One of the most important books I have read on leadership is Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders. I not only read the book but was motivated to go out of my way to spend time with Mr. Sanders whenever he came to the city in which I was living. In the process, he came to my home and spent time teaching my leaders.

The main reason I was motivated to connect with Mr. Sanders was because of a line in his book that urged leaders to have “fellowship with great minds” in their desire to grow to their maximum potential. One way of doing this was to read books that help us to have “communion with the greatest spiritual leaders of the ages…… If a person is known by the company they keep, so also their character is reflected in the books they read.”

The desire to have fellowship with great minds became more and more of a passion for me with the passing of time. In the process, it has caused me to take unusual initiatives to get with great minds of my choosing to be inspired and mentored and to go to new levels of impact in my life. And seldom have I been denied the opportunity to meet with the leaders I have reached out to. To do this, every day I set aside time to have fellowship with great minds.

Early in the morning while riding my exercise bike, I immerse myself in daily devotionals by Henry Blackaby (Experiencing God) and William Booth (The Founder of The Salvation Army), and John Maxwell (21 Laws of Leadership), and Streams In The Desert, with daily writings from great teachers from a different era.

Following this, I move on into my daily Bible study programme that takes me through the Bible every year. It is impossible to tell you the extent of the impact this daily time of fellowship with great minds has had upon me. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit I gain new insights, timely perspective, personal guidance and teaching resources to use in my ministry.
But that’s not all. I have had fellowship with great minds in the books I have read (Hudson Taylor’s biography inspired me to go to new levels of discipline in my life of service for the Lord.)

The sermons of great preachers I have taken in have shaped my preaching and teaching. (I was mentored by Jack Hayford’s preaching every morning on the radio for 2 years whilst studying in America) and for many years I received printed (now downloaded) sermons from Ray Stedman.
The possibilities of having fellowship with great minds are endless. The benefits of having fellowship with great minds are beyond measure. The price of having fellowship with great minds is costly. The people who choose to discipline themselves to have fellowship with great minds are few.

1. Oswald Sanders wrote,
   “John Wesley had a passion for reading and he did so mostly on horseback, such was his passion. His habit was to ride a horse fifty (80 kilometres) or sometimes ninety miles (140 kilometres) in a day. His habit was to ride with a volume of science or history or medicine, propped in the pommel of his saddle, and thus he consumed thousands of books. Wesley told the younger Ministers of the Methodist societies to read or get out of the ministry!”

In other words, if you aren’t cultivating the discipline of having fellowship with great minds, why not?
P.S.
Two key words that have shaped my life are NEVER ASSUME. I went out of my way to connect with Mr. Sanders because I never assumed he wouldn’t meet with me. Another belief of mine is START AT THE TOP AND WORK YOUR WAY DOWN, THEY MIGHT SAY NO, BUT THEY COULD SAY YES.      Mr. Sanders said yes.