THE INSTRUCTIVE GOD’S NARRATIVE INTENTION TOTALLY EXPANDED (IGNITE) SUMMIT CONFERENCE 2022 (AN INITIATIVE OF THE YOUNG ADULT AND YOUTH AFFAIRS OF RCCG)
THEME: SOAR
MINISTERING: PASTOR EDISEMI OKPOKITI (REGIONAL YOUTH PASTOR, RCCG REGION 5, RIVERS STATE).
SESSION TOPIC: LEADERSHIP
DATE: 20TH AUGUST 2022.
OPENING PRAYER
Father we Thank You for another IGNITE this year 2022.
Thank You for bringing us together to Ignite some thoughts in our heart that will make us take over the world for You.
In the next few minutes, for this Talk, and for the rest of this Program, we ask that something that is dormant, something that is domiciled in us – That has been at rest, will be ignited by Your Power, by Your Wisdom, by Inspiration, by Revelation in the Mighty Name of Jesus.
So, Lord I decrease that You might increase. I ask that no man will hear or see me. Let the Words of Your Cross be made manifest this morning.
We ask that everyone who hears or read on the Label of DMC, that their hearts would be ignited by Your Spirit. Help us this morning, and the Glory will belong to You alone!
In Jesus’ Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen.
God Bless You!
Before you sit, look for one (1) to three (3) People around, shake them and find something very nice and carefully tell them – “I like your shoes, I like your tie, I like your hair, I like your smile.”
… Just find something you like!
And then Please be seated.
I Want to Thank God for the Privilege to be the one speaking on Leadership in the midst of so many Leaders that we have – I don’t take it for granted.
We celebrate our father-in-the-Lord – The Intercontinental Youth Pastor, Pastor Belemina Obunge, who is Presently at Lagos now for the IGNITE Summit 2022.
Let’s clap!
And of course, all our Leaders right here, God Bless You – Amen.
LEADERSHIP
This is like an Ignition Point for you and me.
An Ignition can lead to large fires. If you handle an Ignition Properly, you can Light Up.
In those days, People used sticks and stones to ignite fire.
Every fire starts with a Point of Ignition. There cannot be fire if there is no Ignition.
Just differently from every other Meeting, in this Meeting we are not expecting to begin to see fire begin to boil; and have People running around, failing and saying, “I have received a fire.”
But the beginning of that fire can be ignited today. And it will depend on how you manage the Ignition.
For example, when you ignite a fire; when we were much Younger (You are outside); you try to cover it. I think the Scientists say: So that Oxygen can remain in it and help the burning of the fire.
That means, if you ignite and you don’t manage the Ignition Properly, you will never see fire.
The thoughts around Leadership are almost sacrosanct, as they are almost casting stones; while Leadership is Universal.
The Thoughts around Leadership being Universal – Leadership is Leadership in Japan, Leadership is Leadership in Okrika, Leadership is Leadership in the Mosque, Leadership is Leadership in the Church. Anywhere!
Even in the Motor Park where you have ‘Agbero’ (Area Boys); they have a Leader.
To be a successful ‘Agbero’ (Area Boy) Leader, you must use the same Principles that a Successful President Leader will use. It does not Change!
… Leadership is Universal.
And there are many Books written by Great Men on Leadership Principles.
Many of you have attended many Leadership Conferences, and you can tell us – Ten (10) Attributes of a Leader. Why Leaders Fail? Who is a Legal Leader? The Definition of what Leadership is, and all of that.
So, my intention this morning is not to repeat some of those; or compete in intellectual with those Thoughts because, those thoughts are already there and they are sacrosanct.
But a few things I will like to say to you, to ignite the Thoughts that are already domicile inside of you concerning Leadership – For example, we say that, “everything rises and falls with Leadership”.
When People want to raise their Thoughts on why something is failing, they say, “everything rises and falls on Leadership”. And they say, Pointing out to the Leaders.
But first, I want you to know that there is a difference between Leadership and Leaders.
Leadership is a “Ship full of Leaders”.
That is why it is Leadership!
It is a ship that is full of Leaders: but in that Ship, there is a a Captain, who then becomes a Leader.
When John Maxwell says everything rises on the Shoulders of Leadership, it is not a Leader. Because if a Captain has a Group of Leaders and they are all in contrary Opinions and views to how he wants the Ship to go even though they are full.
For example, in the Military you hear something like: Lieutenant General, Brigadier General, Major General.
What they are saying to you is that – First of all, all of them are General. You can actually address a Lieutenant General as General.
But you won’t address him as General when there is a “Full General” Present. Because, at that Point you might have to now distinguish what kind of General that he is.
Leaadership is a Ship that is full of Leaders.
As simple as that sounds, it has become the blame of many failing Systems – A Captain Leader leading Leaders; a Servant Leader leading Leaders; a Dictator Leader leading Leaders.
