For as long as I can remember, people told me I was a leader.
And for as long as I can remember, I’ve been reluctant to lead.
So I did what was obvious. I read books on leadership. Lots of them.
So many books.
Guess what? They've all made me better, but none of them erased this suspicion that somehow we’ve idolized leadership in the church. We're driven by our ambition to attain the highest positions, and while everyone wants to become a popular leader, it seems that in the Bible, everyone prayed to be a faithful follower.
We seek status; God seeks servants.
We applaud platforms; God applauds prayer.
We want book deals; God wants us to deal with the Book.
We want to spend our popularity; God wants us to steward our influence.
Since leadership is influence (thanks, John Maxwell!), maybe we should be a bit more reluctant to lead if we can’t lead well? Maybe we should focus more on how we follow than trying to show others how well we can lead?
After all, it was Paul who called people to follow him, but only because he was following Christ.
That same Jesus - the One Paul was following - called His disciples to follow Him before He ever suggested that they lead others.
Reluctance to lead isn't good if it's the result of fear, but it isn't bad if it's the result of a weighty sense of responsibility to steward influence well.
I believe everyone leads someone, but that no one really feels qualified to lead anyone.
Instead, most of us feel inadequate, insecure, and invisible.
This podcast is for those people - the reluctant leaders. The ones who, like King Saul, are hiding in the baggage, and like King David, are overlooked and forgotten.
Thankfully, when it comes to leading in the Bible and in life, the most qualified aren't always the most obvious. This podcast will equip you to be and see those kinds of leaders.
The Reluctant Leader Podcast will launch in the Spring of 2022. Be sure to subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this with a friend or two so we can bring more people along with us on the journey.
You can always find the latest episodes at TheReluctantLeaderPodcast.com.
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I'd love to have you connect with me on my blog, too, where I write at least once a week and wrote every day for a year in 2021. You'll find it at pauljenkins.tv.
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