God Calls For Authentic Leadership

When I consider the practicalities of an authentic leadership call from God I can’t help but picture a vivid image of Frodo Baggins. I bet you’re thinking...another Lord of the Rings story, Tanya?

Here’s the truth; the parallels are a masterclass in leadership. The costly call of the ring bearer is a solitary journey. Frodo is the only one who can wear the ring and deliver it where it must go for the protection and safety of all. He is a leader’s leader, entrusted with the singular weight of a singular task. If this reality isn’t enough, should he fail, it is to the ruin of the entire mission. Anyone who bears a leadership calling from God identifies with the crushing tension described here. As I’ve been buried deeper in the soil of my own call over the last 28 years, I have come into a visceral understanding of all that hangs in the balance of the ring only I can bear and the necessary values I must embrace to live and lead in the way of Jesus on a soul level. In that spirit, I'd like for you to consider these four qualities of spiritually healthy leaders:

In that spirit, I'd like for you to consider these 4 qualities of spiritually healthy leaders:

1. Spiritually healthy leaders aim to seek intimate friendship with God as a person, not as a concept, a missional strategy or a conduit for a dream. God is a relational being they seek through scripture, unsanitized prayers and a continual awareness of His Presence. They understand public service is spiritually vacant without relational integrity in the secret place with Him. Success is not the metric...God’s presence is and they are careful to move at the speed of His voice.

Any leader who gives a firm and complete “yes” to God signs their name on the dotted line of all the transformative joy and sorrow that comes with full surrender in the spirit of Matthew 16:25:"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

Leaders can lose sleep, lose friends and even lose heart. The only sustainable path through a lifetime of losing as you and I take up our own cross is to allow God to become the animating center of all of life. The narrow way of Jesus is to remain grounded in God’s Presence, His word and His Spirit and I pray this piece has encouraged you to pursue that path.

Tanya 
Spirital Director