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Tag Archives: leadership and prayer

Learning to Lead from the Best

Most Christian leaders today look primarily to secular entrepreneurs in order to learn how to lead– e.g. Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos. That is a good thing. My deep concern is proportion. We don’t spend nearly as much time sitting at the feet of Christian leaders who are prayerful, discerning, and biblical. The best models I know come out of early church history. Origen (182-251) was the head of a famous catechetical school (or seminary) in Alexandria Egypt. For Origen, all Scripture was the “music of God.” He was so ascetic in his lifestyle that, to avoid slander arising out of his wide ministry and to serve his quest for perfection in Christ, he castrated himself in accordance to Matthew 19:12. Regardless of our opinion of his actions, it demonstrates his all-out commitment to live what he was preaching. Athanasius (300-373) was a deacon in the church in Egypt and a great defender of Scripture.. Read more.

Learning to Lead from the Best

Most Christian leaders today look primarily to secular entrepreneurs in order to learn how to lead– e.g. Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos. That is a good thing. My deep concern is proportion. We don’t spend nearly as much time sitting at the feet of Christian leaders who are prayerful, discerning, and biblical. The best models I know come out of early church history. Origen (182-251) was the head of a famous catechetical school (or seminary) in Alexandria Egypt. For Origen, all Scripture was the “music of God.” He was so ascetic in his lifestyle that, to avoid slander arising out of his wide ministry and to serve his quest for perfection in Christ, he castrated himself in accordance to Matthew 19:12. Regardless of our opinion of his actions, it demonstrates his all-out commitment to live what he was preaching. Athanasius (300-373) was a deacon in the church in Egypt and a great defender. Read more.

Spiritual Direction for Leaders

Can we serve as effective leaders in Christ’s church who lead others spiritually without receiving spiritual direction ourselves? I do not think so. I speak here not simply from the witness of church history but also from my own journey of mistakes and failures. God has recently cemented this lesson in me as I have reflected on a recent decision I made that I wish I had more fully explored in spiritual direction. We don’t talk about the term “spiritual direction” very often in the context of leadership, yet helping people respond to what God is uniquely doing in them is one of the most important things we do. At the same time, being under spiritual direction is also critical. Eugene Peterson, in Working the Angles, warns us: “Our position requires that we act with authority; our faith requires we live in submission. While we are busy passing out the Lord’s commands in our. Read more.