Christian Leadership Alliance

Balancing Life's Demands

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Soul Focus

Making Jesus the centerpiece of your ministry can be a moving experience.
Ken Blanchard | Outcomes, Jun/Jul 2008

Twenty years ago, I turned my life over to the Lord. What excited me most was the abundant life Jesus promised. With Jesus as my partner, the sky was the limit, because I took him at his word: "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13, NASB).

I wanted to know all the things Jesus did, so I turned to the Gospels and began reading the red print, all of the things Jesus said. What I found amazed me. Everything I had ever taught or written about leadership, including Situational Leadership® and the One Minute Manager® maybe, concepts I codeveloped, Jesus had done perfectly with 12 inexperienced disciples, men you would never have hired.

From my standpoint, Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time. He was a situational leader who changed his style over time, from directing, to coaching, to supporting, and finally to delegating, as his followers developed their capacity to be "fishers of men" on their own. This command is culminated in the beginning of Acts, where Peter, a slow learner at best, presents the gospel to a crowd and several thousand come to the Lord.

Jesus was a One Minute Manager too. He was clear on goals, and he wandered around from village to village catching people doing things right. He showed his faith in the Word. He praised people and yielded to them. And if people stepped out of line, he wasn't afraid to redirect or reprimand them.

In 1999, Phil Hodges and I launched the Center for Faithwalk Leadership to teach leadership as Jesus modeled it. We wanted to impact both believers and nonbelievers, and the ministry slowly moved along for several years.

Sometimes with life, though, we let our egos get in the way. We edge God out and think we can do things on our own. We forget that Jesus is our partner.

The Lord used Greg Bunch, a member of our national advisory board, to help us see this. Greg, who worked for a company specializing in branding, persuaded us to use the Center for Faithwalk Leadership for our address, but to also put a fresh brand promise on the ministry: Lead Like Jesus.

We sharpened our mission: to glorify God by inspiring and equipping people to lead like Jesus.