How often have you heard an author say, “My inspiration comes from God, I write out of passion, writing is my purpose.”
Those words are quite inspiring and hold much weight in terms of impressing your audience and perspective readers. They do because what we say and what we write has the ability to plant seeds and sway long-standing ideas to the opposite side of the street.
As Christian/Inspirational authors our primary goal should be to write stories that edify Christ. Beyond that, whether the work be simplistic or deep, it will entertain, provoke thought and plant seeds of encouragement.
Beyond the preparation and presentation of the final project, there is something important that we must acknowledge and accept—the invisible mantle of leadership. In spite what we think or have been led to believe, our works are leading someone, somewhere.
Leading?
Yes Leading. Our words are the extension of the leadership abilities vested in us through the gift of the written word. Regardless of what we set out to do, whatever we set to print will teach someone, lead someone, to certain conclusions.
As we enter into this new year and new season of writing I encourage each of us to look deep inside and then ask important questions. Ask yourself—is writing my true purpose? Is writing my passion? If the answers to both questions are yes, then ask—where am I leading my readers with my content? What passions am I stirring and are they constructive or destructive? Most important of all ask yourself—do I write out of conviction to extend the boundaries of the Kingdom, or do I write in order to climb to the top of a bestsellers list in order to gain and maintain national recognition of my name?
Striving to be a bestseller and to have our work acclaimed through literary awards, in and of itself is a noble aspiration. As noble as it is I would be remiss if I did not revisit the central theme of this post—leadership. For those of us who have picked up a pen and proclaimed ourselves to be scribes of the Kingdom, I pray for you. I pray that your goal is to lead through the inspiration of the One who has blessed and trusted you with the gift of writing; rather than the one who will pay you to pervert the gift under the guise of keeping it real.
Leadership, whether sought or unintentionally assumed is a huge responsibility that is so eloquently defined in the words of Dr. Myles Munroe, "Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose."
As I prepare to go I extend this question to you; as a leader, where do you intend to lead your readers?
