Leadership
By Doug Long
This week I thought I would write about leadership. I have been the leader in almost every job I have ever had. Even in my current job I am designated as a supervisor. I don’t write this to brag, because I must admit that being in a position of leadership can be a humbling experience. When I worked at Disneyland as a crew lead, I was responsible for the second largest store in the park. My store had several departments, and the people running the departments knew how to run them better than I did! This was humbling. I had to depend on these people to do their jobs, because without them I couldn’t have run the store. I also realized that some people had a gift for doing paper work, so I delegated some of my paperwork to those people. My supervisors were pleased that I did this because they figured I was training the next batch of leads, and several of my employees became leads at the park. I think that many were better at it than me. I came to the conclusion while working there that being in a position of authority didn’t make me superior, and this was also humbling. I was part of a larger body where all of the parts needed to work together. This concept applies to the Church. All of the parts need to work together, and some of the parts that seem weaker are indispensable. I Corinthians 12:12-26 the Apostle Paul puts this principal eloquently. I have included it in the next column. We are in this together for a common goal, to spread the word of God as he indented. Superiority or inferiority hang-ups are a waste of energy, and only distract form this goal. We are all important from elders down to the smallest child praising God in the play area of a fast food restraint. All of the parts of God’s body are important.
I Corinthians 12:12-26
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
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I Corinthians 12:12-26
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.