Video Transcript: Becoming a Leader

Henry - Henry and Pam. Back again today we're going to talk about the  becoming a leader, part of the Christian leader, and that focuses specifically on  the biblical understanding of leader. So we last time we talked about becoming a Christian, rededicating yourself as a Christian, but today we're going to talk  about the Christian sense of who is a leader. How do you become a leader? So  let's get right into it. So biblical perspectives on the leader. Alright,  

Pam - leaders are servants to others, sensing a calling to influence others by  example and communication. Matthew 23:11 says, the greatest among you must be your servant. Yeah, I  

Henry - think that Matthew passage is so interesting because there you have  the mother of John and James. Who this mother is comes potentially, generally  considered the aunt of Jesus, right? So we're connected family here, right? So  she comes and says, My sons should be elevated. We've been with you, and I  can just picture this. We've been with this family a long time. We've been  together a long time, and I see your kingdom is expanding all over the place,  and it's a sincere question about leadership, right? And some people look  negatively on her. I look at the opposite. I hear she's all in it to win it, right, right?  And she is about going forward with Jesus, and believes 100% in fact, she's at  the crucifixion. She's their anointing Jesus body, we read later on. So she is in it  to win it. So she asked for this request. And it's here that Jesus teaches on  leadership. That's a profound teaching that lives to this day. It's this teaching  

Pam - the servant leader who is Jesus, Matthew 20:26-28 whoever wants to  become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first  must be your slave, just as a Son of Man did not come to be served, but to  serve and to give his life as a ransom for many,  

Henry - it's so powerful that word to become a servant is the word diakonos,  which we get, the word minister, from which then builds so much of our ministry  Division here at Christian leaders. So it's fascinating that in this whole story, in  this whole time, in Matthew we see this powerful truth. So then defining a biblical leader,  

Pam - Exodus 18:21 but select capable men from all the people, men who fear  God, trustworthy man who hate dishonest gain and appoint them as officials.  

Henry - So this is the Old Testament. This is Moses. So what do you recall  about that story? Well, isn't this father in law instructing him? Yes, it is. Jethro  shows up. He's burning out. Yes, he's telling 

Pam - him how to be a better leader so that he's not being so burnt out, and to  to set up find other leaders to help in his work. And  

Henry - yeah, well, what I love about that too, is it's a great DNA for it is so  complimentary to what Jesus says that in the end, it's about the mission. It's  about why you're here. We have a little phrase around Christian leaders that  we're building an orchard, meaning that our organization, it's not just our  generation, but we want the next generation to own it, run it, and then to model  to the next generation, to pick capable people to run it for the next generation  continue to bear now. We're hoping Jesus comes back in a short amount of  time, but our attitude is, how do we keep, you know, reaching more people, and  it's all about getting out of the way, getting your ego out of the way to how do we find capable people to go forward? So I it's probably good to return back to  Jesus, then as a model for leadership.  

Pam - Yeah. Philippians 2:5-7, in your relationships with one another, have the  same mindset as Christ, Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider  equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made human  likeness.  

Henry - You know, I This is revolutionary. This is, again, the opposite of how the  world would see leadership. You know, they would go, right? You know, we just  read this book from Elon Musk and together, and we're listening to the car and  everything like that, and and on our trip that we just recently came back from, I  know I focused on that on the plane to listen to that book. And, you know, and  you see the worldly understanding of leadership. It's, it's the amazing Elon Musk and his vision to save the world through getting to Mars and through making  electric cars. And it's clear that he is telling everybody this vision, vision, vision,  but and if someone doesn't fit his agenda, they're fired. I was amazed in the  book How many people get fired quickly and and the fact that this is an  endorsed biography, he likes  

Speaker 3 that well, right? Then that is, apparently who he is, right?  

Henry - It's, you know, where Jesus, it's no he himself very God, a very God, as we read in the some of the confessions, humbles himself take on our flesh  nature, the very nature of servant, that is the leader's heart. In terms of  Christianity, this is why, you know, we went in the cat to Rome, and we saw the  catacombs, right, and we saw people, and there was martyr at the . In Greek,  next to those who died as martyrs, and they humbled themselves. And that's  and they say that the blood of martyr, the martyrs, is a seed of the church that, 

you know, just opening up very, very powerful, definitely. Well, then that brings  up the wisdom in the leader to then just really seek to be inquisitive and to learn  right  

Pam - Proverbs 3:13-14. Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain  understanding for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns  than gold.  

