Steven Furtick: Lead Like Jesus
6 October, 2011
First off let me say that it’s one of the great honors of my life to be joining you next year for the 2012 Hillsong Conference. Pastors Brian & Bobbie and Hillsong Church have taught me, my staff, and Elevation Church so much over the years. About honor. Worship. And having a heart for God’s house.
So much of what Hillsong Conference is all about is taking our leadership to a new level. That’s fitting for me because over the past few months, I’ve been engaging in one of the best leadership development exercises I’ve ever undertaken. I’ve been studying Jesus’ leadership style.
It’s been fascinating and has challenged my own preconceived notions about what it looks like to lead like Jesus. The contrast between what I’ve been told in the past and what’s actually in the gospels has been jarring sometimes.
What I mean is that when I’ve heard other people say that we should lead like Jesus, what they usually seem to mean by this is simply that we need to be extra nice. Not be too blunt or harsh. Or too demanding. Or put people in situations that overly stretch them.
In other words, leading like Jesus means leading with the persona of someone like Santa Claus or a sweet little old grandmother.
But through studying the gospels, I now see that that’s not how Jesus led at all. If you do just a quick read-through of Mark, you’ll notice a trend in Jesus’ leadership very quickly:
Jesus was a tough, demanding leader to follow. He was always stirring something up, pushing the disciples past their limits, even coming across rude and reckless sometimes.
I mean, think about the fact that for the disciples’ first mission in Mark 6, Jesus he tells them to teach and cast out demons, even though there’s no indication they had ever done it. And then He doesn’t even equip them very well: they only get a staff. No bread, no bag, no money. That’s like your pastor coming up to you and saying “I want you to build me a new campus in 30 days. You’ve got no money, no volunteers to start with. No place to meet yet. I’m preaching there live the first weekend it’s open. Good luck.”
Or how about all of the times when the disciples would say stupid things, ask dumb questions, or they just didn’t get it. And Jesus, instead of being sweet with them, would just call them out. Like in Mark 7 when the disciples don’t understand a parable, and Jesus replies, “are you so dull?”
What about in Mark 1:16-20 when Jesus tells Peter, Andrew, James, and John to leave their livelihood to follow Him. Or Mark 2:13-17 when Jesus goes to a party with sinners and the disciples have to do PR control with the Pharisees.
That’s just scratching the surface in Mark. And I didn’t even get to the other gospels.
Don’t get me wrong, leading like Jesus doesn’t mean you have to lead like a jerk. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m just saying that Jesus knew some things about leadership we all need to learn.
• Leadership isn’t letting people stay comfortable.
• Leadership isn’t being easy on your team.
• Leadership isn’t speaking in nice generalities and letting crap go by without calling people on it.
• Leadership isn’t about not putting your people in tough circumstances where they’re going to have to think on their feet.
Leadership isn’t about those things because then you’re not actually leading your people anywhere but where they’ve always been. You’re letting their potential remain dormant. And you’re not serving them. You’re setting them up for failure. Or even worse, successful mediocrity.
Don’t be afraid to expect the best from your people. And don’t be afraid to put them in situations that are going to bring the best out of them. Jesus didn’t launch the greatest movement in history by coddling the people he led. He didn’t prepare them for opposition by making sure they were never overwhelmed. He did whatever he had to do, said whatever he had to say, and demanded whatever he had to demand to pull the latent greatness that was in the disciples out of them. Even it if was tough sometimes.
What makes us think it would be wrong to lead any differently?
I’ll see you at Hillsong Conference 2012 where together, we’ll be stretched by Jesus to become more than we ever knew to dream!
Steven Furtick
(Hillsong Conference 2012 Guest & Lead Pastor of Elevation Church)
For more information on Steven Furtick please visit stevenfurtick.com and elevationchurch.org
Follow Steven Furtick on Twitter: @StevenFurtick
For more information and to register for Hillsong Conference, please visit hillsongconference.com
You might also like:
Disqus Comments
Hillsong Collected is a blog. It is an ongoing collection of thoughts and stories from the leadership and key team of Hillsong Church around the world, conveniently packaged in three different streams.
We want to inspire and encourage everyday people that your efforts and contributions can and will make a difference. So take a look around, make yourself at home and check back often.
For more information about Hillsong Church and our community initiatives please visit hillsong.com
Share this site 
Get Collected For You in your inbox.
