Leadership Lesson: The Leader is the Thermostat -

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George Barna in his book, Evangelism that Works, wrote,

“It occurred to me that in our work with secular organizations, the leader shapes the heart and passion of the corporate entity. In our work with non-profit organizations, we have found the same principle to be operative. When it comes to the focus of the organization, the people who serve there tend to take on many of the core personality traits of the leader toward fulfilling the mandate of the organization. If this is true, and most churches seem to lack the fervor and focus for evangelism, is it reasonable to conclude that it may be because of the lack of zeal most pastors have for identifying, befriending, loving and evangelizing non-Christian people?”

This is a good reminder, as well as a good challenge.

In HMCC the spiritual fervor for evangelism is set by me because God has called me to lead our church. The small group leaders set the temperature for evangelism because they are leading LIFE Groups. The committed people set the tone for evangelism because they are reaching out to the newcomers in our church.

There is no magic bullet when it comes to raising the spiritual fervor for evangelism.

Over the years, I have learned that it really does come down to the leaders. As one leadership guru once said, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.”

This puts a greater responsibility on the leaders to know the heart of God by spending time with Him; and also, we have to get our hearts lit up by God’s zeal for lost people. Doing a lot of good “programs” or setting up various activities alone will not work.

This fire for the lost comes from prayer.

We always know what people are passionate about just from their prayers.

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps 2:8).

sethskim

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