Leadership as a Process

In Matthew 9:14-22 Jesus shows leadership as a process in His continuing efforts to develop His followers. This episode in the life of our Lord has great insight especially in the arena of leadership. The passage is presented in the form of a narration with threads of healing, teaching, and transformation. Here, actions and faith are interwoven to demonstrate deity and a clear command to follow Christ at all cost. This sounds like a great illustration of leadership for all to see. When I look further into this passage I see several key components of leadership. John Maxwell, in his book, (Becoming a Person of Influence), points out that leadership is a process which grows by stages. He says it looks like this: Modeling, Mentoring, and Motivating. Notice in the text:

1) Modeling: He heals Peters Mother-in-law. (vs. 14)
2) Mentoring: He speaks of sacrifice. (vs. 20)
3) Motivating: He challenges them to action. (vs. 22)

Jesus mentioned sacrifice in leadership in verse 20. Briscoe, Larson, and Osborne spoke of this in terms of risk taking in their book (Measuring up: The need to succeed and the fear of failure) as they assert: “Highly successful leaders ignore conventional wisdom and take chances. Their stories inevitably include a defining moment or key decision when they took a significant risk and thereby experienced a breakthrough.” Jesus certainly was not afraid to take a risk. Our challenge is to be the leader that Christ demonstrates in this wonderful passage.