17. The Gift of Leadership

Romans 12 is the text and I will it and then we will dismiss the children for Children's church.  Beginning with verse 6: "having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.  If prophecy, in proportion to our faith.  If service, in our serving.  He who teaches, in his teaching.  He who exhorts, in his exhortation.  He who contributes, in liberality.  He who give aid, with zeal.  He who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."

A number of years ago, there was a television series called "The Family Affair".  That was one of my favorite TV shows.  I loved children and the stars on "The Family Affair" was the cutest little boy and the most darling little girl you've ever seen in your life, called Jody and Buffy.  And Jody and Buffy lived with a single adult by the name of uncle Bill.  And uncle Bill liked to have dates, once in a while, as single adults tend to do.  And it always created some kind of confusion and power struggles and jealously and all the rest in the home.  But on one particular episode, uncle Bill had the date and his babysitter was a little bit late getting there.  And uncle Bill was afraid he was going to miss the chance to be on time and really impress this delightful lady he had a date with.  And so Jody and Buffy prevailed upon him that it was alright for him to go because the sitter would be there shortly and they'd be fine until she did.  Well, as you can guess, uncle Bill went on his date and the sitter never showed up.  And then you had the interesting situation of a small boy and a small girl trying to decide who's in charge.  And since Jody was just a few months older than his sister, he asserted his masculine chauvinism and said, "I am in charge."  And then followed their preparation of an evening meal which was a disaster on wheels.  And then the chaos in the apartment as they tried to decide what they were going to do the rest of the evening and finally it was time for bed.  And when it came time for bed, Jody took it upon himself to tuck his little sister into bed.  And after he had had Buffy brush her teeth and brush her hair and get all ready for bed, he went into her room and tucked her in and kissed her goodnight like uncle Bill must have, then walked to the door and turned out the light.

And as he was closing the door behind, Buffy's little voice came out of the darkness and said, "But Jody, who's going to tuck you in?"

And Jody turned around and straightened up and with a voice that he purposely dropped as low as he could, he said, "Nobody.  I'm in charge, remember?"

And then Buffy's voice came back to him out of the dark, "I guess that's the trouble with people in charge - they have nobody to tuck them in."

Today's gift is about those who have nobody to tuck them in.  You knew I'd get to a point sooner or later.  It's the gift that the Bible calls the gift of Leadership, or the gift of Administration.  And it's a gift that can be easily misunderstood and which we can be thrown off track on, because some of the translations that we have available to us are not really that close to what I think the scripture is saying.  The Revised Standard Version, for instance, says, "He who gives aid, with zeal."  That doesn't quite give it.  The Phillips translation is closer.  It says, "Let the man who wields authority, think on his responsibility".  And the New English Bible seems to be right on when it says, "If you are a leader, exert yourself to lead."

So, let's look at a definition of the gift of Leadership.  They're really two Greek terms that are used in this connection.  One of them is found in I Corinthians 12 in the listing of gifts.  It's way down at the end of the chapter and it's kind of looped together in that series of rhetorical questions that Paul asks at the end.  In verse 28, he refers to administration.  The word there is kubernesis, which really can be translated "helmsman" - one who steers the ship, who gets the ship to the destination; the person in charge.  And the word that is translated here in Romans 12:8 as "aid" in Revised Standard Version is really "prohistame", which means "one who stands in front".  Now, if one stands in front, there is the inherent sense of leadership.  Now let me define the gift of leadership in a definition I think you'll find it very difficult to try to write this down, because I use a lot of different words all together.  The gift of Leadership is the Spirit-given (remember we are talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit - we're not talking about natural native abilities and training and all the rest - we're talking about spiritual gifts).  It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit-given ability to preside, govern, plan, organize, and administer with wisdom, fairness, example, humility, service, confidence, ease, and effectiveness.  Now there's a definition for you.  But I want you to get all of the nuances that are involved in this.  It is to preside, govern, plan, organize and administer with wisdom, fairness, example, humility, service, confidence, ease, and effectiveness.  That's what's involved in this gift - this wonderful gift that we're talking about today.  And we must understand that this gift of the Holy Spirit is given to many members of the body of Christ in areas of church life apart from official office.

