On my way back from ministry in Cambodia, I stopped briefly in Korea and experienced something that was both laughable and lamentable. It felt like a sign of changing times. To my surprise, at the Gwanghwamun intersection there hung a large banner put up by a left-leaning civic group called the Action for Peaceful Reunification (APR), welcoming Kim Jong Un’s proposed visit to South Korea.
Perhaps thinking that welcoming him only in Korean was insufficient for such an “international figure,” they added an English line beneath the Korean message:
“Supreme Reader Kim Jong Un.”
It was a painfully unfortunate English translation. They surely intended to write Supreme Leader. But through someone’s mistake, “Supreme Leader” had become “Supreme Reader.”
Had such an error occurred in North Korea, the person responsible might already have been sent to a labor camp—or, given the current climate, perhaps something worse.
Though humorous, the incident contains an important leadership lesson.
If one is to be a Leader, one must also be a Reader.
Especially for pastors who lead congregations through the Word, without continual reading it is impossible to develop depth of perspective—either to interpret Scripture profoundly or to critique the spirit of the age in a way that meaningfully engages the hearts of listeners.
In 2 Timothy, Paul exhorts his spiritual son Timothy to endure hardship for the gospel and to become a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Considering that 2 Timothy was written shortly before Paul’s martyrdom, this letter surely carries the burning heart of a spiritual mentor addressing his successor.
Near the end of the letter, Paul makes a personal request:
“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13)
Even at the final stage of his life, Paul desired to read. There could hardly have been a more powerful lesson impressed upon Timothy regarding the importance of study.
Charles Spurgeon described Paul in this passage this way:
“He is inspired, yet he wants books.
He has preached for at least thirty years, yet he wants books.
He has seen the Lord, yet he wants books.
He has had wider experience than most men, yet he wants books.
He has been caught up into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words, yet he wants books.
He has written the major portion of the New Testament, yet he wants books.”
When reading church history—especially biographies—you quickly discover that the spiritual leaders who left their mark on history were invariably passionate readers. This was true in the ancient church, the medieval church, and the modern church.
We often live with a false dichotomy:
“If you want to be a spiritual leader, pray fervently.
If you want to be a scholar, study seriously.”
History proves this wrong.
Great spiritual leaders were always men of prayer—and men of study. Paul, the foremost spiritual leader of the early church, was also one of the greatest intellects of his era. Without reading and study, one cannot become an outstanding thinker of any generation.
Augustine, the towering spiritual figure of the early medieval church, was also its greatest intellectual. The same holds true in modern times. Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Billy Graham, Ravi Zacharias—all were men of prayer and also devoted readers. Not surprisingly, they were also the greatest preachers of their generations.
A spiritual leader may not have a doctoral degree. But there is no such thing as an ignorant spiritual leader.
One may lack formal academic credentials. But no one who neglects intellectual discipline through reading has ever become a great leader. Conversely, we frequently encounter people who possess diplomas but very little substance in their minds.
We often hear the phrase, “A person’s destiny is the product of habits.” What is learned at three lasts until eighty.
In 2019, one habit that every spiritual leader should firmly resolve to cultivate is the habit of reading. There is no one so busy that he cannot read one book per week. If someone truly cannot manage that, he may be a laborer—but he is not a leader.
If we read one book per week for a year, we will complete about fifty books. If we sustain this for three years, imagine how deeply our thinking will be shaped. Depth of thought inevitably transforms perspective. Then we will be able to preach Scripture—not in a stale or predictable way—but with freshness and insight, illuminating and critiquing the age in which we live.
Without even realizing it, we will gradually be formed into spiritual giants.
Oswald Sanders wrote in his landmark book Spiritual Leadership:
“The leader who would grow spiritually and intellectually will be diligent in the reading of good books.”
At the beginning of 2019, the habit I most want to commend to pastoral leaders is this:
Cultivate the habit of reading.