The Burden of Leadership

I have divided this message into three parts and they are:

Part 1: What leadership is and what it is not.

Part 2: The Burden

Part 3: Now that you know, what next?

Part 1: What leadership is and what it is not

Before I delve into the message proper I would like to talk about what I call the myth of
positional leadership. The myth of positional leadership is simply that most people think that for
you to be a leader you must have a position that you occupy. The truth is that you do not need
to have a position before you assume the role of a leader as you must get to that stage in life
when you do not need a position to be relevant. Without any doubt a position might give you
some rights and some influence possibly but you must learn to be relevant even without a
position. Positional leaders are those who are leaders by virtue of the position they occupy.

There are 4 types of positional leaders and they are:

i. High Position - High Impact leaders

ii. High Position - Low Impact leaders
iii. Low Position - High Impact leaders
iv. Low Position - Low Impact leaders

High positions could be positions in the Parish Youth Central Executive and Low positions
could be said to be those in the General Executive. Whatever the position, you must make sure
that you make high impact so the best slots are High Position - High Impact and Low Position -
High Impact. On the flip side, No Position - High Impact is also desirable.

That said, there are 3 foundational elements of leadership and I have called them the VPR Test
collectively. In essence, for your leadership to be called leadership it must pass the VPR Test.
The V stands for Vision, the P for Prayer and the R for Responsibility.

Vision - This simply means seeing what God wants you to see. This is a lot different from having
your eyes wide open i.e. not being visually impaired, because in the Scriptures there are many
instances where it was written …and his eyes were opened. You cannot be said to be a man or
woman of vision until you have begun to see what God wants you to see. Without vision there is
no leadership as leadership thrives on vision. Until you become full of the vision you can’t infect
people with it and so they cannot follow you. For your leadership to be leadership there must be
vision because that is the driving force of leadership. When people buy into your vision as a
leader then they will follow you.
In Habakkuk 2:1-3, the first two verses when closely looked at will reveal three core ingredients
necessary for a leader to receive a vision from the Most High God. In verse 1, ‘I will stand at my
watch and station myself on the ramparts’ connotes readiness, ‘I will look to see what he will say
to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint’ connotes anticipation and in verse 2, we
find ‘then the Lord replied’ which connotes conversation. The three components involved
therein are Readiness, Anticipation and Conversation. In summary, the vision for leadership can
be obtained from God by being in his presence after a period of waiting. In Proverbs 29:18 we
find that vision keeps you in check and helps you to have focus and direction. In 1 Chronicles
12:32 we see that vision gives you an understanding of the times so you can provide leadership,
focus and direction by knowing what to do and when to do it.

Prayer - Having a vision from God causes you to pray for hours on end. Praying leaders make
good leaders and if you look at great Bible leaders they were praying men and women. Show me
a leader who does not pray and you have a leader who does not understand the burden in fact
visions are birthed in the place of prayer! There is a need to pray your vision into reality! Let us
see some examples in the Scriptures, Mark 1:35 and Luke 5:15-16 tell of Jesus who did not allow
himself to be caught up in activity without remembering to recharge his batteries through prayer.
In Psalm 91:1 the Bible talks about dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, with the
operative word being secret. Do not be content with entering into the place but make sure you
enter into the secret place as it is what you do in the secret place that causes you to stand out in
the place!

Responsibility - Leadership involves being responsible for the lives and destinies of other men
and women. You are not a true leader until your successor begins to enjoy good success and
produce results. The joy of a father is for his son to outdo him and surpass his achievements. A
critical look at Galatians 4:19 (with ‘again’ being one of the keywords) reveals the heart of a
father and is a good example of responsible leadership. (See also 1 Corinthians 4:15). An
example of irresponsible leadership or fatherhood if you please is in Isaiah 39:8 (also in 2 Kings
20:19) where you have the story of Hezekiah who chose not to bother about what would happen
after his term as king. There is no vacuum in leadership. Leadership is not about competition but
about ministration, it is not the exhibition of creative artistry but the elevation of ministry. A
leader who does not care about what happens when he or she is no longer in office is an
irresponsible leader!

Part 2 - The Burden

The burden in this case is not a negative one but a positive weight that every true leader must
carry. In this section we will look at the lives of certain great leaders who fit the profile and who
understand VPR i.e. Vision, Prayer and Responsibility; the three foundational elements of
leadership.

Elijah and Elisha - See 1 Kings 19:19-21, 2 Kings 2:7-15. It is instructive to note what the
prophets said to the effect that the spirit of Elijah now rested on Elisha who before his call was
just content to work on a farm.
Paul and Timothy - See 1 Corinthians 4:17, 2 Timothy 3: 10, 14. Timothy is seen as Paul’s son
even though we know Paul never married, that is a testament to the kind of relationship that
existed between them.

Jesus and the Twelve - John 14:12, Acts 2:14, 37, 41. Jesus took them through a period of
training and direct mentoring and the end result was that they were able to continue with the
work when he was no more with them in person.

Jesus and You - John 14:12, Matthew 28:18-20. The examples above cannot be complete without
a mention of your name. If Jesus had vision who are you not to have vision? If Jesus prayed who
are you not to pray? If Jesus took responsibility upon himself who are you to do otherwise?

There is no vacuum in leadership and this, the following leaders were able to ensure. This means
in essence that leadership is transferable.

Part 3 - Now that you know what next?

What then is the burden of leadership? In the simplest of terms, the burden of leadership is to produce
men / build men up after your own kind. Here are some key practices that will help you to carry
this burden of leadership properly.

Laying a foundation - In your haste to produce men after your own kind or in your quest to
carry this burden of leadership a word of caution will suffice, be careful how you build. See 1
Corinthians 3:10-13. The foundation will determine how well the house that is built will stand
and so there is a need to get it right from the foundation level when building leaders.

Discipleship and Mentoring - There is no gainsaying the fact that there is a need for a standard
discipleship and mentoring programme to be in place should any leader want to reproduce after
their own kind (See Philippians 3:17). 1 Corinthians 11:1 captures the very essence of
discipleship and mentoring. This is the verse that should be the foundation of every message on
the twin subjects because it is God’s will that we should all conform to the likeness of his son
Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:29). It is not about having mini pastors, mini yous, mini Pauls but mini
Jesuses as there is no mention of people conforming to the likeness of their pastor or anyone
else for that matter.

Teaching - Men need to be taught the principles of the word; I always like to say that there is
nothing esoteric about the word of God. See Acts 11:26b, Acts 19:9b, Matthew 4:19, Mark 4:33-
34 and John 15:15. The simple difference between teaching and preaching is that teaching is
explanation while preaching is proclamation. In your quest to build men after your own kind you
must pay attention to teaching them the principles that will make them surpass you making sure
to build on the right foundation.

Author’s note: This message was first preached at the Parish Youth, Church of the Pentecost
(Anglican Communion), 21 Road, Festac Town, Lagos on 4th January, 2009 as HOD
Communiqué and later on the 16th January, 2011 as Coordinator.