Sam Allberry, Russell Moore, and Vermon Pierre discuss the temptations that come with being in a position of authority and power and how to keep from giving in to them. Here are a couple of quotes from the discussion. Watch the video to hear the whole thing.
Sadly, we have, it seems almost every week, another example of someone in Christian ministry or Christian Leadership using power and authority in ways that are destructive, destructive to himself or herself or, more often the case, destructive to people. How do Christian leaders exercise power and authority without abusing that and turning it into something harmful or predatory? What sort of counsel should we give to people?
You want to be great, you got to be a servant. You want to be first, you got to be slave. And then the key phrase, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. And so power and authority is not wrong in and of itself. God has power and authority and we, being made in his image, have power and authority that comes from him. But the power that we get is meant to be used in service of others. I like to say, "yeah, you can get power and authority, you can even get more of it, as long as you're constantly giving it away, constantly sharing it, constantly pushing it out.