Leadership

Leadership is a tricky thing.

I've seen and followed alot of leaders in my short life thus far. There are many that have impacted the way I live and grow. Honestly, I doubt that those people truely know how much they have impacted me. It made me think about how this "unknown impact" can affect people.

I find that sometimes there is a specific thing that male leaders tend to overlook, perhaps because they are men. (I'll be this is why God invented wives, and made them co-workers with their hubbies)

Some male leaders tend to become so vision, goal or ministry oriented, that they forget that they are Daddies.

They may not feel that depth of connection to ALL the people they lead...but they need to realize that the people look to them. It's like nursing two-dozen babies. You may not connect to all of them because there are so many, but for them....you are it! They are looking to the shepherd. The baby will feel deep emotional connection to the source of the nutrition. Men don't always get this 'nurturing' aspect of 'ministry'. So when they wanna move on to another ministry opportunity, they tend to not consider the babies they are making orphans. Unless this is done with tenderness and TIME.....you get wounded people.

This shows the great problems with a few of our North American church structures:

a) by having one person leading a ministry, we propagate an attitude of following a man and not Jesus.
b) Small house churches/cell groups facilitate the ability for the leader to properly care for the flock. (No one person can pastor 500 people! Thats just stupid!)
c) By building a ministry, we can end up making monuments to ourselves instead of pointing people to the real source of their food, Jesus. (Aka: the Word, A life of prayer and devotion)


Ideally, you want one Shepherd, and that's Jesus. But the fact of the matter is that God created the human pastoral gift for a purpose: because He knows that babies need feeding by a human hand as well. But is that human hand consistantly reminding us to look to the true source? And are we as sheep building up leaders as 'rockstar heros' and really making them idols? (after all, that's easier than pursuing a relationship with an unseen God!)

So, all you leaders out there.....remember your Daddy and Mommy glasses. If you are truly in love with the Bridegroom, you will also love what he loves. And He loves ONE THING. The bride. So treat her gently.