Teofilo Hayashi, founder of the Dunamis Movement, said, "Leadership is inspiration, not manipulation." In an age of scandal, who can we trust? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and He never asks us to trust untrustworthy people. Understanding and discerning who to trust is critical, especially in this hour.

Leadership is service, integrity and influence—combined and in that order. Good leadership cannot exist if one of these attributes are missing. It is only when you serve someone that they are able to see your motives and discover your integrity. And integrity yields the well-placed trust that allows you to influence others.

3 Essential Elements of Leadership

1. Service. Service is what we do for others at our own expense. We find a need and do something about it. We can use our strengths, relationships and resources to serve someone else and help them move forward in life.

2. Integrity. Integrity makes everything we do sustainable. Without integrity there is no real success or longevity.

3. Influence. Influence is granted when integrity is seen. Our service and integrity impact others. That impact is called influence.

The Mechanics of Leadership

Service, integrity and influence are the basic mechanics of leadership. A person unwilling to serve doesn't deserve influence. A person's service allows me to see their integrity at work, and this unlocks their influence in my life.

I will not give anyone my trust before I see that person's integrity. But show me a person's integrity, and I will show him my trust. Dwight Eisenhower said, "The supreme quality of leadership is integrity." Integrity shows me a person is safe and therefore trustworthy. When someone is trustworthy, then—and only then—do I allow them to influence my life.

Do not give someone influence in your life who doesn't consider your best interests. Sadly, many people are disillusioned with people they once trusted as leaders. They allowed these individuals to have influence in their lives when, in reality, they should not have; those leaders were not safe or trustworthy. They lacked integrity.

Leadership is not just service, influence or integrity; it's all three working together to demonstrate an example worth following. Missing one of these traits will disrupt the cogs and stifle your success as a strong, spiritual leader.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared at adamlivecchi.com/leadership-defined.

Adam LiVecchi is the senior pastor of Rescue Church and the founder of We See Jesus Ministries. He is also the author of Go Preach Heal. You can find out more about the ministry and connect at weseejesusministries.com.

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