How Can I Become a Better Leader?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we’re recording live from Ligonier’s 2023 National Conference, and I’m joined by Dr. Harry Reeder. He’s the senior pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Reeder, how can Christians grow and become better leaders?

DR. HARRY REEDER: Well, number one, you’ve got to be committed to be a learner to be an effective leader. Great leaders are unstoppable, resolute learners. They’re always learning. That’s why Paul, when he said to Timothy, when he’s putting Timothy into ministry, he says to him, “The things you have learned from me, you give to faithful men who will be able to give to others also”—so, “You give them to others and they’re going to give it to others” (2 Tim. 2:2). But he also said to him, he tells him to continue in the things you have learned (2 Tim. 3:14).

Notice, he’s expecting Timothy to have had and to continue a lifestyle of learning. He says: “Continue in the things you have learned, knowing from whom you have learned them.” Select those who teach you well. When all is said and done, the pupil becomes like the teacher. You’ve got to be a learner, but don’t just learn from anybody. A guy said to me one time, he said, “Pastor, do you believe practice makes perfect?” I said: “Only perfect practice makes perfect. If you’re practicing the wrong things, it’s not going to help you.” So, you want to get the right mentors and the right teachers in your life. So, continue in the things you have learned, knowing from whom you have learned them.

Select your teachers, mentors, and disciplers well, knowing from whom you have learned them, “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15). So not only do you get good teachers, mentors, and disciplers, not only you develop a lifestyle of learning, and you’re staying committed to it, but it is gospel-saturated learning. You need the gospel to saturate everything because the gospel is the foundation, the formation, and the motivation of the Christian life as you stay focused upon Christ.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: That’s really helpful advice, Dr. Reeder. Anything else you’d care to add?

DR. HARRY REEDER: Yeah, here’s another thing that needs to be there: if you’re going to make a lifestyle of learning, then you need to have others in your life not only learning with you but holding you accountable for what you’re learning, and also asking you the tough questions about how you’re doing in your walk with the Lord. Leaders, it’s so easy to just get a public life and lose the depth and the gravitas of your personal life, and if married, your marital life. So, you want those people in your life that care about you enough to ask the tough questions and are there with you not only to hold you accountable but to pray for you and help you grow, and then also to join you in that process of growth.