pat loughery

Here are my notes from the Friday night gathering time of the Emerging Leaders Initiative’s gathering. ELI is a project by the Northwestern US Vineyards to encourage, equip and connect young leaders to lead within their churches and to plant churches. It’s 18-30-somethings, heavily 20-year-olds this time around, along with some of the area Vineyard pastors.

Tonight’s speaker is Andrew Wallis, who pastors the Bristol (UK) Vineyard. The topic is “The Temptations of Leadership”.

Let’s avoid the spectacular moral failures: character failure and moral character. No matter your gifts and gift level, character matters greatly.

Quoting John Wimber: “Keep your hand out of the till and your zipper up!”. Most failures Andrew has dealt with have fallen to one of those two traps: money and sex.

Reading from Nehemiah 5, a leader of financial integrity.

Is it easier to handle success or failure?

Quoting Thomas Carlyle: “For every one hundred people who can handle adversity, there is only one who can handle prosperity.”

Three advantages to pursuing leadership:
1. Position – you can become more
2. Power – you can do more
3. Privilege – you can have more

These are legitimate benefits of leadership. But with each of these potential advantages, there is incredible temptation.

1 Cor 10:12

In the US: The chief of staff to Dick Cheney is resigned. President Bush’s cabinet is under fire for misleading the public. Reading the Guardian newspaper: There are now allegations of bribery regarding Scanlon – these may go to the highest portions of the party. Tom Delay. It’s not just the US government; UK cabinet members are resigning all the time over these conflicts also. Why talk about these things? It’s the same in the church.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

How are we as emerging leaders going to make it for the long haul? In 20 years, 50, 60 years how can we withstand the buffeting that can happen along the way.

Background to Neh 5 – Nehemiah has now been here for 12 years.
Temptations
1. We will be tempted to misuse our position. Giving people a title is a killer – people begin to make unrealistic demands.
2. We will be tempted to abuse our power.
3. We will be tempted to profit from our privileges.

The mark of an uncommon leaders: Neh 5:15 c (“but I did not act like that”).

How do we keep our integrity as a leader?
1. Deepen my fear/reverence of God. Neh 5:15c.
– Realize that God put me in this position. Psalm 75:6 Realize that we are only stewards. It’s not our world.
– Realize that God is holding me accountable. Heb 13:17 – it’s a good thing, sometimes, to be scared. In the Kingdom, there is no authority without accountability. James 3:1.
2. Develop a love for people.
– Leadership Law: Losers focus on what they can get; leaders focus on what they can give. Psalm 78:72 and 1 Th 2:8-9. Lord, help me to love the people you placed in my church.
–
3. Discipline yourself for eternal rewards. Neh 5:19, Neh 5:16
As we advance as leaders, there’s less room, freedom – more restriction placed upon us by the Lord.

Now flip to 1 Cor 9.
Paul says, “I have all these rights… BUT I didn’t use these rights so as not to hinder the Gospel message”.

Leadership Law: Losers focus on their rights; leaders focus on their responsibilities.

What are you devoted to? What are you single-minded about? Heb 11:24-26.

Constantly ask yourself this: Why am I doing what I’m doing?

Are you storing up treasures in heaven?

1 Peter 5:2-4 Elders, Shepherds, Overseers.

Realize: It’s God’s flock. It’s not your church; it’s God’s church. We just get entrusted with the oversight of it, shepherding of it, elding of it.

End with the parable of the talents, “well done, good and faithful servant”.

God doesn’t call us to be successful; he calls us to be faithful.