Video Transcript: Leadership

We've now come to that last segment related to the transformational leader, and it has to do with leadership. The call to lead. Therefore, since we're surrounded  by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and 

the sin that so easily entangles. Let us run with perseverance the race marked  out for us. And then Jesus Himself, Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me  will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than  these, because I am going to the Father. Let's take a look at leaders in the Bible. What does the Bible say about leadership? There are leaders of tribes, families  and nations. Many are chosen or appointed. Apart from this one passage from  Abijah's reference to God as a leader, the term leader is used to describe  people, but there are all kinds of leaders. There are passages that speak to  leadership character, passages that describe leadership tasks, passages  describing motivations and passages encouraging proper attitudes toward  church leaders. There are five characteristics of Bible leaders, the positive ones, there are negative leaders talking about the positive ones. The focus of their  leadership is a God given task upon which they bring their skills and leadership  traits to bear. There is a burden or need that must be met. Their burden drives  them to utilize existing skills, develop necessary ones and or recruit others who  possess the skills that are needed. They act that of God shaped character. It is  the combination of godly character, commitment, knowledge and skills that  commands authority and respect from others. And finally, they approach tasks  with a sense of responsibility, almost destiny. They know that this, whatever it is, is something that they must do. There are less significant characteristics, and  these are interesting first of all, the scope or magnitude of the leadership task  some LED vast numbers of people, while others counseled individual family  members, as Mordecai did with Esther or acted on behalf of six of sick friends.  Remember when Jesus was speaking in the house and people decided to cut a  cut cut a hole in the in the roof, so that they can lower the guy on the on the on  the bed down to hear Jesus. The other less significant characteristic is age.  While elders in Scripture seem to be the oldest and wisest men of the village.  There were many examples of a mantle of leadership falling on younger  individuals, such as Joshua, David, Esther, Jeremiah, Josiah and Timothy.  Transformational leadership goes beyond the transactional there are two  dimensions of leadership, and the one that is most commonly used is  transactions. Transactional leaders focus on managing exchanges so politicians, they exchange jobs for votes. Bosses, they exchange pay for productivity. You  do the work you get paid. The leader defines what's required and specifies  conditions and rewards related to the transaction, it's transformational. So  motivation for productivity is external, the job, the paycheck, the perks, that's  trans, that's transactional, that's a transactional kind of leadership. Now,  transformational leader. All leaders are engaged in transactions to a limited  degree, but actually many to a great degree too great. But transformational 

leaders serve at a higher, higher level. One has to do with charisma. They  behave in ways that allow them to serve as role models, inspiration. They  behave in ways that motivate and inspire others by pressing meaning and  challenge into their work. The intellectual stimulation. This is taken from Bass  

and Riggio's very extensive study on transformational leadership. Intellectual  stimulation. They stimulate followers, followers to to be innovative and creative.  They encourage the questioning of assumptions, the reframing of problems and  approaching all situate old situations in new ways. And then finally, individual  consideration. They pay special attention to the individual followers need for  achievement and growth, they serve by acting as a coach or mentor that is  transformational leadership. So the focus transact. Transformational leaders  focus on tapping internal motivations they induce. They engender. They  encourage. They trigger change in others. Inspire. How do we trigger  motivation? Internal motivation? What do we need to do as leaders to make that happen? Well, one thing is that tasks must be significant. Montessori discovered that the essential thing is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages  the child's whole personality. And so for tasks to be transformational, they must  be significant to the ones performing them many times in youth leadership  programs, it is about giving tasks to youth that the leader is excited about. How  do we create tasks that the young people will be excited about those tasks are  transformational. They will be the tasks that are significant to them and  something that can engage their whole personality as well. Vision must be  shared. Transactional leaders focus on tasks important to the leader, but the  transformational leader focuses on tasks that are tied to a shared vision.  Leaders and those they lead, they are leading on a shared adventure. Tasks are significant as part of a bigger plan and greater purpose. What does that look like in your youth ministry? And then third, there must be a con. The context must be that while young people are engaged in activities that are significant to them,  that those around them are helping them see and discover the divine imprint. So tasks become transformational when they provide glimpses into individual  strengths, inclinations and capacities. The task is important because in pursuing  it, leaders discover important truths about themselves. So this is  transformational leadership, and there's one other dimension of leadership that  we're going to talk about in the next class.