I can remember in a church that I served, a man who served for several years on the official church board.  He had the gift of Leadership, and everyone recognized that.  And so we were always a little bit upset when a constitutional provision meant that he could no longer succeed himself in office.  But this man, since he had the gift of Leadership, did not see it as something to be grasped.  And he did not go after the position of leadership.  And so when he would pass out of office, all he lost was the position.  He still exercised, with effective joy, his gift of leadership.  He was, in fact, one of the basic leaders in the congregation.  Now those of you who have been here for any length of time know that we have a church structure - we have an administrative structure for efficiency.  The scripture says, "Let everything be done decently and in order."  And in an attempt to fulfill that with efficiency we have a a church structure - we have an organizational policy.  Even a centipede organizes its activity or he'd fall in the ditch.  Can you imagine trying to get those feet to work.  So the church has organization - there's nothing wrong with that.  But we need to recognize (and I'm sure that most of you do - certainly I do) that there are members of the body of Christ who exercise the gift of leadership apart from any official office whatsoever.  And that's consistent with scripture, because to strive for a leadership position can create division and contention, and is a direct disobedience to the command of scripture that says, "Let us be eager to maintain the spirit of unity and the bonds of peace."

Now, we have been treated (if "treated" can be the right word) to the spectacle of the Republican and the Democratic national conventions.  And if any of you found yourself watching those, you were struck with the kind of machinations of power and the manipulations and the maneuvering that takes place.  Much of it heightened and blown clear out of shape, and some of it just fabricated by our news broadcasting system.  Such as the "dream ticket" that was a sure thing, you know: Reagan and Ford.  But it was fascinating to watch this thing take place as they jockey for position and power, so that at the end of the Democratic convention, for instance, the big question filling our newspapers the day that the convention was to convene again that night: "Will Kennedy appear?" "Will Kennedy take ahold of Carter's hand?" "Will Kennedy smile when he does it?"  Now what significance is it?  Oh, it's very significant, politically.  Because in the maneuverings and the machinations for power and for position, that always finds itself expressed, and reads off all kinds of things.  And so you find people voting on the basis of their response to what they see taking place.  Now, since we live in that kind of a crazy world, for the church to understand that - as the body of Christ - that is not the model of leadership, is difficult.  We keep forgetting that.  And so there's a kind of maneuvering - every so often we start to maneuver and we become a little political and we lobby in the narthex for our position.  We start to move.  Now, I'm a political creature.  I'm a very political animal.  I kind of love that kind of thing.  I really like to get into it.  But in the body of Christ, that's not right.  To strive for a leadership position will create division and contention.  Leadership in the body of Christ, on that basis, usually results in an ecclesiastical demonstration of the Peter Principle.  Now, you know the Peter Principle - man rises to the level of his own incompetence.  And we see that happening.  Not only on local congregational levels, but on national denominational levels.  People keep maneuvering and getting promoted and promoted until they are finally so incompetent at that level, they don't stand a chance to go on any farther and there they're stuck.  With incompetence.

Leadership is not to be defined as "greatness" in the world's sense.  Leadership in the body of Christ, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, is really the effective ability to serve.  Now if you look at some of the Biblical illustrations and teaching concerning leadership and examples, you will find that one of the most fascinating illustrations of it is found in Exodus 18.  And if you haven't reread the book of Exodus lately, I commend it to you.  It's an exciting book and it's a book that's very instructive for us.  In the book of Exodus, it describes Moses taking this rag-tag bunch of ex-slaves - refugees, if you will boat people in the middle of the desert - he is taking almost two million of these refugees out of Egypt.  They have a slave mentality - for generations they have been slaves.  It has been built into them.  You talk about a welfare mentality - these people had a slave mentality that was bred into them on purpose by the Egyptians.  Moses had the job of leading these people.  And you can guess what happened.  He gets out there in the wilderness and he starts putting in longer hours.  His wife, (by the way his wife's name is Zipporah, not Mrs. Moses), Zipporah never saw him any more.  He left before breakfast, he got home after manna.  He was gone all day long.  He was gone five days a week, six, seven days a week.  Earlier and coming home later.  Does that sound familiar?  That's kind of familiar...  And Jethro, who was the first management consultant of history, was his father in law.  And Jethro saw his poor daughter, Zipporah, getting the short end of the stick with this busy executive, and so he comes forward and says, "Moses, don't work harder - work smarter."  And he proceeds to lay out a management plan that is so contemporary I can show you books in my library that have been copyrighted within the last four years that have the same principles of management in them that you find in Exodus 18.  Don't tell me the Bible isn't relevant and authoritative.  It is.  You find such things as "span of control", "definition of roles", "decentralization", "delegation", "leadership development".  And this whole proposal to reorganize the church in the wilderness, if you will, resulted in Moses exercising his leadership with more effectiveness.  Now, if I can, I'd like to make a little bit of a distinction.  Although in the same category I put leadership and administration, administration is a little bit more finely tuned aspect of leadership.

