Tonight I will be speaking to over 75 leaders at my home church, Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA. Our church is coming off of a very successful generosity initiative and I will be discussing 5 leadership lessons I gleaned from the process that are applicable to any leader in their area of discipline.
Generous Leaders Have Great Burdens – I have served as a greeter at our church for the last six years. Each week I am reminded of the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-36. On two different occasions a spiritual leader walked by a hurting man in a ditch and did nothing. As a greeter, I don’t have to walk by a ditch. The ditch walks by me week after week after week, month after month, and year after year.
Each week I watch unemployed men with their shoulders slumped and head down. I watch their wives be scared and insecure. I often watch their marriages crumble. I watch single moms wind up with men who are on drugs or beats them simply so their children will have a roof over their heads and food to eat.
This is no longer acceptable in North American churches.
Generous Leaders Are Great Servants – As I read Mark 10:41-45, I am reminded that the only true biblical leadership model is one of servant leadership. Servant leaders understand that while the problems in a church are many, they become experts at Problem Selection. They understand the plight of the average attender. They refuse to answer questions no one is asking.
Generous Leaders Provide Great Solutions – A sub-point of this is great leaders are great artists. Seth Godin says, “Artists are people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done.” I loved the 2nd grade Sunday School teacher who sent notes to each child’s parents in her class describing in detail how God was already uniquely working in that child’s life. That’s an artist. On a different note, you never want it to be said of you that you are an expert in what USED to work.
Generous Leaders Build Great Teams – Any great initiative that changes human life is too big to be accomplished by a single individual. You must build a team. It is true that one can put a thousand to flight but two can put ten thousand. (Deut 32:30)
Generous Leaders Ask For Great Commitment – Whenever a person holds a commitment card in their hand, whether for a capital campaign, generosity initiative, or to support a missionary, the defining question is “God, are you pleased with the number I wrote down?” The size of the commitment is irrelevant. Is it pleasing to God?
Great Burdens, Great Servants, Great Solutions, Great Teams, Great Commitment. These 5 habits are keys to being a generous leader.Â
Leaders, what other habits do you see that are required to lead in the area of generosity?
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