There are no perfect leaders. I’m not a perfect leader. Neither are you. But Jesus is. There’s no better teacher on leadership than Jesus. What made him such as effective leader? Lots of reasons. In this article I’ll give you seven of them.
1. Identification: I must know who I am. To be a leader you’ve got to know who you are. All great leaders know their strengths and their weaknesses. We’re a bundle of both. Leadership is not ignoring one in favor of the other. It’s being honest about them. Good leaders don’t try to be something they are not. They are self-aware.
Jesus had no doubt about his identity. He said:
I am the light of the world.
I am the Son of God.
I am the way.
I am the truth.
I am the life.
I am the bread of life.
Jesus defines himself 18 times by saying, “I am…” He didn’t let other people define him. He defined himself. If you’re going to be a leader, you must know who you are.
2. Clarification: Know what you want to accomplish. You must clarify what God has called you to do with your life. The direction of your life is your choice. If you don’t like the direction your life is headed right now, change it. Nobody’s holding a gun to your head. Nobody’s making you a victim. Nobody’s forcing you to serve in the manner you’re serving.
Jesus knew exactly what God had called him to do. He was a straightforward leader who established clear-cut goals. In John 8 Jesus says, “I know where I came from and I know where I’m going.” Jesus had a clear purpose. He knew not only who he was, but what was he trying to do with his life. He truly was a purpose-driven leader.
God has a purpose for your life and ministry. If you don’t fulfill it, you have wasted your life. You were put on earth to live for the purpose God created you for. A leader knows that purpose and pursues it with passion.
3. Motivation: Know who you’re trying to please. You need to settle the issue of motivation. You can’t please everybody. Just about the time you get one person happy, you’ll tick someone else off.
Jesus lived for an audience of One. His whole purpose was to please his heavenly Father. Jesus says this in John 5, “I only try to please the One who sent Me.” Jesus wasn’t trying to win a popularity content; he just wanted to please God.
That’s a lesson we have to learn as leaders. You’ve got to learn not to care about the opinions of others. You’ve got to focus on God’s opinion of what you’re doing. Don’t pay attention to those who cheer you or jeer you. Either one will sidetrack you.
4. Collaboration: Work with a small group. You never lead by yourself. You always do it in context of a team. All great leaders are great team builders. In fact, if you don’t have a team, you’re not a leader. You’re a loner. The test of leadership is whether anyone is following you.
Jesus modeled this kind of ministry. He never did ministry alone. Mark 3:14 says, “He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” Jesus enlisted other people to serve the cause with him.
If God gives you a vision for your ministry, he’s going to bring other people with the same idea together with you. If nobody agrees on your idea, guess what? It’s not from God.
5. Concentration: Focus on what’s important. Leaders must focus on what’s important. Life is filled with things that will distract you from what’s important. Sometimes we can be distracted by good things as well. If Satan can’t mess up your life by getting you to do wrong things, he’ll mess up your life by giving you too many good things to do. Continue >>
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Mr. Circumcision Proponent 2008, you've missed the whole point!!! Obviously scripture talks about "repenting." It literally means nothing more than "new thinking."
But you've turned it into such a gross form of works righteousness that you can't even appreciate the glaringly obvious, anointed, Cross-based writing of Rick Warren in PDL. Puuhhthetic!
As Paul said in Gal. 3:2, "Let me only ask you this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?"
By the way, Acts 5:31 makes it clear that repentance is something that God GIVES you. In reality, for all your soap-boxing about the "Gospel," yours is the different Gospel.
Mr. CP2008, guys like you are a dime a dozen in Galatia. Repentance (according to the Greek) is nothing more than new thinking which results in new actions. To believe the grace of the Gospel requires new thinking. But Galatians like you turn repentance into another form of "circumcision" in order to qualify for the grace of God. That's common heresy. There's a reason why Rick Warren's books have sold over 25 million and guys like you are reduced to piggybacking your self-righteous Gospel on his leadership article blog.
How sad that people attempt to label Rick Warren a heretic because his ministry style doesn't match theirs. Clearly Rick is orthodox and his PDL book is replete with references to the message of the Cross, which has brought thousands to Jesus. For starters, check out pages 58, 73, 78-79, 85, 97, and 112-113. One of the best quotes is on page 97 and it says, "The dearest thing to the heart of God is the death of His Son. The second dearest thing is when His children share that news with others." Precious!!! But wounded people, who've never been loved, have a difficult time receiving or recognizing Jesus' Love, so they lash out and attack, like noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. They need to be "right" and the more fruitful their victim the better it makes them look. No wonder the Pharisees attacked Jesus. Nothing has changed.
No, I didn't flag your email, Mr. Stop-the-Madness. Someone else must have found your email in poor taste. You base your labeling of Rick Warren on pretty flimsy evidence. Hurt and wounded people like yourself love "being right" but demonstrate little appreciation for the obvious and incredible fruitfulness of a dear brother like Rick. How many copies of your book have you sold? Can you imagine how many people have come to know Jesus as a result of Rick's 25 million PDL book and its message of the Cross? Why not, at bare minimum, adopt a Phil. 1:18?! And, by the way, have you forgotten that your sins tortured Jesus on the Cross? If you believed that, you'd find yourself much more gracious and forbearing.
Dear Mr. Stop-the-Madness: Though you may think you're a defender of the faith, it appears that your "rightest" tone merely means you haven't received much Love from Jesus. So how could you give to Rick Warren whatcha don't got yourself?!! While Rick's use of scripture is quite defensible, your demeaning of a fruitful and anointed man of God is not. I'd suggest you revisit Calvary and get a good grasp of the fact that Jesus has forgiven you billions, and you are only being asked to forgive others their thousands. However, most Pharisees think they've been forgiven thousands and are being asked to forgive billions. By the way, what kind of punishment do you think you should receive for torturing the Creator of the Universe on the Cross with your sins?
If God gives you a vision for your ministry, he’s going to bring other people with the same idea together with you. If nobody agrees on your idea, guess what? It’s not from God.
When Jesus came, they did not agree with Him. Yet he perservered. Sometime others will not agree with you. Moses in the desert, Elijah on the Mountain, Jeremiah heed Isreal return... yet with God they perservered thru. All it takes is one to recieve the vision and stick with it. The race is not given to the strong or the agile but he that endures to the end.
Rick Warren makes a very important point about Jesus' identity, which was wholly spiritual. The same is true for each of us. We are spiritual beings, living in a physical world with a divine purpose. When you realize who you are, nothing is impossible for you.
Daniel Ortiz
Author
"The 99 Success Secrets of Jesus"
www.SuccessSecretsOfJesus.com