Lead On Podcast

On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, explores the vital process of accepting your leadership identity, especially for younger Christians who may find this transition intimidating. Drawing on biblical examples like Peter's transformation and his own experiences, Dr. Iorg encourages listeners to embrace their God-given role as leaders with humility, confidence, and a clear understanding that leadership is a calling intertwined with their identity in Christ.

Creators and Guests

Host
Jeff Iorg
President, SBC Executive Committee

What is Lead On Podcast?

Ready to hone your leadership skills and unlock your full potential? Tune in to the Lead On Podcast, where Jeff Iorg dives deep into Biblical leadership.

Hosted by SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg, this dynamic podcast provides insight for seasoned executives, aspiring leaders, or those in ministry who are simply passionate about personal growth. The Lead On Podcast offers actionable, practical tips to help you navigate the complexities of ministry leadership in today's ever-changing world.

From effective communication and team building to strategic decision-making and fostering innovation, each episode is packed with valuable lessons and inspiring stories to empower you on your leadership journey.

Put these principles into practice and Lead On!

Jeff Iorg:

Welcome to the Lead On Podcast. This is Jeff Iorg, the president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, continuing our ongoing conversation about practical issues related to ministry leadership. That's what we do on the lead on podcast. We talk about life in ministry in churches and ministry organizations, the practical side, the ins and outs, the daily grind. So thank you for joining me on this podcast.

Jeff Iorg:

Today, I'd like to talk with you about accepting your leadership identity. Becoming comfortable being called a leader is an intimidating adjustment for many younger Christians. Now for 20, I worked as a seminary president, and I had more than one seminary student tell me, I don't really think of myself as a leader. When I was a seminary president, for example, I made it a habit of supervising one student each academic year through their field education program. I did this for several reasons.

Jeff Iorg:

I enjoyed the personal interaction with students. I wanted to model for faculty and others that kind of personal investment. And I also wanted to stay in touch if I could with students and some of the thoughts and feelings and perspectives they had. And it was in those supervisory meetings that went on every month that I frequently heard this kind

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of comment. I don't really think of myself as a leader. The students were were not yet comfortable with the mantle God had placed on them. These were God called, ministry committed graduate students,

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and they had a hard time accepting that they are supposed to be leaders. You know, these these students really had no problem identifying themselves as ministers, servants, missionaries, counselors, pastors, or really of any other various ministry roles. What they had a harder time accepting

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is they are leaders. Now part of God's call to leadership is accepting a new identity, a new definition of who you are and how you will live. You're no longer just a believer, now you're a believer who's a leader of believers. You have a new identity. And part of learning to lead begins with accepting this new identity even though you may not know all that it entails from the beginning.

Jeff Iorg:

Now biblical characters are often viewed by modern readers from the end of

Jeff Iorg:

their story back to the beginning. We assume too much, I think, about their understanding of God's initial work in their lives because we have the benefit of spiritual hindsight. In other words, I'm not sure that every biblical character understands everything at the beginning of their journey that we understand about the beginning of their journey because they don't see it from the end back to the beginning like we do. We know the rest of the story. We know the rest of the story from the end of

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the story going back to the beginning. So let's take, for example, Peter.

Jeff Iorg:

It's easy to assume that Peter knew he would be a great spiritual leader because of the remarkable leader he proved to be, but that assumption is is not necessarily accurate. Until Peter met Jesus, for example, he had been more concerned with catching fish than kingdom leadership. The Bible tells us that Andrew and Simon were brothers who operated an extensive commercial fishing operation with multiple boats and business partners. Now, Simon probably demonstrated leadership ability in that context, but we can only speculate about his efforts or his experience in spiritual leadership up to that time. But what's clear from the Bible's record

Jeff Iorg:

is that Andrew wanted his brother to meet Jesus. He wanted Simon to experience the life change such a meeting could produce. He may have also wanted his brother, a business owner, to use his talents for different purposes. So Andrew went to Peter and said, we have found the Messiah. And after that declaration, and with that declaration, Andrew introduced Simon to Jesus.

Jeff Iorg:

Now, what happened next is very interesting related to identity. Jesus met Simon. Now just as a parenthesis for a moment, can you imagine the life panorama Jesus might have visualized knowing who Simon Peter would become? I mean,

Jeff Iorg:

that first day that Simon walked up to Jesus accompanied by his brother Andrew, Can you imagine what must have gone through Jesus' mind as he looked at Simon Peter and realized what he

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was going to do through this man? So in meeting him, Jesus named Simon Cephas, that's an Aramaic word, which is translated Peter in the Greek. Now Cephas or Peter means the rock. Jesus is identified as the Messiah,

Jeff Iorg:

Simon as the rock. Now, these are powerful titles describing unique roles for both men. Now, Jesus fully understood them, but it's pretty clear Peter did not yet grasp all that Jesus meant by either title. Peter did not fully understand what it meant for Jesus to be Messiah, what that was going to be like, what that was going to entail. And Peter definitely did not understand what it meant for him to be the rock, especially not from the very beginning.

