For the week of January 02, 2006

Leadership Alone is Not Enough
By: Bruce Cole
New Hope Christian Fellowship’s Wayne Cordeiro teaches leaders, “Leadership alone is not enough to take our churches into what God has for us. It must be linked with the word “spiritual.” Here’s a simple way to make sure you’re keeping “spiritual” linked to your leadership: the next time you interact with another leader in your church, remind yourself to JAB that leader. No, I don’t mean a left jab or right jab.

J stands for Jesus. Make Jesus the explicit center of your conversation. Relate whatever it is you are talking about to your mission of serving Jesus. Name the Name.

A stands for affirm. Specific, authentic affirmation does wonders for encouraging an emerging leader and filling up their gas tank for the next leg of their spiritual journey.

B stands for Bible. Be ready with a story from Scripture and apply it to your journey together as disciples. It will teach them to weave their own devotional practice into their leadership life.

Of course, you can’t JAB your leaders as a tactic. It needs to be deeper. You JAB leaders from the wellspring of your own devotional life and the spiritual disciplines that are part of the daily rhythm of your life. When you have that nailed down, Christ-centered, authentic, affirmational leadership that is grounded in the Bible just flows.