Charisma is defined as a divine gift that causes people to have devotion for or to a person possessing that gift.  It is like a magnetic force that draws people to a person.  It is not something one can work to achieve, or something one can develop with practice.

    I have met several people who had charisma during my lifetime.  During our years as ministers of music and youth in area churches, my husband and I watched several young college men with charisma draw stadiums of youth to listen to their messages.  These young men came from a dramatic life change such as turning from drug use to adopting the Christian way of life.  Their stories were very moving and emotional which added to their natural charisma.

    Unfortunately, we also watched these young men lead thousands of young people to follow their ministries closely, and then revert to their old way of living.  What a disappointment they were to so many people.  Many young people had their lives visibly shaken with the experience.  My husband even had one such charismatic preacher tell his followers, “Do as I say, not as I do.

    I think the Bible is very clear in this matter: don’t put young, new converts in places of leadership too soon.  The temptation is to “take oneself too seriously.”  Charisma is a gift; a person who has it can’t help it.  If a person tries to help it, the adage becomes true that: “You can tell a self-made man because he always gets the head too big!”

    There are a few instances in my teaching career when I’ve had a student with “charisma.”  No matter what that student did, people were drawn to him.  The only problems this presented was that entertaining the followers often interfered with learning needed by that student.  If people are busy telling you how great you are, why should you take the time to develop skills you lack?  You seem fine without it.  

    The results of the scenario above were that the “charismatic” person still seems to be searching for what he wants to do in life.  He has never really settled to one thing.  However, he is successful in entertaining audiences.  But every time I talk with him, he still seems to be searching for something else.

    I’m always amazed at the thousands of cheering fans at college football games.  As those athletes perform and acknowledge the accolades of those fans when they score points, I think, “What must they feel the week after they graduate from college and they are not headed to the professional draft scene?”  I’m sure it must be an overwhelming let down for them.

    In summary, this may be a part of the leadership skills.  However, I tend to think it is simply something that is divinely granted to some people.  It is their responsibility to use it wisely.  Better to be a person dedicated to a way of life that is admirable and to so live that way of life that people can trust that person and follow his leadership without fear of harmful results.    

    Two movie stars that had charisma in my opinion were Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day.  Both of these stars were often stereotyped, but they lived true to their “clean image” on and off the stage.  I had the joy of meeting Debbie Reynolds twice in my life, and both times, she was as warm and pleasant to me as I had believed she would be.  Yet, both these ladies met with life struggles and disappointments in their marriages.  They never lost their charisma, though,…nor their good reputations!   

                                                                   - Kay