Henry T. Blackaby - Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to Gods Agenda

Copyright 2011 by Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 9781433669187

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 303.3

Subject Heading: LEADERSHIP \ SPIRITUAL LIFE \ SUCCESS

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations have been taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Quotations marked KJV are from the Kings James Version.

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Acknowledgments

To have released a book on leadership in 2001 seems, on reflection, to have been fortuitous. What followed the events of 9/11 was a decade-long societal debate about the desperate need for robust leadership in government, business, military, home, and church. Everyone had an opinion, and reams of additional books and theories hit bookstore shelves with tsunami-like vigor. We could not have known when we wrote the original version of Spiritual Leadership: Moving People On to God's Agenda in 2001 that it would be so widely and enthusiastically received. We have been truly overwhelmed by how God has used it to encourage leaders around the world. We have personally handed the book to world leaders. A group of state senators read the book a chapter a week and discussed it in the state capitol building. Bible colleges as widespread as in the USA, South Africa, and the Philippines have used it as a textbook. Pastors have approached us at conferences and shown us their dog-eared copies. Christian CEOs have used it as a guide to know how to lead their Fortune 500 companies to honor God. Parenting organizations as well as Christian school faculties have studied the book. We have been privileged to teach its truths on six continents. Since many new theories and books on leadership have emerged since this volume was first released, we were asked to update and expand it to address many of the issues and theories that have dominated leadership thinking in recent years.

We are keenly aware that we did not write this book alone. God has placed along our path many amazing people who have enriched us, added texture to our lives, and infused joy to our journey.

At the top of our list, as always, are our wives. Henry and Marilynn reached a milestone this yeartheir fiftieth anniversary. Richard and Lisa have been married twenty-seven years. Being married to us has not been easy! We tend to work too hard and too long. Our travels keep us away from home for frequent and extended periods of time. Nevertheless, God knew what kind of lifelong companions we needed to add flavor and laughter to our lives and ministry. They have stood faithfully beside us when life proved difficult. Lisa has always done an outstanding job editing whatever we have written. No words are adequate to express our love for our soul mates.

We are also grateful for the many leaders God has placed around us over the years. We were both blessed to grow up in homes where we could sincerely affirm that our father was the greatest man of God we knew. Thankfully time has not altered those opinions. As teenagers we were blessed with leaders who loved us and taught us how to walk closely with God. In university and seminary God introduced amazing friends into our journey. As we launched out in ministry, denominational leaders, fellow pastors, and godly laypeople encouraged us to keep growing. At every stage of our lives, we could name friends, colleagues, and leaders who challenged us to strive for higher levels in our personal growth and leadership.

Throughout the course of our ministries, we have been privileged to meet some of the finest government, business, home, and church leaders in the world. They have added rich new dimensions to our perspectives and understanding of leadership. Over the last decade we have been blessed to work with Mac McQuiston at the CEO Forum who invited us to invest in the lives of some of the finest Christian CEOs in corporate America.

We are also grateful to those who carefully read through this revised manuscript and offered invaluable suggestions. These include Tom Blackaby, Rick Fisher, Hermann Brandt, Brett Pyle, and Bill Bliss. These men have also contributed much to the Spiritual Leadership Network operated by Blackaby Ministries International www.blackaby.org which helps church, business, and home leaders move those they lead on to God's agenda.

This book was not written in a few months but over a lifetime. The space needed to list the people to whom we are indebted would double the length of this volume. We have been most fortunate to have journeyed with such outstanding people thus far in our lives. We will be forever indebted to the countless "ordinary" people who shared their extraordinary experiences and insights with us through conversations in conference centers, churches, hotel lobbies, airplanes, and living rooms around the world. We hope these truths impact your life and inspire you to rise to new levels of leadership, just as they have done with us.

Henry and Richard Blackaby

Blackaby Ministries International

Preface

Richard's daughter Carrie (nineteen) has never seen herself as a leader. As the baby of her family and the only girl, she has bravely endured two older, tormenting brothers her entire life. She claims her only aspirations are to purchase designer clothes and to look beautiful (which she does!). Ask her if she sees herself as a "leader" and she rolls her pretty eyes. Then when she turned sixteen, she had a wild, crazy, spontaneous inspiration. She invited three friends over to her house one Friday and announced that she was going to dye a strip of her hair... pink.

The other three girls were soon on the phone asking permission from their mothers to follow suit. Richard's home was transformed into a beauty salon. Word spread throughout the church youth group. Additional friends came by the house on Saturday, hair dye in hand. On Sunday morning Carrie sat in church beside seven other girls, all of whom were now sporting the latest fashion trend. Carrie is a leader. She just doesn't realize it yet.

Do you view yourself as a leader? Odds are if you picked up this book, you suspect you have the potential to lead others. However, this book is intended not only for those who fit the traditional leader profile but also for "ordinary" people who believe their world needs to change but who are not exactly sure what, if any, role they should play in that transformation. Perhaps your children's behavior concerns you or you feel your family is somehow "off course." Maybe you are burdened over the present condition of your neighborhood, city, or nation.

You may strongly sense that your church or denomination is adrift from its original mission and needs to make major adjustments. It could be that the company for which you work is grossly underperforming. Leadership is about people who choose to make a difference. It often is not flamboyant, and it usually doesn't involve spellbinding speeches or dramatic actions. If you make the place where you live, work, study, and worship better, then you are a leader. And, if ever this world needed leaders, it is now.

A weak, declining organization teeters on the brink of disbandment; then a new leader arrives and everything changes. The leader doesn't do all the work, but peoples' performance and morale improves. A collective sense of relief and hope now pervades the atmosphere. Developments that eluded previous administrators for years are accomplished in weeks with a new leader at the helm.