MODEL OF BIBLICAL LEADERSHIP: PART I

Leadership is a journey. It is the path we travel. This excursion includes both challenges and victories. No matter the circumstance we face there are three simultaneous perspectives as we go: UPWARD, INWARD, and OUTWARD.

THE UPWARD PERSPECTIVE

A Christian leader must be centered on God. This is foundational for all other thoughts, actions, and words spoken. Although it may not be the first choice of a leader (particularly a driven leader) to be dependent on an outside source, reliance on God is essential. Dependency is primarily experienced through obedience and deep intimacy.

Key Verses:

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. Matt 22:37-38 (NIV)

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matt 6:25,33-34 (NIV)

But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 1 Sam 15:22 (NIV)

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5 (NASB)