What It Takes to Preserve the Authenticity of Your Vision – Birthing the Authentic Part 2
- Aug 11
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 15
Rev. Betty King is a highly respected and internationally recognized Christian leader, pastor, visionary, author, entrepreneur, mentor, and host of The Cry TV show on GODTV. She leads a globally recognized ministry that focuses on bringing biblical, real-world, lasting impact that truly reflects the heart of God into every sphere of influence.
Hello to everyone reading Brainz Magazine. In this second part of talking about what it takes to birth the authentic, I wanted to continue sharing some of the keys I believe modern-day leaders need to know to build a legacy that lasts. If you haven’t had a chance already, please take the time to go and read Part 1 of this article, and I pray you’ll be blessed!
In this article, I wanted to focus on what it takes to preserve and keep your vision authentic. I also wanted to be very real about some of the key issues, actions, and people that can come to destroy good legacies before they grow well and, importantly, talk about what we can do as leaders to understand them and how to deal with them well to build an authentic legacy.
Spotting what deforms your vision
As a leader, you may have experienced something like this already, but at some point, you will come across people who, if you are not careful, will deform what you have set out to build. I believe that God calls people and places people to accomplish and build different purposes, and whether you believe this or not, I’m sure you can agree that any great legacy is bigger than the person who leaves it. I believe God uses people to do good like this.
You can tell when such people come around you. The things they do and the things they tell you may initially seem on the right track with you. Still, when you examine the outcome of the relationship, they actually slow you down and get you to deform the original vision and purpose you set out for.
This often happens because of their own personal agendas and limitations. Such people will influence you to scale down your vision and work within the means of what you have now, rather than reaching towards the God who can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). They will devalue your authentic vision, through which you would partner with God to achieve something unprecedented, and get you to replace it with something you can manage without God’s supernatural help.
I think that anyone who has built much and achieved much knows that everyone needs help. No one does it by themselves; there are always people they work with, and this happens beyond ministry settings and in corporate ones too. This is why having the right people around us is so crucial.
The people who deform our vision feel that they are promoting the right agenda or the company's agenda when, in fact, they are holding onto a warped vision that has been shaped and formed by their own shortcomings. They aspire to achieve great things but haven’t taken the right road to greatness and are looking for shortcuts and freebies. They themselves have not built what they feel they should have, and rather than pursuing this authentically, they look at what you have built and try to take over or piggyback on it for their own fulfilment.
They may come to you as well-wishers, enthusiastic about what you are doing and full of ideas and offers. Still, their underlying motives are to reshape what you are building into what they have failed to build and so live through your ministry vicariously on terms that they are comfortable with. One of the key signs of this is that their eyes and ears are trained to catch what you don’t have and where the gaps and obstacles are so that they can offer you help, when what they are really after is a way in so that they can gain a foothold in what you are doing and redirect it.
Make sure that you’re secure
Therefore, my first point for leaders and visionaries is to make sure that you’re secure. Because these people may appear to be motivated by godly or good reasons and have a knowledge of God, or even of business and what it is to be called and work in a certain position, you may welcome them because they appear to add strength and capacity.
However, halfway through whatever it is that you plan to do with them, due to the unresolved issues in their hearts, they leave and part ways. It may be for the tragic reason that they are not able to gain control or influence you in the way that they wanted to, or it may be that you are not willing to make them the centre of your plans. Unfortunately, this is not what they will say on their way out. Rather, they will refer to the list of shortcomings that they identified to get leverage over you, or even fabricate some new ones.
So, if you are not strong, their words and actions can cause you to doubt what God has called you to do, especially because you see them as godly. If you are not rooted and grounded in the reality of God’s direction for your life, this can be an entry point for the blurring of the vision, compromise, watering down, and altering of your aims, which literally kills the seed of purpose in the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) of what is being birthed.
Make sure you are strong; deal with any insecurity around your leadership in a healthy way, and be grounded and secure in your vision.
Similarly, some come around you because of something unique about your gifting or some opportunity that they perceive, but unfortunately, they do so for their own benefit. They may perceive you as having a platform that they feel they should be standing on, or see you as someone they can use for their own self-elevation.
I personally know that for such people, especially within Christian settings in both ministry and business, unless they encounter the Spirit of God or the Lord intervenes, one way or another, they will not last. If they don’t get what they want from you, they will leave and take it out on others, as if what you are doing is disappointing and dissatisfying.
Furthermore, if they do get what they want, they will still leave, but only after causing damage. The sincere but undiscerning people who built relationships with them, including key people in your structures, then suddenly realise that they were not authentic.
Some also arrive with a false sense of authority, seemingly carrying themselves as someone of influence, with a few people on their tails who start to share your space. Because they have brought people with them, it can feel at first like they are enabling growth, but you then find yourself contending with a spirit of entitlement and division. Rather than helping the people who come with them to align with the authentic structure and leadership of your environment, they position themselves as a second head on the body, so that while you are leading and giving out instructions, people are looking to them and not you.
