The apostle Paul lists three indispensable qualities of a godly leader. Remove even one of those qualities, and you no longer have a godly leader. I dive deep on these qualities (and more) in my book Shepherd Leadership.
I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
T.M. Moore wrote, “We are God’s poems, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, where the Greek word for ‘workmanship’ is ποίημα, poiema—poem. Perhaps this is why we find it pleasurable when others take an interest in us and want to get to know us better. They’re asking us to ‘read’ our ‘poem’ to them. What fun! And God wants us to know, love, enjoy, and serve Him by all the things He has freely given to us and which He seeks to ‘read’ to us day by day.”
“Saints” is always plural in the Bible. That means we always need to be looking out for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I love the words James uses to close his letter to the saints.
✅ Gather frequently to encourage others
✅ Reach out to those who are absent
✅ Speak the truth in love
✅ Exhort and encourage
✅ Forgive and ask for forgiveness
✅ Restore quickly and gently
Anthony Kidd warns about something I address in my book When Sheep Bite. “Inherent to our calling as shepherds is the task of looking out for the flock of God and protecting it from savage wolves and false shepherds. However, Paul emphasizes here that one of the greatest threats to the church can emerge from within its own leadership ranks, making self-awareness a critical aspect of pastoral leadership.” Read this full article about the earning signs of diseased leadership.
More amazing findings that show the incredible beauty and wisdom of our Creator! The ICR reports, “Insects, such as the winged insects in the order Lepidoptera, continue to reveal incredible abilities with some facets that zoologists thought were reserved only for vertebrates.”
When Paul is writing to his friend Titus some instructions for pastors, he uses a Greek word for “authority” three times.
First, in regard to his own calling he says, “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness … but at the proper time revealed His word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior” (Titus 1:1, 3 NASB).
The phrase “chosen of God” in verse 1 literally means the same thing he says in verse 3: “according to the commandment of God.”
The third usage of this word is when Paul tells Titus that he has this same authority: “These things speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. No one is to disregard you” (Titus 2:15).
Interestingly, Paul uses this Greek word a total of seven times in his letters, with three of those times being in this short letter to Titus.
Paul also uses this word three times in his two letters to the saints in Corinth (1 Corinthians 7:6, 25; 2 Corinthians 8:8). But in all of three of these instances, Paul says, “I choose not to use my God-given authority on this, but I’m asking you to make a good choice.”
The only other time Paul uses this word in a letter is found in his closing remarks to the saints in Rome, with the emphasis there on the authority of the Word of God which he preaches—
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. (Romans 16:25-26 NASB)
Questioning of our pastoral authority is one of the sheep bites I discuss in my book When Sheep Bite. Here is one passage from that chapter—
When our conversation with criticizing sheep hasn’t gone well, and when those unhealthy sheep begin to gossip and then slander, it’s inevitable that they will eventually began to question your authority as a shepherd. Perhaps they think you’re too young and naive, or too old and out of touch. They may question your motives, or the vision you’ve imparted for the church, or your ability to follow through on what you have already shared. Whatever the case, these biting sheep seem to be implying that they know better than you do how this pasture should be run.
During times like these, it is tempting to want to “prove” that we are qualified, that we do know what we’re doing, and that we can indeed successfully pursue the vision we’ve articulated for them. Once again, it’s natural to want to say, “I’ll show you just how qualified I am!”
Before we respond, we need to recognize the source of our authority. There is a certain authority that comes with a position or an office. For instance, a parent can say to a child who is questioning a rule, “Because I’m the parent and I say this is how it is going to be.” We see similar positional authority for CEOs, police officers, school teachers, and pastors. But like the little boy we met at the beginning of this book, people may say to a positional leader, “I may be obeying you on the outside, but on the inside I’m questioning everything you’re saying!”
Far greater than positional authority is moral authority. This is authority that comes not merely from a title or position, but from who conferred that title or position on the leader. If God has called us and appointed us to this pasture, that is all the authority we need.
Let me wrap up with four takeaways for shepherd leaders:
A godly leader’s authority is imparted by God. Keep in mind these three powerful words, “God chose me.” That means you have nothing to prove.
As a godly leader, you are “entrusted” with your authority and that means you have to give an account to God for its application. Don’t let the pain of the moment tempt you to react in a shortsighted way.
There are times to use God’s authority to hold the line; specifically when addressing issues which are biblical or unbiblical (Titus 1:9-14, 3:1-8).
