Spiritual Leaders: Born or Made?

"He who leads, should lead with diligence."

Romans 12:8

In my previous post concerning spiritual gifts, I referenced the teaching of Dr. Charles Stanley, who is the long time pastor of the First Baptist Church, Atlanta. In his study, Ministering through Spiritual Gifts, he states that the seven gifts named in Romans 12:3-8 are perpetual gifts, while the other gifts found in the New Testament are only revealed during special circumstances. He states that every believer will have one of these seven perpetual gifts, perhaps more, but one will be more dominate than the others. He also says that these gifts are resident in a person's life at birth, and will become fully operative for its God-given purposes after that person is born again. He further says that these "gifts span the course of a person's life. They might be manifested in slightly different ways, in different situations, with varying degrees of intensity, but the identity of the gift remains intact and is unchangeable." Because leadership is listed as one of these seven perpetual gifts, and because of Dr. Stanley's belief concerning these gifts, the question that I posed in the title of this post should be re-visited. Are leaders born or made?

I have often been involved in discussions concerning leadership, both spiritual and secular. Some argue that leaders are born, while others argue that leaders are made. I was blessed to become friends with Dak Prescott when he was the third string quarterback at Mississippi State University. Because of his size, I thought he was either a tight end or linebacker. He was an exceptional young man that I had numerous conversations with. He was polite, kind, humble, and would eagerly listen to me as I shared biblical truth with him. As he eventually led MSU football to unprecedented success, I read articles of his leadership. It was interesting to read how as a high school player coming to Big Dawg Camps, he would vocally encourage and uplift the other players going through difficult workouts and weight training exercises. As a teenager, Dak displayed leadership skills that are now well known from his success as a Bulldog, as well as with the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL.

In my final semester at MSU, I was in a class focused upon personal skills and techniques of successful leaders. Just a few weeks into the course, we were divided up into groups of seven to eight students. We were told that we would be getting an assignment to form a corporation, and each group would have to name a president, vice-president, and a secretary/treasurer. We were then told to form our chairs in circles, according to our group placement, and discuss and decide who the officers would be for each corporation. I remember like it was yesterday as we noisily moved our chairs around to get in place. In my group, there were a couple of students that I had met in other classes, but the rest were basically strangers. I looked at the other students, who were all quiet and looking at everyone else in awkward silence, when I finally said: "Okay, let's do this. I'll begin with me, giving you all my name, where I'm from, why I chose this particular major, and any other pertinent information that might be helpful for us to know each other. Then we'll go around the circle and allow each of you to do the same. That way, we can make an informed decision concerning our corporate officers."

After everyone had the chance to speak, I said: "Alright, we should now discuss who needs to be our president. Any suggestions?"

A guy immediately said, "You, I move that we name you as our president."

"Why me?"

"Because you've already started acting like our president, I nominate you."

"I second his nomination," was the reply of a young lady, "and also move that the floor be closed for any further nominations."

Well, guess what? I became the president! The student who nominated me became the vice-president, and one in our group who was getting a double major in business management, along with banking and finance, was named our secretary/treasurer. When our professor realized that all groups had named their officers, he asked for a list of names from each corporation, and had us return our chairs into their regular location. Then he said: "The corporation assignment is over with. Later in the semester, we will have case studies and assignments to prepare you for the corporate world. But this brief exercise was all about recognizing leadership qualities. I believe that leaders are born, not made. Now we are going to discuss why each group chose their particular officers, and how they chose them."

I realize that others think differently. In one of Bobby Bowden's books on leadership, he states that anyone can be groomed, coached and encouraged to become a great leader. I understand what he said, but I don't fully embrace his analogy. I am convinced that Dr. Stanley is correct, and especially is this so in the spiritual realm. Leaders are born. There is something unexplainable about a person who has that take-charge attitude. Yes, those with leadership skills need to have those skills developed. The opportunity to hone those skills are invaluable in preparing a leader to face greater, and more diverse, responsibilities. And in this honing process, personal failures are often the catalyst for ultimate success. In fact, Bowden said, "People that are brilliant and successful, we think they've just always been that way. That's not the case. Most of them have had some tough adversity in their life. It's prepared them. I've never felt like you could develop character without adversity. A guy who has all the money he needs and never faced any hard times, he won't have any character. But when you've had it tough, and you've had it rough, and you thought you were at the end of the rope, and you work your way out of it, that's the way you build character." Though I may not agree with everything he says about leaders, I whole-heartedly agree with Coach Bowden's understanding of adversity preparing and maturing a person to possess strong leadership qualities.

Do you have the spiritual gift of leadership? If you do, it's not because you desire to be the head hog at the slop hole! Please excuse my country humor, but I trust you can understand that simple terminology. If you desire to lead so that you might have the preeminence, you've not been gifted with spiritual leadership. This mindset clearly demonstrates a self-centered, egotistical, and unhealthy focus upon the praise and applause of men. Those who are gifted as true spiritual leaders will be those who express the attitude and actions of Christ, Who got up from the table, laid aside His garments, took a towel to gird Himself, and washed the disciples feet. Jesus is our example of an humble, pure, holy, and perfect leader. As we follow Him and His example, it will be no problem for others to decide to follow us. Why? Because they will know that we are following Jesus. Amen!

Don't be Stupid!

