Lead by Example

A friend of mine, Brian Keel publishes an awesome devotion every Friday and this is what he had to say this morning:

Lead by Example

The story goes like this: the Senior Pastor at the church we attended for many years was hosting a dinner at his home for new members. After the meal was finished, he leaned over to his young intern and said, “Are you ready for your first lesson in how to be a good pastor?” The young man was understandably very excited to have such wisdom passed on. The older man got up, said “Follow me” and proceeded to begin clearing the dishes from the tables.

There are many ways to lead. You can lead by virtue of your position in the organization, because of what it says on your business card, or your place on the organization chart. You can lead because you are persuasive or charismatic and people can’t resist. You can even lead by creating a fear of unpleasant consequences among people who don’t fall in line.

Or you can lead by creating a positive example for people to follow, by being a servant leader who takes on the unpleasant tasks yourself, like the pastor in the story above. The young intern surely though the lesson was going to be some great lecture, or a technique to gain new insight into scripture. But just like the disciples who each passed by the foot washing utensils at the Last Supper, only to have the Master perform the duty for them, he found the real lesson is in getting up and getting to work.

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