Jeff Iorg:

Of course, Jesus fully understood what both titles meant, but Peter would only come to understand them over the next several years. And this new identity that Peter received is really symbolic of the new identity we receive when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, and then beyond that, the new identity we receive as we are assigned a leadership role in God's kingdom. So Jesus inaugurated his relationship with Peter by giving him a new identity. He changed Simon's name,

Jeff Iorg:

which was a dramatic beginning to their relationship and a clear indication Jesus intended to relate to Peter on new terms. You know, names have the power to shape character. I have a native American friend who has both an Anglo name and a tribal name. Now his

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Anglo name enables him to function in American culture, to function more seamlessly and to fit in more easily, but his tribal name his tribal name,

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That reveals the expectations his people have for him.

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It's a descriptive name of his character and his function. It's a descriptive name of what people aspire for him to

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be among them. It's a descriptive name of what he can become as he fulfills his name. That's what I mean when I say that names have the power to shape character. So calling my friend by his tribal name evokes his heritage and motivates him to be a man of character and initiative.

Jeff Iorg:

Calling him by that name is a call to action, to growth, to change. Now names also have the power to reveal character. This is one of the reasons God is known by so many names in the Bible. You know, God's nature is too complex to be described in only one name, so he has dozens of names, descriptive and proactive. So when Jesus changed Simon's name

Jeff Iorg:

to Peter, the rock, he created a goal for Peter to mature toward and an expectation for his progress as a disciple. He said, you're gonna follow me and you're gonna be the rock.

Jeff Iorg:

Now the full impact of his new name would not become evident to Peter for many years.

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But from the beginning, it must have struck him as powerfully significant

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that Jesus would change his name at their first meeting. Now why?

Jeff Iorg:

What did this mean? Why did this happen? Why such a

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dramatic declaration? Well, his new name had a direct connection to his new identity as a leader, yet he had not assumed that leadership identity or any specific leadership role that would come much later. Nevertheless, when Peter met Jesus, his leadership trajectory was launched by the new name he received.

Jeff Iorg:

Now when you became a Christian, you may not have received a new name, but you did get a new identity. You became a believer, a follower of Jesus, a Christian. And when God called you to ministry leadership, again, you may not have gotten a new name, but you got a new identity, leader. And that's important for

Jeff Iorg:

you to understand as you accept the identity and the role that God has given you in your life. Now, beyond this initial encounter in which Peter was called a leader, it is evident that Jesus also intended him to be the leader of the original 12 disciples. You probably know this, but whenever the 12 are mentioned in the Bible, Peter is always listed first. And when small groups of three or four disciples are mentioned, Peter is usually mentioned first, or he's portrayed in the story as a leader. So Peter was more than just a leader.

Jeff Iorg:

Peter was a leader of leaders, and many younger leaders have an even more difficult time accepting this assignment, leading leaders than even answering the simple call to lead. Yet,

Jeff Iorg:

God expects some to become leaders of leaders. This is the only way any organization, including a church or any other ministry organization, can grow is by leaders becoming leaders of leaders. Whether it's a church planting movement or an inner city recovery ministry or a suburban megachurch or a denominational entity like I serve, all large organizations require layers of leaders to enlarge their impact. So God calls some to lead, some to lead leaders, and a few to lead many leaders.

Jeff Iorg:

Now having said all that, we come back to the question that formed the foundation for this podcast and for the title that I announced. The question is this, why is a leadership identity so hard to accept? Well, let me give you some suggested reasons. First, some people struggle to accept their identity as leaders because of false humility. They believe saying, I am a leader, is a prideful statement.

Jeff Iorg:

It is not. Agreeing with God you are a leader is simply accepting and affirming his assignment. And in a sense, denying your role as a leader is prideful since you're making yourself the final authority and reject God's plan for you. Accepting your assignment, I am a leader, demonstrates humility, not pride. Now

Jeff Iorg:

let's talk about this just for another minute.

Jeff Iorg:

When you are called by God and he places you into the responsibility of ministry leadership, for you to own that and to say, I'm a leader, this is what God has called me to be, is a factual statement of God's work in your life. To deny that is to reject God's plan, and is actually a form of arrogance of you saying, well, I know God has called me, and I know God has assigned me as a leadership responsibility, but I just can't own that identity because I know better than God how to describe myself.

Jeff Iorg:

That's arrogance.

