Dr. Ricketson : Rethinking Leading For Organizational Physical Structure

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.

Wheatley (2007) describes the old story of leadership as “a story of dominion and control, and all-encompassing materialism.” It can be explained by analogizing it to a machine; a lifeless object that does not have the capability to think, feel, or make decisions. It, the machine, functions quite like the old story of leadership by where there are

There are many ways to define leadership, but perhaps the most laconic as well as accurate definition is presented in Peter G. Northouse's Leadership: Theory and Practice book (Northouse, 2013, p.5): "Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal". Individuals, engaged in leadership, use influence to solve challenges, which the groups under their leadership face, in order to succeed in their common goals.

A couple people may trust that leaders are considered and a couple people may feel that leaders are made. I envision that leaders lead their gathering from his or her potential outcomes and learning. Because of the Apostle Paul, God as a fruitful pioneer, a man that is known how to direct and is devoted to his or her run, picked him. As pioneers, we are vessels. On the off chance that we will be viable, our energy needs to surpass our Magnitude, be the vessel that floods with eagerness and fervor for your vision. The way to Paul 's self-way of life as a pioneer was his part as a messenger (Smith, 2014). The way to that part was the way that it was a celestial arrangement and that it included a mission instructed, and empowered by God and represented by the Spirit of God (Smith, 2014). An approach to consider 'authority ' as the way toward attracting individuals together to impact and "lead" them in a specific bearing (frequently to fulfill a specific errand). On the off chance that this is the thing that we mean by 'administration ', Paul was absolutely a pioneer (Smith, 2014).

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

The author has clearly demonstrated his objectives set out in the introduction, and has provided examples for leadership that are able to be implemented in all business applications and not merely the church only. This work is to be commended for anyone interested in not only what makes leaders great; but as well, how they arrived at the summit and are able to remain there. Two things are clear from a complete reading of this book:

We do our best and most excellent work, and then offer it to him to go beyond our work and to change a child’s heart to have faith, to restore parents back into unity, and to bring peace to homes filled with strife. A great leader is a dependent leader.

William Fenwick wrote, “God is chiefly the Leader,” in which, this reader does not contemplate being an issue of Rusty Ricketson’s perspective, in his book. In completing the reading throughout Ricketson’s book it is this reader’s understanding that God the Creator of all that is created, is the One whom His creation glorifies, and is the only Leader of all creation. To follow the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is to glorify God, the Head of all. In addition, William proclaimed, “Leadership saturates Scripture,” which is this reader’s assumption why Ricketson referred heavily on the Word of God, to support each point discussed or contended.

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.

A key piece of learning (in this course) was the fact that based on the study and proclamation of Dr. Ricketson, “eternal life” is to know God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Literally, throughout the semester, each subject matter (block of instructions) that was learned appeared to lead to, a direct path that lead to his profound discovery. Therefore, after completion of the course, rethinking the concept of Followerfirst became inevitable. Furthermore, because I am a visual learner, the demonstrations and illustration of the game of catch, Influence Swing-Bridge, and the Mobius Strip, allowed an ease in rethinking and learning with clarity, the concept of leadership from a leader/follower (followerfirst) approach that is intentional, reciprocal, interdependent, dynamic, within a relationship between a leader and a follower. By the same token, the follower acknowledges the need of a reciprocal response; Interdependence that is displayed by the return of a given gesture.

“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.

In the course of Moses’ preparation to leadership he had to learn that God appoints and directs leaders as He wills, and that the leader has little to say in all that. Swindoll again adds:

Effective leadership approaches from a biblical perspective consist of God’s nature in his manifested character. Christian leaders are willing to pay the price to lead in Christ’s affliction. Paul said there is a price to pay in order to lead and Jesus reminded us, “Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (John 15:20, New International Version). Christian leaders need core attributes of God’s styles and approaches, support and linkage from scriptures, and knowledge of his leadership models of truth for effective leadership. However, these perspectives will gave me a better appreciation and insight of who God is and who I can be with his guidance.

The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].

Leaders are known to be leaders not by their title or by their position; they are called leaders because of the leaders “behaviors and attitudes of their followers where we find the difference between title executives and true leaders”. It is very important to have innovative leader for every organization. Its leader doesn’t only run an organization, but also the supporting followers have their part in it too. My example would be the time when I was just a volunteer for a healthcare organization and it had multiple branches. Just like other health organization, this facility had it’s own executive positions as well, however majority of the daily functions were looked by the director. The director had experience of 15 years of experience as a supervisor and Doctorate in public health, however the director didn’t have any experience as leader. On the meet and greet day, the new director Dr. Grant was introduced to all the staff, and he had his own introduction time where he was able to share his past experience, his inspiration and he also shared that he chose to become leader when saw he had the capability to become one.