If you want to know whether you’re a leader or not, simple — Look over your shoulder. Jesus said in John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me.” I Cor. 11:1 Paul said, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” We all need human models. Sure we’re to follow Christ but we need human models to follow.

John Maxwell’s parable of leadership, “He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.”

Leadership has absolutely nothing to do with titles or position. It has to do with influence. This is a mistake a lot of bureaucracies make. A guy thinks, because he has a title, people are going to automatically follow and that’s not necessarily true at all. There is a big difference between having a boss and having a leader. It’s not a position or a title. Many people have authority but they don’t have leadership. I’ve been in a lot of churches where they have elected leaders but the church is really run by brother “so and so” over here who everybody knows is the real leader, the real pace setter.

If you have to tell people that you are the leader, if you have to remind people that you’re the leader, you’re not. You don’t have to remind people. Leadership is influence and if you’re not influencing anybody it doesn’t mater whether you think you’re the leader or not — you’re not. It’s all influence.

The same thing is true in your home. When you say to your wife, “We’re going to do it this way, because I am the spiritual leader,” guess what? You are not! You’ve just lost it. The truth is if you’re really leading, you don’t have to remind people.

How about if one of your children comes to you and says, “Why should I do this?” and you say, “Because I say so”. That is a very weak position to motivate from. It just doesn’t work too good. The test of leadership is you have somebody following. You cannot force people to follow you no matter what you do.