Alright, now in the New Testament, you see that there was a continual misconception of leadership among the disciples.  They were so zealous for glory and position, when Jesus talked about His coming Kingdom, they'd get goosebumps.  They'd think about crowns and power and robes and white horses and all that.  And finally James and John come up to Him and they say, "Now, you know Lord, we want to be first to put in our request.  Jimmy and I would like one seat on this hand and one seat on the other hand when You come into Your Kingdom."  And Jesus knew that what they were jockeying for was position.  They weren't looking for a leadership.

So He says, "Can you drink of the cup that I'm going to be drinking of?  Can you be baptized with the baptism I'm going to be baptized?"

And they said, "Oh sure!"  But they didn't understand.  And you can tell they didn't understand by Christ's response.

And He says, "You indeed will"  And then He calls all of His disciples together, because the rest of them, obviously (so would you) say, "...trying to get in on the inside track!"  And I'm sure Peter was really upset because he had the inside track up until that.  And so Jesus called all of them together.  "Come here guys."  And He gets them all.  And He says, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.  And their great men exercise authority."  And that's just the way the Greek reads, it's just kind of "Authority" - you've met people like that.  Pomposity all over the place.  And Jesus said, "That's the way they are.  But it shall not be that way among you.  Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave...." oh wow "...slave of all."

We must not make the same mistake that James and John and the other fellows did of equating leadership with greatness.  Leadership in the Kingdom of God means the opportunity to be a slave for Jesus' sake.  In 3 John, John describes a man in the congregation by the name of Diotrephes, "who loves to put himself up in front, and who arrogantly asserts his authority over the church."  This is what John says, "I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge my authority.  So, if I come, I'll bring up what he's doing - prating against me with evil words.  And not content with that, he refuses himself to welcome the brethren and also stops those who want to welcome them and puts them out of the church."  Now, there's a person who had position and power, but it is so antithetical to the whole concept of leadership according to the scriptures that Jesus wants His followers to take, that He Himself took, and that is taught in the gift of the Holy Spirit of giving aid with zeal - or exercising leadership.  And, of course, the perfect example is Jesus Christ, our model.  For in Mark 10:45, it says, "Even the Son of man comes not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."  How did Christ bring us redemption?  He did not bring us redemption by coming sweeping in with a crowd of angels to drive out the Romans and to set the Jews free.  He came, taking upon Himself, the form of a servant and even died the death of an unworthy slave - a criminal on a cross.  That by that death on the cross He might purchase eternal life for us.  That's the model of leadership we are to follow.  None of this power politics within the body of Christ.  And then you recall that in Philippians 2, He is described as "not thinking equality with God" (which He had) "something to be grasped and hung on to, but He emptied Himself and He became obedient."

And in John 13, the night He was betrayed, He had been with these disciples 3 and half years and He comes into the upper room and there He finds the whole bunch of them in an argument.  And the argument?  Over who is number one.  And instead of preaching and hollering at them, as I certainly would have (I would have really let them have it), but instead of doing that, Jesus - without saying anything - just walks over and gets a wash basin and a towel and He washes their feet.  Now, that archaic custom was a very necessary thing in the Jewish home.  They came in from walking the dusty streets.  The slave that was the newest or the youngest in the Jewish household got that job - it was the one that was most demeaning, to wash the feet of everybody.  And the Master - the One Who was going to be the King of kings and Lord of lords in the Kingdom that these guys are jockeying for position in - comes down from that position they were trying to project Him into and with a wash basin and towel, He washes His disciple's feet.  And you know what happened.  He gets to Peter and Peter says, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Lord, not me."

Jesus said, "If you don't let me wash your feet, you can't have any of Me."

And Peter retorts in that typical overcompensation of Peter says, "Then You'd better give me a whole sponge bath."

