USMA, Pt. 4 - Loyalty

Loyalty

Somehow, the word almost sounds like a cliché. To be sure, the last 2½ generations have seen a corrosion of cause for loyalty: political, spiritual, and business leaders alike have repeatedly shattered the trust given to them in order to advance their own selfish agendas.

But, too many people have used those crimes and sins as a crutch and a smokescreen to stiff-arm any authority and withhold loyalty. Loyalty never means blind follower-ship. But it does mean honoring the authority and leadership you’re under. And loyalty is ultimately a statement of faith (more on that tomorrow).

I’ve even seen church leaders in other states gather a following through their teaching ministries in one church, only to leave that church, move down the street and open a new one. They either take with him hundreds and even thousands of people from the very flock they were trusted to serve or they at least create divisiveness by forcing people to choose which church to invest in personally and financially.

In another city, I know of staff members who’ve left a church to go to another one in the same city and taken other people with them. Now, those who will do that are clearly not a loss, but the personal toll that disloyalty takes on those who remain is substantial.

Of course, it’s all done under the guise of, “This is where the Lord’s leading” and “We’re all on the same team—it’s the Church, man. Capital C.”

Please. At least in the marketplace, people sign and honor do-not-compete clauses when they leave one company for another. Young, would-be leaders especially would benefit HUGE-time from mentors and teachers who call them to substantial, meaningful, God-honoring levels of loyalty. Authority is actually a gift and a protection for those who are being prepared and shaped for their own opportunity to lead.

One of the things that West Point has built into their development of leaders is the fact that every leader has to know how to follow. Before they can give orders, they have to take them. Loyalty begins at the beginning, and therefore it becomes a two-way street that strengthens relationships and the overall organization.

And it is non-negotiable.