Congregational Letter - July 2009
By Rich Nathan

What Is A Leader?

So what is leadership? When I try to define leadership I think about Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous statement regarding pornography: “I know it when I see it!”

Here are some of the qualities that I think of when I find myself in the presence of a “leader.” I know no one (apart from Jesus) who displays all of these qualities. But these are some things that would be on my leadership list:

1. 1. Leaders inspire hope. Whether we are talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I’ve got a dream,” or Bobby Kennedy’s “Some people see things as they are and ask why. I see things that never were and ask why not?” leaders inspire us to be open to new possibilities. Leaders tell us that life can change. Things don’t have to be the way they are right now. Leaders tell us that people can change; institutions can change; problems can change; and, we ourselves can change. Leaders communicate that we and the world can be different and better than we are right now.

2. 2. Leaders define reality. I got this one from my all-time favorite leadership book, Leadership is an Art by Max DePree. Leaders don’t create reality, and they don’t deceive people into believing what is not so. But leaders do interpret reality for people. Leaders are people who say things like, “I know you are going through a really difficult time, but I believe that God will use this in your life for good. This is an opportunity for you.” Or, “This is a test from God. If you pass the test, you will be promoted.” Leaders help the rest of us to interpret life in this world.

3. 3. Leaders encourage strength and perseverance in the midst of trial. A person who embodied this quality in great measure was Winston Churchill. In June 1940 the Germans kicked the British Army off the European Continent. It was one of the worst defeats in modern warfare and ended just off the coast of England at Dunkirk. The United States was not prepared to help Britain defend herself; England was on her own. Enter a 66-year old man whose counsel had been rejected by the English people for the previous decade. Here is the end of Churchill’s speech to the English Parliament. We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

4. 4. Leaders are humble. They don’t presume on God. My favorite American leader of all time is Abraham Lincoln. One of the things that Lincoln hated was when groups of pastors came to him and told him that God was on his side (and on the side of the Union Army). Lincoln wrote “A Private Meditation on the Divine Will” in which he reasoned this way. He said that both the North and the South pray to the same God. And we know that God cannot be for and against something at the same time. One of the two sides must be wrong. And then Lincoln made this surprising observation: Both may be wrong. It was this private meditation that gave rise to the speech that I regard as the greatest speech in American history, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address in which he said, Both [North and South] read the same Bible; and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be fully answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Lincoln believed that the purposes of God transcended anything that the human actors in the Civil War drama intended. According to Lincoln, God’s purposes in allowing the Civil War was to judge not only the South but also the North. Great leaders do not presume that God is on their side. Rather, they humbly try to discern whether God may be judging both them and their enemies.

5. 5. Leaders model what they want to produce. Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Followers do not do what the leader says; they do what the leader does! The founder of the Vineyard, John Wimber, was an effective leader because he modeled the things he taught. John modeled risk-taking by being willing to look foolish. John modeled delegation by giving responsibility away. And John modeled humility by being a great apologizer.

6. 6. Leaders work in their areas of strength. Leaders are not necessarily completely well-rounded people. Leaders are not people without obvious and significant weaknesses. But leaders have discovered their strengths and have determined to grow and mature regarding their particular competencies. Warren Buffet is the poster child for knowing one’s own strengths and staying the course. Buffet knew that he was a patient, practical person whom people trusted. So he became the world’s leading investment advisor. There is a great book about discerning your own strengths titled Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton that can assist you in building on your particular strengths and competencies.

7. 7. Leaders display empathy. Empathy, in my mind, means being able to walk in the shoes of another person and see things from their vantage point. Empathy means being able to transcend your own perspective and even that of your own family and culture. President Obama displays many great leadership traits, but perhaps his greatest strength is his enormous capacity for empathy. Indeed, his recent speech to the Muslim world is a model speech in being able to view seemingly intractable problems from multiple perspectives. Lincoln had the gift of empathy as well.

A scientist from the University of Michigan asserted that after nuclear war and worldwide epidemic, the greatest risk to contemporary society is the quality of leadership in our institutions. Warren Bennis wrote a classic book on leadership titled On Becoming A Leader. In it, he challenged his readers as follows: Our quality of life depends on the quality of our leaders. And since no one seems to be volunteering, it is up to you. If you’ve ever had dreams of leadership, now is the time, this is the place, and you’re it. We need you.

Please apply those last two lines to your life here at Vineyard. If you’ve ever had dreams of leadership, now is the time, this is the place, and you’re it. We need you!