Surrendered Servant = Leadership?!?!

Last night at our elder meeting, Pastor Doug took some time to lead our elders in prayer and study. He spent some time talking about the concept of servant leadership. He made many great points, but there were two concepts that came together that ministered to my heart last evening.

The first one dealt with "surrender" being the key to servant leadership. At first I kind of brushed this comment off as "ya... no brainer". But, as he began to unpack this concept he started talking about how worry and stress can at times consume us as leaders which is an example of our own arrogance because we reach these levels of worry and stress when we leave God out of it all. This is anything but a surrendered life. The need to literally surrender every area of my life on a constant basis will lead to true Christ like servant leadership. I imagine I will spend a lifetime of growing in these lessons.

The second concept dealt with us only being able to "give leadership as we allow God to lead us." Again, my initial reaction was "ya... no brainer" and yet the above example proves how prone I (and all of us as humans) am to give God portions of our life to reign and lead while clinging on to others. For example, is God really leading my life as a whole if I am clinging on to pockets of worry and stress? The resounding answer is of course NO because of a lack of surrender.

At the end of the day, I will only be able to lead people for Christ and in Christ if I am willing as a leader to moment by moment surrender all that I am at the feet of Jesus and allow Him to lead me. This is also why accountability in the life of a leader is important. Nothing in our flesh wants to surrender to the One who willingly surrendered His life on our behalf. Words like surrender and servant aren't used often with the word leadership in our culture and yet that is the life we are called to live as Christ followers who give leadership in the church, our homes, our marriages etc...

I guess becoming a surrendered servant first may just be the quality someone aspiring for leadership in God's kingdom should possess. Other leadership skills can be taught, but this issue of the heart must first be caught.