Hello Brad,
Thank you for sharing this.  It is definitely food for thought and makes one 
take a long hard look at ones self.

Virgie and lady Hoshi
doing business at

www.vunderwood.ktostemtech.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "B Dunse" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 12:28 PM
Subject: Followership concluded


Conclusion of Followership...


I'm coming down to an important  realization for
which groundwork has been laid. That is to not
follow God, does not remove him from his position
as leader. Satan found out what it was to test
the authoritative position of God. If a student
were to not obey their teacher or professor in
college, that does not remove them from being
their teacher or professor. It will just get them
an "F."  It does not remove either of them from
their positions as leader and follower. The
student will have to take it again next year, and
they will take it until they say "yes" when the
answer is "yes", no matter what they believe it is.

There are three simple ways to find out if you
are a leader or a follower in life. You'll need
to survey each area of your life and ask yourself
"Am I a leader here or a follower here?" But God
has provided a way to make that determination.

1. God's specific written word. God's Word
plainly speaks to many areas of life and tells us
if we are a leader or a follower. If God's Word
is already predetermined and has given His Word
on a matter or category, then we fit in that
category. The Bible instructs children to obey
their parents.  Parents then are leaders and
children are followers. There is no use praying
to try to move God to change those positions.
There are no reasons to think there are
special  exemptions why that does not apply to us
in any case. If you are a child, you are a
follower in that child -parent relationship.  If
you're a parent you are a leader in that
child-parent relationship. If you are a leader
you are responsible to lead, if you are a
follower you are responsible for following. Very
simply, if God already tells your position in his
Word, then you know what to do. If God does not
say it in very plain language such as
parent-child for example, there is still.

2. Biblical examples. God's Word shows clear
Biblical  examples, patterns and principles that
show a predetermination how leaders and followers
should flow. He said in Romans 13 for us to obey
those that have the rule over us. He is talking
about policemen, kings, and governments. If an
individual is riding down the road at fifty miles
an hour in a fifty-five mile an hour zone, and a
policeman puts on his red lights behind them,
that does not give them the right  to not stop.
If the  policeman then says they were going
sixty-five in a fifty-five mile an hour zone,
begins to write the ticket, and because the
individual does not think that the policeman is
right they begin to argue. They had better find
submission there somewhere, because if they don't
they are going to make things worse. They are not
going to change the policeman's mind. They will
have to appeal to a higher authority. If they
continue to fuss and fight with him, they might
end up with a larger penalty or jail time if they
let it get out of hand. If an individual does not
agree with those in a position of authority or
leader, they need to submit, remain loyal, and
talk to the leader's authority about it. If they
complain to other people about it, it is
disloyalty. They can go talk to the judge about
it, then it is not disloyalty, and They are not causing problems.

3. Who works for who? one of the best ways for
people to determine if they are a leader or a
follower is to ask themselves. who hired me? Who
hired who and who can fire who? If I hire an
Associate Pastor, I am his or her boss. I can and
would be responsible if need be to fire them. I
hired them, so I can fire them. That is basic. In
that situation I'm the leader and they're the
follower. They ought to obey my instruction.
However, if we come to a time when he/she does
not want to do what I instruct them, they will
need to find submission. They are welcome to
bring all their counsel to the table, and any and
everything to support their view. In reality,
often they have done that and changed my mind. It
is good to have a leader in which you can change
his or her mind. A leader finds wisdom in
understanding that there are others that are
smarter, wiser, or better than he or she  in some
areas. Leaders value that, but at the end of the
day if the leader says to do it anyway? The
follower needs to find submission. Once submitted
the follower needs to enter into loyalty in
supporting the leader by not complaining to others.

Those are simple ways of finding out if you are a
leader or a follower. I ran into one of my dear
friends who is one of the great youth pastor's in
America. He finally found disagreement with the
elders of his church and his pastor. At that
point he realized he didn't have a youth group,
they did. He had a mortgage, he had a car payment
and kids to raise, but he didn't have a job. He
didn't have a place to preach. He told me, "I
built that youth group", I said to him "Yes, and
you got paid for it, but you found out who it
belonged to didn't you?"  Who's the leader? Who's
the follower? That's really pretty simple in most
areas of life. If a student in class or an
employee in their office, stands up at their desk
and tells a teacher or employer they are just not
going to do what was instructed to them, if they
have any doubts, they'll find out very  soon
who's the leader and who is the follower.
Followers are responsible to follow, to obey when
they agree, to submit when they don't, and to be loyal at all cost.

There are areas of people's life that they are in
a position of follower, and there are areas of
their life which they are in a position of
leader. Please look at the areas of your life. If
you are a leader in an area, lead with grace and
gentleness,  embracing the idea that others that
you lead are wiser and smarter; more able and
stronger  than you are in their respective areas.
If you are a leader and not leading people that
are more capable than you, you will need to look
at your leadership principles. A good leader
should lead based upon the greater strength of
those who he leads. David did not overtake as
many  people as  his mighty men did, because he
understood their strengths. He embraced their
strengths letting them lead under his authority
of leadership, but they followed him as their
leader. If you're a follower work on the times
you're faced with doing something you don't agree
with. It's easy to do the things you agree with.
Work on loyalty and not complaining about it. If
we follow the pattern of Satan's disagreement
rebellion and  disobedience to God, his example
of leader and not followership, we can see what
it will cost, and that is not a road that we want to travel.