Public Opinion and Electorates

Public opinion is both the raw material for beginning leadership and the finished product for followership electorates.  Persons tend to support that they believe in, and what they believe in is highly influenced by emotion and reason – and leadership.  Leaders tend to succeed when they take seriously their duty to hear the citizens so to know the field they must respect and influence to success for vision they communicate.  We need to know the quality of the clay to determine the quality of the vessel being formed.  So while working with what is given, wise potters add what they can give to the material, some water for now, a bit of pigment or paint later, with firm or gentle pressure of artistic hands.  We get something of what we have been given and something we have given.  Nearly everything we do that touches others is related not only to our efforts but contributions, seen and unseen generated from others.  Without respect for all that influences my life and efforts, even the negative experiences, I may not gain the results that I hope for.

There needs to be more education related to leadership/followership, and what characterizes leaders and followers that promise success or failure in a context of humankind often deterred by faulty thinking and acts.  Even though the history of nations offers numerous examples of success and failure in the light of the applications of emotions and reasons to the melding of leadership and followership for the good of the general society, the concern here is how Christians apply the context of influence for success in advancing concerns of congregations with the ministry of leadership related to an agreed upon vision.  In terms suitable to each context, the same issues must be addressed in thought and action – whether secular or sacred.  A church congregation is not immune from process because there is fellowship with God, as the secular population is not immune from duty because God is omitted by them.  Once principles are found to be operative for success to beneficial conclusions, the argument about the requirements ought to be ended, so to work to get on with search for truth.  The pressure of right conduct begins – with agreed programs. From experience in both secular and religious contexts, including more than fifteen thousand speeches and sermons delivered in a number of countries, I choose one summary to illustrate the meaning for this Page.

I spoke many times in the church he pastored in California.  My first encounter was long after the church had grown to more than a thousand active members.  It had begun more than two decades earlier in an unpromising building, the photo of which reminded me of a granary I saw in a farm complex when I was a lad.  Both buildings needed painting.  The young pastor was a slight man, not tall, and married well with children who were young adults when I appeared on the scene.  There were many factors in this ministry I reviewed in the times I ministered to the congregation.  The one factor that was never lost was the respect that the pastor had for his people, and the respect they had for him.  He had a growing vision that was amended upwards on every achievement of the foregoing goals.  During the later years in which I was a visiting speaker, he had a vision for what is now known as a mega-church.  He planned, the program was rolled out, and with so persuasive a life-time of success, the board immediately approved the plans, and action began.  He called a halt in short order, astounding some forward looking members ready to launch.  His simple response was that the people had not been prepared, and there would have to be delay for a time until those people he loved and respected joined the effort.  He perceived they were unprepared, and needed to be both readied and persuaded for the future.  The board acceded.  They really had no other choice.  He might not have remained if the program was to be forced.  In short, it took well over a year to gain the large support he was looking for.  The congregation proceeded, gave more than was expected, and built a mega-church in which the unity could be felt by even a guest, and it seemed the people drew his best for the purpose of the moment.  I spoke to the congregation in a large farewell to this pastor on the day of his retirement.  We met even after I moved 2000 miles away and shared the sense of ministry well done. Both he and his wife have since graduated this life.  Effective leadership was vital to that they created.