Consistency > Charisma
What are we celebrating in the next generation of leaders?
I was reminded of this recently sitting in a session from Craig Groeschel at the Global Leadership Summit. He said something that I immediately underlined and starred in my notes:
“You don’t have to be the best. You don’t have to be the smartest. You don’t have to be the most talented to be a great leader. You just have to be consistent.”
I’ve been on staff at Oral Roberts University for a decade now — discipling students, coaching young leaders, and watching Gen Z step into rooms most people their age never get access to. One thing that I’m passionate about modeling for the next generation is the power of consistency. Showing up and being consistent in your example, your words, your actions, and your leadership.
The Tension Every NextGen Leader Feels
Here’s the tension I sit in constantly with the young leaders I coach and disciple: they want the results of great leadership without the roots of it. They want the highlight reel without the hard work. And honestly? That’s not a Gen Z problem or a Gen Alpha problem. That’s a human problem, amplified by a culture that hands out virality and calls it credibility.
Pastor Craig put it simply: “Great leadership isn’t charisma — it’s consistency. It isn’t fame — it’s faithfulness. It isn’t immediate results — it’s lasting impact.”
That last one hits different when you’ve spent a decade discipling college students. The ones who make the biggest impact aren’t the ones with the flashiest testimony or the most electric personality. They’re the ones who show up to the prayer room when nobody is there. The one who stays up at night talking to the person on their floor who is having a hard time. The one who celebrates the wins and promotions of their peers, even when they didn’t get the opportunity themselves. The one who diligently shows up, does their work, and is always dependable. This is the pathway to being a great leader.
Culture and social media highlight and glamorize loud personalities, big fashion statements, trends, views, likes, popularity, and brand. Leaders in the Kingdom embrace meekness, humility, responsibility, excellence, and honoring others above themselves. The question that we, those who are leading the next generation, have to ask is what are we celebrating in our young leaders?
What you celebrate, you replicate. So, if we only celebrate the young leaders who preach strongly, sing beautifully, evangelize charismatically, pray loudly, go viral on Instagram, or are the biggest “Christian influencer” accounts, what does that say about what we value as leaders in the Kingdom?
I’ve been convicted and challenged as someone who loves the next generation that I want to celebrate what the Kingdom celebrates — not what culture or social media celebrates.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
Just looking quickly at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, we see Jesus preach about a different way of leadership:
Leading with dependence on God, not on self (v.3)
Leading with empathy (v.4)
Leading with meekness (v.5)
Leading with hunger for God (v.6)
Leading with mercy (v.7)
Leading with integrity (v.8)
Leading with reconciliation (v.9)
Leading with peace and conviction (v.10)
These are the things that we ought to celebrate in our young leaders. Every single Beatitude describes an internal disposition, not an external skill or personality trait. None of them are “blessed are the talented” or “blessed are the influential.” Jesus is quietly redefining greatness the same way Pastor Craig did — not through gifting or charisma, but through consistent, quiet character formed over time.
I’ll say it again: What you celebrate, you replicate. If you celebrate the charisma, you will get more charisma. If you celebrate the consistency, you will get more consistency. Which do you want more? Better yet, what is more important in the Kingdom? Let’s shape the next generation to care most about being a person, and a leader, of consistency.
