The Seek-First Leader by Wesley K. Willmer

 Are you a “Seek-First” leader?

Have you ever asked what are the traits of a Matthew 6:33 “…seek first the kingdom of God” leader and the organizations they serve? “SEEK FIRST” is the Christian Leadership Alliance Outcomes Conference 2025 theme, and it seems timely to explore what it means to be a seek-first leader. With increasing pressure toward earthly-oriented metrics, how can you assess if you pursue heavenly Kingdom and righteousness-focused values?

Below is a five-question test to help you measure your adherence to being a seek-first leader.

Make and Disciple Followers

Is your priority producing Christ’s followers and disciples (Matt.28 19-20)?

The seek-first leader and ministry are compelled to win the world for Christ. This commitment defines your eternal calling and corporate culture. It brings focus to your mission and becomes the primary measure of success. This is the starting point of seek-first leaders and the organizations they serve as all else grows out of this priority.

Obey God’s Word

Is obedience and faithfulness to God’s word a personal and organizational priority (1 Pet. 4:10)?

Those who are given trust must prove faithful (I Cor. 4:1-2). Faithful leaders and ministries are more concerned with who they are in Christ than with what they do (Gal .5:22-23). When operating from a biblical worldview (Acts 11:26), the leader acknowledges that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and always present. He is a God of abundance and not of scarcity. Seek-first leaders serve as stewards or managers of God’s organization and are accountable to God as they seek to produce eternal fruit.

Put on Christ

Do you employ and facilitate a culture of people who have “put on the new self …” (Eph. 4:22-24)?

The values and actions of the people who work for an organization make up the culture that drives and defines its mission. The ministry’s effectiveness is limited without believers who “put on the new self,” characterized by serving in unity as the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13). The leader is a sower rather than a reaper (Eccl. 11:6/Mark 4:1-20). A seek-first leader supports and encourages employees rather than trying to control them (Act 15). With a priority on spiritual maturity, a seek-first leader invests and builds the employees within their God-given talents and abilities.

Grow Stewards

Do your ministry resource development efforts prioritize growing stewards to be rich toward God (Luke 12:21)?

Too often, ministries are enslaved to mammon and love of money when raising resources by focusing on how much money is raised. Instead, resource raising should concentrate on a harvest of righteousness, not the gift (2 Cor. 9:9). A seek-first leader prioritizes setting funding goals as God provides resources rather than what the ministry hopes will happen. To accomplish these policies and actions, we should reinforce practices that promote God’s way of giving through a transformed heart (2 Cor. 8:1- 5). As God owns all, are your supporters transformed by the Holy Spirit to be as generous as Christ?

Measure Kingdom Outcomes

Do you measure success as eternal fruitfulness (Gal. 5:22-23)?

 Fruitfulness is measured not in the earthly issues metric of growth in the number of people, facilities, programs, or money raised but in growth in God’s kingdom. Fruitful-minded leaders realize it is the Holy Spirit and not their efforts that generate eternal fruitfulness, and the focus is on qualitative and not quantitative measures.

How did you do as a seek first steward leader in implementing these five kingdom-focused priorities? Remember that we are all accountable to God (2 Cor. 5:10), and we are to seek God’s eternal rewards (Matt.16:27) and not the world’s.

May God bless your efforts to transform the world for Christ as a seek-first leader.

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Wesley K. Willmer, Ph.D., CCNL, is a founding CLA board member and now serves on the CLA Advisory Council. He has contributed to twenty-three books, including The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes, which elaborates on some of these ideas.

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Join us for the Outcomes Conference in Dallas, TX,

April 29-May 1, 2025

Take advantage of early registration rates effective through January 31, 2025.

If you are a CLA member, you can register for four and receive a 5th registration for FREE!

You can also plan to attend the Round Table Session with Lesley K. Willmer and Tom MacAdam on being a Seek-First leader in the Resource Development field.

Register today!

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