I’ve concluded, along with a lot of other people that the most important attitude of an effective leader is passion. PQ is so important that wise leaders hire for passion rather than talent. Effective leaders choose to surround themselves with people with passion for the mission.

In my new book, Leadership On The OtherSide, one of the two fundamental clues about leadership in the new world is a commitment to a call greater than one’s own life. Without that call, passion is hard to come. Passion stems from an awareness that our life is not our own and that what we are about is not just another job, but it is God’s work. Such a trite overused phrase, God’s work, so overused that perhaps it’s not fully appreciated.

I often tell people I didn’t choose to do what I do, I was called or chosen to do what I do. I wanted to be a professional golfer. Secretly, I wanted to be a trial attorney. After seminary, I actually entered law school at the University of Texas. But I couldn’t shake the call, not even in the book stacks. If a person can’t hide from God in a Law Library, it can’t be done. But isn’t that the point of several stories in the Scriptures?

Every Christian is called to be a spiritual leader. Have no doubt about that. We don’t have a choice. And the call to discipleship is always larger than our own lives. So why aren’t more of us effective leaders? Why isn’t our PQ more potent?

I think part of the problem is that some Christian leaders chose to be a Christian leader as a way of life instead of being chosen. We initiated too much of our journey of faith. Either we like to help people or we’re co-dependent and need people to need us. Some of us simply couldn’t find work anywhere else. Some of us went to seminary to “find ourselves” and now lead congregations aimlessly around in circles, still looking for the Holy Grail. Still others are pastors because one of our parents was a pastor. Some of us sit in pews or in committees because someone asked us to do so, or because we feel we owe it to our “church.” (How little do we know that it isn’t our church).

Take the following quiz to get a reading on your PQ.

When I get up in the morning I can hardly wait to talk to Jesus? When I get up in the morning I can hardly wait to start my ministry?

When I talk about my ministry I get so excited I want to go out and talk to someone?

When engaged in my favorite hobby or sport, I often find myself daydreaming about my ministry?

The most exciting thing in my life to date has been leading a person to faith in Jesus Christ.

When I think about what Jesus did for me, I get all mushy inside?

It is a thrill to watch others grow so much in their love of Jesus that they just have to turn around and coach / mentor / disciple someone else, as they have been discipled.

Being in the presence of God is the most motivating part of my life. I will not do anything that will take me away from him.

I believe God has a plan for my life and has purposely put me here to do what I’m doing.