Growing up my mom taught my siblings and I that courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s doing the right thing even when you’re afraid. And this is the kind of courage it takes to lead; courage that will act despite how you feel. Here’s a couple for instances:
- It takes courage to do the right thing, even when it might cost you something (i.e. like letting a bad volunteer or staff go without knowing who God will raise up to replace them).
- It takes courage to stand before your congregation and preach something that isn’t popular or politically correct to say in our culture (i.e. that homosexuality is a sin or that wives need to submit to their husbands).
- It takes courage to try something new. After all, it might fail and that would be embarrassing.
- It takes courage to initiate change. After all, most people like things the way they are so you risk upsetting the status quo.
- It take courage to make decisions. Anytime you make a decision you risk someone in your church or someone on your staff not liking it.
It took courage for David to kill Goliath. It took courage for Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem under constant threat of attack. It took courage for Jesus to die on the cross. It took courage for Peter to preach the gospel when doing so might cost him imprisonment or death. It took courage for Paul to head back into the city that stoned him and left him for dead. But hey – it takes courage to lead.
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