Jeff Iorg:

That's you claiming that you know more than God, so back off that. Saying I am a leader,

Jeff Iorg:

that's what God has called

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me to be, is a statement of humility and demonstrates your dependence to and your submission to God. Now related to this are some struggles that younger leaders often have with expressions of authority or

Jeff Iorg:

the creation of organizational structure. What I mean is that they reject becoming a leader or claiming their leadership identity because they don't wanna be perceived to be putting themselves over people in a higher box, if you will, on the org chart. These are considered also statements of of arrogance or pride and really frankly also tend to undermine or be an impediment to spiritual community or Christian community.

Jeff Iorg:

But what about that? Is it true that placing yourself above others and having authority over them is a bad thing?

Jeff Iorg:

Are you like some leaders who believe that everything can be done by collaboration, conversation, and coffee? You you don't want any kind of hierarchy or any kind of structure, and you certainly don't want to perceive yourself to be on that chart over some and under others. Look, all of this aversion to organizational authority is an overreaction. In fact, it's kind

Jeff Iorg:

of a leadership cop out that actually limits kingdom growth. Have you noticed

Jeff Iorg:

that leading technology companies who employ so many younger adults have no trouble creating structure and expressing authority. They have no problem hiring people to entry level positions, promoting people, putting people over other people, establishing systems of authority and structure, and everyone seems to

Jeff Iorg:

wanna work in that just fine. So it seems like this aversion to structure and to creating structure and expressing authority through structure is really a problem among younger ministry leaders,

Jeff Iorg:

not all younger leaders. So don't buy into the myth that true community and true equality among brothers and sisters and true fellowship or companionship among brothers and sisters means that you can't have structure or that that structure somehow inhibits the work that we're trying to get done together. So one reason that people struggle with embracing their leadership identity is a sense of false humility and an aversion to any kind of structure

Jeff Iorg:

that places them above another person or gives them authority over another person. Now let's move on to another idea. Some younger leaders struggle to accept their identity because they feel inadequate to lead.

Jeff Iorg:

Now inadequacy is not a disqualifying characteristic.

Jeff Iorg:

If it were, God would not have any leaders.

Jeff Iorg:

All of us all of us feel inadequately. But younger leaders feel this inadequacy because they often idealize the character and the skills required to lead. They they look to mentors and measure themselves by their more mature leadership qualities. What a lot of younger leaders fail to realize is their mentors were much like them when they were the same age. They had limited skills and were still working through character formation issues.

Jeff Iorg:

Look, God calls and uses imperfect, inadequate

Jeff Iorg:

people in leadership. So don't be

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intimidated by comparing yourself to those who are far more experienced than you are. If you're struggling to accept your leadership identity because you feel inadequate to lead compared to your pastor or compared to your collegiate ministry leader or compared to some professor that you've met or a seminary administrator that you admire, if you're struggling to accept your identity because you say, well, I'm just not that person. I don't have their character. I don't have their skills. I don't have their experiences.

Jeff Iorg:

I don't have their confidence. I don't have their wisdom. Well, you're making the wrong comparison. Ask yourself, not how do I compare to those people, but if you're really trying

Jeff Iorg:

to make a comparison, ask yourself, how do I compare to my peers? Here's what I've observed over the years. Leadership or leaders, I should say, rise. And in every context, people look to other people that they perceive to be leaders. So I've said it this way before.

Jeff Iorg:

If you are a college student and when people are struggling, it's your door they knock on in your dorm room and they say, have you got just a minute? We could talk. You're probably a leader.

Jeff Iorg:

If you're in a college situation and they're going to organize dorm bible studies and someone says, would you put that plan together and make sure that the people are recruited to lead those studies and supervise those people? Well, then you you're a leader. If you're a teenager and there's a youth worship service being organized and everyone turns to you and says, Would you preach the sermon? They probably see you as the leader. What I'm trying to illustrate here is that in every generation and in every context, people look to other people they perceive to be leaders in the moment.

Jeff Iorg:

And so rather than comparing yourself to these veteran leaders who are twenty five years more experienced than you and farther down the road in you and character and skill development and all this, just ask yourself, how do my peers see me? And am I frequently asked to step forward in leadership in those contexts? And if so, then you may be more willing to embrace your identity as a leader because you see many people around you already expressing that identity on your behalf because they're looking to you for leadership.

Jeff Iorg:

All right? Here's another reason. Younger leaders also resist accepting their leadership identity because they fear the responsibility

Jeff Iorg:

it brings with it.

Jeff Iorg:

Leadership brings responsibility.

Jeff Iorg:

To quote the old proverb from the president, the buck stops here. That's what leadership is. It's taking responsibility. And while learning to lead, new leaders have deserve their mentors or their professors or their pastors and the responsibility they bear, and that can seem overwhelming.

