Book Review - Lead Like Jesus

This concept of being a manager who leads is a continuous blend. In clarification she goes on to say that a manager deals with present day issues and concerns. This is a very important aspect of managing and quite a lot can be accomplished with this focus in mind. In order to be a leader you must look beyond today and focus on the future. A leader must be a true visionary. Being able to handle everyday issues and problems while planning for the future are qualities that all leaders must master if they are to truly be successful. For this reason it is vital to have insight, practice forward thinking, and demonstrate the ability to make strategic decisions further improving what is already established. In addition a leader must develop, initiate, and promote their ideas and values. A leader must possess the ability to unite a group of otherwise separate individuals into one humongous group. Most importantly they must focus them to work under a common philosophy with valued goals in mind. Leaders must be proactive in collaborating with others around them. The collaboration must take place with individuals that are equal in position as well as those above and below them. In other words a leader must listen and acknowledge all suggestions, while taking an active part in coaching or developing them further if appropriate. Lastly but equally as important, as a leader you must have authority. This power if you will should not be exerted routinely as it should be reserved

Blanchard & Hodges, guide readers through the process of discovering how to lead like Jesus. It really could be described as the process of aligning two internal domains, the heart & the head and two external domains, the hands & the habits. These four dimensions of leadership form the outline for this very practical and transformational book. Blanchard & Hodges believe that the application of the true meaning of leading like Jesus to the heart, head, hands and habits will enable individuals to modify and transform their leadership styles.

Gene C. Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership, does an excellent job in redefining leadership within the context of the Kingdom of God and he does so by pointing to Jesus who “taught and embodied leadership as service.” Wilkes’ point is that Jesus taught the world everything to know about leadership in the way that he served. Rather than leadership being top down, it should be bottom up as in the case of Jesus—the Savior of the World—washing his disciples feet. This means that leaders do not have people serve them, rather they chose to serve those they are leading. The clearest point and evidence that Wilkes utilizes is when Jesus says, “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” This upside down kingdom idea is the most profound view of Wilkes on leadership and carries the most weight in applying to ministry leadership. Furthermore, two aspects deserve more attention here; which are: the importance of mission and the essentiality of equipping others. In addition, there was one element missing from the book—the people Wilkes has helped succeed through his own servant leadership.

Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.

Based on my analysis, I explain that AMC leaders who happen to be Christian leaders should understand what is leadership before getting into overarching goals from a Christian perspective and how should they should be handled properly. AMC leaders should explore the Christian principles by laying a strategic plan that is easy to understand and use it effortlessly and efficiently. However, when a leader keeps his maintenance of Christian’s core values and beliefs, he should be comprehensive and concise on where he leads his followers in his organization. “In regard to maintaining core values and beliefs, a common theme was that focusing on what you believe to be the ‘right thing to do’ gives a sense of personal integrity, self-worth, and even accomplishment—no matter what the final outcome” (Shaw, 2012, pg.59). Therefore, from a Christian perspective, a leader should seek and serve God and those he shows the way strategically in his organization.

Robert Banks and Bernice M. Ledbetter believe the subject of leadership to be one worth exploring, and they do so in their book much to our profit. In this short book, Banks and Ledbetter begin by presenting the overall question they want to answer: Do Christians' core convictions shape their views and practices of leadership or are they affected by wider cultural assumptions? [1]The book begins by exploring the many reasons for the increased interest in leadership today. The authors offer a plethora

Leadership is a term that cannot be defined or simplified with a standard definition (Bethel, 2011). The term’s complexity is a phenomenon, as it carries a different meaning for each person. During the

