Dream by Dr Branimir Schubert
W
HO WAS THE GREATEST LEADER IN HISTORY? Think for a moment before answering. Dwight Eisenhower? He led the Allies’ invasion of Europe and, if that were not enough, served two terms as US president during a period of America's greatest relative power in the world. He’d have to be up there somewhere, wouldn’t he? Maybe you'd look to a thought leader—someone like the great British philosopher John Locke, who profoundly changed the way we view individual liberty? Or does someone from the business world jump out at you? Steve Jobs or Sir Richard Branson? Or a visionary artist like Picasso or Rembrandt? A sporting hero like Cathy Freeman, a scientist like Nicolaus Copernicus or a civil rights leader like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr? They are all remarkable leaders. But oddly enough, none of them, or anyone else in human history for that matter, has come close to matching the profound influence of a poor Carpenter from an obscure province of the Roman Empire whose capital was destined for complete annihilation shortly after His death.
10 JANUARY 23, 2016 • record.net.au
He never wrote a book, painted a picture, invented any gizmos or made any money. He never won an election, a race or a prize of any kind. No hit songs. No TV appearances. No magazine covers or name in lights. If there's one person who, by any normal reckoning, should not be a leader, it's Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And yet today, 2.2 billion people say they follow Him. And the world is full of hospitals, schools, universities, charitable endeavours of every kind and churches of every shape and size dedicated to Him. If there's one example of what it means to be a leader, it isn’t Steve Jobs or Dwight Eisenhower, it's Jesus Christ. And it's not just the power of His leadership but the destination in which He takes His followers that makes Him incomparable in the annals of leadership history. What can we learn from Him about who we need to be as we aim to use our influence in a God-honouring way? This is a critical question as it shifts our attention from “doing” and “having” to “being”. Our natural tendency in approaching strategic planning is to ask “what must be done?” and “do we have the resources?” Both are impor-