Man of Depravity - Tyler Braun's posts on Church Ministry, Worship, Seminary, and Theology.

The Leader Needed Today (Part Four)

2010 October 26

by Tyler

Part Four (Today): Reward

This will be the last post in this short series on the type of leader we need today. A lot of conferences and books focus on the type of leader people want to see today, but what we need is something far different. Those differences are what I’ve been outlining throughout the series.

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Lastly, and maybe most importantly, we need leaders today who have a focus on eternal reward instead of earthly reward.

A biblical leader seeks an eternal reward from God, while a non-biblical leader seeks an earthly reward that benefits self in forms of money, promotion, power, and stature.

Reward has been greatly ingrained into today’s culture. I believe it was William Penn who said that those who do “good” without seeking a reward, will in the end, receive a reward.

This to me is a great example of Biblical leadership. Paul had this in mind all throughout his ministry. By calling himself names such as the “chief among all sinners” he had it clear in his mind that his ministry was from God and for God.

There was nothing he was doing that deserved a reward.

Non-biblical leaders may seek and receive many earthly rewards, but in the end they have no value.

We need leaders who have enough of an eternal focus that they sacrifice much of who they are for the greater good of the community.

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I thought I’d end this series with a quote that is one of my favorites on leadership. We get caught up in models and strategies for leadership all the time. But really leadership is just influence over people, and influence that matters is rooted in love.

“Needless to say, you can love people without leading them, but you cannot lead people without loving them.” Andy Stanley

Filed under: church Tags: leadership

Jason Wilkinson

I like the thought, but I’ve got to ask, at least from a hypothetical perspective: What if there is no eternal reward? Let’s say that there is no eternal reward — would it not still be best to lead out of a place of love rather than reward simply for the sake of our love for Jesus? Or, to put it another way, does not our love for Jesus compel Christian leaders to lead out of love, regardless of an eternal reward?

If there is no eternal reward, is it still worth leading people out of a place of love?

Oh, and nice blog.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

In a word, yes, it should be enough to never have a reward.

But I do think the Bible talks a lot about eternal rewards in heaven.
Donna

Leadership takes sacrifice and should be valued by quality vs quantity. I see many leaders/pastors obsessed with reaching so many people that they forget to reach out, look someone in the eye, and engage with them in a way that draws them back. Facebook, Twitter, Blogging can get you so far. The greatest leaders are the ones who are also personable and reach out to others outside of their own little comfy church world. Sadly, today’s young culture puts such an emphasis on social media and bringing that into the church when it really has ZERO personal element.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

My blogging has “ZERO personal element”? Then why even comment?
http://www.contentunderpressure.net Josh

I didn’t really see anything that prompted negative responses here, so I’m a bit confused by the feedback.

One word to sum up this post for anyone leading anyone: humility.

Good post, man.
http://flurrycreations.com John

Donna, I disagree. Because it is different than maybe what you are used to does not mean that a younger generations way (and there are plenty of older generations on my networks) of communicating is wrong or contains ZERO personal elements. Take a step back and try to reflect on what you just said. I find that it is another way to connect and that I have had very personal interactions with those I connect with via social media. It is often the first place of greeting and way of engagement in ministry.
-John
http://justadamsproductions.com Julian Salyer

oh yeah. getting this tweet and having a laugh reminded me to tell you that if the offer still stands, my girlfriend and I would enjoy coming over for some winter coco and whatever fancy vegetables rose likes to cook up. it’s always great to catch up.
Donna

You totally missed my point. I meant that personal face to face time with individuals has a greater impact on a life than blogging, tweeting, facebooking. These things should all “accompany” a personal relationship and outreach.

The negativity in the response makes it really intimidating to comment. Just an opinion.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

You can say you meant that face to face is better but you said blogging and social media has “ZERO personal element.” Those are 2 very different comments. I wasn’t trying to react negatively towards you. I honestly didn’t understand your comment. It didn’t make sense to me.