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Gutsy Church Leadership

Orginally published on Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 1:00 PM
by Todd Rhoades

Mark Batterson writes, "I'm not sure exactly how to say this. And it probably won't come across as very academic. But one of the most under-appreciated dimensions of great leadership is guts. Great leaders are gutsy! It takes different shapes in different arenas. But gutsy leaders dare to be different. They challenge the status quo. They refuse to play it safe..."

And no one was more gutsy than Jesus! He wasn’t afraid of offending Pharisees; touching lepers; washing feet; defending prostitutes; or befriending tax collectors.

In the words of Dorothy Sayers:

“To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.”

I used to have issue with the episode recorded in John 2 where Jesus threw a Temple tantrum. It didn’t fit my Sunday School caricature of Jesus. But I’ve come to appreciate that side of Jesus. He was the lamb of God, but He was also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It took guts to turn the Temple upside-down and inside-out.

The church needs more gutsy leaders who follow suit.

FOR DISCUSSION: How gutsy is your leadership? How regularly do you take risks? Or do you usually opt to ‘play it safe’?

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There are 5 Comments:

Posted by Leonard

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 1:27 PM

I have a big gut… It is true, many leaders fail to lead for a lack of guts. Many people fail to follow because the people who lead do not communicate that they believe what they are doing. I just hear a pastor speak recently who said amazing things but said them in a way that I was not sure he would die for them, or even if he really believed in them. It takes courage to communicate and lead this way. Go Mark go!
Posted by

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 3:45 PM

My gut is getting bigger all the time, Leonard. I’m expanding the kingdom…
Posted by RevJeff

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 5:33 PM

I identify with both of those comments unfortunately… hey Leonard, I read your post on what feeds us… great stuff… where did you go?
Posted by Leonard

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 5:55 PM

Thanks Jeff,
I am not sure your question as to where did I go. But I’d be glad to answer it if I knew the question.
Posted by Jan

Friday, February 16, 2007 at 4:08 AM

“Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. “
I love this quote from Mark Batterson.

We’ve had two different pastors tell us we were great risk takers and “fun to watch”. Both of them have sent us financial gifts to keep us going. So, I guess they meant it!

I wouldn’t have thought of us that way and it interested me. Hmmm… me a risk taker?

If so, I think that’s sad. Because shouldn’t going for it for God be something natural to us?

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.