Leadership Shift

"Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 'May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.'" -Numbers 27.15-17

Moses knows that his time is drawing to a close, and as a good leader he is concerned for the future of his people. He doesn't want them to be leaderless because at that point they most likely would go back to Egypt. They are so close to the Promised Land, and he doesn't want them to lose all of the progress they have made. And so he asks god to give them a new leader. He knows his point of effectiveness is almost over, and he wants a new leader who will continue the work that has been happening.

Leaders have a few options, they can cling to power until they die, they can let their power go too late, long after they have ceased to be effective, they can give up their power too soon, when they still have much to offer, or they can transition out of leadership at the right moment, and the work continues to grow.

The wise "old" Sage I meet with is a good example of the last option. He planted a church in the late 80's that grew to over 2,000 people in the 25ish years he lead it. He could have stayed in leadership there for years, but he knew if he did the church would not be as effective as it could be. They began a search for the next leader, and once God showed them who it was they began a leadership transition that took over a year to complete. It was a slow process, but the work of the church never stopped, and it has continued to work for the Kingdom.

And this transition wasn't something that happened randomly. I recently learned that behind where my friend the Sage used to live was an undeveloped area where he used to walk and pray for the future of the church. Today there is a housing development there, and guess where the new pastor lives. If we would have effective leadership transitions we must be willing to hand over control while things are still going well. We must be willing to pray for our replacement long before it is his time to come. And it is also important to note that just because you hand over leadership it doesn't mean you have to be done. Moses' case was different because he was about to die, but my friend the Sage has stayed on staff and continues to partner with the new leadership. Obviously this won't always happen but, it is possible.

Men, what type of leader do you want to be? Do you want to kill a ministry, or business, because you were too proud, or too afraid, to let it pass on to someone else? Do you want to be angry and bitter and never pray for the one who will follow you? Or do you want to be a humble servant of God who realizes that as long as we are striving to build His kingdom we're all on the same team?

May we realize that we serve God, and that our responsibility is to make sure we work to our full effectiveness, even if that means stepping down and letting someone else take over.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor