Today I saw my pastor pulling weeds.
Yes, that sentence is correct. I literally saw my senior pastor pulling weeds out of the flower bed that surrounds the front entrance of our church. As he was doing so, in the moment, I asked myself, “Why is my pastor pulling weeds out of the flower bed?” And with that question, my heart was revealed.
As the senior pastor of a 400-person church, with multiple staff members, teams and committees galore, he shouldn’t be pulling weeds out of the flower bed, right?
in the hierarchy of leadership, the CEO wouldn’t pull out weeds, yet in the model of a servant leader – the model that Christ displayed for all of us – sometimes we must roll up our sleeves and pull the weeds. As leaders, no matter what role you have or how many people you have serving underneath you, we must remain grounded. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve (Mat 20:28).
As a leader, I must comprehend that my duty is to serve those in whom God has entrusted to my leadership. I must be willing to pull weeds. I must be willing to clean the bathrooms. I must be willing to do the work of ministry alongside those in whom I am equipping to do so. Effective leadership isn’t a top-down model, but a bottom-up.
So what did I learn from this simple yet profound action? I must pull weeds sometimes. I must not think to highly of myself and my position. I must be willing to do the dirty work for the sake of the Kingdom. I must be willing to lead from a bottom-up model, and serve people for the advancement of the Kingdom.
Leaders… Sometimes we need to pull the weeds.
Foundations 