May 2, 2017

Are You Qualified To Lead?

“The reality is that the Lord never calls the qualified; He qualifies the called.” - Henry Blackaby
In order to be a great leader, do you have a be the “lone wolf” type, or have all the answers? Or, do you have to be an extrovert, or a Type-A personality? Do you have to be “born a natural leader,” or at least have a past that is free from failure? No. Great leaders are just normal people- they aren’t any smarter than you and I, and they often have a past riddled with things they wish they hadn’t done. In the Bible, we see that Jacob had lied and cheated – yet God used him to father the twelve tribes of Israel. Peter denied Christ three times, and yet God used him powerfully in the foundation of the early church. Paul persecuted the early church yet God changed his heart so much so that he ended up writing most of the New Testament. David had committed adultery and murder, and yet God still used him as a powerful leader as the King of Israel. These kinds of stories aren’t just in the Bible - they’re in all of us. What kind of things from your past are you allowing to stand in the way of becoming a great leader? Guilt from cheating on a spouse, or the shame of a failed marriage? Guilt from past addiction problems, or shame from being sexually abused as a child? Guilt from having an abortion, or a shame from a past prison sentence? Whatever your story, it is important to know that there’s nothing you’ve ever done that will keep you from becoming a stronger leader. Over the next few posts, I’ll discuss a series of tools and ingredients that will not only help you overcome past failures, but help you become more successful in the future. These tools and ingredients, along with the recipe to combine them in the right order and the right amount, come together to create what’s called a Leadership Cake. Learning these tools and ingredients will put you on the fast track to becoming a transformational leader. Remember, great leaders never stop learning. The more you learn, the more you grow. The more you grow, the greater impact and influence you have. (The idea of the Leadership Cake comes from Transformational Leadership Training and Business Consulting, an offering from the FSH Foundation. In another few weeks, I will have some exciting news around this offering -- stay tuned!) As I discussed in the previous post, everyone who has influence with at least one other person is a leader. The question is not IF you are a leader, but HOW WELL you are leading. With that in mind, in the areas where you are leading (work, family, friends, church, wherever), if you thought about your leadership as a cake, how would you describe it? Is it tasting good? Is it attractive? What would make it better?
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” – 1 Corinthians 1:27 (ESV)

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