"Disingenuous mountebanks and their subliminal chicanery! "

A POX ON THEM!!!

So, out of the weird links section of the Internet this week, be sure to check out www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com and it's subsidiary GodTube. Yeesh! With a "Christian Internet" up and running soon there will be radio, TV, bookstores, dating services, who knows what else!

Dodge Dynasty
A good example of autocratic leadership with no future perspective leaving nothing but power vacuums and yes-men... And it's a car!

May I just say a word or two about dynastic leadership? Thank you. Don't worry, I'm not talking about politics... at least not in a governmental context. I'm going to talk about my context: youth ministry.

You see, as my friend the 'K-car' so eloquently demonstrates, dynastic leadership is not effective over the long term. In fact, it's quite damaging.

Let me explain: Dynasty style leadership is the natural result of perfectionism, selfishness, inability to delegate, lack of mentoring, lack of vision, or any combination of the above subtly motivating a leader. Now, even though the elements that get us there are bad, the intentions or motives are usually very good.

For example, Leader A wants to run a tight ship and keep everything organized. Freudian psycho-sexual stages aside, Leader A is pursuing a good quality in administration. However, to reach this end (especially in the volunteer/not-for-profit sector), Leader A will likely burn herself out as she takes on every little task to see it done right. As time passes, Leader A also gets a subconscious self-esteem boost as she is needed to do the job properly.

But what happens when Leader A is to be replaced? Burnout, term limits, or lifespan will get her eventually. Well, enter stage right Leader B.
Problem: A ≠ B
So, what's the scenario? The volunteers perhaps cannot function autonomously and, at first, require micromanaging. Maybe Leader B will notice a vying for control among those who would have made good delegates. Whatever the case, Leader B may as well start at ground zero and cast a new vision or else clone the preceding leadership.

All that hypothetical A/B stuff aside, this can be a real problem. I guess it comes down to human nature and the automatic desire to preserve one's own interests. And that's not all bad. In fact, it seems to me, most problems (especially ministry related) seem to be ok at their core and only become problems in excess. Anyway, every leader is going to have a dynastic leadership to some extent. If you didn't have a dynasty, you probably had absolutely no impact too. It can't be helped on every level. It seems the only 'remedy' is discipleship.

Problem with discipleship is that You know, somewhere down the line, someone is going to forget that it was a movement of love You started and form an institution in your honour.