What are you leading?

What is a leader? I have been thinking a lot about what qualifies someone as a leader. There are people with titles that indicate they are leaders, but they don't really seem to lead. Likewise there are others without any particular title or role, but who I would say are leaders. So position doesn't seem to be the determining factor. The more I have thought about it, a lot of what it comes down for me is taking action. Leaders lead. Pretty simple huh? That requires action though, not just talk. I have thought about leadership, but that doesn't make me a leader. I have talked about being a leader, but that doesn't make me a leader either. How do I lead? By doing something. If it creates momentum and people follow then you are a leader. If no one is following or there isn't any action at some point, then probably there isn't leadership. Not to long ago I had some conversations about things that I felt needed to be taking place in our church. Wisely, those with me basically challenge me to be the leader in those areas if I was passionate about them. It boiled down to one of my favorite questions to ask - So what? What are you going to do about it? We often want to talk about things and then wait for someone else to take the lead. That isn't necessarily leadership. It may be a part of it, but often we need to take some sort of active role in creating forward motion. Are you passionate about something? If so, that may mean you are the one to lead. I can recognize a good idea, but if I am not passionate about it then I probably won't be the best leader. I can support leadership in that role, but not lead. Coming back from Catalyst there were two primary things that I felt passionate about and felt that pull to answer the "so what?" question. I have put one of those in motion. That may have been the momentum for it to carry forward or it may require more action on my part. I don't know yet. The thing is that without the action I can tell you were that idea would be now. It would still be just a discussion that took place, but wouldn't have created any difference. The other idea? I have plans for that as well. The plan has been formed in my mind, now I need to move it into action. (Brian and Lane consider yourselves warned about "white space days" coming in the near futue.) What is it you should be leading? Do you have an idea? Got a plan? Sounds like all it may need is some action to get it going. Let's start putting some action to our lives and move beyond just talking. Talking is good (I love that part of it), but we also need to do more than talk or things will never change.