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Part Three Samuel a Leadership Homily.



Be successful in your Leadership.

How do we as Christian leaders measure our success when we get old? This is not something that leaders feel comfortable talking about. After all to measure something within the church- such as congregation growth or financial reward, could be seen to be tantamount to pride or arrogance. Or should a measurement of success rather be what people think about us and how they remember the words we have spoken or messages and wisdom we have brought to our churches. But I would ask the question why can't it be both, why can't success be measured by that growth and what we leave behind then is as a result of the our words and wisdom. In this case the first is a measurement of leadership success and the second is a measurement of ministry success.

In secular business success is measured through how its leader has grown the business, how much profit is made, what the present value of the stock on the stock exchange is, the number in the workforce and how they achieved their KPI's.(Key performance indicators)

1) Samuel was successful in his leadership. (1 Sam 12) The people were witness to the success of Samuel's leadership (verse 2&4) For the people Samuel's KPI's were that he had not cheated them or oppressed them. He had done what he was asked by anointing a King for them even though he foresaw the problems that it would bring.

2) Samuel was in sync with God's times and seasons. Just because Samuel felt that he had come to the end of his usefulness doesn't mean that God felt that way. Samuel still had time to rebuke Saul for his misdeeds (1Sam 13) and still had time to anoint David King (1 Sam 16). And Samuel even had time to come back from the dead to give Saul another roasting.(1 Sam 28)

Today we can measure our success by looking at what has been achieved in and through us. The church that we have built, the men and women that have been raised up into leadership. The fact that we have not been satisfied with the size of our congregations and always wanted bigger and better. That we never tired of the mission of Christ and that this was passed on and practiced by those we raised up. That all the key performance indicators we set for ourselves have been achieved. To measure this is not arrogance or pride, this is a measurement on whether your leadership has succeeded or not. It is a measurement also of whether or not your ministry to those you have raised up to help you build has succeeded or not.

 But we also need to remember that we have been open and in sync with God's timings and seasons and that even though we are growing old like Samuel who wanted to retire and for his sons to take over the family business, God may have another direction for us to go God has not finished with us YET!

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