Follow to Lead, Lead to Follow

I’ve been thinking about leadership lately and recently we have been implementing and reinforcing some more requirements in higher levels of leadership at Bayside.  The interesting thing is often times we get some push back with people saying, “Why do I have to go through this course or why do I need to go to the retreat?  I’ve been in leadership for a long time and I’ve been a pastor before…etc.”  We have these requirements for a number of reasons:

1) Commitment – in order to be a leader, a certain level of commitment is required. 

2)  DNA – it’s important that our leaders understand the DNA of Bayside.

3) Servant Leadership – this is the one I would like to break down a little further.

For those of you who may not know me, I have a thing for ballroom dancing… I know, who would have thought?  In the movie, Take the Lead, Antonio Banderas’ character is a ballroom dance instructor.  In one scene, he is talking with all of the students’ parents and explaining the benefits of learning how to dance.  He uses an analogy of lead and follow.  If the woman can learn how to follow and trust, then the man can feel confident in leading.

What I take from this principle and apply it to us as leaders is that, we have to learn how to properly follow before we can effectively lead.  This is why we are called followers of Christ.  We are in this because we choose to follow Jesus and submit to His leadership and examples.  In that same way, leaders must learn to follow and trust leadership.  Only then can we properly lead others into being fully devoted followers of Christ.  So, in order to lead, you must first learn to follow.  As you lead, you are following the path that God has you on.

Ask yourself, do I have trouble submitting to leadership?  If so, ask God why.