We must become BELOVED LEADERS.The “Beloved Community” was Dr. King’s phrase. There can be no beloved community if there are no beloved leaders. You must let a force come on you and flow through you.
AGAPE love = the unconditional love of God.
AGAPEO = to be loved and loving simultaneously. We lead by loving the world. This same John wrote, “God so loved the world…” God wants to do something about education, forced child prostitution, and all the other problems in our society.
When Jesus comes back it’ll be Justice. Until then friend, it is “Just-us.”
Nobody loves across racial lines like God! There was a force beyond this place that came into this place … and loved everybody. A leader needs love! Go ahead and get all the knowledge you can, read all the books you can, but if you can’t love across racial lines you can’t lead!
We must be loving leaders.
We must be an ABIDING LEADER.
John says, “… love of God abides in us ... ” People must see that. We abide in something beyond us. Some people don’t step out and lead in a multi-cultural world because they feel like they are not qualified.
It’s not about qualification!
The church should be multi-racial and multi-ethnic. Tribalism is still a deep evil force that courageous and bold leaders must take on. No matter where you are, you cannot escape disparities around the world that exist because of race, class and place! Disparities exist in the church!
We abide in the force of God’s love.
We stay where the hurting people are; we created dwelling places. Sometimes, to lead, we have to stop dreaming about church buildings and we need to have visions about dwelling places where hurting people are.
We must be CONFESSING LEADERS (1 John 4:15).
Take responsibility. Say, “My bad,” when you mess up. Take responsibility. Jonah had to say, “The reason there is a storm in the world, is ‘my bad.’”
NOTE THIS ... When high pressure collides with low pressure a storm erupts. When the high pressure of God's will bumps against the low pressure of what we’d rather do, a storm erupts.
There is no institution in the USA that can make the case, “We only cater to people who are like each other.” That’s “low-pressure.”
The Confessing Leader says, “I’m confessing, ‘I don’t know what to do.’”Whatever you are, confess that. Be honest. Wherever you are, just confess that. What if we actually did something about the system and ethos that created the black church, and the Korean church? What if we saw ourselves beyond black and white?
(1 John 4) Some things have to be rearranged. A case can be made for ethnic specific churches ... but, we still cannot deny all of the communities around the world that are mobile, hip-hop and multi-cultural. Crazy kids come in all colors and sizes and places all over the world. We don’t need any more grown men with “little” in front of their name.
[Mark Beeson/Ephrem Smith]
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