Three attributes of leaders who are worthy of respect

Tomorrow morning is the first regular meeting of my team... we meet once a week for three hours to cover the most important issues facing us at the time. I'll be leading our devotional time tomorrow, and I'm going to walk us through three attributes that the apostle Paul said made a leader worthy of respect. This is all taken from First Thessalonians 5:12-15.

One, they work hard. The word used for “work” here means work which is both difficult and exhausting. A good leader works hard, and as a result they deserve our respect.

Two, our leaders should care for us. The word used here is proistemi which has a semantic range which can include being over someone or can mean to care for someone. There is some debate on which meaning is intended here (some saying we respect them because of their position, some saying we respect them because of their care for us), but it seems to me that the author (indeed, perhaps the Greek language) is making the assumption that to be over someone includes the prerequisite in the job description that you care for that person as well. This would fit easily with Paul’s statement in 1 Thessalonians 2:11 that he cared for the Thessalonians, “like a father with his children.” It’s simply a natural expectation that those who lead are not only organizationally above those they lead, but also that they will care for those who are their responsibility.

Three, our leaders admonish us. Since no one even knows what admonish means in English, let alone Greek, I’ll tell you that the word admonish (noutheteo) can mean to instruct or to rebuke for wrongdoing, or to warn someone about the consequences of their actions. Here it most likely refers to general teaching, but a few verses later (v. 15) it clearly refers to rebuking someone for wrongdoing (“admonish the idle”).

So, three reasons to respect our leaders.

Or, if you’re a leader, three standards to compare yourself to: Do I work hard? Do I care for those under my authority? Do I instruct those under my authority?

What do you think? Who is a good leader from your life history who led in these three ways? Do you have negative examples where leaders didn’t do one or more of these things in their leadership?

new devotional

I put up a new devotional over on our WSN blog. It's a reflection on suffering.

Speaking of suffering, a bee flew into my hair this morning when I was walking Z to school. Which was clearly an evil plot, as I do not have tons of hair in which to become tangled.

Hopefully the Squeaky Thing in our attic is not a bat. I'd hate to get one of those tangled up in my follicle wreath.

New Devotional

Remember the old days, when I used to occasionally let you know about a devotional somewhere or other that I had written for our overseas friends? 

Well, the old days are back.  We've started a new blog for people headed overseas for a year (we call them "stinters") and I've put up the first devotional here.

Enjoy.

A new devotional at GNW stinters

Hey everybody, there's a new devotional up at the northwest interns and stinters blog. It's all about Jesus.

new devo

There's a new devo up on gnwstinters.com. Today's devo is from John Rozzelle. I think you'll enjoy it. Check it out.

New Devo

My wife has written up some devotional thought that you can see here, on the stint team leader's blog.

Enjoy!

P.S. Yes, I know how fortunate I am. So stop sending me all those e-mails asking me if I know.

New Devo on GNWstinters

Last week I put a new devo from Ralph Cooley up on gnwstinters. I need to find a better tagline than, "Check it out" but you should check it out.

Christmas Devotion

There's a new devo up at gnwstinters.blogspot.com. I wanted to give some Christmas thoughts without it being the same Christmas thoughts you've already received from your devotional books, messages and music. So I took a quick look at the theme of submission that is seen throughout the Christmas story and the life of Jesus. Take a look.

Footnotes are Fun

For the third week in a row there's a new devotional over on gnwstinters.blogspot.com.

Future guest devo-writers (confirmed) include:

Ralph Cooley
Krista Mikalatos

Future guest devo-writers (unconfirmed):

Billy Graham
Jurgen Moltmann

New Devo

Continuing our stellar line-up of devotional providers at gnwstinters, our newest devotional is brought to us by none other than Carolyn Culbertson. Don't miss this rare internet post by one of our most elusive and insightful spiritual leaders.

Are we not men?

We are Devo!

Speaking of which, there's a new devo at gnwstinters.

Devo to go

There's a new devotional up at GNWstinters.com.

Blogger won't let me upload pictures right now or I would treat you to some Jesus Clip Art.

UPDATE: Here's my Jesus clip art. For some reason I can't put it up on the gnwstinters site. So, I guess it's just a bonus for the BHR.

Carolyn writes a devo

Carolyn Culbertson has written a devotional on the gnw stinters site. It's about John Bunyan... although I was disappointed that she never mentioned Babe the big blue ox. And really, what is a John Bunyan story without flapjacks and Babe?

Anyway. You will like it.