Are you the type of leader God uses?
God uses people of faith. The Bible says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). The Bible also says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23 NASB95). As a leader, you need to learn how to be a person of faith.
God uses the leader who has a dream.
God uses the person who has a dream, vision, or goal because these things are demonstrations of faith.
A church will never outgrow its vision. The vision of the church is never larger than the vision of the leadership, and the leadership’s vision is never larger than the vision of the pastor.
Proverbs 11:27 says, “If your goals are good, you will be respected” (GNT). I want to challenge you to dream great dreams and believe God for great things.
The great thing about dreaming is, it doesn’t cost anything. You can dream all you want for what God can do in your church, and it won’t cost you a thing—but faith starts with a goal. It starts with a dream. It starts with a vision.
What are the two common mistakes we make in goal setting? We set them too low, and we try to reach them too quickly. We overestimate what we can do in a year. We underestimate what we can do in 10 years. Like they say, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Doing anything inch by inch is a cinch!
God uses the leader who risks failure.
God uses the person who not only dreams great dreams, but who is willing to risk failure. This means they’re willing to lay it on the line in order to achieve their goal. It’s like that old saying: “Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.”
Vision means nothing without risk. If you’re going to be who God wants you to be—as a person and in serving the Lord—you must learn to take risks.
In Matthew 25:14-27, it says that God gave some people talents. Two of the guys doubled their talents. He said to them, “You’re faithful. You doubled your investment.” The other guy took his talent, hid it in the ground and did nothing, took no risks. Then God said, “You wicked, lazy servant. You were unfaithful.” What’s he saying there? He’s saying that faithfulness means you take risks for the glory of God.
If there are no risks in your ministry, then you don’t understand faithfulness. Without risks, you don’t need faith. Faith requires risk.
What in your life are you attempting to do that cannot be done in the power of the flesh? What in your church cannot be explained except by the power of God? Go out on the limb because that’s where all the fruit is.
Photo source: istock
 | Dr. Rick Warren is a pastor, global strategist, theologian, philanthropist and founder of pastors.com. As a pastor, Rick founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., in 1980 with one family. He also leads the Purpose Driven Network of churches, a global coalition of congregations in 162 countries. His previous book, The Purpose Driven Church is listed in "100 Christian Books That Changed the 20th Century." This article was first published on pastors.com. Used with permission. |
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