Thursday, May 31, 2007

Henry Blackaby on Leadership...


"Spiritual leadership is moving people on to God's agenda." --Henry Blackaby

My Deacons and I are reading through Henry and Richard Blackaby's book, Spiritual Leadership. The task of a spiritual leader is described in five statements.


  1. "The spiritual leader's task is to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be." Everyone has an agenda but only God has the power to guarantee that his will be accomplished. A true leader will lead people away from their agenda and onto God's agenda.


  2. "Spiritual leaders depend on the Holy Spirit." Only the Holy Spirit can change people. So, spend more time praying and less time complaining.


  3. "Spiritual leaders are accountable to God." God's opinion is the only one that really matters. We all need to get to the place where we don't care if we get fired.


  4. "Spiritual leaders can influence all people, not just God's people". God used all kinds of people to accomplish His purposes in the Bible--not just His people.


  5. "Spiritual leaders work from God's agenda". Blackaby says, "the greatest obstacle to effective spiritual leadership is people pursuing their own agendas rather than seeking God's will" (Spiritual Leadership, p23).

2 comments:

Taran said...

Dave,

This is probably the best book on leadership I've read. It is great that you are sharing this with your deacons.

Dave Samples said...

Thanks, Taran. I'm learning a lot and I'm sure that the guys are as well. We're meeting early on Sunday morning before the services to share what we're learning and to pray for the services.