That's the model.  And after He had washed their feet, He sits down and He says, "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.  Neither he that is sent greater than he who sent him."

And then, of course, even the names that the New Testament uses to describe church offices - church officials - deacons, elders, overseers, presbyters - are all terms that in their original contexts mean "service", not "position".

Now I want to remind you, we're talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit of Leadership.  We are not concerning ourselves with an office that may arise out of that gift.  We're talking about the gift itself.  And I want to point out six things.  I'll try to be brief.

First of all, we must not equate the gift of Leadership with a position.  It is not true that if a person is elected, they automatically are given, by the Holy Spirit, the gift of Leadership.  Nor is it true that it is mandatory that we have the gift of Leadership before we exercise any leading, because we have a role to fill as Christians.  And there are positions where there seems to be a vacuum of leadership and we know what needs to be done and we need to step in and take it, whether we recognize we have the role of leadership or not.  Just as certainly as we may not have the gift of evangelism, but we have all been called to bear witness.  We may not have been called and given the gift of the word of Wisdom, but we are all called upon to be wise as serpents (and harmless as doves).  So, just as certainly as we may not have the gift of Leadership, we still have a role to fulfill.  If we remember that leadership in the Kingdom of God is serving, we can all serve.

I just wrote a letter about two or three weeks ago, I guess it was, to a member of the congregation who has just lay down a responsibility that this person has carried for quite some time, and it's one of those responsibilities that nobody knows anybody's doing, until somebody stops doing it.  I won't even identify the gender, but I wrote this dear person a letter and tried to express my gratitude for the exercise of the gift of Leadership, among other gifts this person had exercised on behalf of the body of Christ - with a true understanding of what leadership means, because it was a gift of service that was almost hidden.  No upfrontmanship in the sense of position.  But leadership, out front in a position of service and ministry.  How grateful I am to God for such persons.  Just because someone has a position is also no guarantee that they have the gift.  And an effective 

operation of the body of Christ means a need to work with gifts.  And that's one reason why we are talking in our congregation about a complete restructuring of our structure, administratively, in order to be much more immediately responsive to gifts.

The second thing - we must not equate the gift of leadership with position.  Neither must we equate the gift of Leadership with personality.  You know, you look for a leader in an organization and what's the first thing you do?  You look for some "go-getter" - some extrovert - some good talker - some "hotdog".  You want somebody who can really do the job, who can punch us over the top.  And that's not the concept of leadership in the gift of Leadership.  Moses meets God at the burning bush; God's got one of the biggest leadership jobs that ever happened in all history ahead for Moses.  And He wasn't looking for a good talker, because when He said, "Moses!", Moses said, "Wh...wh...wh...what?"  And it wasn't fair.  He said, "I stammer.  I can't even speak."

God says, "I want you to go and be My spokesman to Pharaoh."

And Moses said, "You...You...You...You got the wrong guy."  And so God provides Aaron.  He wasn't looking for a glib speaker.  He was looking for a leader that He had gifted.  Aaron did the talking.  It's interesting.  Aaron did most of the talking to the children of Israel, but the children of Israel - when they complained - knew where the leadership was - they hollared against Moses.  Extroverts and good talkers can blow and generate heat and wind.  But a lot of people won't follow.  And that's what a leader is for, basically, is to be followed.  Sonja Lindberg, our coordinator of Christian education once in a while wears a T-shirt to the office: "See those people up ahead?  I am their leader."  Well, that's funny and sometimes that's distressingly close to the truth in my life, but that's not what a leader's supposed to be.

We don't equate the gift of leadership with personality in scripture.  Timothy was given the gift of leadership, but Timothy apparently was so shy, his stomach was in knots enough that Paul says, "Just take a little wine for your stomach's sake."  In fact, Paul had to keep kind of reminding Timothy, "Stir up the gift of God that's in you.  And remember, Tim, God hasn't given us a spirit of timidity, but of love and of power and sound mind."  Timothy may not have been an extrovert and he may have been a bit timid, but when Paul sent him to the Philippian church, he says why.  In Philippians 2 he says, "For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare and you know of his proven worth."  And when the Thessalonians needed someone to build them up spiritually, who does Paul send?  Shy introverted Timothy.  And so he sent "Timothy, our brother, God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith."

