There is a series of books that I'm going to finally start going through. They are by a guy named Aubrey Malphurs who I think is a professor at DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary). I know that he is well respected by a few of my friends and I have already been through one of his book Values Driven Leadership. The series starts with a book called Being Leaders then Building Leaders and ends with Leading Leaders.

So, I got through the first chapter of the first book and it really was engaging. It starts with the fact that everyone who is a Christian Leader is that in the community, church and their own lives. Then it goes through the criteria as to what makes one a Christian leader.

One of the things that stood out to me was that Christian Leaders understand the importance of Motives. This is really important as any leader deals directly or indirectly with conflict or any number of situations. As we lead, we must remember that some of the biggest mistakes that are made may have the best motives behind them. Leaders don't get the opportunity to see straight to the heart (like God does) but sometimes we do need to slow down to take a different perspective.

This really makes sense in Middle school ministry. Sometimes people are quick to write off all the fun, non-stop energy and sometimes disrespect as rude middle school antics... A lot of times this is the furthest thing from the truth... it could be a cry for help, attention, a Godly mentor. As we lead, help us to remember that our motives need to be right and that the people we lead have motives of their own.