J. Robert Clinton > Quotes

“have described three major kinds of tests: the integrity check, the obedience check, and the word check.”
― J. Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development

“Ministry challenge describes the means whereby a leader is prompted to sense God’s guidance and to accept a new assignment. The most common means of entry into a ministry assignment in all three sub-phases is an external challenge by a person to work in an established ministry. The rarest entry pattern in all three sub-phases involves self-initiated challenges to create new ministry roles and structures. This leads to some important implications: The majority of leaders will emerge via common entry patterns. It is self-initiation in the entry patterns that indicates strong potential for upper-level leadership. Plateauing in a leader’s development is indicated by a declining frequency of initiative and response to ministry challenges and ministry assignments.”
― J. Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development

“Self-initiated ministry challenges or assignments carry with them the seeds of higher-level leadership. Those who self-initiate often disrupt the status quo and threaten those in authority over them. In the resulting conflict, the promising quality of self-initiative can be overlooked. Leaders need to recognize the value of this quality and be on the alert for those emerging leaders who demonstrate it.”
― J. Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development