The Quality of a Leader

I mentioned in a previous post that we were blessed to spend a week at the Christian Community Development Association Conference, we had the chance to go and learn from people who have walked the paths we are walking.  It was encouraging to hear the testimonies of how God is moving in cities around the world. 

CCDA was started by a man named John Perkins, who along with his wife moved to Mississippi over 35 years ago to live out the gospel among the people there.  They founded CCDA which has grown from just 200 people to over 2000 people.  They are wonderful testimonies to people walking the walk, not just talking. 

Every morning we had the chance to participate in a Bible study with John Perkins. One morning he focused a lot on leadership and I wanted to share this quote with you:

  "We need to measure the quality of a leader by the amount of growth the people he is leading are experiencing."

That quote has really stayed with me since we left CCDA, and has really reoriented my thoughts on leading others.  I think oftentimes we look at the quality of a leader by what he gets done, or the amount of people who show up.  We don't always look at the potential fruit, or the growth that the leader is encouraging in us the followers.  I just wanted to share that with you and give you a chance to evaluate how you look at the leaders you follow and the people you lead.