Meeting Transcripts

‍Leadership

“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).

Introduction

I thought to speak for ten or fifteen minutes on the subject of “Leadership.” Leadership is a little like Heaven—not everybody who talks about it gets there. This is partly because much of what has been written about leadership for the church has been taken from the contemporary business world. Those models have been drafted and used for the church. Jesus provided a different picture when he pointed out that the world works one way, and the church works another. If we are going to be leaders in the Gospel, we are going to be servants first of all. I will cover three lessons along these lines.

Leaders Must Be Principled

I like reading about Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Enough time has gone by now that I think I can cite them without generating any political passion. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman ever to serve as the Prime Minister of Britain. She was elected for three terms. The Soviets gave her the name of “Iron Lady.” She was very principled. Of course, a person who has a different view from you or me can also be principled, as far as that goes. She wanted to privatize state-owned industries and utilities. She wanted to lower taxes and reduce social services. She had a mistrust of communism and believed in a free-market economy.

The reason she comes to mind now is that I recall that she said, “Consensus negates leadership,” which flies in the face of the business model to build consensus and collaborate. Now do not take that to an extreme and think that I am suggesting that we do not get people on board. We could say, at times, that consensus is the absence of leadership. Margaret Thatcher also said, “Being a leader is like being a lady—if you have to tell people that you are one, then you aren’t.” You are not a leader unless someone is following you. We cannot demand that people follow us. No, they do not have to follow you, and they will not if they do not want to. So, we have to be a leader in other ways, which we will get to.

Margaret Thatcher also said, “I’m extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.” You have to admire her husband, Dennis. I do not know too much about him; I have not studied him. But she also said, “If you want something said, ask a man, and if you want something done, ask a woman.” That is a bit humorous, but there really is a great deal of truth to it. There have been so many women workers in our churches wherever I have served, and wherever you serve. Thank God for our ladies! She also said, “It may be the cock that crows, but it’s the hen that lays the eggs.”

Ronald Reagan was contemporary with her, and they were good friends. He led by a handful of principles that he adopted decades before he became President. He traveled the country representing General Electric, in high demand as a speaker. He was not elected President until he was seventy. About that time he said, “I don’t sit around looking back. When I get old, I’ll do that.” He was a very principled man and brought to his presidency the same set of foundational beliefs that he held for decades before he was elected. They were similar to those of Margaret Thatcher—lower taxes, less government, free-market economy, and a belief that communism was evil.

There is a brother here today who lived in what was the Soviet Union when Ronald Reagan was the American President. Ask him what he thinks of Ronald Reagan and the power of the words of liberty that Reagan spoke. They echoed throughout communist countries with great impact. Reagan said, “Government is not the solution to our problem—government is the problem.” He also said, “The constitution was never meant to prevent people from praying, its declared purpose was to protect their freedom to pray.” And he said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We do not pass it to our children in the bloodstream; it must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same.”

Faith is no more than one generation away from being lost. Some depart from the faith. The children then have no bearing whatsoever of the faith their parents departed from, and the grandchildren have no foundation. So, leaders must be principled. We must know what we stand for, and we must know what anchors us. We must have our direction; that direction is what will guide us. Any influences that would otherwise be distracting really cannot sway us because we know where we have come from, and we know where God is taking us. Leaders must be principled.

Leaders Must Follow

When we demonstrate that we are good followers, our people are more inclined to follow us. If they observe that we are not good followers, we give them license not to follow us. They will adopt the pattern that we establish. Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” That was the first call—“follow Me.” There are many books on leadership, but how many on following? God has called us to follow. Paul’s words to the Philippians were, “I follow after” (Philippians 3:12). He was their leader, yet he said, “I follow after.” He also stated, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also [am] of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). If we will follow effectively, we will suddenly see that people are following us, which makes us a leader.

A few years ago, when I was the Sunday School Superintendent in Dallas, I had one person, who has since departed, who was just a flurry of activity, running circles around me. I just marveled at it and let that person run the circles. It did not really impact me. During that time, Debbie presented me with a plaque, “I must hurry, for there they go, and I am their leader.” We must follow.

Leaders Are Examples

Our example will be followed. If people see us pray, they will pray. If they never see us pray, that will give them license to never pray. After all, you are a preacher or married to a preacher. If you seem to get by without praying, there will be some who follow that example, supposing that they can also get by without praying.

