Weiner.  Schwarzenegger.  Edwards.

All three of these men achieved incredible success.  They each rose to the top of their field enjoying popularity and affluence.  They overcame incredible challenges in order to accomplish their goals.

But now we all see that meeting goals and achieving dreams do not make us a leader.  In fact, being a leader requires much less than climbing to great heights, winning elections, or accumulating wealth.  Leadership is much simpler than that.

In the church world we often ask the question:  “What disqualifies a man from church leadership?”  What we are asking is, “Has the man done anything so bad that other people won’t follow him?”  Can a man be “disqualified” from church leadership?  Absolutely.

But let’s take a different approach.  Let’s ask this: “What’s the minimum requirement for significant, life-changing leadership?”  Or, “What’s the least a person has to do to influence others?”  That may not sound very ambitious, but that’s the point.

We continue to confuse success with leadership.  Even in the church we measure the wrong things, and we have made leadership something God never intended.

In Paul’s first letter to young Timothy, he used one phrase to describe a leader.  Paul knew how to write and he could have made things much more complicated.  He could have talked about accountability.  He could have mentioned SMART goals.  He could have encouraged certain leadership development standards.  But he didn’t.

Have you noticed that most “leaders” do really well in the area of goal achievement?  Paul never mentioned goals.  He mentioned one thing.

He said, “An overseer, then, must be above reproach…”—1 Timothy 3:2.  That’s it?  Yep.  “Above reproach.”  If you or I want to be a credible, life-changing, value-adding, Christ-honoring leader we are simply called to be “above reproach.”  The word means “un-indictable.”  People may accuse us, but the accusations won’t stick because our life is characterized by righteousness.  We are not perfect.  We may have some regrets or even big failures in our past.  But we have made wrongs right and our life over time is consistent and trustworthy.

If you’re like me that takes a lot of pressure off.  Leadership is not complicated.  We make a huge difference when we choose to do one thing: live above reproach.

How do we do that?  Paul gave definition to “above reproach” by challenging leaders in three basic areas:

  • Grow your character
  • Be faithful to your family
  • Serve others well

I’ll unpack those three areas in future posts, but real leadership is real simple.  It’s not always easy, it’s not without challenges, and it requires effort, but when we focus on living above reproach our leadership potential has no limits.

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