Here are a couple of lessons about leadership and how to handle your relationships with successors.
7) Don't Be Ashamed Of Who You Are & How God Has Shaped You
Most ministry leaders waste some of their best years worrying about what others think & trying to figure out how to please those people. Stop it! Instead discover what God is saying to you & work on pleasing Him. Once you've learned how God has made you & shaped you to lead, to do anything less is disobedience in the name of keeping people happy. Here's a not so big secret: Those who lead in the direction God is leading usually make a few people mad along the way. Don't sacrifice your God given character, talent, & vision to lead just to keep some people "happy" who will probably never be happy.
8) Pray For Those Who Step Into Your Shoes
If you're leaving one place of leadership or ministry, pray for whoever follows. It doesn't matter whether you know them or get to meet them face to face, pray for them. Those of us in church world tend to think changing a staff situation is a cure-all, but it's not. Whoever follows you is going to deal with the same stuff you faced, both good & bad. And who better to pray for them than you? After all, you've lived it; you know exactly what they will face & what they will need to overcome obstacles & to continue the momentum in that position. So pray for them. If you can meet them, great. If they're totally anonymous, great. Just pray for them.
God has designed you to lead in a way that is unique to who you are. That means you need to understand who you are to maximize your leadership impact. Also, leadership is a stewardship. One day you won't be the leader anymore; praying for & supporting the leader to follow is an extension of godly leadership.
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