Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, or Barack Obama, while we are thinking about election 2008 let us also answer the call of our personal leadership roles where ever we are.
There is a great need for leaders in America today—not just in the governmental or political arena, but also in the classroom, in the business world, in the pulpits . . . everywhere. Men and women, young and old, married and single, are needed to rise up and take their appointed position in life seriously and be godly examples.
In 1991, advertising executives at the respected J. Walter Thompson Agency in New York, set out to take the “moral pulse” of America. Using state-of-the-art research techniques, they conducted the biggest poll of private morals ever embarked on, to uncover the personal ethics, values, and beliefs of Americans. Amidst their discoveries, which are revealed in their very insightful book
The Day America Told the Truth, the subject of leadership was addressed. The results:
“Our void in leadership—moral and otherwise—has reached a critical stage. We still want leadership; we just can’t seem to find it.” 1
When America was being birthed, our leaders were strong and visible. Our Founders—those men and women who exerted substantial influence and provided leadership in the birth, development, and establishment of America—were some of the greatest leaders our nation has ever seen. Although they each had their share of weaknesses and did not always agree with each other, they still possessed great leadership qualities; including integrity, compassion, faith, responsibility, fidelity, truth, honor, and courage.
These men and women acted on what they believed—a major mark of a healthy leader. They were not super human. They were real, regular people like you and me . . . everyday people from every walk of life. That is where leaders were found then, and that is where they are still found today…
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Great article by Dave, many great points. If we are like the Paul we read about in our Bibles and follow his example, I believe that we can become great leaders. Paul was always encouraging his followers to follow him as he followed Christ. Christ was our greatest example of how to be a leader as he was working while it was day when he was here on earth. Jesus taught us to serve if we wanted to be great. He said that if we had seen Him, we had seen the Father; and He followed the instructions of the Father. So, as we follow the lead of Jesus and those great men and women today (and remember many from the past) who also follow or followed Jesus and show fine character encompassing those special qualities of truth, faith, loyalty, commitment, strength, dependability, reliability, good repute, honesty, principles, ethics, Christian morals, integrity, notability, influence, and being full of God’s love for people…(and I’m sure you can come up with even more words to describe a great leader), we are being discipled/trained/taught to become leaders to go out and disciple others to become leaders … from generation to generation until Jesus returns for his bride.