Earlier today North Point Community Church and Preaching Rocket’s Jeff Henderson sat down to interview Senior Pastor Dr. Crawford Loritts of Fellowship Bible Church for the upcoming May 1st FREE webinar entitled Preach Better Sermons. It was a joy for me to be in attendance. A picture of their interview time has been provided for you. For those of you who may not be aware, Crawford is my pastor and I am honored to serve as one of his elders.
One of the questions Jeff asked Crawford centered around the subject of leader development vs. leadership development. Leader development has to do with the type of person God uses to accomplish His assignments at a point of time in history. Leadership development has to do with the task itself.
This is a concept that Crawford unpacks in great detail in his incredible book Leadership As An Identity. As I watched the interview, I felt it was vital to pass along some of the most important lessons from the book and its unique perspective on the subject of leadership.
Leadership As An Identity
- Christian leadership always lives at the intersection of God, assignment, and a person.
- Leaders in the Bible do not share common credentials…There is no particular personality type that God singles out for leadership.
- Leadership is all about following His leading and experiencing Him in the process.
- The one who leads is no more important than the person who faithfully serves in obscurity…It is not the position that adds value to us as people – we were created with value and worth.
- We must avoid preferring competence over character…We tend to ignore character flaws and even sin in the life of a leaders because of his more worldly leadership skills…God never ignores or excuses sin.
- God gives us assignments and gives us the responsibility of leading others to implement that work. To be a leader is a sacred trust.
- The real irony is that God’s assignment involves changing your life as a leader just as much as they involve changing the people you want to reach.
- God’s assignments ultimately bring Him glory. Leaders should not be obsessed with or defined by the position they occupy but by the assignment they have been given and the contribution they are making.
- For a Christian leader, brokenness is a dear friend and pride is the enemy.
- Another common pitfall for younger leaders is the conceit of youth – the idea that tried-and-tested ideas and older colleagues are hopelessly out of touch and that new ideas are superior.
- There is always a gap between what you have and what God wants done…The only way you can accomplish the assignment is if He does it through you.
- Effective Christian leadership is sustained by surrender. When a Christian leader stops yielding to God, he or she ceased to be a Christian leader.
- Your accomplishments are not a statement of your glory but of the grace, power, and glory of God Almighty.
- The fact is that leaders are always in over their heads. That’s because God assignments are supernatural in nature and He gives those assignments to vessels of clay.
- There can be no leadership apart from adversity and hard times. Your credibility to lead is in direct relationship to your ability to endure.
I cannot recommend enough that you purchase Crawford’s book by clicking here and signing up for the FREE online Preach Better Sermons Conference by clicking the image below.
Finally, which of the 15 quotes above resonated the most with you?
Subscribe here so future posts can be sent directly to your Inbox. As a gift for doing so, I will also send you a FREE copy of my brand new eBook Pastors, Christian Leaders, and Football: 13 Stories From The 2012 Season That Will Equip And Inspire You.
