Encouragement

---

LEADERSHIP: TO DEVELOP

“For even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45).

Ordinary leaders “lead” while servants “serve”. But Jesus seems to be saying something different. This is serious because He did not only teach it; He modelled it and pointed to Himself as the example we should follow. Paraphrasing the words of Jesus in our text, it would read; “the greatest display of leadership is service” He said “I am doing this to set an example for you” John 13:15. The word “LEADERSHIP” mean different things to different people, is a guiding force which draws people unto a certain action through persuasion, influence or example.

Robert Greenleaf said, if things are ever going to change for the better in the society, only natural servants ought to lead” Have dominion (Gen. 1:28), means to “lead”, to some extent every man is a leader either for good or evil (Abraham Lincoln, Churchill, Mandela, Hitler, Saddam, Bin Laden, examples of good and bad leaders.) The level of poverty, corruption and low development in Africa are manifestation of bad leadership in political and business platforms.

It is therefore not surprising that there is no issue more crucial than that of leadership in the world today.

Tom Marshall said, the leader is going somewhere therefore he goes ahead to show the way. In other words, every leader is heading towards identified objective, aiming at target and reaching out for thing that is ahead. Leadership is therefore impossible without a guiding vision and a purpose that generates passion for accomplishment. God said in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.

No matter where you are starting from, you can get better. The life of Theodore Roosevelt, a one time American President, is a good example, of the leader’s America has ever had, Roosevelt was one of the toughest both physically and mentally. But he did not start that way. He was born in Manhattan to a prominent wealthy family. As a child, he was puny and very sickly. He had debilitating asthma, possessed very poor eyesight, and was painfully thin. His parents were not sure he would survive. When he was twelve his father told him “ you have the mind, but you have not the body and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. “You must make the body” and make it he did! (TR) as he was often called, began spending time building his body as well as mind, and he did that for the rest of his life.

He worked out with weights, hiked, ice –skated, hunted, rowed, rode horse back and boxed. In later years, Roosevelt assessed his progress, admitting that as a child, he was “nervous and timid, yet, “he said from reading of people I admired … and from knowing my father, I had a great admiration for men who were fearless and who could hold their own in the world, and I had a great desire to be like them.

He graduated from Harvard. He served in various positions ranging from New York City Police Commissioner to President of great America. he kept learning and growing, he improved himself and in time he became a strong leader.

The real test of leadership is not where you started out: it is where you end up. The Bible says “Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly (Job 8:7).

Stop press: expecting the second part leadership: Your influence.




© 2004 – Aduwo Samson Olufemi
Lagos Nigeria
HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" [email protected]

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE