I had started out the door of the church office headed for the parking lot. This was my day for making the rounds of hospitals in New Orleans, calling on church members who were patients. The kindergartners were just coming back from the playground and all fifteen stretched out along the sidewalk to the classroom door which their teacher was holding open. I recognized the very last child in line and spoke to her.

“Hi, Lauren.” The five-year-old looked up at me in all seriousness and said, “I’m the leader.”

I laughed. “But you’re at the end of the line.”

She said, “But I’m still the leader.”

The teacher who was overhearing this called out, “We put a leader at each end.”

I said, “Yeah, I’ve pastored churches like that. I’m trying to lead one way and someone at the rear is pulling them another way.”

Driving toward the hospital, I re-thought that little conversation and realized the Lord had just sent me an important lesson about leadership: We need someone at the rear to help us lead from the front.

In cowboy lingo, someone has to ride drag. When the ranch hands were moving a herd to the railhead–I’m very current on all my old western movies–someone was designated to bring up the rear and make sure the herd moved along and that no stragglers were lost. It was a hot, dusty job, one no one wanted, and thus it usually went to the newest hand or the youngest.

A television program on the Grand Canyon spoke of the tours provided for visitors to this scenic wonder. The tourists ride mules down the trail, trusting their welfare into the hands of two guides. Ahead of them, one guide leads the way, while another brings up the rear. The job of the “rear guide” is to make sure no one is in trouble and that no one is left behind.

Watch the elongated, double-jointed fire truck make its way through the city on an emergency call. A driver in front steers the engine around corners and down streets. Because the truck is so long, with its ladder and equipment, the rear section of the vehicle also has a driver to maneuver around those same corners and through traffic.

In the church, no group fulfills this function better than the deacons. The pastor leads from the front, while the church’s helpers, the diakonoi, lead from the rear.

A tiny bit of word-study here is helpful. “Dia” is the Greek prefix for “through.” We speak of diameter, diagonal, and diagram. “Konos” is the Greek word for “dust.” Literally, therefore, a deacon is one who comes “through the dust.” That doesn’t tell us a lot by itself, but it suggests an interesting word picture. Often large houses in the New Testament world were built as squares or rectangles with courtyards in the middle. In the heat of the day, when most people went out of their way to stay in the shade, the servants did not have time to take the longer, cooler way from one part of the house to the other. They cut across the yard, through the dust.

“Deacon” became a word for servants who didn’t mind getting their feet dusty, doing the dirty work we might say. They were not out front leading, but were riding drag, bringing up the rear, making certain everyone was cared for and that no one was lost.

My experience through forty-two years of pastoring seven churches is that most deacons know this and are pleased with their supportive role. They recognize the biblical system of the shepherd leading the way and setting the course, while they ride herd on the flock to encourage the members to stay together and to follow their leader. It’s often humble work and can be thankless, primarily because much of what they do is unseen by all but a special few.

Now, this little message is not about deacons, not directly at any rate. These insights apply to anybody in the congregation or organization who helps the leader keep the entire group together in order to achieve the agreed-upon purpose or arrive at the planned destination.

Riding drag takes humility.

Someone else is setting the direction and in most cases, will get the credit when all is said and done. Anyone who needs his name in lights and a plaque of appreciation on the wall will probably not be interested in riding drag. Only those who believe in the cause to the point that they are willing to subliminate their own ego and sacrifice their own plans will be able to handle this crucial job effectively.

Riding drag requires loyalty.

One who rides drag must be a team player. He’s not trying to pull together his own flock, but sees himself as only one member of a team working to achieve a great purpose.

The drag-rider promotes unity.

The rear-leader works to keep everyone together. He is on the lookout for dangers and distractions, for threats and traps. Because he is closer to the flock and his eyes are on them, he can spot trouble quicker than the leader who has many other things on his mind. A good rear-leader is worth his weight in gold.

The rider handles difficulties.

If a member of the flock gets in trouble, the drag-rider does not sound the alarm and stop the entire group. He dismounts, climbs down into the ravine to the sheep in trouble, and sees to its needs. If necessary, he calls to another rider and the two of them handle the difficulty.

No organization on earth has only one officer, the president or chairman or leader, whatever we want to call it. A club will have a vice-chairman, additional officers, and committees, each with its own chairman and secretary. A church will have pastors–usually more than one–and deacons, who themselves organize and designate leaders of their group and others for the support team. In addition, a church will usually have a ministerial staff, an office staff, a custodial staff, and other congregational drag-riders such as ushers, nursery workers, children’s teachers, and choir leaders.

It was no accident that in the Scriptures the Lord gave us the metaphor of the church as a body. Christ is the Head, we’re told, which would make Him the Chief Shepherd, the one out front setting the direction. The rest of us are members of His body, much in the same way that our physical bodies are composed of arms and legs and various organs. Each is invaluable, all are interdependent, and none can get along without the others.

Pastors are call undershepherds. They get their direction from the Chief Shepherd. That’s the plan.

Those charged with riding drag in the congregation–of bringing up the rear, watching out for trouble, keeping the flock together and following the Lord’s chosen leader–will sometimes find themselves in the difficult position of determining that the leader himself is the troublemaker, the one endangering the flock.

Anyone reading all fifty-plus of these leadership essays has noticed that I am pastor-biased and make no apologies for it. I strongly believe that many of the church’s problems today have been caused by drag-riders who got tired of eating the dust–if they ever started–and decided they would rather lead from the front. And yet, I readily acknowledge that the pastor has frequently been the church’s problem.

In situations where several rear-leaders recognize that the shepherd is leading the flock astray, they should go directly to him. They should go together, never alone. But they should go humbly, asking for his explanations, wanting only what is best for the church, and seeking the Lord’s will above all. Drag-riders who are ambitious to take his place should resign. Drag-riders who are angry and ill-tempered should humble themselves under their own leaders and deal with their own problems before trying to solve the church’s situation.

One day in the future–whether soon or distant–there will be an accounting of all the trail hands. Each worker will appear before the Owner Boss and report in. No one will be rebuked or disciplined for remaining in the background, doing his best for the congregation in support of its leaders. Some will be in trouble, however, for using the flock for their own profit and allowing wolves to come and go as they pleased among the Lord’s sheep.

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.” That’s Acts 20:28, and it’s the Apostle Paul–himself a shepherd leading from the front–speaking to the pastors of the church at Ephesus. They, too, are front-leaders.

“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” And if that’s not enough, Paul adds, “And from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert.” (Acts 20:29-30)

When Luke gives this account of Paul’s visit with the Ephesian pastors, he tells how when Paul finished, everyone wept and walked the apostle down to his ship. As the pastors watch their friends sail away, we are not told what happened next. But I think we know.

I can see these pastors deep in discussion on their return trip home, a good two-days’ walk. By the time they arrived back in Ephesus, they had developed a plan to protect the church from both types of dangers, wolves from without and troublemakers from within. They would select faithful, mature men and women within the congregation to share the burdens of leadership. These would help to minister to the congregation, whether by formal counsel or informal friendships, whether through groups and classes or one on one. They would be on the watch for difficulties and threats from any source. In short…

They would ride drag.

It’s a great system. It’s dirty work and demanding. Only the humble and loyal need apply. There is precious little recognition in this lifetime for riding drag. If recognition and earthly reward are important to one, he or she would be better advised to try another line of work.

One final thing, speaking of reward. There is a payday coming. And if I’m any judge of anything, there will be drag-riders who receive a lion’s share of the reward from the Master. They served well, worked hard, and gave their all. He will not let that kind of service go unrewarded, believe me.

Luke 14:14 comes to mind. “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

I hope you don’t mind waiting till the end of the roundup.