This morning in my quiet time with the Lord I read the book of Nahum.  It is a small book but teaches us a big lesson about leadership.  No matter how much power you accumulate, it will never compensate for failure with God.  The Ninevites seem to have it all but leadership without spiritual success will eventually fail.  We learn from this book that Assyria’s King failed to develop other leaders and paid for it. 

In  my lifetime I have served at a variety of churches and organizations either on pastoral staff or temporary consultant.  The difference in those who develop leaders and those who do not are night and day.  A church that does not develop other leaders will never see the success that God intended.  The question some ask is why would any pastor ignore the principle of empowerment?  Here are 4 reasons:

1.  The pastor does not understand how.  A seminary degree does not mean that a pastor is a leader or has been equipped to develop leaders. 

2.  The pastor is insecure.  The root of insecurity is fear.  Fear of being replaced or fear of failure will always hinder someone from empowering others.  A symptom of insecurity is micro-management which will always hinder someone from living out the principle of empowering others.

3.  The pastor does not understand church growth.  I believe that every pastor would like to grow his church.  When a church does not grow it indicates a pastor does not understand how to overcome obstacles to do so.  Practicing empowerment is a requirement of church growth. 

4.  The pastor lacks vision.  Scripture teaches that “without vision the people will perish.”  Without vision a pastor will usually just go through the motions and live the tyranny of the urgent.  The problem is that when a pastor lacks vision he is usually too blind to see it. A result will be that he struggles with attracting folks to the church or if they do visit they will not stay.  The people who do stay because of their commitment to the church will thirst for the motivation and excitement that comes from being part of a vision imparted by the Sr. Pastor. 

I’m excited that when we develop other leaders, our leadership will never be limited to:

• Only the the personal leadership ability and gifts we can offer.
• Only the boundaries of our own wisdom.
• Only the generation we live in.
• Only the scope of our own influence.

Before we can empower another we must first be supernaturally empowered ourselves.  Whenever someone is filled with the Holy Spirit. something happens.  Empowered leaders receive God’s power, then empower others.