The Nuts and Bolts of Leadership: Four Articles

6 Ways to Earn the Right to Lead People

You’ll never have to earn God’s favor. God loves you and is pleased with you completely because of grace and not because of your performance. People, on the other hand, are a little different. If you want to lead people, you must establish credibility and earn the respect and the right to lead them. Read more

4 Questions Leaders Should Ask about Their Ideas

Leadership involves the innovation and execution of ideas. But sometimes great ideas aren’t the best ideas for your ministry. Below are four simple questions a church leader should ask before starting a new ministry initiative. Read more

Becoming an Influential Leader

There are many different types of leadership roles, and, as Mark Sandborn has pointed out, you don’t even need a title to be a leader.[1] So leadership doesn’t equate to having a role on the top leadership team or even necessarily having any formal authority at all. But it is not the only kind of leadership. Leadership, at its essence, is influence. And therefore you can lead wherever you are. But these principles are still important, even if you are not in a formal leadership role in your organization, because leading where you are involves more than just doing your work. You need to look outward, develop networks, motivate people, and rally them to a better future. These tasks are things you need to do beyond your individual work, if you are an individual contributor—which means you still need to be careful about the tendency to get pulled in to a narrow focus on your own work. Read more

Why Micromanaging is Ungodly

Nobody likes a micromanager, except maybe the one doing the managing. Even people who need close oversight hate it. Why? It’s annoying. It’s overbearing. We generally chalk it up to a “poor leadership style” or “ineffective management.” It’s more than that, though. Micromanagement among Christian leaders reflects poorly on our faith and the gospel. It doesn’t work, and that’s mainly because it’s not the way God designed things to work.

Here are five reasons why. Read more