Roast Mcneal: Spiritual Leadership

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.

One of the most shocking statistics noted in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman is that if one attends church on a weekly basis, they spend 5 percent at most of their waking hours at church. The other 95 percent are spent out in the world. This illustrates the importance of why this book matters. Sherman starts off by setting the tone for readers – she gives a background as to why she found it necessary that she write this book – and how she read a book by Michael Lindsey in which he discussed research of prominent evangelical business leaders and how their faith impacts their behaviors and decisions at work. A few stood out, while the rest stated they kept a Christian plaque in their office or wore a cross around their neck. They did not fulfill their religious identity in conjunction with their careers. There was a complete disconnect between the two sectors of their lives, and Sherman recognized that. Kingdom Calling is a guidebook for anyone who has ever been concerned about living a divided life – especially for pastors and religious leaders, but for lay people and congregation members as well. In Kingdom Calling, Sherman sets up a three-part framework on how to grow and empower a congregation, a specific group in the church, or a single member.

The paper is a presentation and compilation of the elements pertaining to the interior health of the North American pastoral leadership. The paper will explore and reflect on the many fundamental issues that the North American leadership faces. Are North American pastors practicing the rule of life the many fundamental issues that progresses to the transformational stages of maturity in spiritual growth and Christian discipleship.

The United States know Jim Cymbala as the very successful preacher of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a megachurch of over ten thousand people. Under the leadership of Reverend Cymbala, the church has grown from less than twenty people in 1972 into the enormous congregation it is today. Out of the same congregation, Jim Cymbala and his wife have fostered the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, “the 280-voice choir, which for the most part is composed of vocally untrained church members, has recorded three videos, three DVDs and numerous albums, winning five Dove Awards and six Grammy Awards.” Jim Cymbala defines leadership. Under his wing, evangelism and revival have stormed Brooklyn and overwhelmed the people with the love of God. By examining the life of this renown reverend, one can better understand how to practically apply leadership techniques and strategies in every aspect of the leader.

For this assignment, I interviewed Sidney C. Frazier Sr., Pastor of Full Faith Ministries located on John’s Island, SC. Full Faith opened their doors on Mother’s Day in May, 1997. When given the vision to start this ministry, Pastor Frazier invested within himself leadership development by going to other organizations for training in ministry. This is the first valuable lesson I learned from this interview; I never planned on becoming an adult learner until the Lord told me to enroll in Springfield College in 2011, in order to learn of principles in human services, to learn men’s way, and now in Liberty University to learn God’s way in combining both together according to Luke 2:52 (NIV) “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” God wanted me to

This book by Gordon MacDonald can be compared to “Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry” by Ruth Barton. Barton notes that some leaders have such an insatiable appetite for approval from others, that it leaves them standing as service providers that suffer from compassion fatigue. They fail to initiate quiet time that creates an uncommon intimacy with God. The pastoral leader must stop and become aware of his/her surroundings while listening for where God is leading them before they try to lead

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Through stepping into leadership opportunity, and not hyperfocusing on leadership opposition, I realised that the heart’s reward was far greater than my head’s recoil. I realised that, while leadership sometimes felt like choosing which moments I would let people down, I now know that greater than that is the opportunity to impact people for the Glory of God, and the good of man.

I did not know much about how leadership relates to spirituality before Pastor Brian Beckstrom talked to our class about it. To help me understand how they are connected, we did an activity and learned about how we can show leadership through spirituality. I realized that there are many simple ways to show spiritual leadership. One way is by reflecting, which is a huge part of spiritual leadership.

An organization will rise as high as the leadership directs it; conversely, the same organization can be led down the path of failure if the organizational leadership fails to navigate the difficult path of leadership successfully. In the early 1980s, the Chrysler Corporation was on the verge of bankruptcy when Lee Iacocca stepped in to lead the company to profitability. The church faces a leadership crisis of its own. Over 4,000 churches are closing their doors each year in the United States (Wellman, 2013). In Henry and Richard Blackaby’s book entitled, Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda, the authors identify why there is a leadership crisis and what can be done to correct the problem.

From this article, I gained a greater understanding of the practical application of theology in leadership. The author makes the points that it is a mistake to believe that the more something is theological makes it less practical. From the time of the first century, church leaders have had a practical application for their theology. The author notes that Bible study provides for Christian growth, and effective Christian leadership is the direct consequence and the goal of biblical covenants from the time of Christ to the second coming. The chief function of Christian leadership is to guide believers through their ongoing transformation to sanctification, and strong pastoral leadership requires a lifetime of prayerful

Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.

This growing complexity within spiritual leadership is to find a working balance in therapeutic effort to help others. The spiritual caregiver must have the strength to withstand emotional, physical and spiritual storms within the congregation but also possess much more than abilities. As one member describing the ability of the pastor, “our pastor is so gifted, he seems to have an answer for everything.” Yet, the price paid for the riposte is the constant wrestling with integrity or pride on the part of the leader, while the leader should be teaching the teach the awaiting congregant to sit and listen to God, normally the answer is incumbent on the leader’s relationship with

The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].