Just came across The Leadership Dynamic: A Biblical Model for Raising Effective Leaders. I think I'm going to have to get it. I liked the author's first book From Embers to a Flame.
I really appreciate this quote:
The American church is standing at the brink of a self-inflicted death spiral accelerated by worldly leadership. God's people are the "salt" and "light" of surrounding culture, so when the church begins its free fall, all of American culture will soon follow. What's the poisonous elixir that the contemporary American church seems so determined to consume? The answer: the leadership model now practiced and promoted in the boardrooms of American big business. What? Is traditional American capitalism wrong? Unbiblical? Dangerous? The answer is no—traditional capitalism is not the problem. The leadership model that is infecting the church today—with disastrous results—is a product of contemporary capitalism, which is a greed-based, wealth-consuming mutation that has replaced the historically Christian-influenced system of capitalism that created the wealth upon which our nation thrived and blessed the world. Today's self-promoting, infected corporate leadership is a deadly potion that countless churches are drinking as they thoughtlessly imbibe the contemporary corporate leadership models of the day.
It's sad, isn't it? How many times do we have to read the gospels and hear the words of Jesus--"The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves"--and yet continue to follow their example rather than the way of the kenotic Christ?
Mike,
It is sad. Must be part of our desire for power.
We really need someone to write a robust theology of leadership. I'd buy it.
Sadly, our leaders have forgotten that to lead is the highest form of public service, not the greatest position of power. To lead is to take personal responsibility for those who follow, to know that the orders you give hold sway over the lives of those in your nation. It is this, above all else, that we, as a whole, have forgotten. We are in a hurry to shed personal responsibility, and place the blame on others when things go wrong. Conversely, we are quick to accept the accolades, even when unearned, when things go right.
In that vein, true credit for my comment goes to Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is from his example that I speak.