Today’s leaders seem to have competence, capacity, and charisma, but they fall short in the character and caring dimension. The trend of the day, competence is valued over caring and character. A leader with immature character tends to seek his or her interests above the interests of others, even the welfare of others and drifts off course. We hire people who are competent or place people in volunteer positions who have the capacity, the skill sets to get results – ability, competence outstrips caring for others and an individual’s character and this trend is unfortunate and cannot be apart of the Christian life and it cannot be part of the local ministry.

Positions of leadership especially if you’re one of God’s children demands far more than competent leadership, it requires loving care for others and being a person of character. We lead by caring, by character and by competence.

Leadership is for everyone, all of us lead in some respect….volunteer positions in the ministry, a community, at school, as a big sister or brother, a father or mother, at work, an advisor for a friend or a role model for those who are younger then us. As Christians we are leaders. Whether good or bad, believers and nonbelievers look at our lives and consider, are they worth imitating? And all of us choose whom we will follow; we all have leaders in our lives, people who influence us.

What is leadership? One expert in the field of leadership estimates that there are over 350 definitions of the term “Leadership.” But in almost all definitions of leadership, the key component is people. A leader once said it this way, “He who thinks himself a leader, and turning around finds no one following, is only taking a walk.” Leadership can be summed up in one word…influence. That’s it. Nothing more; nothing less – influence.

Hebrews 13:7-8, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The writer of Hebrews is admonishing believers to think back of those who had an influence on their life, think back and imitate their faith. Then verse eight seems to be out of place because there appears to be a change in subjects. Remember your leaders, consider their life and imitate their faith, oh and by the way, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Here’s the connection… Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever therefore the same lessons He taught in the past apply to me today. The same Jesus who enabled the disciples, the sheep to be shepherds will enable you and me to be a leader for his kingdom.

The best style of leader of all time was and is Jesus. What was his priority in leadership? Very simple, people. As the Good Shepherd he was people-oriented. This was the style of his leadership, shepherding, caring for people, loving others, not programs.

John 15:12-15, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Throughout the New Testament we see time and time again Jesus didn’t have the disciples follow a course or curriculum to develop them as leaders, it was a shared life, association. Jesus was a living classroom. It was through relationship, caring, loving, friendship, shepherding that the disciples grew as believers and into leaders.

It was very clear in Jesus’ invitation Matthew 4:18-19, “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Come follow me and I will make you…Come follow me and I will make you…In the context of relationship I will make you…and he made them from fishers of fish into fishers of men; from sand into rock; from sheep into shepherds. They learned by following the Good Shepherd in the context of relationship. The leader who is not relational is not leading. A leader, who doesn’t care for those he or she is leading, is no real leader. A shepherd cares! There’s an old saying, “If you want to lead me give me a vision, and if you want to lead me keep me focused and if you want to lead me, you have to love me.”

The Good Shepherd loved his people, his priority is people. Leadership is always connected to people, relationships. The best leader of all time is the Good Shepherd…drew the disciples closer to himself; his sheep learned from him by association. He spent more time with the disciples than anyone else, it was a deliberate strategy – his method of developing leaders was simply by being with them, this is how He influenced and as the disciples walked with the Good Shepherd they learned about his vision, his passions, his goals, his purposes and his suffering…and this became a part of them. We influence people most in the context of relationships.

In closing let me emphasis leadership begins with the heart, not the head. It flourishes with a meaningful relationship, not by regulations, rules, and requirements. The Good Shepherd wasn’t into power, position or prestige. His leadership was selfless not selfish, that’s a shepherd’s heart. We influence others by serving, sacrifice and surrendering our rights all in the context of a shepherding relationship…that’s love in action.

Lead, Pastor Alex Garcia