True Leadership

I have been reading almost everything I could find about what makes a good leader. I have read books, blogs, subscribed to tweets, and am continuing to question people in leadership on their style, approach, model, and success. I want to be a good leader. I don’t want to be a good leader for me, I want to be a good leader because as a pastor, I want to lead people well. Right now my biggest fear is that I will mislead or just miss altogether. I don’t want to be that guy.

God has placed some great men in my life who exhibited leadership to me. They are men who are tremendous at what they do and how they do it. They are men who understand their gifts and talents and don’t try to be something other than what God has called them to be. I have been blessed by these men.

One of these men, Wayman Swopes, was born in New Mexico on a dairy farm in 1947. Wayman pastored churches in Michigan, Kentucky, New Mexico and Texas. I met Wayman in 2000 when he was pastor at Greenwood Baptist Church. He was their pastor for 23 years and retired in April 2010. I had the privilege of serving with Wayman for six years. In those six years he became a pastor, friend and mentor. He taught me how to be a pastor to people. How to love people unconditionally but most of all he showed me how to lead.

Many times you don’t know the impact of something or someone until you are able to step back and analyze things. Wayman went home eternally on a Friday night, October 19th. I miss my friend and there have been several occasions I would have loved to pick up the phone and ask him his advice on an issue or to tell him about something amazing God had done.

Another of these men was Jeff Robinson. I met Jeff when he was youth minister at First Baptist Diboll. I was a part-time youth minister at Lakeview in Diboll. Jeff left Diboll to go be the pastor of Southside Baptist Church; where he still is today! I had the privilege and pain of working with Jeff for almost 3 years as his part-time youth minister. Jeff taught me how to compose a ministry and how to do ministry with a bigger picture view ministry. I have never been an administrator but the lessons Jeff taught me have been crucial in understanding, formulating and carrying out a successful ministry. He was hard on me and continued to demand a lot from me. He never demanded more than I could give, but he never accepted less. He is a great friend a another man that I consider to be a mentor. He has an incredible gift for speaking truth. He rarely tells me what I want to hear, but God has used him on so many occasions to tell me what I need to hear.

Another is Keith Nash. Keith was my youth pastor…correction… is my youth pastor! You don’t invest 6 years in someone’s life and then go away. I have always joked about this next part and usually said something like, “and don’t tell anyone…” or “try to keep this a secret…” But the truth is I have always been proud to say that he is also my uncle. Yeah, we are family. He’s my mom’s brother. He taught me a lot of great life lessons like, you can survive on a street corner for an hour in downtown Dallas in the middle of the night without getting raped, mugged or beaten. I also learned that you can’t put more than 14 people in the Double Tree Hotel elevator in Dallas, but if you do it takes about 90 minutes to get them out. I will never forget the time he taught me that if you put people in a small closet in Pineywood Encampment with a propane heater for more than 30 minutes, someone is going to vomit! The thing I remember the most about Keith is, church is fun! With Keith, I had as much learning about God as I did doing anything else. He has that rare gift of taking people and showing them how to surrender their life and allow God to mold them. It was Keith who told me, “Craig, if God is calling you to serve Him, you won’t be happy doing anything else.” He was the one who discipled me when I came back from camp in 1986. He was the one that I talked to when God called me to ministry in 1988. He was the one that looked at me in 1990 and said, “Craig, God called you to ministry, what are you doing about it?” He has continued to be an encourager and leader for me. Even if he is my uncle!

And then there is my dad! I hope you don’t expect me to tell you everything my dad taught me in this blog. My dad has always been my biggest cheerleader and supporter. He was the one who always stood over my shoulder telling me I could do it, and many times it is his voice I still hear today. My dad has not always been perfect, but he has been an incredible example of what a man humbled by God and humbled to God should be. He is tough, but compassionate. He was my father first, before he was ever my friend. Because a young boy needs a father more than he needs a friend. A father teaches him about life and how to be a man. I hope to be as good a man as he is one day.

There are many other men. It was John Crow who taught me how to be passionate about my faith. It was Terry Clutter who taught me that friendship is worth more than mere words. It was Hails Taylor that taught me doing the right thing for the right reasons is more valuable than just the results of your actions. Jim Taylor taught me the value of living for Christ. Troy Nash taught me how to praise God in every situation.

But my greatest teacher has always been Jesus. He taught these men mentioned in this post how to love Him. He taught them how to be mentors and how to lead others. He taught them because He lead them. And He leads me as well. My prayer is now not just to be a good leader, but to be an even better follower of Jesus Christ. Because, someone might just want to follow me one day. And well, I have a legacy of leadership to uphold. I would not want to let these men down, nor Him!

Thank you Jesus, for leading me when I was not even looking. Thank you for using these men to bring about Your glory!

Be Blessed,

Craig