearls of wisdom into my life at times when I either did not know what to do, or felt like quitting.
Another man like him in my life has been Kenneth E Hagin, the pioneer and head of Rhema Bible Training Center. As one of our Instructors, he, in humility, was able to impart incredible spiritual truth, and the team of instructors and leaders around him, in the final years of his life, are still some of the most incredibly gifted ministers I have ever seen in the earth.
The inscription on the Bible that Kenneth E. Hagin and Miss Oretha gave Karen and I for a wedding gift.
This morning, I read a quote by my native pastor, Kennie Blacksmith, that bears witness to these thoughts:
Can you drink the cup…?
I acknowledge ruin is a gift.
For when you accept this, ruin will open the road to your restoration.
Restoration will lead to your transformation.
Your transformation will lead to your freedom and release from a negative past!
In acknowledging your own inability to forgive, ask the Lord to help you. In so doing, in your weakness you will become strong!
“You will indeed drink the cup!”
So, it is my time to take my place among them…As I step out again into the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus, I see footsteps before me, made by shoes that I honestly do not feel big enough to fit into yet, yet the path is clear, and follow I will, unto death if necessary….
How about you? Are there any incredible examples of leadership that you have had impact your life?
Let’s Pray:
‘Father God, help me to die to the idol of reputation, and to walk forward in your high calling, obeying you, and spending my life empowering, training, equipping, and encouraging others, to excellence, never seeking my own glory, but always seeking to glorify You Lord Jesus, Amen’