The Call to Disciple Making is a Call to Transformational Servant Leadership

A call to disciple making is a call to leadership, not as the world leads, but according to the example of Christ.

We all have things that tip us over the edge. Call it a hot button, a line in the sand, a hill to die on, we all have things we’ve decided and when someone is cavalier in trashing it in an attempt to sound pithy or smart, it just irks you.  My hot button is when someone suggests that “leader” and “leadership” is a corporate principle that has little place in ministry. Brothers and Sisters, according to our calling we must be spiritual leaders, transformational leaders, and servant leaders after the example of Christ. 

When I was 14 years old Dad put me behind the wheel of his Mercury Montego on the back roads of West Virginia and told me to drive. I will never forget how scared and excited I was at the same time. I remember meeting cars on the curves of old Gardner Road and having difficulty judging where the car was in relation to the road. My grip on the wheel made my knuckles white and I probably left fingernail marks. I drove, I steered, I was driving. When that first experience was over I was shaking and thinking that driving was going to always stress me out. I remember Dad telling me that he was as comfortable driving as he was sitting in his chair at home and I would be too one day. He was right. 

One of the side benefits of driving was that when I was driving I did not get motion sickness on the twisted roads of West Virginia. I’d get nauseous every time I rode in a car, but when I was driving I never got sick. Because of that, I came to prefer driving over riding. 

I am a natural born follower. I don’t have to drive, I don’t have to steer, I don’t have to be the leader. Most of the time I sincerely don’t want to lead. Thirty-six years ago, when I became the spiritual leader of a church, their pastor, I realized that if I were to align what the Holy Spirit was directing with my strengths and weaknesses and with the gap between where we were as a church and where God was asking us to go, I was going to have to grow as…a leader. Thus my journey began. 

One of the greatest challenges for the church of today is a lack of leaders and leadership. Our leadership pipelines are severely leaking. I did my graduate degree in leadership rather than theology because of the call of God on my life to raise up, lift, equip, and encourage spiritual leaders. At that time, after over a decade of supporting pastors and churches in our network I realized most of our pastors loved God, most of them knew enough of the Bible to make disciples, and most of them were fairly sound theologically, but often their deficiency was not knowing how to lead — they did not know how to take a vision from God, inspire it as the corporate vision God intended it to be, and move it forward. They did not know how to follow the Holy Spirit in such a way as to have others follow them as they followed Christ. For too many of them: They did not know how to lead a God-vision forward. And worse, they did not know how to disciple and develop the leaders around them, sometimes to the point of being intimidated. Jesus builds his church, and the Holy Spirit will help us to be his agent to lead it forward. 

I have witnessed it over, and over, and over, and over as a church and leadership consultant. A church organization DOES NOT MOVE BEYOND its leadership infrastructure. Call it whatever you want to call it, it never moves beyond its leadership structure. This is why there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. You have to put the leadership structure in place before a vision can move forward. When there is no foundation we will be ever building and never growing. This is the mission of the church, making disciples who can then multiply and reproduce within the transformational story of the redemption of humankind. 

Spiritual-transformational-servant leadership structures are not intended to elevate those that lead, just the opposite, they are intended to assure that everyone has the care, support, encouragement, and transformational leadership they need to successfully engage their purpose in Christ. 

Why am I so passionate about this? Because I am a man of the Holy Spirit with a prophetic calling on my life. God actually wired me as an engineer to build things and he called those skills out for his glory. God called me to lift, equip, encourage, and lead spiritual leaders. I often “see” what God is doing in the spiritual realm and the pieces that have to come into place for us to get where God is asking us to go. My hot button is when someone suggests that we are somehow selling out to the world with “all of this leadership stuff.” I am not promoting leadership stuff; we are employing the revelation of the heart of God, principles of the Word of God, and following the example of Christ as humble servant leaders and equipping and encouraging the disciples we are making into the purpose and calling of God upon their lives. 

When I say leadership, corporate leadership and worldly leadership principles are the furthest things from my mind. When I say leadership I mean transformational leadership, servant leadership, spiritual leadership, making disciples who make disciples, and influencing the called toward the purposes of God.

My 4th quarter is developing and supporting spiritual-transformational-servant leaders, and for that I cannot apologize. 

Care What People Think — Then Do What You Must

I sometimes need to say to myself, “I don’t care what people think about this.” But I do care what people think, I just don’t want my decision-making to be driven by the fear of what people will think or how they respond….

