I think about all the women who have gone before us. It’s time for us to pick up where they left off.
—
When it comes to leadership, most of us fall into two categories.
First, there is the “failure to launch” leader. Do you know the movie Failure to Launch?[2] The one with Matthew McConaughey? McConaughey plays the main character, who refuses to move out of his parents’ house. He just stays there, playing video games and hanging out with friends. He never wants to step out and be all he’s called to be. It’s time for some of us to ask ourselves what’s holding us back. We have no excuse to not be all God has called us to be.
Others of us have recognized that we’re leaders, and we’ve launched into leadership like an astronaut in a space shuttle. But here’s the problem: We’re the only passenger. We’re headed to the top, doing our thing—moving, grooving, slaying, taking land, just going for it. But we haven’t brought any women with us to mentor on the journey. There’s no passing of the baton. God is challenging me and challenging you to bring other women along with us. No matter where you are in life, look around for other God-honoring women and encourage them to keep walking with integrity.
Bringing others along can look as simple as living with integrity. For example, I make a point to avoid gossip. When I come across it in conversation, I try to find a gentle way to end that train of talk. I’ll say something like, “We’re not going to tear her down with gossip. We don’t know her story or her situation.” This is leading in the moment, and those around us might be encouraged to follow along as we try to live with integrity. Whether you’re in high school or college, on the bottom rung at your corporation or in the C-suite, you can lead in this way. Gossip happens in the workplace and among stay-at-home moms, but we can lead by not gossiping and by challenging others to do the same. We can also lead by not filling in the wrong blank when we don’t understand something. When someone doesn’t call us back, we can lead in that moment by giving the benefit of the doubt to that person.
Bringing others along as we lead can look a lot of ways. A woman who is a boss in real estate pours into her community by serving at church and mentoring other people on their journey. My friend Rachel, the worship leader at my church, just pours out her life while being a fantastic mother. From the time her son, Harrison, was just six weeks old, she was breastfeeding in between leading worship and still leading like a boss by pastoring, loving people, and singing. She’s launching into God’s call on her own life, but she’s also raising up an army of younger worship leaders to do the same. Another friend, Summer Graham, who is a major event planner, just had a baby and still shows up to serve at my church every week. She leads our serving teams with strength and grace.
The key is that we have to teach other women to walk in their calling and equip them along the way. You can be rocking and rolling, doing your own thing, but teach somebody else what you’re doing so they can succeed as well. Then when it’s time to pass your baton like Elijah, you have an Elisha who is ready to take up your mantle so the mission doesn’t end with you.
Ephesians 4:1–3 says, “In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love” (MSG). Isn’t that good?
We need to master a few disciplines to lead effectively.
Lead Your Mind
The first one is to lead your thoughts. God has called you to lead no matter if you’re in school, at home, or in the workplace. No matter where your feet touch, you’re called to lead. Let’s be leaders in our responses and our attitudes. How about that? Let’s be leaders in our mindsets.
No one can lead your mind except you.
When we notice we’re thinking overly negative thoughts about ourselves or others, we are the only person who can effectively interrupt those thoughts and replace them with the truth of God’s Word. When fearful ideas rise in our minds, we can compassionately lead ourselves by slowing our thoughts down, thinking carefully about whether what we fear is real or not and reasonable or not, and then considering what we should do about it.
We have a lot more power to change the way we think than we realize.
Lead for Legacy
We lead because of the legacy of women who have gone before us. Sometimes we just take women’s contributions for granted, but there was a day when women couldn’t vote and didn’t have a voice. There was a time when our opinions didn’t matter. There was a time when we were overlooked. There was a time when a woman would have been skipped over for a job in favor of a man. Now, those days are fading and we do have a voice. It’s so important that we realize that other women fought for our current rights, and we can’t take their effort for granted. We have to use the leverage they gained for God’s glory. He’s called us to conquer, to take land, and to do amazing things for His kingdom. But we have to know that our current position comes from the strength and the sacrifice of a generation that’s gone before us.
We have a great cloud of witnesses of women in heaven saying, “You do it, girl. You get that baby ready and you get to church and you host. You do it, girl. You go back to school and get that degree. You do it, girl. You tell people about Jesus on your campus and invite them to church.”
All the women who paved the way for us are cheering us on, along with all the women in the Bible. We have to stand on their shoulders. It’s time for us to pick up the cloak and to stand tall and steward the calling of God well. Someone had to make a way for us. Let’s go first to make a way for those behind us. Let’s be the ones who are ushering in revival and leading others toward salvation. Invite people to your church. Invite them to come to know Christ. Have someone over for coffee, tell them your story, and invite them to come to know Jesus. I came to know Jesus because someone just invited me to church and my life was changed.
So many women fought so many battles and sacrificed so much, many giving their lives, so that we could have an inheritance and be daughters of Christ Jesus. Let’s keep that momentum going. We don’t want to leave the cloak on the floor. We’ve got to pick it up and carry it by telling other people about God’s goodness and faithfulness.