Don't say, "I don't have the right personality."  That's irrelevant.  Don't say, "I don't have the right position."  That's irrelevant.

The person, in the third place, with the gift of leadership is neither manipulative nor coersive.  The person with the gift of Leadership doesn't have to be dogmatic and demagogic or dictatorial.  That leader will, instead, just generate confidence among those people he serves so they want to follow.  I have a pastor friend that used to go to every board meeting with his resignation typed up and in his inside pocket.  And when things would get tight and coming down to the wire for a decision and it looked like it was going against him, without saying anything, he would just simply lay it on the table.  Everybody there knew that was the guy's resignation, and they voted for it.  Now that is not the gift of leadership.  That is not even nice.  That is manipulative and coercive.  I was down in that part of California for a series of meetings, and I met together with a group of people - many of whom happen to be on this man's board (and he's a friend of mine, remember) - and one of the pastors on the staff said, "Bud, do you ever do that to your board?"

I said, "Boy they'd pick it up.  I'm not going to!"

And he said, "Well, what should we do?  How should we deal with this?"

And I said, "What you should do is you should pray that the Holy Spirit will either prompt your pastor to knock off that style of leadership - which is dishonoring to Christ - or pray that one of you has enough courage to pick it up."

Now, I hope it wasn't in direct response to that, but three months later, the chairman of the church picked up the letter and read it to the board.  And the pastor went through such a grief and shock reaction that you know he didn't intend for anyone ever to do it.  He was using it as a string to pull.  Now that's not the gift of leadership.  Thank God he still has an effective ministry in another church and he's no longer laying his resignation on the table.  Because a person with a gift of leadership will just generate the confidence that people just feel that this person knows where we're going and where the next step is.  In fact, the person with the gift of Leadership seems to lead so naturally that it seems to be unconscious, although it isn't.  And he doesn't seek leadership, but he doesn't shrink from it.  He's eager to serve - not to be the boss, but to serve.  And people follow.

Fourth, when the person has the gift of Leadership, his leadership is followed.  He or she has the ability to make plans and guide projects and ministries, and the ability to see future needs and opportunities, and conceive ways to meet them.  And they are effective.

Fifth, the gift of Leadership finds its effective use in areas where one so gifted has interest and experience - or is willing to gain them.  In other words, this gift (as well as the other gifts) can and ought be exercised and developed.  We are usually effective with people we known and understand.  Have you ever seen somebody who is terrifically effective with college students?  They understood the college student's mind.  They understood the college student's language.  They understood the college student's emotions, anxieties, successes, failures, fears, all the rest.  They had an effective ministry with college students.  College students just gravitated to them and followed their leadership.  Now, you take that same person and put him in a room full of junior highs.  And all of sudden, you see this person become tongue-tied, self-conscious, and archaic.  All at once.  I know what I'm talking about.  I got my degree in secondary education and then the school board in Chicago, Illinois, in its infinite wisdom, put me in third grade.  And I almost lost my sanity and my life.  (I hope you college teachers will forgive me, but I think our very best - our very most gifted - our very most committed to Christ teachers in the world - ought to be in Kindergarten and first through sixth grades.  Cause when they're in high school and college, they know it all anyway.)  Now, if you take this college leader and put him with junior highs and he feels this out of focus, does that mean he doesn't have the "gift of junior highs"?  Hardly.  If that same person were to take the time to learn about the junior high mind - to listen to the kids - to talk to the kids - to play with the kids - to get acquainted with the kids - he would soon discover that he is just as effective in leading them as he is with anybody else.  It's just that his exercise of the gift - that's not the problem.  It's the lack of experience and exposure and interest in making yourselves available.

Now, I understand that some of us, by nature, just feel more comfortable with other age groupings.  But the gift of leadership needs to be developed.  Dr. John Alexander in his book, "Managing Our Work", says, "Management ability is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It is also a science.  There is a body of knowledge and principles acquired through the experience of our predecessors to be learned.  Further, management is an art.  There are specific aptitudes and skills to be developed through sustained practice."  I have some books on management in my library that were given to me by members of this congregation who know I need some books on management.  And I thank God for that.  And I am seeking to develop and train and equip my gift of leadership with the fine-tuning of administrative abilities.  Not because I love to push paper - I'd rather be with people.  But because God is leading me in that particular direction.  By the way, that's a good way to discover if you have this gift.  Read about it.  Study it.  Seek to develop it.  And seek to practice it.  And if your desire and ability grows along with the increased responsibility and training, you probably have that gift.

