Godly Influence
Early in my leadership journey I thought that knowing the right answer was enough for people to want to follow me. I soon learned that knowing the right answer ended up being only about 10% of the equation. The remaining 90% would require something more.
To move people towards a new state, I would need to exert influence. And as a Christian leader, I wanted that influence to be godly. Thus began my leadership journey of pursuing a posture of godly influence. To be sure, that journey continues. But time and again, the Lord has been faithful to shepherd my heart with the reminder that as I yield my heart and life to him, influence does emerge.
Godly Personal Influence
Godly personal influence is cultivated through time in his Word, in prayer, and with the wisdom of fellowship with other believers in pursuit of godly influence.
1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
The world is watching our lives.
These words penned by the Apostle Paul form the basis of our Christian influence. The world is watching our lives. The Christian walk is all about making visible the invisible. We who worship and follow our risen Savior make him visible through our personal influence. We do that in the most basic of ways by simply how we live. But this stance is anything but passive. The Christian life well lived has enormous influence as others are drawn to us and to the Lord by observing our Christ-like behavior and its impact.
Godly Corporate Influence
In the Fall of 2019, CRISTA Ministries, where I serve, had an opportunity to influence in a powerful but unexpected way. Our then 70-year-old ministry had served our region and on the international front for decades with the love of Christ through education, senior living, media, camping, and international relief and development. Much of our service was well received and even appreciated. However, in this instance we were faced with opposition to a biblical stance we had taken. We found ourselves in the middle of a cultural battle that put us on the front page of our city’s newspaper and that invited protests, petitions, and a lot of pressure to change that stance to something that resembled the collective values of our region.
How we handled this opposition was the key to wielding godly influence over our region.
To be sure, we knew the answer was found in the unchanging truth of God’s Word. But for our ministry, how we handled this opposition was the key to wielding godly influence over our region. And so, through much prayer and lessons learned through hardship, we emerged with some wisdom on how to exert godly influence as a ministry.
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Standing is not passive.
At a moment when it would be easy to want to defend ourselves or justify our position, we simply stood on the truth of God’s Word. We drew strength from our Lord and from the knowledge that we do not get to make up the rules. We follow his ways out of loving obedience and having done all, we simply stand on that unshakable foundation.
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Truth is love.
Our society has sold us a bill of lies that tells us that love means that we accept everyone’s truth. The Word of God tells us there is one truth, his truth. This truth is borne out of his love for us and for others. It is unyielding but at the same time loving and winsome. It is kind and not defensive. This truth is inviting and humble.
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Being courageous gives courage to others.
As Christians we are not alone in the trials or opposition we face. As CRISTA humbly stood on the truth of God’s Word, other ministries took note and were encouraged. Many reached out to us to thank us for our leadership and to tell us they wanted to follow our example. Through a very challenging time, by God’s grace we influenced many in our region and beyond.
Fast forward five years. Today, we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of our ministry. Over the past seven and half decades there have been numerous times we have had an opportunity to influence our region and world. It continues to be our prayer that our example would encourage others to follow Jesus more faithfully. That is the kind of influence we desire.
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Jacinta Tegman serves as the President & CEO of CRISTA Ministries. Based in Seattle, CRISTA has a focus on fearlessly declaring the gospel with biblical truth and love to lead generations to follow Jesus. Jacinta is married to Roger, and together they have three adult married children and eight grandchildren. www.crista.org.
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