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!