Arrogance and Leadership

From the Merriam-Webster online Dictionary: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.

I have come to a moment of self-realization this past week. I don’t like to be employed by other people, especially when I am working in a subordinate role where those I am working for don’t know what I know or what I can do for the enterprise.

Frequently, in these situations I am accused of being arrogant. This comes up fairly often in my interactions with others. I realized this past week that I have been in the subordinate role since November 1995 when I agreed to accept the interim pastorate of a church in Southern California. In that role, even though you may not be collecting a salary, everyone who attends the church thinks they are "the boss of you."

You can see how this would give a person with my makeup a hard time. This is why I have pretty much vowed to never have the word pastor connected with my name again. I was starting to make that mistake as I labored in Florida, but now I am truly committed. I may be a senior. I may "pastor" someone by accident from time to time. But I will never let anyone call me a "senior pastor" again.

Leader, consultant, the guy who does that thing, these roles all suit me better. In my tent-making trade I am a laywer. Let me ask you: Do you want lawyers who are inferior, subordinate and do not claim to know the law and how it applies to your situation? Do you see what I am driving at here? Don’t we want our lawyers arrogant? Especially if they are championing our cause? In the church however, we seem to adopt some kind of group-think where everyone in the room has a bright idea and no idea is better than another. Can that really be true? And if so, how are we going to accomplish all of those ideas and plans?