The cost of discipleship is a bargain in any economy. Let us be examples and do our part. There is little else more important than praying. We must do our best to be in the prayer room and be around the altars of prayer. That is why we were asked to preach to begin with. We demonstrated that we carried a burden for the meetings by being examples in the prayer room and around the altars. If you see someone at the altar in need, then try to pray across from them and encourage them along the way. If you see no one at the altar in need, go to the altar and tarry there nevertheless, and pray that God will send a stirring. Pray! We are being followed, so we must carry that forward. I heard Brother Erik Calhoun this week emphasize to the young people, “Say Amen!” We need to “Amen” our preachers, testifiers, and singers better. It’s always nice when, once in a while, spontaneously, people break into applause. However, it would be very nice if we had more hearty “Amens” that declare we agree!

You have heard it said, “If everyone in this church was just like me, what kind of a church would this church be?” If everyone prayed just like you, what kind of a church would this church be? What kind of a church do we want it to be? Our services are not funeral services; they are Gospel meetings. We want to show some life. When the preacher says something worthwhile, we should say “Amen!” They do say things that are worthwhile. If they are struggling, give them a push by saying, “Amen, God bless you!” Do not say, “God have mercy!” If we are all saying, “Amen,” then the people will say it. We need to say it. We’ll lose it if we don’t use it. We will lose our prayer rooms. We want to use our prayer rooms. We have to inspire people to take a step forward. It does not do any good to berate the people or to convey to them that we think they are not doing a good job. Our people do a great job. We need to use our prayer rooms, tarry at the altars, and say, “Amen.” We are a Pentecostal organization. We can be conservative in our style of worship, which I appreciate, but may God help us to demonstrate a bit more spirit. 

I want to speak to the ladies. You must be modest in your deportment, in the way you carry yourself. We depend upon that, and so many of our church ladies do a terrific job of being aware that they are examples. Debbie told me of a young lady who very excitedly mentioned to her recently that she found in a catalog some outfits that would “work perfectly for us.” What did she mean? She meant they were modest—perfect attire for an Apostolic. It is hard for ladies to find outfits that are modest. I do not have any trouble for myself, but I am married to one who knows. We do not want to be harsh when someone falls a bit short, because it is a challenge for the ladies.

I have not mentioned the length of hair for women or for men, but one does notice when it appears too short for one or too long for the other. Now some ladies cannot grow hair, which is one reason we do not stand at the pulpit and admonish for this. Typically, the preachers that I have heard be adamant about hair are married to a woman who has a full head of healthy hair. So we have to be careful. Hair is a woman’s glory. We are a holiness group, so we ask God to help us to project that image. If we do not, when the 150^th anniversary of this church is held and people gather for a minister and spouse meeting such as this, the audience will look altogether different than our holiness audience looks today. I’ll say again, this should not be the topic for Sunday morning sermons, especially not in a branch church where there might be just one person to which this applies. It would be wise not to speak to the whole body about this issue, because the whole body will know who you are talking about.

Conclusion

To be a leader, we must be a servant. The three elements contained within the ministry of being servants are that we must be principled, we must follow, and we must be good examples. When we concentrate on how we serve, we are leaders. If we will serve effectively, then we will lead effectively.

In Luke we find where the mother of Zebedee’s children asked Jesus that her two sons serve on either side of Him in His Kingdom. She was asking the Lord to let her sons lead. Those who heard that conversation were moved with indignation. Jesus responded by telling them that if they wanted to lead, they would need to be servants. In Luke 22:24-27, it was stated this way, “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.” We were served a lovely brunch this morning, but we know that typically the roles are reversed. We are the ones serving, which is what the Lord has called us to do. So may we be effective leaders for the Lord by being principled followers and good examples.

Closing Remarks

Let me add one more thing. We have more preachers than meetings, and I am well aware of that. I wish we could have everyone take a turn preaching, but we can’t so we will try to get in as many as possible. If you are not called upon, God bless you, you can pray for those who are. I know you do that anyway, so thank you very much! Also, thank you very much for coming to camp meeting, for coming today, and for helping push this Gospel forward. We are blessed as we all work shoulder to shoulder together. We know God is faithful, so let us pray that over this last week of camp meeting, a stirring will break out. We thank God for what He has been doing. We are not unhappy at all, but let’s keep praying that God will send down His Spirit in a marvelous way, and that we will see great victories won. Then when we go to our posts of duty, the same impact will be there. We trust the Lord to do it.

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