Whenever I say “I don’t care,” my mind goes back to 6th grade and a kid named John, an active kid with wild hair and really thick glasses. I will never forget this public exchange between John and our teacher:

Teacher: “John, If you don’t put more effort into this assignment you are going to get a bad grade.”

John: “I don’t care.”

Teacher: “You had better care because if you don’t straighten up you might fail the class.”

John: “I don’t care.”

Teacher: “If you fail this class you may have to repeat 6th grade and all your friends will advance and you will be left behind. 

John: “I don’t care.”

Teacher (becoming exasperated): “If you aren’t successful in school you won’t get a good job when you grow up.”

John: “I don’t care.”

Teacher (completely exasperated): “Young man, if you take that attitude throughout your life you will end up in prison. 

John: “I don’t care.”

John found the key to owning the teacher. He found the key to not feeling bad about not performing at expected levels. John had found a way to live the life he wanted to live, at least temporarily. That key: Just don’t care about the consequences.

There are some things in my life that I really care about, but I sometimes tell myself that I don’t care to keep my focus where it needs to be. Like my writing and the things I create. It is easy to create and publish when I tell myself I don’t care what people think, but it is also easy to be haphazard and lack excellence if I don’t care what anyone thinks. 

The way I live my life, the decisions I make, the way I lead. I sometimes need to say to myself, “I don’t care what people think about this.” But I do care what people think, I just don’t want my decision-making to be driven by the fear of what people will think or how they respond. I do care what people think, but sometimes I have to have the courage to act upon what is right, or what I feel to be right and numb myself a little to the anticipation of the response or the criticism I might receive. 

A better way to say it is, “I care what people think and feel, I care about their thoughts and opinions because people are important to me, but sometimes I need to put my focus on doing what I believe to be right.” I must have the courage to steward 62 years of living, over 30 years of leading, and the convictions I’ve developed along the way. I must have the courage to take actions I know are going to make waves for some but cause transformation far beyond the few well meaning critics.

A good leader cares about what people think or feel. When some of the people they care about criticize a decision or direction, it stings. And yet, a good leader prepares themselves to act with the heart of a servant and press forward even though some waves will be created.

When I say, “I don’t care,” it’s usually a mechanism I use to help me steel my emotions and still my fears to embolden myself to take an action not everyone is going to like because I believe it is the right thing for me to be, say, and do. I just need to keep reminding myself that I really do care, but I am going to take action and not focus on the waves but on the transformation. 

Vision and Influence – Who’s Gonna Clear the Weeds?

Every passion and vision comes with obstacles. It is as though there’s always a path to be cleared through deep weeds before we can forward a passion or gain traction with a vision. When God gives us a piece of His vision it is ours to move forward with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and with the passion that arises from the practice of the Presence of God. When God causes a passion to arise within me the forwarding of that passion becomes my responsibility. When the vision is bigger than me and it can also become the vision of others, then it becomes “our vision,” rather than “my vision,” and together we can whack the weeds. 

As a leader I cannot tell you how many times someone has come to me with a passion or a vision and expected me to give them 100% support, platform, finances, and influence — ah, they wanted a piece of my influence. They wanted to tap into an anointing that rested upon me, maybe because of a mantle I’d been given, and use it to forward their agenda. 

Sometimes I do the same thing, unwittingly, but I sometimes do the same thing. When I expect someone to lend me relational capital and influence to cut a swath through the weeds so I can do what God has asked of me, I might be doing the same thing. 

This morning I am thinking about the things in my heart that I and/or our team needs to move forward. I sometimes feel an emotion that I will call frustration because I need help cutting the weeds down to make a way. Reality is, when God has called us to do something challenging and difficult, he puts a machete in our hands and he points to the weeds. Not even God makes the weeds disappear for us when he gives us a passion or a vision, he expects us to cut a path!

Cutting the path is part of pursing the vision. You know, I’ve become really good at standing on a hill and looking at the weeds in front of me and complaining that if someone would just cut a path through those weeds just think of what we could do for the Kingdom. Alas my friend, when God gives you a vision, you also get the weeds. 

When I build my grand plans rooted in the passion and vision in my heart, and when I make grand plans, I have to make a plan for the weeds. How will we clear a path? How will we inspire, encourage, enlist, and include people in the vision and how will we clear a path together. No one is going to clear weeds for my vision, but if my vision is a part of a greater vision in which others are engaged, we can clear the weeds together. 

I don’t want to give my limited influence away unless it is a wise expenditure. I cannot give my influence to something I don’t believe in wholeheartedly, no one can expect me to do that, I cannot expect anyone else to do that.

