Forget My Funny Post. Read Bob's Piece.

Someone was going to say this sooner or later. I'm glad he did. I think I agree with every word. I just think this part might be the most important:

I think those leaders who have dared to enter the sphere have been the most savvy, and therefore more trustworthy. In the realm of the fundamentalism that I still listen to, Dave Doran and Kevin Bauder have distinguished themselves as being willing to get in the ring and occasionally get bloodied. Hewitt was right when he said in Blog that ultimately influence is about trust. Sooner or later those who dare to be transparent, who doggedly and consistently speak their minds (even when their minds change), will become the trusted ones. They may not always win the argument, but they will always win a hearing. And in the hearing alone they will have influence that will continue to bear fruit and ultimately change minds.

But this part sure is pretty stellar too:

Today’s leadership, I am convinced, has got to have the guts to be transparent. It really has no other option unless it wants to become a has-been that is irrelevant in the contemporary world. That is, of course, if the goal of our leadership is to be genuine disciple-makers. This is because disciple-making is best done among friends.

Our Lord modeled the best way to make disciples: make them friends. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Friendship requires authenticity. Authenticity demands transparency. The man who dares to be real, even to the point of offending his listeners, is the man who will ultimately get very good friendships. It is an amazing irony that the man who is willing to lose his friends at any moment for his principles is a man who has the most loyal of friends.