5 Things Leaders Do

In one of the spiritual gifts lists, Romans 12:8, the apostle Paul essentially says, “If you have the spiritual gift of leadership, lead with it, and lead with all diligence.” I’ve come up with a partial list of what spiritually gifted leaders do if they develop and use their leadership gifts.

1. Leaders cast a God-honoring vision. Spiritually gifted leaders live in such a way that God invariably ignites within their hearts a compelling idea, a heartfelt yearning for some part of God’s kingdom to advance. They start thinking about it, dreaming about it, and praying about it. Pretty soon, they start talking about it. They have lunch with someone and say, “Could you imagine what this part of the kingdom would be like if … ?”

I took the board of directors at Willow Creek to some inner-city ministries that we’re funding and providing volunteer help for. We were in an empty warehouse; it must have been 95 degrees. The humidity was incredible. But the person leading this ministry stood and said, “Imagine that corner of this warehouse filled with electrical supplies. A skilled worker from a church could stop here, pick up all the supplies he or she needs, then go over to the home of someone in need and fix the wiring.

“Imagine pallets stacked high with drywall compound. Whenever there are walls to be patched in the home of someone who can’t afford to fix them, a volunteer could stop here to pick up the drywall and then go fix the holes.

“Imagine a pallet over there stacked high with blankets. In the winter, when the heat in people’s apartments doesn’t work, we could pass out blankets.”

I was reaching for my wallet! That is vision casting.

If you have the gift of leadership, God ignites in your heart a vision. You cannot not talk about it.

There is so much power released when leaders start casting a godly vision. It draws people out of the woodwork. It gets bored spectators out onto the playing field.

2. Leaders gather and align people for the achievement of the vision. Spiritually gifted leaders have that God-given capacity to attract, challenge, and persuade people. Then they assist them in finding their niche in the achievement of the vision.

Spiritually gifted leaders are almost shameless in the boldness with which they approach people. They can’t understand why anyone isn’t already on board with them. People catch their enthusiasm.

Next, the leader says, “I’m going to find a role that fits who you are. You’re going to grow and develop as an individual while all of us grow together in the achievement of the vision. This is a win-win deal.”

Leaders are not users of people. Leaders are those who cast a vision until they find those who want to join with that vision. Then the leader commits to developing that person while together they achieve their dream. That kind of synergy and unity and teamwork is powerful.

3. Leaders can motivate their co-workers. Motivation makes work fun. It can make thankless tasks exciting. It can make beaten-down people feel renewed and rejuvenated. People with the spiritual gift of leadership have a God-given ability to know what to say and how to inspire different people.

I had an eighth-grade basketball coach who knew how to inspire me. I went to North Christian Grade School; on the other side of town was South Christian Grade School. We wanted to beat the stuffing out of those Christians on the other side of town.

I was just a little guy; my trunks came up to my armpits. In an important game, we were behind by a few points. As we players were walking back on the court after a timeout, the coach encouraged us, “Okay, let’s go get ’em.”

But then he said, “Hybels, get back here.” I came dutifully back.

“I think you’re the only one with the guts to go out there and take that ball to the basket.”

I thought my heart was going to explode. I knocked people over to get the ball to the rim.

That night they called me “His Airness.” (Michael Jordan cashed in on the term, but it was first said about me that night!)

Gifted leaders have the ability to motivate and inspire.

4. Leaders sense the need for positive change and then constructively bring it about. I do a lot of my summer study in a Burger King restaurant in South Haven, Michigan. Right behind where I sit is a side entrance door, a heavy steel door with a broken hamper mechanism. When every customer comes in, the door loudly bangs shut. It is metal on metal. The staff working the counter look at each other after every customer leaves and say, “Gee, that’s an aggravating sound. Why do people keep doing that?”

Then there is the temperature in the restaurant, which stays around 62 degrees. It’s way too cold for the average human. Customers walk up to the counter and say, “Do you know it’s freezing in here?” After they leave, the people behind the counter say, “If they knew how hot it was back here working over the stove, they wouldn’t complain so much.”

I was reminded every day that there was no leader in sight. A leader would say, “Fix the door!” A leader would say, “Set the air conditioner for the customer. If we need some fans for the employees back here, if we have to rearrange some duct work or something, we’ll do it. Don’t freeze the customer out. He or she pays our salaries.”

Leaders have a nose for how to bring change constructively.

5. Leaders create a leadership culture in their organization.

This is absolutely counterintuitive. One would think that strong, gifted leaders would make sure that no emerging leader would mature to the point where his or her own leadership might be threatened. Actually, the exact opposite is true of a spiritually gifted leader.

The greatest thrill a mature, gifted leader can experience is the gradual achievement of the God-given vision through the combined efforts of developing younger leaders who some day will carry the kingdom baton.

At Willow Creek, we host an annual leadership summit conference. I get choked up when I go from classroom to classroom, watching Willow Creek leaders stand in front of groups of people and cast vision, inspire, and motivate about everything from programming to children’s ministries. I go home on those nights thinking, It doesn’t get better than this.

That’s at the heart of leading an organization. A leader creates a culture where more and more people can rise to the surface and lead.

Bill Hybels is senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.

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