Although some have been skeptical about rapper Kanye West’s conversion to Christ, I’m a believer. But Christian critics, especially on social media, have questioned his faith and critiqued his public statements about it. This is disappointing and damaging.

Kanye seemed to anticipate that other believers would be the loudest to doubt his turnaround. In “Hands On,” a song on his new album, Jesus Is King, the Grammy-winning superstar rapper asks, “What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?” The answer: “They’ll be the first one to judge me/Make it feel like nobody love me.”

When someone has a radical transformation, some Christians don’t know what do to with it. Could this be because their own transformation hasn’t been nearly so radical?

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Last week’s post was about authority in ministry. It was aimed primarily at Christian leaders and included a warning against a perverted version of authority gained by power grabbing instead of service.

I quoted a favorite verse in that post. Hebrews 13:17 reads like this:

“Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”

Last week I focused on the second half of the first sentence, “they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.” It’s a sobering challenge for the leader to remember that he must honor God with every decision, every initiative, every conversation, every confrontation.

But obviously this verse has a message for followers as well as leaders, and I want to give a little space to that message here.

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Everyone knows a leader’s job is to lead. But both leaders and followers sometimes get confused about what leadership should look like. Often the question—as well as the conflict—comes down to the word authority. I’ve done quite a bit of thinking about the place of authority in a Christian leader’s ministry, and I can summarize my conclusions with two sentences:

Servant leaders gain authority through action.

Dictators demand authority through power.

Unfortunately, too many leaders or would-be leaders try the second strategy instead of the first. This is the main reason the whole idea of “authority” has gotten a bad rap.

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Everybody’s afraid of something, and that’s not always bad. Fear of falling keeps us away from the edge of a cliff. Fear of wrecking (or getting a fine) stops us from ignoring a red light.

But when fear drives how you lead, your ability to lead will suffer. Here’s what I mean.

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