Successful Leadership Obedience
NOTE: Use chapter markets to the right of the gear icon above ~~ Crawford Loritts delivers a compelling message framing leadership’s requirement of character and commitment, with emphasis on character over title. Crawford reminds us, biblical principles guide effective leadership practices. And, he clarifies that brokenness is essential, distinguishing between woundedness and true brokenness. Crawford also reminds us of the importance of radical obedience to fulfill God’s purpose.
Transcript
Click to Download Auto-Generated Transcript Download Text File–Discussion & Applications Below
Session 1 Discussion and Applications
- “Your character must be greater than any platform you ever stand on.” What do you think Crawford intended by this statement?
- “A leader is not just a steward of processes. A leader is the portrait of the desired destination where others need to arrive.” When you think of other great leaders who have inspired you, do you see them as a steward of processes, or the personification of destination? Please share your thoughts with the group.
- Crawford’s journey on this topic led him to search the scriptures to discover commonalities among great leaders that God used. Share your short list of what great leaders have in common.
Session 2 Discussion and Applications
Crawford states: “What you’re doing, your assignment in the marketplace, God has placed, God has placed you there! God has called you to be there! God has called you to steward that assignment.”
- Crawford connects the statement above with the vital importance of brokenness to build dependency on God, enabling effective stewardship. Do you see brokenness as foundational to effective stewardship? Why or why not?
2. Crawford says “You can be wounded without having been broken; but you cannot be broken without being wounded.” Share your thoughts on the distinctions between wounding and brokenness.
3. Moses, Joseph, David, Paul and many other great leaders in the scriptures endured wounding by adversaries and self-infliction. God used both categories to humble them, help them escape self-reliance and bring them to a points of dependency on God. Do you think God does the same today?
Session 3 Discussion and Applications
- Our identity as God’s favored children must be balanced against our calling to servanthood. How do we find that balance point to empower our leadership for both temporal and eternal impact? Share your thoughts with your group.
- Jesus got on His hands and knees, took on the posture and dress of the lowliest servant of a household and literally washed the feet of His disciples. How should his example impact our own leadership?
- Can you share an example by observation or personal experience where this kind of attitude, posture and actions impacted yourself or others?
Deeper Dive–Scripture for consideration, contemplation and leadership transformation:
- He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6 ESV
- The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51:17 ESV
- All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Isaiah 66:2 ESV
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