Henry - You know, I was, I'm listening to a book on Plato, interesting, and it's,  here's this ancient pagan philosopher, and Plato comes to this understanding  that only the leader who has a desire for knowledge and growing and being  inquisitive deserves to run the state. Okay, so again, some of you non  philosophical people probably don't care about that, but I thought it's no wonder  that Plato has such an influence because he's kind of, in a little way, mirrors  what is in intuitive in Christianity, we are image bearers of God created to learn  and to grow and to subdue the earth. And leaders have that attitude, like, I want  to learn. I want to get out of the way myself. I want to learn. I want to grow all of  those and be teachable. And we have the word of God, and we have his  beautiful creation. It's very powerful. And as a leader, when you are studying  here at Christian leaders, it's that coming to a class with that engagement and  Holy Spirit. What do I need to learn? Right? I even believe like I know in our own lives, you know, we get stuck. Maybe you've understood this, where we're  looking for what the Holy Spirit has to say, and, and, and we have to, even on  that level, seek the wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and just not  assume we know and having the humility to change and to lower ourselves and  to learn and grow, and we know that in 40 years of marriage, but in the kingdom, it's is very much the same the leader as a steward.  

Pam - Matthew 25:21 His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master's happiness.  

Henry - You know, I love that encouraging passage, you know, and too if you're  given one talent, make it two, given two, make it four, make it five, make it 10,  and then someday that well done, good and faithful servant that's, you know,  that reminds me too. You like. In a lot of ways, if we put ourselves fully in serving the Lord, leader sort of grows out of it. That's the seed. When you're totally in it,  then you do have leadership, right? So if you're busy serving the Lord, people  see that, right? Yeah, and they want to be part of it, right? And, and yet, I want to bring up an interesting point that always gives me comfort. I always know that  no matter what I'm doing, that passage where the 70 come back and the  demons submit to them, and they're all excited. And then Jesus says, Don't 

rejoice that the demons submit to you, that you're so effective and that you're  made 10, 20,40, 100 you know, rejoice that your name is written in the book of  life. So in the other ways, it's like we're a steward, but we also know that our  validity is not in our results, right, right? That our validity is that we're connected  to the God of the universe, and we will live with Him forever, right? So, very, very powerful thinking about being a leader. People see love. The truth is the leaders  are examples.  

Pam - Peter 5:2-3, be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care,  watching over them, not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it  over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. Yeah,  

Henry - it's easy to lord it over when you're 100% involved in what you're doing,  and then somebody is sort of you meet them, and you just want them to be  managed into something. But the word says is as a servant leader to basically  serve and in that's, that's where you're with a partnership with the Lord. Then,  again, back to Elon Musk is clear. He Lords it over people, you know, in getting  his you know, again, I again, some, not all is much, but, you know, I don't want  to generalize, but he brags about it in the book. So in our goal is to be partnering with people and influencing them and the light, the truth, the options, if we  discuss and dialog and the Lord makes things clear, right, right? We don't need  to lord it over anybody, right?  

Pam - And, and the human leadership thinks they do, and that's where Elon  Musk is coming from. So exactly,  

Henry - you know, I want to be careful. I am not like picking on Elon's Musk.  This is a good woman. God gives me a good woman to like, not the okay, you're picking on him enough. Okay, I get that. I am just reading the book reflecting  upon this truth that we're getting at, right. And I appreciate. I got that. I got that. I  appreciate, I appreciate Elon Musk. I like that. I appreciate him, because I really  do. I was inspired to dream big. He's got a dream to save the earth by going to  Mars, right? We have a dream, yes, to reach more Christian leaders to save the  earth through the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the earth salvation, right? He  believes the earth will be destroyed. Well, we do too. We believe Jesus will  come back and judge the living in the dead. He believes that we're going to save ourselves. We believe no God will save us. Okay, so, you know, again, I've  reflected on all these things, but we lead by the example. The interesting about  this teaching is, this is about ministers, and I would apply it to whether you're a  minister in the general sense, or you're a minister in the ordained and  recognized sense, to have that attitude of servant leadership, 

Pam - yes, whenever you're leading and ministering, yeah, the compassionate  leader, Colossians 3:12, therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly  loved. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and  patience. Wow.  

