15 Reasons We Don’t Lead Like Jesus

So I have been really digging into the life of Jesus and I have noticed how He related to His disciples.  I think understanding how He interacted with those men is crucial to understanding some key dynamics of leadership and how to lead a team.  Everyone wants to be known as a good leader but why are there so many bad leaders out there?  Why are there so many out there who don’t get the team dynamic or how to pour their life into a team?  I wish I had an answer because this would not just be a blog post but it would be a book.  Maybe I would see you at Barnes & Noble as I sign copies of your book, however I don’t have the answer and the reality is I would not consider myself a good leader…not yet.  So what did Jesus do that we could model in the teams that we lead?

1. He called them to be with Him and He called them with a purpose in mind.  He called them the way they were with all their faults and deficiencies.
2. He began to develop  them to reach their potential, even though they were far from being champions when He started with them.
3. He took them with Him on day to day activities.
4. He taught them.  At times he taught by simply asking them questions.
5. He game them ministry opportunities with clear assignments.  He gave them power.
6. He took the time to hear their reports and gave words of encouragement to them.  Told them to rest.
7. He answered their questions and their request for information.
8. He gave them assignments so He could do His ministry.
9. He let them get a close up view of who He was, letting them in on the inside.  Teams buy into the leader before the vision.
10. He intervened in their lives when He suspected problems.  He was close enough to them to know there was problems.
11. He corrected them when they were wrong.
12. He enjoyed fellowshiped with them.
13. He prayed for and with His disciples.
14. He dealt with their failures and restored them to service when the time was right.
15. He commissioned them and empower them to carry on the work He started.

When you look at who He had to work with it is amazing that the church exists today.

• Peter- impulsive, impatient and a denier.
• James and John- sons of thunder, judgmental, un-compassionate and inconsiderate.
• Thomas- was a doubter.
• Philip- was slow to understand and learn.
• Nathaniel- was questioning and cynical.
• Matthew- was a tax collector.
• Judas- was a schemer, betrayer and a thief.
• All of them were position conscious, not servants.  They were self-centered and thinking only of themselves, not ever of Jesus.  They did not know how to pray, did not know about the last days, did not understand the ministry of John the Baptist, did not know about the Holy Spirit, had little faith, were scripturally ignorant and were fearful and ran in the face of opposition.  As a group they fought with each other, they did not understand the big picture, they were afraid to ask questions, they argued whether Jesus would use an IPhone or a Blackberry, they bickered over the level of the sound system in the auditorium, who would get the biggest budget, who reserved the space first to do their program and who should be able to hire an assistant.

I think you get the point that the same arguments of then are the same arguments today of those we lead.  Maybe that is why we don’t lead like Jesus because all of that takes hard work.  Maybe we don’t lead like Jesus because we put so much hope in potential and when it doesn’t work out like we thought we just give up and stop leading and start doing.  Maybe we don’t lead like Jesus because we are not close enough to Him to know how to lead like that.  Maybe we don’t lead like Jesus because were not perfect.

Nobody will ever be the perfect leader, but just because we won’t be the perfect leader doesn’t mean we can’t work towards being a great leader.  Based on what I see in the scripture, Jesus was a great leader because He was personal and He got into the lives of those He led.  I don’t think it was the big numbers and miracles that drew the disciples to Jesus it was the fact that He called them, empowered them, walked with them and at the end of the day He called them friends.