Too Much Leadership!

[SpinningHead]

I've been thinking lately that there's way too much pressure put on "leadership". "Be a Leader!" "Train for Leadership!" "Attend this Leadership Workshop" Lead this! Lead that! "Leadership" oriented programs, classes, retreats & overnights were a big part of most every church I've ever attended and it's certainly a popular topic among Christian magazines.

Why can't we just live our lives, serve whom we can, reach out when possible and keep our eyes on Jesus, pray for the best?

I have felt in those classes and workshops that if I'm focusing on how to lead someone else (when in fact let's face it, I'm the one who needs it!!), then I'm taking my focus off of Jesus and WHOA! looky all the room for my own ego to fill this room! I have observed that these "leaders" for Christ somehow make the deeds of other about their own pleasure, resume or sense of accomplishment.

Maybe that's a huge part of what's going wrong with today's pastors and so called "leadership" of these churches that we're flocking away from. ??

thoughts?

[ex-shep]

Good point. Are you accepting applications for rank and file membership. Can we just bake a few brownies now and then. I might usher, but that is about the extent of my leadership. Too many chief, not enough Indians.

[Jerry]

I love the way Christ put it,,,,,,,,,,,"If the bilnd leads the blind will not both fall into a ditch ??" He sure was a smart fella :D
Love Jerry

[Hope 98]

How many of those Leadership training things actually teach Christ-like servant-leadership?

I don't really know...just wondering...

[SpinningHead]

How many of those Leadership training things actually teach Christ-like servant-leadership?

I don't really know...just wondering...

I think most of them teach how to recruit, how to "win souls", how to increase numbers and look good for the upcoming district meeting.

[cryfreedom]

Leadership has become a "buzzword" especially in the modern western super dooper prosperity, programmes for everything, pin striped suit (will stop there:) ) type of church organisation.

These conferences and seminars and retreats etc feed a burgeoning "christian" economy and create jobs and roles for people who could perhaps do with sitting still for a few months and listening to God instead of meeting with their Photoshop operator over how to soften the background of that lovely portrait photo for the new ministry pamphlet.

Well, that was a vent, perhaps I need an attitude adjustment!:D

Of course, some people have probably really benefited from these ministries and this leadership stuff too...

cryfreedom

[SJPEERYVA85]

Maybe it's a good sign, as it might mean that the music ministry will be left to musicians.

[Jerry]

Leadership has become a "buzzword" especially in the modern western super dooper prosperity, programmes for everything, pin striped suit (will stop there:) ) type of church organisation.


Well I woun't stop there,,,,pin striped suit,,,,perfect hair,,,,long skinny shoes(pimp feet),,,,,,,,,,hmmmmmmm,,,,,looks a lot like "Benny Hinn" don't it?????

[yeshua'smags]

Well I woun't stop there,,,,pin striped suit,,,,perfect hair,,,,long skinny shoes(pimp feet),,,,,,,,,,hmmmmmmm,,,,,looks a lot like "Benny Hinn" don't it?????

Now there is a famous preacher bashing I can get behind! :D Benny Hinn totally freaks me out!:eek: :p

[mary]

long skinny shoes (pimp feet),,,,,,,,,,hmmmmmmm,,,,,looks a lot like "Benny Hinn" don't it?????

Ha!!!! "Pimp feet!!!" Hilarious! Jerry, around here a lot of people drive "pimpmobiles," -- but hey, yeah, there are "pimp shoes" for certain men, aren't there? :) :p "I knows 'em when I sees 'em..." Pimp hair, too, depending upon how much of it they have, a la Benny Hinn.

Well, maybe I shouldn't be so critical: how can you be a successful, balance-sheet-conscious PASTOR these days without pimp shoes and pimp hair??!! :rolleyes: :cool:

I'm with you, Maggie: Benny Hinn makes my skin crawl...

mary

[Anna Marta]

Ha!!!!

Well, maybe I shouldn't be so critical: how can you be a successful, balance-sheet-conscious PASTOR these days without pimp shoes and pimp hair??!! :rolleyes: :cool:


Yes! Yes! That must be one of the necessities for abusive pastors - pimp hair or maybe over concern with hair and themselves physically.

Is it me or do a lot of "bossy bully" pastors/leaders look like a caricature of a used car salesmen? (Absolutely NO offense meant to that career choice)

Anna Marta

[cryfreedom]

:D The used car salesman one is a classic. I guess they take that scripture a little too literally - the one that says "Do no worry about what you will wear..."

Perhaps shows a real lack of holiness or somehting, as God would surely never clothe His "anointed" with such a lack of style:p

Maybe they need a 'Queer Eye for the Pastor Guy' :eek:

[mary]

Anna Marta and Cryfreedom, you guys are hilarious!!!! :D :D :D

And you're absolutely right!! ("Queer Eye for the Pastor Guy" - that's priceless, CF!!! :p )

My old "pastor" was extremely conscious of how he looked. I've already talked on here about his "vertically challenged" status, which is why he glommed onto me - I'm even more vertically challenged than he. Anyway, he's also into body-building, martial arts -and 'roids, I think, too. The man looks like a walking, micro dumpster - one that someone with a sense of humor happened to put a tie onto. :D Anyway, a few years ago, he started losing his hair big-time and so he began combing it forward into this totally insane, lame "Caesar" 'do. One rainy Sunday night, I was walking with him under an umbrella (his wife is over 8 inches taller than he and he can't walk comfortably with her under an umbrella, as my husband, who's 14 inches taller than I, and I can't) and he started to walk away. I said, "You're going to get soaked - do you want to stay under the umbrella?" He said, "No, this is a hairpiece and I don't care about it." I replied, "If that's a hairpiece, boy, did you ever get ripped off!" (It just slipped out of my mouth, but I meant it.) He laughed -- and he said no, it was his real hair, but I knew he was mad. Come to think of it, it may have been one of the reasons he threw me out of the church about six weeks later...:rolleyes:

There is a certain "pastor look," isn't there? Yecch!!!!

Here's to pastors who refuse to conform!

Love to all,

mary