Jeff Iorg:

And quite frankly, it would be if that were your leadership burden, but it's not. You see, God is gracious. He's

Jeff Iorg:

gracious in doling out leadership responsibility commiserate with our capacity to take it on. And God has a wonderful way of matching leadership responsibility with leadership development. And he also has a wonderful way of using leadership responsibility to enhance leadership development. In fact, only God can do two things simultaneously, and he does these two things in our lives at the same time. He matches our responsibility with our current level of development, and then he uses our responsibility to enhance our development and get us ready for greater responsibility.

Jeff Iorg:

So if you're having a hard time accepting your leadership identity because you don't want to bear the responsibility that comes with it, because you look at the responsibility that other more veteran leaders are bearing and that you wonder, could I really do that? Well, I'll give you the answer. Probably not. But that's okay because you're not likely going to start with that level of responsibility. You're to start with something much less and more proportional to the leadership abilities and the character development that you've already achieved.

Jeff Iorg:

And then God will both put you in a place where you can be successful and also in

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a place where you will be stretched and tested to make you ready for what he wants you to take on in the future. And it's amazing that as you grow in your capacity to lead, God will at the same time increase your leadership responsibility proportionately. So don't fear the burden of leadership. God will give you the responsibility that you are supposed to bear in proportion to your readiness to shoulder the burden of that leadership.

Jeff Iorg:

Man, there's been so many ways that this has worked out in my life over the years. When I was a young pastor, I had to pray and trust God for a few $100,000 for a church building program.

Jeff Iorg:

And I remember back in those days thinking that must have been all the money that was available in the world. Later,

Jeff Iorg:

in another ministry in the convention and in the seminary, I had to trust God for a few million dollars.

Jeff Iorg:

And now and now I'm responsible for a multimillion dollar budget and developing projects that spend million dollars annually on different projects and possibilities. So how did I get ready for this level of responsibility? Well, God equipped me by growing me through past leadership experiences, both placing me in a role where I could thrive with my level of skill and character development while at the same time, and only God can do this, while at the same time, God using those circumstances

Jeff Iorg:

to shape me and stress me and stretch me and make me ready to take on even more responsibility in the future.

Jeff Iorg:

So let's think about this issue again, leadership identity. Simon became Peter, the kingdom leader. The fisherman became the rock. Meeting Jesus and accepting the new identity that he created changed everything for Peter. It's the same for you.

Jeff Iorg:

When you met Jesus in the moment of your conversion, you received a new identity, Christian. And then when you encountered Jesus in the moment of your call to ministry leadership, you received a new identity, leader. So for you to call yourself a Christian leader is a perfectly appropriate identity designator. You're a Christian. Your identity is in Jesus Christ.

Jeff Iorg:

You're a leader. Your identity is in your calling extended to you by Jesus Christ.

Jeff Iorg:

You know, I've been a leader for so long that I've come to wear that identity, very naturally, and I hope well. But recently, I was surprised even by a statement made to me about this. When I was struggling with the whole process of stepping out of my retirement plans and coming to the executive committee, I had a very frank conversation with my wife about what we should do and what her perspective was on going forward into the future. And she said these words, which I can quote precisely because they were burned into my soul. I said, Anne, what do you really think about this opportunity and whether or

Jeff Iorg:

not we should do it? And here were her words. She said,

Jeff Iorg:

I know who I married.

Jeff Iorg:

I married a leader. Now you need to get to Nashville and do what you do. She said, I know who I married. I married a leader. When she said those words to me, it cut into my soul because I realized after more than forty years of marriage, my wife knows me pretty well,

Jeff Iorg:

and she knows that I'm a Christian. My identity is in Jesus Christ, and I'm a leader because of my calling from Jesus Christ. I'm a Christian leader, and I'm willing to own that identity and serve as well as I can out of it. Now you may have been a leader for a while and you may be like me, you've come to be comfortable with that identity. But if you're a younger leader, you may be like those countless seminary students I encountered over the years who struggled to embrace their identity as a leader, yet comfortable seeing yourself through that lens.

Jeff Iorg:

Establish your identity in Jesus Christ. You're a Christian. Then live out your calling from Jesus Christ. You're a leader. There's not anything wrong.

Jeff Iorg:

There's nothing prideful, nothing authoritarian, nothing to be feared. There's no negative. For matter of factly and honestly, owning your identity. I'm a Christian. I'm a leader.

Jeff Iorg:

That's who I am. And in the context of that, offering yourself to God to be used as he sees fit to accomplish his purpose through you. I'm a Christian. I'm a leader. That's our identity.

Jeff Iorg:

Think on it as you lead on.