148 – Leading in Crisis: Eight Actions of a Leader in Times of Crisis

148 – Leading in Crisis: Eight Actions of a Leader in Times of Crisis

Those we lead have the opportunity to see who we really are when we lead them in and through a crisis. Our heart, our character, our resolve, our faith, our love, and our motivations are all revealed. In episode 148 of The Calibrate Life Podcast, we discuss 8 things for a leader to keep in focus while leading during a crisis. 

Listen or subscribe to the Calibrate Life Podcast in Apple Podcasts, in Google Podcasts, in Stitcher, or in any podcast player.


This episode is being recorded in April of 2020, at what we hope is the height of the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic. Leadership is not business as usual. We are leading in a time when our nation is in crisis. Some are hurting badly, others are not as affected. Spiritual leaders are important in times of crisis.

Leadership is defined in crisis. our heart, our character, our resolve, our faith, our love, and our motivations are all revealed in times of crisis leadership. Those we lead have the opportunity to see who we are when we lead in a crisis. (Continue for the episode notes / article…)

(more…)
147 – Leading in Crisis: Spirit-Empowered Leadership

147 – Leading in Crisis: Spirit-Empowered Leadership

If God has positioned you as a spiritual leader, he will also empower you to serve and lead. In this episode we are going to talk about the mantle and anointing that comes with God’s call and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to lead in times of uncertainty.

Listen or subscribe to the Calibrate Life Podcast in Apple Podcasts, in Google Podcasts, in Stitcher, or in any podcast player.

This episode, particularly the last 20 minutes, was inspired by a journal entry on March 17 as we prayed for spiritual leaders. Leading in a time of crisis, such as the one we are in with the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, requires spirit-empowered leadership. In the last 20 minutes of the podcast, and in the second half of the notes, we talk about a 7-fold empowerment that comes with the mantle of leadership.

When I was a young pastor I struggled a lot with whether or not my decisions were the right decisions. As a lead pastor I was in a position of making lot of decisions, and while I had advisors, counselors, and mentors, I often had to just pull the trigger and make a decision about important things. …

I tend to suffer from analysis paralysis, so decision making is admittedly not my favorite thing. It wasn’t that I didn’t like making decisions, or was afraid to make a decision, my hesitancy was out of my desire to lead well and not mess things up for other people because I made a wrong or bad decision. 
Some reasons I was hesitant in decision-making.

  • Win/Win scenarios: making decisions when we win either way is easy. 
  • Win/Lose scenarios: It’s a little harder when our decisions seem to cause some people “win” and others to feel they “lose.” 
  • Lose/Lose scenarios: making a decision when you don’t like any of the options, but you know you have to lead. 

Here’s some things I’ve learned about decision-making.

  • As a leader, it’s not about what I want, but what I perceive is the right thing to do. 
  • I am not leading a democracy, I am serving as an agent in a Theocracy. In other words, for a spiritual leader its not about majority rule, it is about God rule. When a church or ministry organization holds and election or casts a ballot it is never about the will of the people, it is about the people coming to unity on the will of God. 
  • Hard decisions do NOT go away — ever! They only get tougher the longer you delay them. 

Decision-making and leadership are inseparable. 


I have longer lists, and perhaps we will do another episode on decision-making, but this episode is more connected to the things going on around us right now. If you listen to this episode in the future, we are in the middle of the Coronavirus, Covid-19 restrictions. 

Churches cannot gather, shops and stores are closed, the stock market is insanely fluctuating. 
How do we lead in times of crisis when we are walking a path we’ve never walked before. 

You can’t draw from previous experience. Information changes almost daily. We don’t know when this will end. We are learning how to stay relationally connected while physically distancing. 

NEXT WEEK, Episode 148 – Leading in Times of Crisis. (We will be live streaming on Tuesday and posting the episode on Thursday.)

Back to when I was a young pastor… I remember sitting in my church office, 30 years old, leading a church that was bigger than my leadership experience would sustain and the church was starting to unravel because of an interpersonal conflict involving a couple of families in the church with many other starting to take sides. 

I did not know what to do, I had gotten all the advice I could get, and it came down to making some hard decisions. 
As I sat there and prayed asking God for wisdom, I received an assurance from the Lord that I would make the right decision. In fact, I gained the confidence that day that when God calls us to do something, and we ask for wisdom to do it, he will give us the wisdom we need if we seek it. 

‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ‘ James 1:5 (ESV)

This statement could be misunderstood, but I came to believe that I would always make the right decision. That does not mean I am infallible, it does not mean that I don’t make mistakes, it does not mean that I will never make a bad call, but I had to have confidence in myself to make the right decisions, but mostly I had to have confidence in God to give me the wisdom to lead in very difficult situations. 

