An Attribute to Leadership

Ed Wilson

Ed Wilson

Secretary-Treasurer

January 6, 2012

It was a warm spring day in 1973. It was a special occasion for me. It was my time to experience the laying on of hands as I was ordained into full-time ministry. It was Brother T.H. Spence’s last District Council as district superintendent. The guest speaker was General Superintendent T.F. Zimmerman. Before the ordination service, which took place at night, I experienced something that changed my life.

I was standing in front of the Tabernacle in Montgomery talking with an older pastor. As we were talking, Brother Zimmerman came out of the Tabernacle and recognized the minister with whom I was speaking. They embraced and exchanged greetings and then Brother Zimmerman turned and hugged me, engaging me in conversation as if he had always known me. As if I was somebody. I was absolutely blown over. Here I was a young pastor of a very small struggling church, and the general superintendent took time to talk with me. Of the tens of thousands of churches and ministers, the guest speaker who held the highest office in the Assemblies of God had time to make me feel like the most special minister in his life. I realized then the meaning of leadership through inclusion regardless of a person’s station in life.

Pastor Bill Hybels talked about this as he titled his book, Descending Into Greatness. Paul used the words “condescend to men of low estate” Romans 12: 16. Both say the same thing - don’t forget to reach those who have little to return.

Leadership will always require recognition of those who are on the way up as well as those who have arrived. The guy in the little church may someday become the pastor of the mega-church. The struggling missionary who can barely raise the necessary funds to go to the place of his calling may be the one to spark the revival that will touch a whole nation. A true leader will give assistance to the struggling while praising the successful. A manager will see those who have not arrived as dispensable, while the leader will see the same individual as irreplaceable.

I walked into the interview room to speak with the Birmingham Sectional Credential Committee about receiving my first credentials. I was twenty years old and totally ignorant of how to do what God had called me to do. I had turned in my application and a reference letter signed by my pastor and a board member. Some of those on this committee had met with me a couple of months before and had given me permission to reopen a church and serve as pastor – without credentials. Now I was to meet with District Superintendent T.H. Spence, District Secretary-Treasurer C.C. Hidle, Presbyter Leonard Page, Assistant Presbyter Earnest Pettry, and Secretary Robert W. Hicks to interview for my exhorters. The reference letter was the problem.

My pastor was less than flattering when he stated in the letter, “he says he is called to preach”, “he has a good personality”, and “his zeal is beyond his understanding.” My question, how could this committee ever give a credential to me?

Brother Spence asked several questions, lifted the application and looked one final time at the letter, and said, “When you go to Graysville, remember you have friends in Montgomery. I was shown real leadership that day. Again, an unknown man had appeared before men of stature and they saw the future possibility rather than the immediate work in progress.

The truth is, when I look at the disciples Jesus chose, I wonder why. None of them proved to be much in the beginning. They didn’t even pass the final test at Jesus’ death, but after the resurrection and ascension the Holy Spirit came and equipped them for service. The leader, Jesus, saw them in their possibilities and they were left by Him to lead the church.

Look around. Are you intimidated by the pastor of the mega-church? Remember, they weren’t always there. Do you feel you will never make it? Again remember, God isn’t through.

All of us can find someone who needs us to assist them in finding their place in the economy of God. Those at the top have a responsibility to God to lift those who are struggling to climb.