Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Taking the Mystery out of Leadership

Archive for the tag “Team”

30 Jan 2023

Leadership Paradigm Shift

There has been a fundamental shift in how Kingdom leaders lead. This change came at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to all believers, not just God’s chosen leaders.

In the Old Testament paradigm, God’s anointing and His Spirit rested upon specific leaders enabling them to know God’s will and communicate it to His people. In Moses’ recounting of God giving Israel the Law on Mt. Sinai, he illustrates this, “At that time I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain)… Deuteronomy 5:5 NIV God spoke to Moses and he delivered God’s message to the people.

But after the Holy Spirit came upon all believers in the New Testament we now have a different leadership paradigm. Yes, Kingdom leaders are still God’s anointed for their responsibilities. But these leaders are now leading God’s people who themselves have His Spirit within them. We are leading fellow members of God’s family, His children, who also have God living within them. “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:15-16 NIV

Thus, when leading others – our leadership team or our ‘flock’ that we shepherd – Kingdom leaders today must realize that the Spirit can also speak directly to those we lead. In our New Testament paradigm we don’t have the opportunity to say, “God told me that…” and assume that those we lead will automatically accept it as God’s will. Because they too have direct access to the Lord’s voice, we should listen carefully for confirmation from those we lead, especially the spiritually mature.

It may well be God’s direction was known by the leader, but if it is, we can assume it will be confirmed by the Spirit within many of those we lead. I’m not suggesting that decisions should be 100% consensus (this can be tyranny by the minority), but a wise leader will listen to the voices from those led, discerning what the Spirit is saying through them. Should there be a lack of agreement, wisdom and prudence would suggest to wait and rethink the direction, seeking more clarity.

Remember, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” Proverbs 19:2 NIV 1984

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
09 Jul 2018

Paul’s Partners in the Work of the Kingdom

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.                               1 Corinthians 3:9     (NIV  1984)

As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ.                                  2 Corinthians 8:23     (NIV  1984)

In Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthian church, he addresses the issue of factions forming around certain leaders – particularly Apollos and himself.  He defuses the argument with the statement that all are nothing more than God’s servants (doulos) and fellow workers (synergos) with God.  And he continues that it was truly God who brought about the spiritual growth in their lives.

Paul’s perspective on the work was what Jesus taught in Matthew 11 – “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:29-30  (NIV  1984)

Paul was very clear that he was yoked together with Jesus as he sought to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.  And yet, while he was laboring as an “expert builder,” he was under no illusion as to who was truly bringing about the results.  It was Christ!

Paul uses that same word picture of a “fellow worker” (co-laborer) in his second letter to the Corinthian church.  But this time the term is used to refer to Titus, who had recently met Paul to report the response to his first letter.

It appears that Paul had entrusted the delivery of the first letter to Titus with that plan that they would meet in Troas to debrief on the response (see 2 Corinthians 2:12ff).  But, for some reason Titus was delayed, and therefore Paul moved on to northern Greece and it was there that they met and Paul sent his second letter, again carried by Titus.

In describing his relationship to Titus, he says that Titus is a “partner and fellow worker.”  Titus had previously joined Paul from Antioch to meet with the Twelve in the Jerusalem to discuss the essence of the gospel message that Paul was teaching among the Gentiles (see Galatians 2).  Titus (probably a Gentile believer), joined with Paul and Barnabas on the trip to Jerusalem as “exhibit A” of what a Gentile believer looked like.  And Titus was later sent on special assignment to Crete by Paul to help establish the work after Paul had left behind a foundation for the spread of the gospel (see the book of Titus).

Paul acknowledges two partners in his work – Christ, first and foremost, and Titus, illustrative of his teammates like Apollos, Silas, Timothy, and  Luke.  Both are key to accomplishing the work.  Christ the center of our work as Kingdom leaders and then the team whom God gives us to accomplish our calling.

Who are your ‘fellow workers’ or ‘co-laborers.’  Have you told the Lord recently how grateful you are for the privilege of being yoked to Him?  And have you expressed to your co-laboring team (including your spouse) how appreciative you are for their hard work and sacrifices that they are making?

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
13 Jan 2014
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Leadership Team Responsibilities

Leadership team members have a unique relationship one to another.  They are often thrown together and told to function as a team because the leader chose them.  But they were chosen individually, most often without much say as to who else joined the team.  We may or may not be “naturally” drawn to our teammates.  Though we are united on our mission and vision, our personalities, backgrounds, or interests may present challenging obstacles to our effectiveness as a leadership team.

How do we relate to one another on a leadership team?  What are our responsibilities to each other?  No doubt you could list several, but let me suggest two that I see in the Word.

In John 13:1-17 Jesus models the attitude of a servant before his leadership team.  After finishing, in vv. 13-14 he says, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”  Jesus’ instructions to “wash one another’s feet” were given to explain how the members of His leadership team were to relate to each other.  They were to serve each other, choosing to meet the needs of fellow team members rather than promote or serve one’s own self interests.  As members of a leadership team we have a responsibility to serve one another, helping each other become a success in our individual responsibilities.

In Acts 20:28 we see another responsibility.  Paul had gathered the Ephesian elders together for some final words and he reminds them, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”  We often neglect to notice the first part of this passage.  The members of the Ephesian leadership team were to “keep watch over [them]selves.”

Yes, I am my brother’s keeper!  We have a responsibility to one another on our leadership team to make sure we continue to walk with God, fulfill our family responsibilities, and fulfill our leadership calling.  Spiritual leadership requires the utmost in Christlike character and we are to “keep watch” on that as well, as we fulfill our duties.

‘Serving each other’ and ‘keeping watch over each other’ are two of our responsibilities as leadership team members.  Let’s not be so focused on the outward responsibilities related to our leadership roles that we neglect to fulfill the responsibilities to those on our team.

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , , , ,

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