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Characteristics
of Leaders
Matthew Henry went to
London
met a young lady of the nobility
who was also wealthy
and they fell
in love. She went to ask her father if she could marry him and he said
"He's got no background
you don't know where he's come from." She
said
"Yes
I know
but I know where he's going and I want to go with
him." ── Source Unknown.
In 1789 an uncertain
George Washington is urged to seek the presidency by Governor Morris
a
Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Morris writes
Washington: "No constitution is the same on paper and in life. The
exercise of authority depends upon personal character. Your cool steady temper
is indispensably necessary to give a firm and manly tone to the new
government." ── Source Unknown.
A leader is a person with
a magnet in his heart and a compass in his head. ── Vance Hainer.
During the Nazi occupation
of his country in WWII
King Christian X of Denmark noticed a Nazi flag flying
over a Danish public building. He immediately called the German commandant
demanding that the flag be taken down at once. The commandant refused.
"Then a soldier will go and take it down." said the king. "He
will be shot
" threatened the commandant. "I think not
" replied
the king
"for I shall be the soldier." Within minutes the flag was
taken down. ── Today in the Word
August
1991
p. 13.
Do not follow where the
path may lead
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.── Source Unknown.
Leadership
One definition of
leadership is the ability to recognize the special abilities and limitations of
others
combined with the capacity to fit each one into the job where he will
do his best. – J. Oswald Sanders
From the world of
business
Robert J. Kriegel offers an observation about being proactive that
applies to churches
"Research shows that the overwhelming majority of
Americans (85 percent) are reactive and static
not action- or dynamic- or
instinct-oriented. They wait and meet
meet and wait. With a ready arsenal of
conservative
conventional wisdom at their disposal
they try to control
outcomes in an out-of-control world."── H.B.
London
Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman
Pastors at Risk
Victor Books
1993
p.
217.
Dwight Eisenhower
described leadership as "The act of getting somebody else to do what you
want done because he wants to do it."── Source
Unknown.
Leadership is the
discipline of deliberately exerting special influence within a group to move it
towards goals of beneficial permanence that fulfills the group's real
needs. ── Dr. John Haggai
Lead
On!.
Effective leadership is
the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of predetermined objectives. ── Ted Engstrom
in Erwin Lutzer
Pastor to
Pastor
p. 117.