Throughout the class Bible and Leadership we the class have learned of leaders that caused great change. The greatest leader of the “The New Oxford Annotated Bible” the man who gave birth to the New Testament, Jesus Christ. The class textbook “The Art of Leadership” by Manning and Curtis splits leadership into three types teacher, Hero and Ruler. The book even describes Jesus as a teacher since teachers and rule breakers. It is apparent that Jesus is a rule breaker since he values worship over societal rules “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” Jesus answered them “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (New Revised Standard Version, Matthew 15.2,3) Jesus rocked the establishment saying that the society should never trump the reason for society and that is the commandment. Jesus was also a hero since he was responsible for great causes and noble works. In Jesus’s time Judaism and Jewish society was based around the concept of hierarchy, some people on top but most are on the bottom. Jesus helped perpetuate egalitarian philosophy with a simple sentence “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (New Revised Standard Version, Luke 6.31). This was and still is a great cause to champion for, equality and fairness. Though the text described the concept of rulers as aggressive, cold and calculative with the likes of Napoleon, Caesar and Hitler but even though Jesus was none of those things he was still a ruler. A ruler that knew how to lead his disciples and followers.

Setting your priorities is discussed, the leadership style of Jesus is examined, commitment to the task is next discussed, followed by the need of virtues, skills are next surveyed, each with its own chapter (31-133). Bredfeldt finishes out the book by discussing change, values, vision, venture, and virtues the four paradigms of leadership. Placing the context within the four basic churches follows and he closes with the challenge to stay the course, pointing out the difficulties involved in what seems to be an easy task (135-201). In this book Bredfeldt takes many of the common leadership principles, Christian and secular, and applies them to the task of effective leadership in the church, by examining them in detail and applying them in the proper context, using many real-world

Over the last century, defining what exactly a leader is, has proven difficult, with many researchers creating their own definitions. However, I believe a leader is a person that can motivate and influence people to follow them in the quest to accomplish objectives and goals, which are part of a greater vision. Furthermore, leadership is the ability to motivate people to accomplish tasks or goals. In the workforce, leaders provide direction and motivate personnel to focus on steps to move towards the provided direction. In this way, leadership differs from management, as management plans, organizes, and moves in a controlled manner. An example is generating work schedules for employees, ensuring the organization has the appropriate amount of people to accomplish the company’s goals.

Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, declare that a biblical leader is a person engaged in influencing and developing people in accomplishing a purpose by means of supernatural power.106 J. Oswald Sanders points out that spiritual leaders influence others because they are illuminated, likewise they are saturated with the power of the Holy Spirit. For instance, when the leader comes under the control of the Holy Spirit, the spirit’s power flows through him to others.107 Sanders further verifies that spiritual leaders can only lead others down the road in which they have already travelled. It’s not enough to point out the way, a godly leader must walk in a way that others can follow.108 Geoffrey V. Guns articulates brilliantly how Jesus modeled leadership

The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus is for those who want to become wise and highly effective leaders. This is more than a theory; it focuses on a uniquely constructive and compassionate approach to leadership based on positive spiritual principles contained in the teachings of Jesus. It addresses priceless wisdom for leading ourselves and others. We can apply these principles to family, work and church or ministry. When we are called upon to lead, in any capacity, we have to be effective and lead with ethic and justice. We have to be able to provide positive influence for others. The book “Lead like Jesus” give us four stages for us to learn how we can identify our stage in order to go to a different level of leadership. We need to identify

“There is much that can be learned about leadership from Scripture” (Smith, 1992, p. 39). The Bible provides us with what God not only desires His man of God to be, but requires His under shepherd to meet His character traits.

There are many people in scripture that God has placed in leadership roles. Jesus himself, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart. Leaders establish a model of the way others should be treated and how goals should be pursued, with standards and examples of what others should follow by exemplifying God’s example. Christian leaders inspire a shared vision to make a difference

In corporate America the term used to describe a person in a position of power is “Manager”. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. Leaders motivate, challenge, and influence others to achieve goals. Great leaders have the necessary skills and attributes which allow them to connect with the team and organization. Being a leader is not the same as managing an organization. Leader’s posses the interpersonal skills needed to influence others to achieve a goal willingly. Leading is a major part of a manager’s job. Leaders do not need to be a manager to lead people, but managers must know how to lead as well as manage.