Lead When It’s Hard
We have to lead when it’s hard and when it’s not convenient. When troubles press us on every side, we’ve still got to lead and step into God’s calling on our lives. Pressures weigh on our minds, struggles press on our families, and drama complicates our relationships. Sometimes situations occur that make no sense at all. But listen to what 2 Corinthians 4:8–9 says: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”
Lead Offstage
Here’s another one for you: Lead when you don’t get the credit. Leading well isn’t about our name in lights. It’s all about His glory. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the favor and blessing of God that He has bestowed on all of us. He’s just so good. Some comments on your Instagram posts might tell you how wonderful or beautiful you are. You may have millions of followers. Maybe you have a great talent. But here’s some perspective to keep us all humble: People love us, are following us, and see something in us because we’re carriers of God’s presence. People are attracted to Jesus on the inside of us. I know that I am where I am today, not because I think I’m somebody but because I’m a daughter of God that has chosen to say, “Yes, I will speak up for the girls. Yes, I want to place value on this generation. Yes, I want to get up early and pray when I’m sleepy. Yes, I want to be the woman of God that You’ve called me to be.” But the thing is, when the applause fades and I’m not standing on a platform, I’m called to steward His presence. I’m called to decrease so that He would increase.[3] The same applies to you. No matter how many accolades you get, no matter how many cheers you receive, it’s all for His glory.
Leading doesn’t look like always being in the spotlight, getting all the credit, likes, or followers. Leading sometimes can look like everyone loving you and you having more followers than you can count, but other times it’s a season like Jesus went through when Peter denied even knowing Him. The win of good leadership isn’t applause or acceptance from people. The win is obedience to God. That’s worth saying again. The win isn’t the praise of people; it’s giving glory and honor to God. The win isn’t about our name; it’s about His name. When we seek to push others forward and place value on others, we can find our confidence and definition of success in how He is pleased with us, instead of putting all our hope in the pursuit of being out front. The truth is, leadership is the ability to go first and the humility to be at peace and find joy even when we’re last. Matthew 20:16 says, “Those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”
Our every action should be to bring Him praise, so let’s carry that mission as leaders and steward it well.
Lead with Humility
Last, in humility, we lay our crowns down at the feet of Jesus. Revelation 4:9–11 says, “Every time the Animals gave glory and honor and thanks to the One Seated on the Throne—the age-after-age Living One—the Twenty-four Elders would fall prostrate before the One Seated on the Throne. They worshiped the age-after-age Living One. They threw their crowns at the foot of the Throne, chanting, Worthy, O Master! Yes, our God! Take the glory! the honor! the power!” (MSG).
Can we be women who pray, “Take my family; take my career; take my education—take everything for Your glory because You created it all. My life was created because You wanted it”?
Let’s be humble women. Let’s not be snobby and unapproachable. Let’s walk in the blessings of God with humility. Let’s use all the blessings that He bestows on us to help others. Let’s lay our crowns and our accolades at the feet of Jesus because He is the one who deserves all glory, all honor, and all praise.
Let’s Pray
Dear Jesus, thank You for equipping me to lead and serve others. Thank You for helping me walk in humility and strength. Thank You for giving me wisdom and strategy from heaven. Thank You for speaking through me, leading through me, and preparing me for what’s ahead. I take off any crowns, and I give You the honor and glory. Please go before me, and remind me that the favor and position I have come from You.
10 Crowned to Serve
We live in a day when so much focus is on building your brand, your own kingdom, your own little world around you. In our culture, if a certain endeavor isn’t serving our comfort, our convenience, or our benefit, then it’s looked down on. In my humble opinion, in the last few years, many of us realized that in the blink of an eye all that we hold dear can disappear. I think the unexpected outcome of that realization is a mindset of “What’s in it for me?”
Now, don’t get me wrong. I want you to crush your business, to be successful and at the top in your industry. Whether you’re an influencer, entrepreneur, student, or stay-at-home mom, I’m cheering you on to be all that God has called you to be. Don’t hold back. But in your pursuit, don’t forget the posture of our Savior. He came to lead, but He also came to serve.
When I was praying about this chapter, I struggled at first because I thought the content might sound cliché. But then God brought me to Mark 10:45: “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This verse says that Jesus set the example of service. He wore a crown of thorns, not just to give humanity value but to serve us. He served us with His life, but He also served us with His death because that act guaranteed eternal life for all who would receive Him. We are crowned to serve, because our Jesus was crowned to serve.
So many women have paved the way for us. So many women in biblical history were hidden figures in aiding the ministry of Jesus. I think of Mary Magdalene, Susanna, Joanna, and the many others who supported Jesus and His disciples out of their own resources.[1] Those women serving in the early days set the foundation for our service today. We’re standing on their shoulders.
Women were the major witnesses of Jesus’s birth, crucifixion, and His resurrection. When Christians were meeting in houses during the expansion of the early church, women were there. When Christianity was just getting started, did you know that high-class, wealthy women were some of the first to believe and accept Jesus as Savior?[2] They got rowdy about it.
Women started outnumbering men in the early church. The women who were pioneers in the church received a lot of flak for their service because people couldn’t understand why they were spending their money on the poor. Their actions might not have made sense, but these women didn’t let the fear of being misunderstood hold them back from serving Christ. Even in the early church, women knew that they were crowned to serve. “The women’s spiritual zeal exploded into social service,” and it was a woman who “founded the first Christian hospital in Europe.”[3] Again, women throughout the history of the church have known that they were crowned to serve.
Don’t let the fear of being misunderstood hold you back from serving Christ.