Being a godly shepherd leader is not for the faint of heart! But God has called YOU which means He has also equipped YOU to respond appropriately in each situation.
My book When Sheep Bite is packed with biblical examples, personal experiences, practical applications, and prayers for each of these biting problems you will face. I hope you will pick up a copy today.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
I couldn’t say it any better than the apostle Paul said it—
We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.
We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us.
We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. (2 Corinthians 6:3-10 NLT)
A mark of a godly leader is one who faithfully serves God whether people treat him well or not.
We don’t minister faithfully so we can receive human applause, because cheers can quickly turn to jeers. Just ask Jesus who heard everyone speaking well of Him in one moment, and then in the next moment saw that same group ready to throw Him off a cliff.
Instead, we minister faithfully so that we can hear applause from nail-scarred Hands, and hear His voice saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
In my book Shepherd Leadership, I talk about these metrics of success. And in my book When Sheep Bite, I talk about how we can respond to the slanders and slings that come our way.
This is part 80 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Jesus not only gave us an example of well-rounded, healthy growth, but He also gave us a barometer of measuring just how healthy we truly are.
I talk about this pyramid of healthiness in Chapter 8 of Shepherd Leadership, but the example we really see of Jesus at the pinnacle of spiritual health is in Chapter 12. Here’s an excerpt—
Friends, the mark of a maturing shepherd is not one who never misspeaks or never makes a mistake. No, the mark of a maturing shepherd is the one who is closing the gap between his mess up and his confession, and one who is experiencing fewer mess ups over time because the Holy Spirit is helping him get healthier and more mature.
The pinnacle of a shepherd leader’s health is not how wise you are, nor how physically healthy, nor even how much spiritual insight you have gained, but it is how appropriately God-honoring your actions and reactions are among the sheep you pasture.
If you see or hear something from yourself that is not reflective of your Chief Shepherd, it’s how you handle your next response that reveals how close you are getting to the pinnacle of health that Jesus demonstrated for you.
Listen to the audio-only version of this podcast by clicking on the player below, or scroll down to watch the video.
We are grateful for you! Greg and I love talking about leadership, and it’s a great joy that you tune in to listen. In this episode we discuss why an attitude of gratefulness is so important for leaders year-round, not just around the holidays.
[0:17] We are so grateful for you!
[1:25] What is it about gratitude that make someone a great leader?
[4:28] Grateful leaders have greater influence with people around them.
[8:14] It’s easier to build consensus on our teams when we have a thankful paradigm.
[10:52] Thankful correlates with graceful. This is such an attractive quality for leaders.
[14:10] Greg asks me elaborate on how gratitude ties into my book Shepherd Leadership.
[16:09] How does a grateful mindset help us get through the tough times?
[18:56] Happiness is not the same as joy. Joy is much deeper and serves us as leaders much better because happiness can be gone really quickly.
[23:16] We give you some “homework” that will help you grow your gratitude.
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In someways, my new book When Sheep Bite came out of my first book Shepherd Leadership. And yet, in many ways I consider When Sheep Bite to be the prequel of Shepherd Leadership.
Check out this short clip from my interview on the Leading From Alignment podcast with John Opalewski and Jim Wiegand where I try to explain what I mean.
In whatever order you choose to read these books, I have been thrilled to hear back from pastors and other church leaders who have found encouragement from both of them.
You can watch the full Leading Form Alignment interview here.
My book Shepherd Leadership has five chapters dedicated to the health and wellbeing of pastoral leaders. One important principle: Only healthy shepherds can help their sheep get healthy.
I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
Clinton Manley has a great post on the way the Holy Spirit empowers a Christian’s life. He tells of this work in terms of an adventure: “We were made to go to God, the Home for our souls, made to enjoy God more and more forever, to really live. And the only way to get there is by following the Way crossing the only Bridge that brings us to God (John 14:6; 1 Peter 3:18). And we can only walk that Way when God’s own breath fills our lungs and animates our steps, when His Spirit sets us walking in a new direction as new creations on new adventures.”
Even among the reformers, Conrad Grebel was consider something of a radical. “Grebel was convinced that the city councilmen should have no authority over the church and its practice — more so, they should have no authority over the word of God itself. On the flip side, he didn’t think the church should have authority over the state either, and he opposed compulsory tithing and the like. The seeds of a separation between church and state were germinating. To us, this separation is as familiar as the air we breathe; to them, it was revolutionary.” Read more about both Grebel and other reformers here.
