Starting well is important, but finishing well reveals much about the leader we have become.
This was one of the strongest convictions I walked away with while studying the leadership of the Judean kings. Throughout their stories, a troubling pattern emerges: leaders can begin faithfully, experience success, and even leave a positive legacy, yet gradually lose their dependence on God.
Their stories caused me to think beyond leadership as a position. Leadership includes how we respond to correction, whose voices we allow to influence us, whether we know when to rest, and how intentionally we prepare those coming after us.
Starting Well Is Not Enough
One lesson I learned years ago through preaching and teaching is that introductions and conclusions deserve intentional attention. It is possible to capture people’s attention at the beginning of a message but fail to bring everything together at the end.
Leadership can work the same way.
King Asa began his reign with trust in God, but that trust deteriorated toward the end of his leadership. Fear influenced his decisions, he rejected prophetic correction, and the conclusion of his reign looked considerably different from its beginning.
That challenged me to consider something personally: How do I respond when someone corrects me?
I recently experienced correction from pastoral leadership concerning gestures and behaviors that needed greater explanation. Although the correction was delivered more forcefully than I would have preferred, I recognized that I still had a responsibility to listen. The issue was primarily methodological rather than a rejection of my character or calling.
Leadership requires enough humility to recognize that even small matters deserve consideration.
Perception can turn something seemingly insignificant into something much larger when understanding, accountability, and vulnerability are absent. Sometimes maturity means being willing to listen even when we disagree with someone’s delivery.
The danger is not simply receiving incorrect advice. Sometimes the greater danger is becoming too arrogant to believe we need advice at all.
Who Has Permission to Influence You?
That question became even clearer through my interaction with classmates.
One discussion centered on Rehoboam, whose leadership demonstrates the consequences of listening to the wrong voices. He rejected the wisdom of experienced counselors and instead followed advice that ultimately contributed to the division of the kingdom.
Yet the solution cannot simply be, “Listen to people.”
Leaders must develop discernment.
Seeking counsel is valuable, but Christian leadership requires bringing that counsel before the Lord. Not every voice deserves equal influence, regardless of how confident, familiar, or persuasive that voice may be.
This creates an important tension:
We must remain teachable without becoming directionless.
We need people who can challenge us, correct us, encourage us, and expose our blind spots. At the same time, our ultimate dependence cannot rest upon human voices. Faithfulness to God helps us navigate the noise surrounding leadership.
The stories of Rehoboam and Joash demonstrate this from different directions. Rehoboam rejected wise counsel. Joash flourished under the mentorship of Jehoiada but later departed from faithfulness after that influence was gone.
Together, their lives remind me that mentorship matters, but mentorship must also produce leaders capable of walking faithfully when the mentor is no longer present.
Mentorship Should Build Bridges Between Generations
Another discussion challenged me to think about leadership succession.
Eventually, every leader’s season ends. Someone else will carry the responsibility forward. Therefore, leadership cannot merely concern what I accomplish during my lifetime. I must also consider whom I am preparing to lead after me.
As someone passionate about discipleship, I believe this requires building intentional bridges between generations.
But I also believe mentorship can work in both directions.
Older and more experienced generations possess wisdom that younger leaders desperately need. They have practical experiences, theological journeys, successes, failures, and lessons that cannot simply be downloaded from the internet or learned from a textbook.
At the same time, younger generations possess knowledge and tools that can strengthen those who came before them.
Technology provides a simple example. Churches increasingly use digital systems for registration, communication, social media, events, and ministry administration. Someone who grew up using these tools may navigate them almost instinctively, while another faithful and experienced leader may struggle with them.
Neither generation needs to dismiss the other.
The younger generation can provide new tools while the older generation provides tested wisdom.
Healthy leadership culture creates room for both.
Mentorship, therefore, should not simply be understood as information traveling from old to young. It should become a bridge where wisdom travels forward and innovation travels backward.
Strong Leaders Also Know When to Stop
Leadership development, however, cannot only concern productivity.
King Amaziah’s story challenged me in another area: rest.
His life demonstrates what can happen when dependence upon God’s strength gives way to dependence upon our own. That principle forced me to evaluate the rhythm of my own life.
There are seasons when life simply does not slow down. Responsibilities continue. Work continues. Ministry continues. Relationships require attention. Education requires discipline.
I understand that tension personally. Between working two jobs, serving in ministry, preparing for marriage, and finishing my master’s degree, rest can easily feel like something that interrupts productivity rather than something necessary for healthy leadership.
I have had to rethink that assumption.
I am naturally productive, so even something as simple as taking a nap once made me feel guilty. It felt like wasted time. Over time, however, I have learned that small periods of rest help relieve pressure and allow me to return to my responsibilities with greater clarity.
I am also learning the importance of withdrawing weekly. Adjustments in my work schedule have created more flexibility and given me weekends back, creating an opportunity to establish a more intentional rhythm of rest.
Rest is not the abandonment of responsibility.
It is the recognition that I am not sustained solely by my own strength.
Leadership Begins With Leading Yourself
Perhaps this is where all these lessons intersect.
Leadership is not confined to what happens behind a pulpit, inside an organization, or underneath a title.
Leadership involves how I receive correction.
It involves whose voices I permit to shape me.
It involves whether I can distinguish wise counsel from distracting noise.
It involves whether I am developing people who can eventually lead without me.
And it involves whether I can stop working long enough to remember that God’s kingdom does not depend entirely upon my productivity.
The Judean kings repeatedly demonstrate that yesterday’s faithfulness does not guarantee tomorrow’s faithfulness. Leaders must continually cultivate dependence upon God.
That changes the question from simply, “How do I become successful?”
A better question becomes:
“Who am I becoming while I lead?”
I want to become a leader who listens without surrendering discernment, receives correction without allowing pride to dominate, rests without guilt, learns from those ahead of me, contributes to those who have gone before me, and intentionally prepares those who will come after me.
Starting well matters.
But ultimately, I want to lead in such a way that when the conclusion is written, faithfulness is still part of the story.
My Faith Journey 