So why do we have a Leadership then that already has Leaders and it is failing?
Because it is already a Ship full of Leaders.
If they are all Leaders that means they already know how to lead.
It is like gathering five (5) Top Mechanics to deal with your Fuel Pump. And at the end of the day they cannot repair the Fuel Pump and they have damaged the Oil Pump.
And you say, “but all of you are Top Mechanics: why then can this simple thing not be solved?”
That is the Picture of what Leadership seems to be now!
You enter a room of Leaders, you see “Smart Leaders” in their own rights; you see “Intelligent Leaders” in their own rights; you see “Creative Leaders” in their own rights; gathered in a room.
And this gathering of Leaders, you expect that if they put their Thoughts together, put their Strengths together
In fact whoever gathered them as a Leadership gathered them because they are Leaders in their own right.
Most times, Leadership fail – Not because of absence of Wisdom, not because of Shortage of Creativity, not because of the absence of abilities but simple because many do not have a full grasp of the difference between a Leader and a Leadership.
You know, many Leaders do so much to rise to the Ranks and many know how to do that!
In every System, you see People who do everything they can do to rise up in the Ranks but many do very little to rise to the responsibility of the Rank.
So, you see People who work so hard to attend a Rank, and when they get to the Rank, they cannot arise to the responsibility of the Rank.
In Religious Systems, some do not even do so much to rise. Somebody somewhere will force them up the Position, and then when they get their the responsibility of the Position begins to call they cannot rise to it.
Hence, they find other tactics and means to begin to use to carry out the responsibilities. And most times it ends up in damage.
Some do so much to aspire for the next Position, even when they have not inspired anyone in the Present Position.
Using the Church as an example, now you see a Parish Pastor – He has not finished Pastoring a Parish, he is thinking of when he is going to be an Area Pastor. He spends more time in the aspiration of the next Position than to inspire the People in the Present Position.
And because most times those things happen behind the scene, even you wonder how People attend certain Positions that they attend. Because you wonder, this is this Person here; we cannot actually see what he has done to bring him to that Position!
Just like you see many Leaders do so much to dominate a Position but they do very little to demonstrate in that Position. No demonstration of Leadership in that Position!
Why do we have Leaders in a Ship and it Fails?
Why does the Ship crash?
Why do Leadership fail?
We see that so much around us – For example, you have a Regional Youth Choir and have a Regional Youth Choir Leader leading the Choir. He finds it very difficult to gather a Regional Choir.
And he is assisted by Provincial Choir Leaders who cannot bring six (6) People to the centre but can bring sixty (60) People for themselves.
You see, the reason I have been having discussion with a few People in the last few Months is that, there are a lot of Sounds in this Nation; People we tend to look up to and say, these People are doing extremely well.
We sit in our own rights and say, look at this Person, look at this Ministry, look at that. I have been here for some time!
And when you look indepthly, many of these People don’t do as much as you do in your little confines.
The reason why ours is not looking that way is because you don’t like to dance to somebody’s drumming. Everyone of us want to be a Drummer.
“A Sound can only be loud if there is only one Person drumming; and others are dancing.”
What makes the Sound a Sound is not the beauty of the Sound; it is not the loudness of the Sound – What makes a Sound, a Sound is: “how many People are dancing to that Sound?”
So you can have a Good Sound beating and there are very few People dancing to the Sound. No matter how Good that sound is, it will look as if it is not Good.
And then you have a bad Sound, and thousands of People have gathered saying, “even if this Sound is not too Good; this is our Sound; we will dance to it like that!”
… And all of a sudden it looks as if that Sound is a better Sound.
Young Leaders, as long as we are in the Ship of Leaders, and inside that Ship we want to Captain our own Ship; the Ship will never arrive at its Destination.
Leadership is going to work when Leaders will learn that, the Position of a Leader is one Per time – It is one Per time!!
No matter how intelligent, how smart, how good, how better you are; it is going to be one Leader Per time.
And the best for you as long as you are in that Ship, is to ensure that whosever; whose turn it is: “Emi lokan!” (It’s My Turn) is giving all the necessary help to make the Ship rise in the water.
Why? One day it might be your turn!
Many People crash Ships that they are in because they are not the one Captaining the Ship. By the time it gets to them to Captain, it is a “Grounded Ship” and they have nothing to Captain again.
These Thoughts have nothing to do with any Particular Position – No matter where you are, the Thoughts are the same:
Whether you are in a small House Caring Fellowship, in a small Department in a Church or you are starting a small Business, or in your own little family – It is the same!
If you fail to understand that: “No matter how big a Leader you are, there is a Leader above you”. Then you are sure that the Ship that you are trying to lead in the Presence of its Leader is going to crash.
