Leadership Blunders of Baptist Leaders – Blunder #2

As we continue our series considering Leadership Blunders of Baptist Leaders we come to:

Blunder #2 - Assuming a title is a place of leadership.

Many Baptist preachers assume because they have been called to a church or elected to any other position they are automatically the leader. Leadership is not a title bestowed it is a privilege earned. By the action of a church you can become their preacher but by proving yourself to be trustworthy and committed to Christ and His church you become their pastor/leader.

Words like trust and respect become a reality when people come to trust those elected to positions of leadership. Authority and respect are earned not bestowed. Baptist leaders are much like the Lone Ranger with a finite number of silver bullets. Each time a leader exercises his authority he uses up a silver bullet. The only way to replenish these silver bullets is through engendering confidence in your decision making processes and exhibiting a desire for the betterment of the entity you lead rather than the furtherance of your personal goals.

My observation is that Baptists do not take well “being told what to do.” However, they follow well those who invest themselves with integrity in the process of leading them. Leadership is all about trust. Anyone can be a dictator; it takes time and personal sacrifice to become a leader. The process cannot be hurried.

Attempting to connect the dots…

Wayne
Romans 1:16

Quotable:
“Trust is earned by many deeds, it is lost by one.”
~ John Sullivan