Henry - You know, again, it's like it challenges you to the heart. So if you think  about studying at Christian leaders, that leader part is a part of compassion, and we other humans are in the same predicament. We are they too. Are fallen. All.  Abilities are in the same place that we're at. We're not better than anybody else,  whether someone's rich or poor, it's all the same. You know, there's not a class  issue here, right? There's not a race issue here. There's not anything that it's  God is the creator of this world, and every person created by him has value, and we are in this together. So really, we're not in that lord over spot, that's right.  We're in the compassion spot. Clothe ourselves with compassion powerful the  heart of a biblical leader then and ultimately, this is Alright,  

Pam - I Corinthians 13:4-5. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it  does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self seeking.  It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.  

Henry - You know Jesus model, he's on the cross and and even there. Don't  hold this against them. I mean, even then, you see that no records of wrong  many of you are sensing the call to ministry, and you could be tempted to have a long record of wrong of what's happened to you in your life, but you know God  has called you, and to be able to realize that you know forgive is more than  keeping track of wrongs and in ministry, if you actually go into formal ministry,  there's lots of spiritual warfare, and you can quickly keep a record of wrong even in ministry. Yes, you know, we can look back and think of so many stories where  if we chose to have a record of wrong, we probably would be burned out and not be in ministry anymore, right? So love is realizing that the the way of a Christian  leader is the way of forgiveness. So when we say leader, then these are the  types of things we mean. So as we conclude this presentation, just like we did  last time we had a prayer, Pam is going to read now a prayer of leader  submission. So maybe you would want to pray this with us. It's a prayer we say,  Lord, make me a biblical leader. So when we talk next about putting that  together Christian leader, both becoming a Christian, being a Christian, and then becoming a leader, wells up to even another reality, the Christian leader, in  terms of someone called by God to change the world In Jesus Christ. So let's,  let's pray this prayer. Alright,  

Pam - amen, Heavenly Father, in your sovereign wisdom, you've called your 

people to lead, to steward your creation and to shepherd those in our care. I  come before you humbly seeking the grace and strength to walk in the footsteps of the greatest leader of all your Son, Jesus Christ, Lord, empower me with the  Holy Spirit to be a leader after your own heart. May I lead with love, serve with  humility and speak with truth. Grant me the courage to act justly, the  compassion, to love mercy and the wisdom to walk humbly with you in moments of decision, guide my thoughts in times of challenge, fortify my spirit in  opportunities for growth, increase my speed. Let me not seek to be served, but  to serve. To give selflessly as Jesus gave, and to uplift others as you have  uplifted me. Bless me with the discernment to recognize the needs of those I  lead the patience to listen to their concerns and the vision to guide them with  hope and confidence. May your word light my path and your promises keep me  steadfast, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit  within me. May I embody the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience,  kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. As I embrace the  mantle of leadership, I pray that my actions reflect your love, my decisions echo  your righteousness, and my life be a testament to your grace. May I lead not by  personal for personal glory, but for the glory of your name, through challenges  and triumphs keep me anchored in your grace, rooted in your word and  relentless in your love, I trust in you to equip me for every good work that you  have prepared for me to do in the precious name of Jesus, I pray Amen. Amen. 

Henry - it's very powerful. As I was praying that with you, I felt so renewed, so  ready to take that next step in leadership. And, yeah, that's a powerful way to  think about it. And and I think that illustrates something in general, that is  through prayer that revivals happen in countries. It's through prayer that we  change our own life, and as we're relating daily in our prayers and in our  devotions, and all of that is is to know that God changes our heart. He changes  the world, and even as we dedicate ourselves to Him, He is with us, and He will  guide us. Amen.