“If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth, we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen.” —A.W. Tozer
“Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others.” —Pablo Picasso
Christian apologist J. Warner Wallace has a great strategy for responding to skeptics who claim that the Bible contradicts itself.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Ministry was booming in Samaria, and Philip was at the center of the activity. People were getting saved, healed, and set free from demonic possession.
And then an angel tells Philip it is time to move on. We don’t see Philip debating or negotiating, but we just see his immediate obedience. As Philip is traveling the route the angel gave him, he sees a chariot approaching. The Holy Spirit then speaks to Philip and says, “Get close to that chariot and stay near it.” It was then that Philip hears the man in the chariot reading aloud from the Book of Isaiah, so he asks him if he understands what he is reading. This high-ranking official from Ethiopia then invites Philip into his chariot to explain the meaning to him.
Philip had to leave Samaria in time to cross paths with the Ethiopian official who was heading home from Jerusalem—they met in the middle of a desert. An angel got Philip started. The Holy Spirit refined where Philip needed to be. And then Philip took it from there.
If Philip had been trying to “grow” a successful ministry, he may have downplayed or even ignore the messages he received. But Philip wasn’t concerned about bigger numbers, just quicker obedience.
Philip’s quick obedience placed him precisely where God needed him to be, precisely when he needed to be there! (See Acts 8:4-40.)
In my book Shepherd Leadership, I have a chapter entitled “Don’t Try to Grow Your Ministry.” A portion of what I wrote comes from Philip’s quick obedience—
Don’t try to grow your ministry. First, because it’s not yours, it’s His; and second, because your measure of success is probably more slanted toward quantitative measurements than qualitative. Jesus wasn’t concerned about bigger numbers: “What do you think?” He asked, “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?” (Matthew 18:12).
Philip went to Samaria to tell people about Jesus. He didn’t go there because it fit his plan, but because Jesus said, “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Philip’s obedience brought God’s success: hundreds turned to Jesus as their Savior, demon-possessed people were delivered, the sick were healed, and the new Christians were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Yet God called Philip to leave these “ninety-nine” and go to the desert to cross paths with just one confused and wondering sheep (Acts 8). After that, Philip virtually disappears from Luke’s historical record.
What’s the value of one government official’s life? God says that his value is incalculable. Apparently, God knew that Philip was the perfect shepherd to lead this Ethiopian to the pasture where he would accept Jesus as his Savior. Philip was obedient, a sheep was saved, and God was pleased. But I wonder how many people today might think Philip’s ministry was unsuccessful because he left a bigger ministry in Samaria to go to a smaller ministry in the desert? Bishop William C. Abney said, “I’m still waiting for a leader to say, ‘God called me to a smaller ministry.’ We usually only say, ‘God called me’ when it’s something bigger. God’s math doesn’t work our way.”
The Chief Shepherd made this commitment to His sheep: “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15). My prayer is that we would much rather feed a few sheep where God has directed us and given us His heart than for us to try to manufacture success that is measured by how many nickels and noses we can count.
Philip demonstrates for us that it’s not about bigger numbers, it’s about obedience to God’s voice in the moment, and then hearing our Chief Shepherd’s voice at the end of our life saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
After examining Jesus himself and then getting a report back from King Herod, Pontius Pilate announces to the crowd of religious leader, “I find no basis for a charge against Him. But…” (John 18:38-39).
The “But” signals the language of an unsure leader.
Pilate knew the truth. He knew the Roman law. He had soldiers around him to protect him from physical harm. No recrimination or rebuke would have come from Rome for letting Jesus go free. Yet Pilate wavered.
He was unsure of his leadership position. “Did I earn this position or did I manipulate my way into it? What will others think of me if I make this decision? Is there a way that I can keep everybody happy?”
Pilate gave himself an out: “…but it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Would you like me to release Jesus?”
Pilate was hoping to satisfy the fickle mob that was pressing in on him and pestering him to give in to their demands, even if it meant he would be perverting justice. Unsure leaders are always trying to find a way to navigate the current situation, just to get on to the next chapter of their leadership.
A godly leader who is sure of his calling can make tough calls while still preserving justice and maintaining truth.
A mark of anungodly leader is one who is bothunsure of his leadership authority andunstable in his leadership activities.
I talk more about a godly leader’s sure calling in my book Shepherd Leadership. And in this blog post, I give a three-word statement that can help godly leaders navigate through the toughest of decisions.
This is part 79 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
“Saints” is always plural in the Bible. That means we always need to be looking out for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I love the words James uses to close his letter to the saints.
Craig T. Owens 