And why is this so?
Over time, the world was bereaved of Leaders. And so, there was a drive in the last decades for the making of Leaders.
If you know, Presently Leadership is an Industry of its own.
The last time I was looking at something, the Money Scheme in the Industry of Leadership puts it at number five (5) in the world’s biggest Industry – Leadership as an Industry.
So, you could imagine the attention that came for Leadership – Leadership Institutes were everywhere, everybody shouting, “Be a Leader.” Because there was lack of Leaders.
But recently, I have sat down, and when they ask me to speak of Leadership, I’ll rather speak of Leadership from the Perspective of Followership.
Because, I have noticed that we have spent so much time enforcing and talking everyone into being Leaders; that you forget that every Leader must remain a Follower.
So, while there was a massive rise for People in the Thoughts of Leadership, the results were not also coming as they should come.
Why? Like I explained, a Ship full of Leaders can crash if they refuse the Leader to lead them.
Three (3) Things Stand out for me in Thoughts Leadership. I want you to pay attention to these Three (3) things in your Life:
1. FOLLOWERSHIP IN LEADERSHIP.
Sounds cannot be loud if Leaders don’t learn to follow.
Destinations cannot be arrived if Leaders don’t learn to follow.
In every Leader, there must be a Follower within.
As a matter of fact, Great Leaders know when to be Great Followers.
Today you hear a lot of Young People – Just a little insight they have, a little ability they have; they tend to want to start their own. They refuse to be under anyone. It won’t go far!
A small Speedboat can drive very fast, but it cannot go deep into the Ocean.
The fact that you are fast does not mean you can go far.
You can’t drive a Speedboat against the Atlantics headed to far East in China.
No matter the Power Engine you are carrying; the facts you left the Shores making a lot of noise and rising the boat and hitting his skills and everybody is clapping. You won’t go far into the Ocean.
That is why it is only Ships that go into Deep Waters. And Ships can do that because they have the Privilege of Leaders within a Ship.
So, it is expected that the more Leaders you have, the more the Ship could do. But it is not so! Because in that Ship, many Leaders have refused to listen to the Captain.
You will be amazed that even this morning, we said all our Youth Leaders should gather here for such Ignition, there will still be some Young Leaders from Zone to Province saying, “I have a Program to do.”
I got a Message like that this morning – That a Particular Zone is having a Program this morning. And somebody asked, “Are you not coming for IGNITE?”
He says, “I am a Guest Minister at our Zonal Program.” Is it that he has not heard? No!
Simple: he believes that his Sound is loud enough! His Sound is better.
Some People say, “I don’t know what my Leader is doing.”
You won’t know because you are not there – When you get there, you will know.
Then you will not realised that the thing you said was too slow was slow because of what he knows. And the thing you said was too fast was fast because of what was chasing him and that thing is not chasing you.
Listen to me: As you rise in Leadership, don’t rise out of Followership!
As you grow in Leadership, don’t grow out of Followership.
Message: RCCG 69TH ANNUAL CONVENTION 2021 TOPIC: THE DOUBLE PORTION(Opens in a new browser tab)
Jesus our Perfect Example – As Good as He was, He remained the Son of His Father. He kept saying and reminding everyone, “I said the ways of Him that sent me.” “I am the sent One to you, but I was sent by Someone.” “Just as I hear I say!” “What my Father has not said I won’t say.”
Till the Point of His death, He Was still looking for His Father. He said, *Where are You? Why have You forsaken me?”
So, all the Power He had, You understood that it was Delegated Authority.
You might sit in a Position, with so much Authority but you must understand that, that Authority was Delegated to you. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be sitting with that kind of Authority.
As Powerful as a Soldier is, a few days ago I saw a Navy deranked and dismissed from the Navy. I saw a Policeman also recently, that was deranked and sent out!
But when that man was Standing on the road with the Rank of a Police Officer, feeling that Nobody is as Powerful as he is; and Nobody is to be followed and nobody is above him.
He Boasted, he said, “I will take this money, even the Inspector General of Police cannot do anything to me.”
But when the Inspector General of Police showed up, he knew that he was just a Follower; even though he was still in a Place of Leadership.
Learn to follow your Leadership. No matter how high your Leadership has become, learn to follow – It is following that brought you there; it is following that will take you to the Next Place.
2. MENTORSHIP:
Leadership that has no Plans to Mentor is not going to arrive at its Destination.
Some Thoughts about Mentoring People:
You know today, a lot of People have turned Mentorship to Yormentorship. And a lot of Mentees have turned Mentorship to Menthelatorship.
I. It is now a Transaction of Selfishness
A. Mentors want to take advantage of the abilities of their Mentees for their own Advantage.
B. Mentees want to take Advantage of the access and the Platforms of Mentors to their own Positions.
That is why you see many People keep a Mentor-Mentee Relationship for a very short time – It doesn’t Last!
