America, land of the free, home of the independent!

America was founded by many who were coming here to escape religious persecution. There was a pioneer spirit in these rugged adventurers. They were tired of people "telling them what to do", and vowed to never again allow someone else to rule over them in religious matters. As an old friend once told me, "it seems the Church goes from ditch to ditch". From his analogy, we have a hard time finding the middle of the road and making progress. Rather than actually making progress, too often the church has been satisfied just fighting to preserve freedom. High atop the Oregon state capitol stands the Golden Pioneer. He is a symbol of "rugged individualism". That figure and what it stands for seems to be embedded in much of the church leadership in America. A "team spirit" is hard to find. In the Church we have learned how to clothe independence in religious garb. Rather than saying, "he's a rebel", we say, "he marches to the beat of a different drum".

1Ch 12:38 says, "All these men of war, who could keep ranks, came to Hebron with a loyal heart, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were of one mind to make David king. Here we see how David was raised to his place as King. He was supported by a team "who could keep ranks". The result was that all the rest of Israel followed this leadership team and their ability to function in their place of order by having one mind. Those we lead are mostly a reflection of our leadership team. One of the most important things we can do as leaders is to learn to "march in ranks" in the team. New Testament Christianity is not a solo act, it is a concert of harmony. Good harmony is achieved when no one person stands out of the group as the main player. A Senior Leader is more like a director and the team and/or congregation should be working dilligently to discover and maintain that melodic sound. It has been said that there is a "new sound" coming. Could it be that the new sound is the "old sound" finally arriving at harmony?