You will find that when things begin to work out for those who are aligned with and submitted to the house, but not for them, they begin to contend and compete. This is a situation with two camps, and unity must be restored at all costs.
It is important that you are able to identify these signs and symptoms and not grow angry or fearful, but rather know what you can do to address this successfully.
The good news is that there is a way to do this
The difficult conversations must be had. Find out if they intend to stay. If they do, then require them and their people to submit. If not, then let them transition out swiftly. Be sure to act before it all becomes too much of a distraction and takes up too much of your time and commitment to the vision.
For Christian leaders, I encourage you to deal with these situations quickly so they don't get to a point where they take up all your prayer time when you should be praying for God’s will and purpose in your vision. Don’t worry about losing some of the numbers. The space they create when they go will make life better for those meant to be there and allow you to invest more in those who will build unity for the future.
Managing the emotional dimensions is also important. Where you have given generously and openly to people like these and then are hurt, it can turn your heart away from generosity, which is an important component of why you can work for the vision in the first place.
Especially for Christian leaders, generosity is an expression of God’s love in your heart and an important element of an authentic spirit. When you are in such a situation, turn it on its head.
The sense of entitlement that makes someone think they can come into another person's business, corporation, or ministry process and take control is a sign of their woundedness and immaturity. Be intentional, confident, and decisive without relying on them, because then they will see that control is not an option and can decide whether to support the vision or move on. They will soon show their true colours. This will ensure that you are not polluted and that the DNA of the vision is not limited because of them.
Inauthenticity is different from immaturity
But in light of this, there is another key principle you need to understand. Inauthenticity is different from immaturity. Often, the people who are genuinely called to help you have the right heart but are not yet ready for the work. You must learn to work with them and have patience, as they are not yet what they will be, but they do have the right DNA.
I’ll give you one example that you need to know. You may have heard the names Peter and John among Jesus’ disciples as some of the most famous names. Peter is especially renowned as one of the earliest leaders of the Church. But what you may not know is that when Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, came to earth, He needed people who would work with His vision. Those who were meant to help Him further the Gospel, His disciples, were far from ready when He brought them to His side.
Peter was brash, insecure, spoke at the wrong times, cut off someone’s ear with a sword, and denied Jesus three times. But even Jesus, who was Lord, had to be with them and help them grow, and there were times when it was very frustrating for Him. I want you to understand that this is much more than just simple Christian charity that God has in the Bible for us, and it is more than Jesus setting a good example of being nice and kind. This was about knowing the person's value and destiny.
Jesus knew every single one of them and how to deal with their individual personalities and characteristics. He helped John overcome anger issues so that he could become John the Beloved, one of Jesus’ trusted disciples, traditionally identified with the beloved disciple entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother, Mary, as He hung on the cross. Christian tradition also identifies John the Apostle as the author of the Book of Revelation.
He coached Peter out of the frailty that surfaced when he denied Him so that he could later stand up and be one of the leaders and pillars of the early Church. Before Peter even knew that he had it in him, Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church,” referring to Peter (Matthew 16:18). God saw who they were and knew how to build them up.
This is the leadership that God shows us and teaches us to demonstrate when building a legacy. He trained each of them so that they could play their part in the vision of the Gospel, salvation for souls, and lives transformed. Similarly, in his day, King David was surrounded by people with all sorts of issues, and he was able to lead them as they became mighty men of valour who helped him establish his kingdom.
Whatever your gifting is, God has called you to build authentically, and this should bring transformation to those around you. Authenticity is a shield for your destiny. Being authentic doesn’t mean that everyone who is around you will necessarily be authentic. However, being discerning and acting to preserve what God has given you will make sure that you are never derailed!
I believe that for those birthing legacies that will bless the world and the people in it, God will fight for you, support you, and protect what He has given you to birth. Your authenticity is a shield for your destiny, protecting what God has given you. Be bold and courageous, and defend what is pure!
For more insights into these principles, come and grab my book, Birthing the Authentic. If you would like to get in touch or know more, you can contact Rev. Betty King and BKIM (Betty King International Ministries) at this website and email. Donate today at The House of David Football Academy.
Read more from Rev. Betty King
Rev. Betty King, Christian Leader, Pastor, and Visionary
Rev. Betty King is a leader, as a pastor of Truthvine Church, Visionary of Betty King International Ministries (BKIM) & a real-estate mogul whose influence spans continents, sectors, and generations. She has served in leadership across global ministries worldwide and currently hosts a prime-time weekly television programme, The Cry, which airs every Wednesday on GODTV, the United Kingdom’s largest Christian television network. Her wider ministry is deeply committed to practical and sustainable impact, including the building of a football academy for vulnerable young men focused on restoration, healing, rehabilitation, and helping individuals rebuild their lives, as well as working with churches and other sectors across the world.