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

2 Timothy 1:7

If you have read my story of saving grace (post entitled 1983), you know that I spoke openly about my life and lifestyle before meeting Christ. I chose not to embellish upon the depth of my depravity, for you can certainly read between the lines and understand how far into the darkness that I traveled. In the past, I have boldly declared more openly my horrendous sin, to the degree that some pastors asked me when they discovered that I would be preaching my testimony, "Will this be the PG variety, or the R-rated version?" Some of these men heard me share my story in prison crusades, where I chose to bare my soul to those who were helplessly locked away from family, friends, and freedom. In those settings, I refused to withhold punches in presenting the power of the gospel to change any man's life!

One area, however, that I choose to be more open about today is the curse of alcohol in my past. I come from a family heritage with an intense problem of alcoholism. I'll not bring shame upon those that I love dearly that were hounded by this monster, but I will say that as soon as I began pleasure drinking as a teenager, it quickly began to control my life. I simply could not get enough, and before I was saved, I was consuming massive amounts of both soft and hard liquor products. When I drank beer, it was not one or two single cans or bottles, it was one or two six packs, sometimes more. Hard drinks were consumed straight out of the bottle, usually a fifth at a time. If I decided to mix, it would be half and half, some kind of Coke product and PGA (pure grain alcohol).

Why share this information? Basically for three reasons:

1. There were those who knew of my salvation experience who pointed me in the direction of  counseling for my alcohol abuse. They desired that I get professional and community support from groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. I have the highest respect for these kinds of organizations, as well as for Christian counselors who seek to minister to people with these kinds of problems. Yet I joyfully discovered that by the grace of God, I had the Holy Spirit living inside of me, and He had no drinking problem. In the course of time, my personal dependence upon and desire for alcohol was completely broken by the power of the indwelling Christ!

2. Because of the longevity and depth of my abuse, some believed that I may have suffered irreparable brain damage. When someone is intoxicated, they have reduced the oxygen level in the blood, and replaced it with ethanol. This not only alters short term behavior, but it can lead to long term complications due to damaged brain cells. Thank God this was not true for me, or perhaps He gloriously intervened with a miracle in my case, repairing those injured cells.

       Before graduating from MSU, I was called into the office of the head of the Management department in the College of Business and Industry. Sitting in his plush office, he opened a folder and said, "Charles please help me to understand your grades. I have your transcript from your previous experience at another university, as well as your grades since transferring to State. You have been on a steady progression the longer that you've been a student here. In fact, you have a 3.85 GPA in all of your business courses, and a 4.0 in your management classes. As a lifelong educator, what is the explanation for such a remarkable improvement?"

       Not only was he the department head and a lifelong educator, but I also knew that he was an admitted agnostic. Saying a quick prayer, I replied: "Dr. Ray, you may not want to believe this, but the simple answer is Jesus Christ. My life was a royal mess when I transferred to State, and not long after arriving I met Tammy (she worked in the Management office at that time), who led me to faith in Christ. I know that you are not a believer, but after I had an experience with Jesus, He opened my eyes to see the importance of an education, how blessed I was to have a second chance, and that I should no longer pursue the things of this world, but apply myself to do my absolute best in the classroom."

       "Well, Charles," he replied, "thank you very much. I appreciate your sincere answer. You've really given me something to consider. I enjoy having you as a student in my class, and every time I see you, I'll think about what you have told me."

3. The final reason in sharing my experience with alcohol, is because of the lax attitude among so many church members about this deceiving, destroying, and damning fact of life. I am hearing that some seminarians and younger pastors, who have a theological slant towards Calvinism, will drink socially. There are even those who will promote the smoking of fine, expensive cigars (claiming a personal enlightenment that liberates them from legalism, as well as a silly desire to be like Charles Spurgeon). The Bible says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is deceived by it is not wise." The Bible also says, "The thief does not come but to steal, kill, and destroy." I believe he uses alcohol to destroy the lives, marriages, faith, homes, careers, testimonies and futures of those who listen to his lying tongue! And finally, the Bible says, "drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God."

       Yes, I've had those who blow up and get in my face about Jesus turning the water into wine. My questions have always been: (1) Do you know of a certainty that Jesus drank this miraculous product? And (2), were you there to drink it so that you know beyond a shadow of any doubt that it was fermented wine instead of good, fresh fruit of the vine (grape juice)? The Bible says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is deceived by it is not wise." I've had others speak of Paul's instruction to Timothy, "use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities." Isn't it wonderful that Timothy could use these beverages for medicinal purposes? Yes, it certainly was. But why didn't he just go down to the local CVS and purchase some Maalox, or some Tylenol PM? Oh, that's right, he didn't have a CVS, nor any other kind of pharmacy. Therefore, he had to use what was available to him. Do not try to justify your petty little arguments about purchasing "medicine" at your local liquor store to a man who nearly had his life destroyed and his eternity damned by alcohol!

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is deceived by it is not wise." What a simple, straight forward verse of scripture. Before I mellowed as a communicator of the gospel, I used to tell folks that the country-boy interpretation of that verse would be: "Wine (and beer) are mockers, and anything stronger than those are raging, and if you are deceived by these, you are stupid!" Now, now, don't get all mad, remember, you might be reading the thoughts of a man with brain damage.