So, immediately one or either of the Party get what they want, they strain the Relationship.
Young People everyday keep following a New Mentor. Everyday they keep having a New Mentor. Everyday they keep starting a New Relationship.
II. Mentors should not be afraid of their Mentees Shinning more than them.
When you watch Chinese film – One of the things you notice in Chinese film is that at the Peak of every Chinese film, the Mentee must beat the Mentor. Until the Mentee wins the Mentor, the Mentor does not stop to train the Mentee.
Till that Place where they Practice, and finally all that he has taught the Mentee, the Mentee uses the same thing and adds an extra he did not know about and put him on the floor! When he picks up his Mentor, his Mentor now says, “my work in you is Complete.”.
III. Mentors must not be afraid of the Rising of their Mentees.
… They should not be afraid of the Shining of their Mentees.
As a matter of fact, if you are Mentoring somebody that you don’t want to Rise above you or Shine beyond you; then there is no essence of Mentoring.
Mentors these days want to become “gods”. They want adorations to themselves.
You see Young People – Twenty (20) years old, they are calling them Papa, because the Pastor wants Fellowship.
At nineteen (19) years People are carrying their Bible. When they land they say, here comes the Papa. One Person holds his Phone, another Person his Bible, another Person holds his Handkerchief, and another Person carries his Jotter.
And then when they introduce him and welcome him, he Stands – One Person brings this and another fellow brings that!
When you are a father at nineteen (19) what will you be at Seventy (70)? That is if you are going to get to the age of seventy (70). Because, the burden of fatherhood is what makes People cringe in old age. So, it’s not something you run early into. You have a long way to go.
IV. Mentors are supposed to be Bridges for People to Cross over Places.
And Mentees must learn that the Bridge that their Mentors set for them to Cross over, they must not break because, somebody else will use the Bridge.
Some People, when they have access to a Particular People, they stop every other Person from having that access.
They Stand in the Point and say, Nobody is going to pass! Nobody is going to know this Person like I know him.
They forgot that somebody laid the access for them. And even the Person might not remember that he laid the access for them.
V. People under you must Grow:
And why they are growing they must be Growing in Excitement and Love – Not Growing with Pains and Burdens.
You know, there are some Mentors who are Growing People, Promoting them, Pushing them. But the People are just wishing that they are not Growing under these circumstances, with a lot of Pain and trouble in their hearts.
… Mentorship becomes a Tool for the Third and the Last Point which is:
4. DISCIPLESHIP OR MASS PRODUCTION OF LEADERS.
If we are going to talk about Leadership and we are not thinking about Mass Production, then we are not ready.
I put a Thought Line a few days ago, that one of the best ways to know the Candidate you should vote as the next President of this Country is to imagine that, that Particular Candidate is Mass-Produced into every Point of Authority in this Country.
Imagine the Candidate you want as President becomes the Vice President, is the Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives. He is the one hundred and (120) Senators, he is the over nine hundred (900) House of Representatives Membership, he is the Thirty six (36) Governors and the Thirty six (36) Deputies.
You just have him replicated in every Position – He is the Inspector General of Police, he is the Chief Judge of the Federation, he is the Accountant General of the Federation, etc.
Sermon: DR MENSA OTABIL (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE ACCRA GHANA)(Opens in a new browser tab)
I think many of you will now understand, then realise that, that is not the Person you want to lead us. That is not the Person you want!
You say No, we just want him as President. No! if he is going to be the Leader, he is going to be the reflection of the Leadership.
Some of us are Leaders we don’t like to lead us!
We are the kind of Leaders that will not like somebody to give us like we are leading others.
We are afraid to be led by our type of Leaders.
We will not joyfully rejoice if they appoint our kind of Leaders as Leaders over us.
But you will enjoy it, because the Position becomes our Security – We use terror, we dominate!
Rather than using our Intelligence, using our Inspiration, we keep aspiring without having an Inspiration in the lives of the People.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Men and Brethren: no matter where you sit – Whether in a Rank, in a Position, out of Rank, out of Position; they are both dimensions in you!
There is a Leader, there is a Follower; there is a Mentor and there is a Mentee. There is a Disciple in you!
You must make it a Point of duty that at every Point in your Life: Producing you into another is something you do with joy!
Can you be glad that the whole world is full of your type? That the entire Church is full of your type?
… I don’t know about you, but I know my decision about that.
Can you boastfully say: This is the kind of Christian Leader that should be in the Church – In and Out; Open and in the Secret?
I Pray that God will bless us in our Thoughts of Leadership, in Jesus’ Name – Amen.
RCCG YAYA (IGNITE) SUMMIT CONFERENCE 2022 SESSION TOPIC: LEADERSHIP