Speed of the Leader; Speed of the Team

This statement from an ad on radio station 96five has been running through my head for the last week or so and challenging me on how I conduct my life. I think God has been challenging me on how I lead or more importantly how I influence those people around me.

For the purposes of this article I want to use the word influencer instead of leader. In my experience with leaders of churches, I have noted that when a minister has had to step down from being the senior minister, his sin is normally reflected in the life of the congregation. If his marriage has broken up, then there are a lot of broken marriages in the congregation, if it is sexual immorality then it is in the congregation. Speed of the leader; speed of the team.

So we as influencers set the pattern for those we influence. So who do we influence? Partners, children, friends, workmates, other people.

So what are the hallmarks of an influencer/leader:
• Encourager
• Listener
• Approachable
• Visionary
• Example
• Disciplined
• Transparent
• Charismatic
• Consistent
• Empowerer
• Discipler

So what is a Biblical pattern for an influencer? No where in the Bible can I see where people were taken away to be trained as influencers. There was no school of leadership. People were discipled on the job. Paul took Timothy and taught him through the school of hard knocks. Paul got rid of Mark, Barnabas then took hold of Mark, worked with him until Paul says later can you please send Mark because I need him. Jesus did all his stuff with the disciples on the job.

Here is the first major paradigm shift. Leadership/influence is actually caught not taught. It is not about creating a bunch of rules to live by. It is about looking for teachable moments to learn from. It is about showing how we conduct ourselves in every day circumstances. I need to model the behaviour I expect to see in my wife, children, friends etc. No room for hypocritical behaviour.

The next major paradigm shift is that influence/leadership is actually about making ourselves redundant. It is about empowering those around us to be ultimately able to live life without looking for direction from us. As a parent that is what I hope will happen with my kids. That, in the end, the way my kids conduct their life is an imitation of Kylie and I and it becomes second nature to them. They don’t have to ask us what to do; they automatically know what to do. That is true influence and discipleship.

Speed of leader; speed of the team then is conditional on us as influencers empowering those who are around us to become the people God wants them to be and ultimately have us as influencers becoming redundant to their life. It is to provide stimulation to their life not motivation.

Is being insecure bad thing?

I was in a conversation the other day with someone who was telling me about how insecure they feel. They were spilling the beans on their fears, failures and wondering if they would ever feel happy or confident enough in themselves to ever be happy. It got me thinking about what makes people be either secure or insecure? Are people born either way or is it in fact learned behaviour?

My thoughts for what their worth are that our sense of security comes from our frame of reference or belief system. I think that we all come to a point at some stage in our life where we feel insecure - not knowing where our future lies and feeling a bit out of control of our destiny. That is when we discover a belief system that gives us our level of confidence to face life's circumstances. For me that belief system is Christianity. A belief in God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Some people choose self belief, others in different religions and increasingly more on fads or celebrity worship.

As I christian I believe God deliberately created us with a God shaped hole that makes us incomplete in our human form. This 'hole' creates a missing bit in our lives and we humans then seek to try and fill this missing piece of the jigsaw. Most people try all sorts of things to fill the whole with from materialism to greed, marriage, family, sex, sport even popularity or celebrity worship. In the end these things are the wrong shape because the whole is God shaped and all the other things are the wrong shape and don't fit properly. Some may fill the whole to some extent or for a period of time but because its not a perfect fit we begin to 'leak' and we go searching for something else to help fill the whole.

For me God was the perfect fit and then its from Him I begin to feel secure. Knowing there is a higher power than me in control of my circumstances means that I can face life not being by myself but with some one who is able to help me today on earth and in the future in heaven.

Anyway there's my random thoughts - I am keen to hear your opinion.