The only decision worse than a bad decision is deciding to make no decision at all. 

When it’s time to lead, when it’s time to steer, when you have to make a  decision, seek God’s help, surround yourself with the best counselors you can, access the best information you can access, and then make a decision and stand in that decision. 

I must TRUST God to give me the wisdom I have to have to lead. 

You see, I believe there is a mantle and an anointing that comes with spiritual leadership. 

As I was praying for pastors and leaders as we were moving into our new reality, this word came to me. God will give wisdom to those who are tasked with leading during this time. There is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit that comes with God’s assignments. 

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,”
Isaiah 11:1-3 ESV

Some commentators say it is a stretch to identify 7 facets of the but I am embolden by my Keil-Delitzch commentaries who agree. 

Isaiah 11 foretells the coming of The Christ, and that He would be empowered by the 7-fold Spirit of God. I believe for the enablement of God to do what he has called us to do, and I pray for the 7-fold Spirit of God to empower us, rest upon our lives, and I pray for the 7-fold Spirit of God to rest upon spiritual leaders in these challenging days. 
Here are the characteristics of the Holy Spirit characterized by the 7-fold Spirit of God that empowers us to lead in the context of our calling. 

  1. The Spirit of the Lord
  2. The Spirit of Wisdom
  3. The Spirit of Understanding
  4. The Spirit of Counsel
  5. The Spirit of Might (Power)
  6. The Spirit of Knowledge
  7. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord

The 7 fold Spirit of God is seen in John’s revelation in the Book of Revelation, “From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,…” Revelation 4:5 (ESV)

THE SEVEN-FOLD SPIRIT OF GOD

(1) The Spirit of the Lord. It was said of Jesus, in Him dwells the fullness of the God-head in bodily form. The Spirit of the Lord represents the fullness of God’s ability. 
The remaining 6 are in 3 pairs. 

  1. The intellectual: wisdom and understanding
  2. The practical: counsel and might
  3. The spiritual: knowledge and the fear of the Lord

The Intellectual Empowerment

(2) The Spirit of Wisdom. If we lack or desire wisdom, let us ask (James 1:5).  Wisdom is the power of discerning nature of things through the appearance (Keil-Delitzsch). Wisdom is rightly applying knowledge and understanding.

(3) The Spirit of Understanding. Understanding is the power of discerning the differences of things in their appearance (Keil-Delitzsch). Understanding is being able to intuitively perceive the factors involved in a decision. 

The Practical Empowerment

(4) The Spirit of Counsel. The Holy Spirit is our Counselor. Counsel is a gift for forming right conclusions. It is not just the giving of advice, but as it is applied to our leadership, it is the receiving of advice from God and counselors he has placed in our lives. I am sometimes amazed how an “in season word” or revelation comes to me just when I need it. 

(5) The Spirit of Might. This is the ability to carry out God’s directives with energy and empowerment. Standing like a mighty warrior, not simply in our own power but in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Might gives us the power we need to fulfill His calling upon our lives. 

The Spiritual Empowerment

(6) The Spirit of Knowledge. The Holy Spirit gives knowledge and insight. God is omniscient, he knows all things. The Holy Spirit guides us in our learning so that when the moment of crisis or testing comes we have a bank of pre-obtained knowledge from which to apply with wisdom. I also believe that God gives revelatory knowledge. Sometimes we just supernaturally know things. Matthew 10 speaks of God giving us words to say when we are persecuted and faced with immediate crisis, not having time to prepare beforehand. 

“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew [10:19]-20 (ESV)

(7) The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. This is the foundation of trust and fearing God, who can destroy soul and spirit rather than those who can only destroy the body. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord directs us to make decisions and to lead based upon the desires of God and not our own. 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” Psalm 1[11:10] (ESV)

Isaiah prophecies the coming of Messiah and the Spirit of the Lord that would rest upon Him, empower Him, equip Him, guide him, and make him effective. 

I pray that the same Holy Spirit empower and equip spiritual leaders in this challenging time that they would know what to do and how to do it. 

I pray for the wisdom to keep the days ahead in perspective. 

I pray you experience the Holy Spirit working in your life as…

  1. The Spirit of the Lord
  2. The Spirit of Wisdom
  3. The Spirit of Understanding
  4. The Spirit of Counsel
  5. The Spirit of Might (Power)
  6. The Spirit of Knowledge
  7. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord

To comment on this post, join our facebook page at this link and comment there. https://www.facebook.com/Calibrate360