In my library, I have several shelves full of leadership books. I read a lot about leadership. I have several new books in a pile on my desk waiting to be read – about leadership! Almost every day, new leadership books are advertised on social media platforms. Information overload doesn’t begin to describe the amount available material to help leaders understand leadership, develop, identify, and train leaders, and I suspect, how to write leadership books!

Then there is the Bible. Yes, the Bible also speaks a lot about leadership, but in many ways, it has a completely different focus than much of the current leadership material. The point is that all the current and past leadership material, along with solid biblical truth, helps us make good leadership decisions. The goal would be to avoid making leadership mistakes. But what if the point of Jesus-inspired leadership is to do something different?

Scripture tells us Jesus prayed with His Heavenly Father for an entire night (Luke 6:12-19). We're not given the details of the prayer in the text, but we are given the outcome; Jesus after praying, called His disciples and appointed 12 of them to be apostles. He then began His public ministry with these newly minted leaders. They were the best and the brightest in the land, theological giants, pious men of renowned character, known through Israel for their wisdom. Okay, not so much! These were the wrong guys! There was a denier, a thief, a doubter, a betrayer, and a zealot, openly hostile, the worst of the bunch! Judgmentalism and competition were rampant, along with two brothers who openly sought special treatment.

After spending a night in prayer, did Jesus miss the mark? This is not what the plethora of leadership books and materials today would recommend! One might ask Jesus; What were you thinking? Were these 12 problematic hot-tempered and often quarrelling misfits the best you could come up with?  If asked, I think Jesus would have answered; Yes, exactly! Engaging the mess is just that – intentionally working with the less-than-perfect and with the messy. But God sees the heart, not just our gifts, our academics, or past accomplishments. In our natural state, we, too, are one of these problematic types. Yet, Jesus sought us, found us, forgave us, and wants to use us despite our self-inflicted mess!

One thing I’ve learned from all those leadership books is that despite the outward flaws, God is still looking for hearts attuned to Him, and He will deal with the flaws. Be encouraged. Jesus made no mistake in choosing whom He chose that day on the mountain, and He made no mistake in choosing you and me. He can and wants to use each of us to engage this messy world with a message of hope. You just must be willing to endure a little mess with people. Are you willing?

Learning to look beyond the mess!

Rev. Bill Allan
AGC President