The BEING Aspect of a Serving Team Leader: CALLED or DRIVEN

All leaders need to ask themselves if they approach their mission from an awareness of being called or if they feel driven to accomplish something.

Called leaders are motivated by God; they sense a call from outside of themselves to live for something greater than themselves. Driven leaders are motivated by self—from within.

Called leaders steward their time, energy, and resources to fulfill a purpose greater than themselves. They prioritize their private relationship with their Audience of One and place a high value on people.

Driven leaders are motivated by personal ambition. They tend to be competitive and short-tempered when things don’t go their way. Driven leaders value accomplishments and success over relationships.

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus renounced personal ambition in three separate temptations: (1) “turn stones into bread” or instant gratification of the flesh, (2) “throw yourself off the temple” or show off for personal glory, and (3) “bow down and worship the devil” or take shortcuts to success rather than the way of the cross.

In Luke 9:46-48, Jesus redefined greatness for the disciples who were driven by personal ambition (in essence, whoever values a child is great...whoever is least is the greatest! ).

In Matthew 26:33, Peter considered himself superior to the other disciples ( “Even if all fall away...I never will” ); his personal ambition was upended by his denial of Christ three times.

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus illustrated in the parable of the talents that everyone is given different gifts accompanied by different levels of responsibility. Everyone is called to steward their gifts to the best of their ability.

In John 14:12, faith in Christ equips us to do “great works”—this is our calling.

And in John 17:1-26, we are called to be one with Christ and one with each other. As Jesus was sent, so are we sent.

[Next week’s post will look at some key questions every serving team leader needs to ask.]