Develop

When the biblical model of leadership is defined in our churches and denominational headquarters, then a new generation of leaders can be developed by disciple making. As the American church again comprehends what God expects of leadership, a new wave of leaders will arise—leaders who have been transformed by a biblical understanding of their task. And because biblical leaders by definition are multipliers, they will develop more leaders—leaders who have been mentored in God’s church for distribution into the world: transformed leadership transforming others just as they themselves have been transformed, with each one multiplying and reproducing again and again and again. That’s how God’s leadership model works. We must reclaim this model again, and we must do it now.

Deploy

After the church has defined the biblical model of leadership and has begun developing leaders based on that model through leadership disciple making, then the church must be ready to deploy these emerging leaders into the world. Every institution of our contemporary culture should be influenced by these transformed leaders, who will be armed with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of God’s Word, and the love of Christ. If the biblical model of leadership disciple making is followed, Christian leaders will of necessity be deployed into every honorable sphere of society. These Christian leaders will be deployed according to their God-given gifts, talents, and passions. If some of these new leaders are in business, they will become Christian business leaders. If some are parents, they will produce Christ-centered families. If a leader is a husband, he will be the spiritual leader of his wife in Christ. Leaders in law enforcement and the military will understand how to protect those in their care and carry out their responsibilities with a biblical perspective. Christian attorneys will be prepared to advocate the cause of justice based on the historical Judeo-Christian worldview and will strive to restore a once-noble calling back to a position of respect. Elected officials and other officeholders will be equipped to exercise biblical leadership for the general welfare of society, and thankfully statesmen will replace politicians.

Contemporary culture would be transformed in an amazingly rapid span of time. The twentieth-century shift in American worldview from God-centered to man-centered could be reversed. What an exceptional gift of grace—from the risen Christ through his church. But we cannot have it both ways. Either we lead according to the world or we lead according to the Word. Those are our only choices. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed . . .” (Rom. 12:2). The American church can step back from the edge of oblivion and avoid the deadly free fall that now faces us. Or not. By the grace of God, we still have time, and it is an opportune moment in time. An open door is before us. The failure of worldly leadership has demoralized our culture—so the church today is being offered a marvelous opportunity. By the grace of God, we can and we must seize the moment.

The book of Acts tells us that when Christian leaders such as Paul and Silas carried the truth of God’s Word into the heart of the first-century Greco-Roman culture, they were met with this cry: “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6). How I would love to hear those words said one more time. Our problem, observed C. S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory, is that “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.”1 The Word of God drives home that point with even greater simplicity in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” Through the love of Jesus Christ, we are called by the God of the Bible to wrestle to the ground the death and decay that now cloak our culture. And his leadership manual stands ready and available. The cultural death spiral can be stopped, reversed, and transformed by gospel-driven and Christ-centered Christian leaders.

Define. Develop. Deploy. “Go therefore,” God orders us, “and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19).

Now, what would these world-shaking leaders look like, where would they come from, and what would they do?

The Leadership Dynamic: A Biblical Model for Raising Effective Leaders

Copyright © 2008 by Harry L. Reeder III with Rod Gragg
Published by Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187