Credible Christian Leadership

This is my fourth post in the series on Credible Christian Leadership. In this series we are looking at the four building blocks of Christian leadership proposed by James Kouzes and Barry Posner in their book, Credibility. So far, we have talked about honesty and being forward-looking, or casting vision. In this post, I want to discuss what it means to be inspiring, the third building block of Christian leadership.

Favorite Movies

At the risk of being too transparent (I have been accused!), I am going to share with you a few of my favorite movies. While these particular movies alone do not give you a complete picture of my movie tastes, they do fit my purpose for this post.

Just by looking over this group, can you tell me what they have in common?

As you probably guessed, all of these movies are based on true stories!

Why is this important?

Inspiring = Great Speeches?

Well, we are talking about how the need to be inspiring to those you lead is a building block of Christian leadership. When most people first think about being inspiring to those they lead, they think about giving a hair-raising speech that brings the crowd to their feet. Their next thought is usually that they are not gifted in that way.

Actually, it is true that most of us are not gifted with the ability to give highly motivational speeches. Fortunately, being inspiring is more about what we do than it is about what we say!

Simply Live Out The Values

See, while you may not be able to give a rousing speech to your team, you sure can live out the values that you claim as a Christian leader. You may not be able to motivate your team to scale a wall with your pep talk, but you can exhibit the selfless qualities that reinforce what you teach.

People are much more apt to be inspired by watching a true story than they are by one that is scripted for Hollywood. Those that you lead will be more inspired by what you do – day in and day out – than they would be by what you may say.

Rudy’s Example

Think back to the movies I listed. Let’s take just the first one – Rudy. If you have seen this movie, you will remember that on or off the field, Rudy lived for Notre Dame football. He gave his heart and soul to the pursuit of playing football for Notre Dame. He went through punishment, sacrifice, and heartache to achieve this goal.

It took him years to finally see this goal realized. As a result, he made believers out of everyone that watched him. Some scoffed and others were convicted when comparing their own lack of commitment with Rudy’s passion for his goal. In the end, his achievement was truly inspiring!

We Can Be Inspiring!

Folks, this is not about having your life made into a major motion picture! Our goal is not the spotlight.

No, my point is that if we will simply and passionately live out the Christian leadership qualities that Jesus modeled for us in the Bible, then we will be some of the most inspiring people out there! The inspiration that results from our lives may not reach past the city limits of our small town. That is not important.

What IS important is that we follow the example laid out for us in Scripture. It IS important that we do this regardless of the potential consequences we may face in this world. As we do this, the people that are carefully watching us will be inspired. There is no doubt about that!

Do you have an example of Christian leadership that inspired you?

Are you trying to live out Christ’s values in an inspiring way?

How could your example be more inspiring to those watching you?