Sixth.  And this is the most important of all.  The Biblical qualifications for the exercise of the gift of Leadership are primarily the fruitfulness of the life of the person with the gift.  It is chiefly to do with exemplariness of life - not with position.  And that's why the scriptures make very plain that those who are going to be in leadership positions in the Kingdom of God are to have an above reproach marriage.  Are to have sound family rearing.  Are to be blameless, and sober-minded, and with a controlled temper, and self-disciplined, and not addicted to wine, and not covetous, and not quarrelsome, and just and honest, and not lovers of money.  Now those are qualifications (qualities) that all believers should exhibit.  But they are required for leaders in the body of Christ.  Look at I Timothy 3 or Titus 1.  And some of you are about to say, "Oh my goodness, then what are we going to do for leaders?"  Well, maybe God's saying to you, "Alright, bring your family life in line, mister, and you can be My leader, and that's what I have in mind."  Maybe God is saying to you, "Listen, you are entirely too much a lover of money and you know it.  You are more concerned about that car in your garage, or about that boat at your dock, or about that leak in your roof, than you are about some neighbor of yours coming to know Jesus Christ.  And you know it.  You get that in line, brother, and then I give you that gift of Leadership."  Now, that's probably what God has in mind.

It is not to exclude - it is to encourage us to qualify by bearing fruit of the Spirit.  Do you know I have been preaching on the gifts of the Spirit since January?  I have said ever since January that the Biblical teaching on the gifts of the Spirit is always within the context that the validating principle are the fruits.  The same thing is true here.  Such qualities that I just read and shared with you from I Timothy 3 for leadership within the church - for men or women, leadership in the church - those are the requirements.  Such qualities don't happen in the first three weeks of commitment to Christ.  And that's why the scripture says that the leader should not be a novice.  In fact, it goes on to say, "he must not be a recent convert or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil."  Leadership in the body of Christ is by example.  It's by fruit.  Not by acting autocratically, but by being an example to the flock.

As I have been preparing this message for the last two weeks, since I got last week off - although I preached down in California, I didn't have to prepare a message for this congregation.  So for two weeks the Lord's been dealing with me in this.  And I have become acutely aware of the fact that the message that the Holy Spirit has for me is: "Bud, if you want to be the leader I want you to be, you have got to be able to say - like my servant Paul - 'Listen, brothers and sisters, with all my failings I still challenge you to follow the exemplary nature of my own life'."  And I can't yet, but I want to, with all my heart.  And you have a right to expect that of me.  And so do I, of you.  You see, leadership in the body of Christ is expressed not by power politics, but by humility and example - in a word, by servant-hood.

Now the famous jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes was on a train one time (a very portly gentleman).  And he always wore three piece suits with long coats.  And he had more pockets in his suits and coats than I do.  The conductor came down the isle to punch the ticket.  And Holmes started to go through his pockets, and he couldn't find the ticket.  You've done that too, when you've gone some place.  And he emptied his pockets and his wallet and everything else, and finally the conductor - who was busy and wanted to get on with his business - said, "Mr. Holmes, I know who you are, and certainly you're a man of integrity and we can trust you.  If you don't find the ticket before you get to your destination and you get off the train, just mail the ticket to the railroad.  That's fine.  We can trust you, of all people."

And Oliver Wendell Holmes turned and looked him square in the eye and with just fire jumping out of his eyes, said, "Young man, I don't care a piffle over whether the railroad ever gets my ticket.  But I've got to find my ticket to find out where in thunder I'm going!"

And sometimes the church acts just like that.  We're running.  We don't know where, but boy are we moving.  And it is to prevent that from ever being the cry of the body of Christ that God, in His infinite wisdom, has by His Holy Spirit given to us the gift of Leadership.  The Holy Spirit has given men and women this gift and the symbol of the gift of Leadership - or of rule in the church - is not a miter on the head, or a robe on the shoulders, or a staff of office in the hand.  The symbol is the wash basin and towel of Jesus.

Go into a world that is impressed with one thing: power, no matter how you get it.  And be different.  And God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit will be with you in your ministry and with me in mine, until by His grace we're together again.