Self-Leadership (by Dr. Tim Wallingford)

“Work hard and become a leader, but the lazy never succeed” (Proverbs 12:24 LB). When God made you in your mother’s womb, he “knitted” leadership ability into your DNA (Psalm 139:13-16) but you have to work hard and become a leader.

Christian leadership begins with Christian character. First, work hard to understand what Christian character is. President Clinton had a superior IQ and one claim to fame of his Presidency is he balanced the budget and got America out of debt. However, he was character challenged, lied to the public, and found himself impeached. He was a “born again” Christian. He had many challenges growing up. One of the challenges is that Clinton was an orphan without a godly male role model. A lack of leadership skills will rarely get a minister into hot water, but character flaws will. In the Old Testament, God anointed David, King of Israel. He had a heart for God. God even promised David an eternal dynasty. Yet David’s character flaws at one point caused the death of 70,000 people (I Chronicles 21:14). His adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband led to the death of the baby, and eventually David’s removal from the throne in a coup instigated by his son (II Samuel 11-19).

Of course, the greatest leader of human history is Jesus. Two thousand years after his death, Christ still has 2.1 billion followers. It was not Jesus’ leadership skills that brought such success, but rather his God character. “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God...” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT). Jesus faced temptation in every conceivable way but did not give in (Hebrews 4:15). He was the ultimate servant-leader, sacrificing his life for the sins of the world (John 3:16). “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NLT).

Second, bake God’s character into your mind. Paul said, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2 NLT). Work hard to act out those Christ-like qualities in your relationships and soar as a leader. Leadership is influence. John Maxwell states, “The true measure of leadership is influence–nothing more, nothing less.” J.R. Miller in his book, The Building of Character, says, “There have been meetings of only a moment, which have left impressions for life, for eternity. No one can understand that mysterious thing we call influence...yet... every one of us continually exerts influence, either to heal, to bless, to leave marks of beauty; or to wound, to hurt, to poison, to stain other lives.”

Finally, Christian leaders influence others to see the wonder of Christ and his glorious salvation. Christian leaders influence others to see their personal value to God, their unique qualities and giftedness. Developing a TEAM, first comes by identifying the mission. Ask the question, “What particular gifts are needed to accomplish this mission?” Select players who have those unique gifts, then present the vision of how they integrate as a team. Require the team to set yearly targets and quarterly measures, then unleash them. Christian leaders model the character and mission of Christ for others to see and imitate. The Apostle Paul challenged the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1). Work hard & become a leader.

Dr. Tim Wallingford is presently serving as the Executive Director of The Christian Church Leadership Network. He's been married to Patty 43 years, has two boys and three grandchildren. Tim's education includes a B.S. from Cincinnati Christian University, M.A. in Apologetics, M.M. Church Growth and M.Div. from the Cincinnati Bible Seminary. Tim did doctorate studies at Southern Baptist Seminary and received his D. Min from Emmanuel School of Religion. Tim has served in the local ministry 40 years. His experience includes being the lead minister in churches ranging from small to emerging mega churches. He’s served on the faculty of the Louisville Bible College and the Cincinnati Bible Seminary. He has authored Transforming Neighborhoods One Life at a Time, 100 Answers from the Neighborhood, and co-authored The Character of Christ, and RePOSITION.