The Best Leadership Advice I've Received, Ever

A lesson for any aspiring leader, especially Millennials and Gen-Z

Photo by: Young Yi

This newsletter is the first part of this week’s series, “Becoming A Healthy Leader”, sharing lessons from my own experiences and teachings from others.

If you enjoy this series and would like me to write on a certain topic, please let me know in the comment section of this post. Thanks for reading!

“Always be under authority.”

These were the words that Christine Van Nada told me during my first year of leading one of the four venues at my previous church.

I had stepped in as the youngest person on an already existing staff team of 3 individuals who had been serving and leading this venue that gathered on a Big Ten college campus.

Christine was the first person to respond to the Gospel message when Riverview was planted back in 1977.

Some would call her an OG of the faith within that church family.

I personally call her faithful and wise.

As the youngest person on that staff team, I had much to learn about what it meant to be a leader, let alone someone who was leading in a brand new ministry space.

Despite my lack of experience, her words of wisdom (in my opinion), were what set me and my team up for success.

Authority, The Remedy For Autonomy

Over the last few years, the notable fall of “celebrity pastors” nearly discouraged myself and several other pastors I know from the work of vocational ministry. As I examined each article detailing their scandal, listened to podcasts describing the stories that disqualified these men from the pulpit, a common thread emerged:

they never were really under any authority.

Perhaps I’ve become a cynic at this point, but to claim, “Jesus is my ultimate authority” or “the Scriptures are what I submit to” never really gave me any peace of mind.

Why?

Because the thought of applying this over my own life puts shivers down my spine. I know for a fact, I’d blow right through that gate if I ever wanted to, because at the end of the day, I still wrestle with my flesh and old-self. I know I (and many others) will never always submit to Jesus on this side of eternity, though my heart and spirit may desire to.

I’m just being real.

Submit! Submit! Submit!

I find it borderline paradoxical where for many leaders in the Church, their journey began with submission (to Jesus’ lordship) and yet often, this idea of submission is not consistently reflected throughout their years as a leader.

It’s as if becoming a leader in the Church creates an exception to perpetual submission under authority. Weird.

But I get it, submission is not a sexy word in our cultural moment, and I can see the reason why:

the very people who ultimately fell from power and authority were the ones who were screaming to the masses, “submit!”

The word and it’s ideals have been tarnished by the very people who wielded it.

It is more uncommon to hear this word “submit” when applied to leaders within the Church and I hope this changes for the newer Millennial and Gen-Z leaders who are now beginning to emerge in church leadership.

We as the younger generation of leaders have seen the rise and fall of leaders older than us. But to just observe and avoid is insufficient to allow history to repeat itself.

We must act.

And in this case, that action is to learn how to submit to authority.

I’ll end with this: at a leadership workshop, the speaker shared how in an “accountability relationship”, you can share 99% of your struggles as a leader, but the 1% you are hiding, is what will actually disqualify you as a leader. However, when one is in community, we unknowingly leave breadcrumbs of the 1% we tend to hide. And in a healthy community, anyone, whether leader or not, can shed light on what needs to be revealed.

This method is by no means fool-proof, but honestly speaking, it’s better than saying, “well he/she is being held accountable by so-and-so”, because accountability as the first line of defense is absolutely rubbish.

So Millennial and Gen-Z leaders in particular:

• Be deeply in community.

• Always be under authority.

• Practice submission to one another’s authority, in community.

• Become healthier leaders, together.