Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
February 3, 2008
Good leaders never stop learning and growing
Rick Warren
is the widely known pastor of
His present best seller is titled The Purpose Driven Life. More than eleven million copies have been sold. The book’s popularity is still growing.
Like many
pastors I have been impressed by
One of those traps is the temptation to stop growing. Success may sometimes lead to arrogance. When a pastor stops learning, he stops growing. When he stops growing, he stops leading. Good leaders are learners. And they never stop learning and growing – or they stop leading.
When the people needed more water, God told Moses to “speak” to the rock to obtain water. However Moses ignored God’s command and did what he had done the last time to obtain water; he struck the rock. God did allow the water to come forth from the rock. But he told Moses that his disobedience would keep him from entering the Promised Land.
A profound truth emerges from this biblical story. It is absolutely necessary to listen to God and obey God if we are to obtain all the blessings he wants to give us. Moses’ refusal to obey God was a costly mistake.
The lesson for us is clear. If we continue to do things the way we have always done them, we will soon be out of step with God for God is always doing “a new thing.” Whatever worked last year may not work today. What we learn from Moses’ mistake is that obeying God is more important than trusting the ruts you have always walked in.
The
Criswell
served as pastor of
Rick shared how unworthy he felt one day when Adrian Rogers asked him to tell the other pastors about his church. As he began sharing he was stunned to notice the great W. A. Criswell taking notes! No wonder he was such an effective leader; after preaching for over 50 years, Criswell was still learning!
I take notes
when I hear
Good leaders never stop learning and growing. Good pastors, even old pastors, never stop learning and growing – or taking notes when a younger leader is speaking. No matter our age, there is still so much to learn. + + +