On Sunday May 6^th during Sunday School I listened to some of our Elders tell their stories - funny, moving, sincere, truthful, authentic, sometimes broken. It occurred to me that these men are to be trusted.

Amongst most Leaders several different factors are visible: charisma, communication, vision, persistence. All of these are important attributes of leadership, and our Elders here at C@C have many of them. But the most important one of all, and the one they share - to a man - is Trust. That is, they are trustworthy, worthy of trust; there is no greater compliment.

Trustworthy men and women live lives of integrity. Integrity embodies more than just honesty; it implies wholeness; living a whole life, not just occasional acts, practices, religious routines, or schedules; not just showing up at church on Sunday. The aim is not to look like a Christian, but to make a relationship with God our life's priority, giving our whole hearts to God, living out of our new identity in Christ.

Living with integrity requires being cleansed of impurity to be used for God’s “noble purposes”. “If a man cleanses himself (from ignoble purposes), he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” 2 Timothy 2:21. We leaders who are cleansed of self-serving motives and personal agendas will be useful to the Lord and able to lead according to God’s purpose.

As a side note, let me encourage you to get to know your Elders. There are 11 of us, including Pastors Doug and Charley. On a typical Sunday it's difficult for us to meet and spend meaningful time with many of the roughly 200 adults who attend C@C. Forgive us if we seem to talk mostly with people we know, instead of those we don't - even when our intentions are otherwise - we are all too human! If you recognize one of us (and you can see our photos and read our bios at www.churchatcarbondale.com/elders), please introduce yourself; we want to get to know you.

Do the people in our sphere of influence trust us? Should they? Can they count on us to keep our word? Are we leading by example? Do the men and women who look to us feel safe in our presence?

Trust. It's the key ingredient. Without it people may give us some of their time, but they will never give us their hearts.

How do we earn someone's trust? The answer could fill pages, but when it comes to our lives, I see two primary answers.

First, we earn other people's trust by "doing it", by walking the walk. We cannot lead others until we have practiced what we are teaching. There is no fast track to leadership. Everyone must pay his or her own dues, run his or her own course. Everybody starts the same way.

People we would lead are thinking to themselves, "Okay. Tell me your story. Show me what you do to make this thing called 'life' work. Let me see Jesus in you. Go ahead, let me see your stuff."

John Maxwell, best-selling author and leadership guru, puts it like this: "Your walk walks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder that your talk talks."

Second, we earn other people's trust by following the One who can be trusted, and becoming God's true image-bearers. Only then will we be trustworthy: through transformation, following Christ, making honest efforts to be his hands and feet, to have his heart, his head, his hands and his habits.

Becoming a trusted person does not happen because we want or choose to become one, or because we try really hard to be one, or because we act in a particular way.

We are made in God’s image; we are "little Christ's" (Christian's); we must be growing more and more into His likeness. Then and only then can we be growing in trustworthiness, becoming people who can be trusted. "Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods." Psalms 40:4. ‘Blessed’ in my mind here includes ‘trustworthy’.

Imagine this: "The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said." Exodus 19:9. The Israelites could trust Moses because they knew God was speaking to him (through him). They could trust Moses because his God their God, our God is trustworthy.