Why "Spur" Leadership

A pair of spurs is a tool. Spurs are not cruel tools used to punish a horse. Used properly, spurs achieve results more quickly than kicking a horse in the ribs.
David Stoecklein, Author/Photographer


David Stoecklein's insight about one of the horseman's most basic tools echoes the biblical book of Hebrews: "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24)." All genuine leadership radiates from the intersection of love and good deeds.

The good deeds component of Spur Leadership is pretty obvious: Leadership facilitates results that are tangible, quantifiable, effective. But, for those of us who lead in the church, the good deeds component of leadership can present some unique challenges. How often we hear things like this whispered in hushed and hallowed tones:

It's not about the numbers. Or,
All we can do is pray and let God handle the results.

Translation: I don't want to work.

The reality is that the numbers DO matter. They represent real people and without people, there is no church. Money DOES matter. It fuels the vision God calls us to realize, to say nothing of the individual’s heart monitor that Jesus says it is.

No other entity in the world should be a better steward of people and resources than the church, and if we don't record, evaluate, and manage those gifts, we cannot be effective stewards. The church, or pastor, or Christ-follower who ignores "the numbers" creates a denial-fueled Never-neverland where navel-gazing passes for action.

But, for those who lead in the marketplace or in other bottom-line environments, the love component of Spur Leadership may seem soft or superfluous. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The fact is that any group, team, or organization that is going to produce great results over the long haul absolutely has to invest in the personal development of the people who comprise the group. The leader who chooses or fails to fully engage relationally actually only manages.

To fully engage people relationally by no means eclipses accountability or measuring against understood goals, quotas, or numbers. In fact, really loving people demands that they are held accountable for their actions and performance—their good deeds.

The truth of Spur Leadership that governs every people-comprised entity in the world flows out of the reality of personal relationships: If you really love someone, you manifest that love in good deeds. Good deeds, by definition, require love to be truly good. Without love, they are merely self-serving or, even worse, vain and morally bankrupt.

Spur Leadership flows out of this truth.