The other night I recorded The Tonight Show so I could watch Sarah Palin. I had heard that she was going to do a monologue and wanted to see how that went. She was very funny! As I watched I thought to myself, “I wonder who wrote that for her.”

Before she came out on stage, Palin mentioned that she and her kids had a chance to meet Shaun White backstage. If you’ve been on another planet for the past few weeks, then you wouldn’t know that he was a gold medal winning snowboarder at the Olympic Games. Palin said she had a chance to look Shaun in the eye and tell him that her kids look up to him and that he shouldn’t mess that up. She encouraged him to continue to be a positive role model.

I thought that was interesting because I recently met with a group of Hillcrest leaders and read this passage of Scripture:

Hebrews 13:17 / TNIV - Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

The imperative here is for the church to look up to leaders. But what shouldn’t go unnoticed is that leaders must continue to be people whom others can have confidence in so that the church can have confidence in their leadership.

If you are in a position of leadership, or if you consider yourself a leader, have you ever reflected on whether or not people have confidence in your ability to lead? The kinds of things that give people confidence in us are:

± Alignment of your life with the heart of God

± Being obedient to the Word of God

± Willingness to be a team player

± Doing what you say you will do when you say you will do it

± Being approachable, teachable and moldable

± Seeking the Kingdom of God first above all other things

I’m sure there are other really important traits of a Christian leader, but you get the idea. I really hope and pray that Shaun White takes Sarah Palin’s advice seriously. That he will be a positive role model for lots of kids for a long time. Just as I hope and pray that leaders at Hillcrest, and the Church of Jesus Christ, will be people that others have confidence in. Advancing the Kingdom of God depends on it.