Lessons in Leading

[GCTSnormyeater]

As a child, I learned a mealtime prayer:

Kind heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this food set before us.
Bless this food to it’s intended use and our service.
Lead, guide and direct us through life,
Pardon us of our many sins and short comings.
In death, own and save us for Christ our Redeemer’s sake. Amen.

“Lead, guide and direct us through life,� has been a way that I have thought about my Father in heaven leading me. The writer comments, “These three verbs (nahal, nakhah, and nahag) express the kind of leadership God provided for his people in Scripture and the kind of leadership he expected from anointed shepherds.� (Laniak 197) While leading with “tenderness� (nahal) is a gentler course of leading; “straightforward guidance� (nakhah) and “directive herding� (nahag) are just as important. Yet for a leader, who may be less capable of discerning say financial details, may find church budget planning a challenge in giving “straightforward guidance� or giving clear “directives�.

Years ago, the leadership team of a congregation I pastored, engaged in the never-ending task of annual budget planning. Several of the leadership team, familiar with a local dialect of German, began arguing over budgetary issues. Stunned, I sat silently listening to a very animated conversation which made no sense to me. Sensing my obvious silence a senior member gently silenced the group, verbally chastised the membership for such exclusionary tactics, and demanded that English be spoken and a formal apology be extended to the pastor.

While I miss the wisdom of that leader, I continue to value the lesson in leadership that happened that evening. Even in gentleness, straightforward guidance and directive leading kept anointed leaders on track doing God’s work rather than being distracted by petty idiosyncrasies. May God continue to create in me, a spiritual leader who checks leadership approaches through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.