Leading from the Second Chair – Insight

Thoughts for the day.

I have a desire to be the best leader that I can possibly be and until coming to Hillsville First Methodist I had been in the first chair as the leader of several businesses and organizations. I have read lots of leadership books and I am a big fan of John Maxwell and all of the leadership material that he offers.

However when I came on as the Associate Pastor of 1st Hillsville I found myself in a place I hadn’t been in a long time. By the way, there aren’t many books that address the second chair. I now hold a place of leadership but I am not the one that has the responsibility to cast the vision for the entire church. There are areas that I have that role in the church, such as Out of the Box but just not for the mother church.

I find this to be a two sided coin. I long to be the vision caster. I long to be the one who sets the tone of the ministries and leads those entities. However, at the same time I lovethe fact that all of the burden doesn’t fall on me for all of the decisions. There is a Senior Pastor that has that responsibility. My responsibilities are deep and wide but still not that of the Sr. Pastor.

Here is what I learned or was reminded of as I read chapter 1 of the book today. Joseph was a Second Chair leader, Genesis 41:40,

You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

It is a great encouragement to me to remember and learn from a man the caliber of Joseph. He has always been one of my heros in the Bible and one that I counted as wise and discerning, at least later in life.

I am looking forward to sharing what I learn through this book over the next few days and for now here is a prayer that I believe is very appropriate for the Second Chair Leader.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.