Persuaded Leader

By Reverend Michael Farias

Leaders by nature are persuaders.  Leaders have the ability to persuade others to follow their plan and to participate in accomplishing their goal.

But leaders, too, must be able to be persuaded.  The question is, persuaded by whom?

Acts chapter 27 gives us a lesson on persuasive leadership.

The Apostle Paul is a prisoner aboard a ship that is headed to Italy, when a potentially life-threatening decision must be made. 

When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.  Acts 27:5

Have you ever had contrary winds in your life?   We all have - it’s part of the process a leader goes through.  One must learn to win, even when the winds, the finances, the circumstances, or the advisors are contrary.

There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.   When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed… Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.  Acts 27:6-8

We are starting to see the lack of progress they were making. They were sailing slowly, arrived with difficulty, the wind was not permitting them to move toward the goal. The frustration must have been felt by all, as none of them wanted to proceed slowly.

When I have a goal in sight, my impulse is to go for it.  Who wants to go slowly?  Not me.  A leader by nature is driven, and the waiting game is a difficult one. I’m sure it was no different for the leaders on this Alexandrian ship, but it appears that their luck was about to change.

Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous … Paul advised them,  saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” Acts 27:9-10

There was a wind of change.  Apparently, the wind picked up significantly.  So much so, in fact, that Paul advised the powers that be not to go, to stay put, to play it safe.  Paul perceived that there would be disaster and loss if they pushed forward at this time.

There are times in the life of a leader when tough decisions must be made.  Ironically, the leader and chief executive decision maker in this story is not Paul, it is the Roman centurion.  He was in charge, not Paul.  Nevertheless, Paul offered advice. It was only his opinion, to heed or to ignore. Paul was not an expert sailor, he was an inmate, but he did give the centurion something to think about.

 Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail.  Acts 27:11-12

Now we see the leader getting advice and opinion from subject matter experts, namely, the helmsman and the owner.  The advice was probably pretty convincing, because the leader was persuaded by the helmsman and the ship’s owner. They were the experts.  If expert opinion wasn’t influence enough to persuade the leader, there was also the majority who also advised to set sail.

What is a leader to do?  On the one hand, there is an inmate that says “don’t go, don’t do it, stay put, the timing is not right.” Paul advised the centurion that if they went, there would be a shipwreck.  On the other hand, the majority and the subject matter experts are saying, “let’s go, let’s do it."

Leaders in God’s work need to be persuaded leaders.  We need to be leaders who are able to be persuaded.  We need to be persuaded, though, not by the subject matter experts or by the majority, but by the word of the Lord and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us. Acts 15:28

If you know the rest of Acts 27, you know that there was a major storm that hit them. You know there was a shipwreck, and you know that Paul was right. 

This entire chapter is an incredible lesson in leadership.  You can learn more about this and other incredible stories by ordering Acts Volume 2: The Church Expands of the Greater Than Gold Bible study series.