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Qualities of a Good Leader – Determining Who to Follow

Qualities of a Good Leader – Determining Who to Follow

When I served in the military, strong leadership was emphasized. A good commander does certain things, such as:

  • Never ask his soldiers to do what he would be unwilling to do if in their same position.
  • Share the soldier’s experience – i.e., do physical training with them, go into the field with them, maintain the same fitness for duty they are expected to maintain – physical fitness, weapons and jump qualification, and any other unit-specific certification.
  • Ensure your troops eat and rest before you do; at chow time, a leader eats last.
  • Inspect soldiers frequently and require that they maintain their gear, personal fitness, cleanliness, and good order.
  • Ensure your troops have the resources they need to fulfill their mission.
  • Ensure soldiers are taking care of themselves, such as maintaining adequate hydration, food, rest, and foot care on long road marches, etc.
  • Discipline those troops who need it.

These are just some of the actions a good leader in the military will take so that his troops will know that he (1) cares for their welfare, (2) understands their struggles, (3) is willing to share in their burdens, and (4) wants what is best for them. All of this is intended to instill trust so they will follow orders.

Do you see that Jesus has done many of these same things? He:

  • Became one of us. (Matthew 1:23)
  • Took our burden of sin and was tempted in every way just like we are; because He did, we can know that He understands our struggles. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 2:14)
  • Doesn’t ask us to do anything that He wouldn’t do. (John 13:13, 14)
  • Puts us first, ultimately sacrificing Himself for us. (John 10:11)
  • Disciplines us to develop us to our maximum potential. (Hebrews 12:10)
  • Provides us with all we need to fulfill our mission for Him. (Ephesians 4:11–13)
  • Inspects us to see what we need – e.g., where we need pruning and strengthening. (John 15:1, 2).

Jesus has earned our trust and is our ultimate leader.

But what are the qualities that you want in a human leader, someone you would be willing to follow, and how can you tell if they possess those qualities?

Let’s examine the attributes that good leaders possess. Ask yourself which of these do you value in a leader and how you can determine whether someone possesses them.

  • Honesty.
  • Integrity (own one’s mistakes, puts safety/quality over profits, does what’s right/moral/ethical no matter the political or social cost).
  • Sincerity/enthusiasm, has the ability to inspire others.
  • Ability to listen to others and understand their perspective.
  • Decisive, can assimilate information, integrate it, and make decisions.
  • Visionary, has a vision where they want to go or the goal to achieve.
  • Confident in their ability, but not arrogant in their demeanor.
  • Effective communicator.
  • Competent in their skills to fulfill their position.
  • Loyal to subordinates and/or the organization.
  • Delegates and empowers others and rejoices in their successes.
  • Problem solver.
  • Self-disciplined/motivated/self-starter.
  • Empathic/emotional intelligence.
  • High energy and resilient.
  • High intelligence.
  • Just and fair.
  • Kind.
  • Sensible and reasonable.
  • Discerning.
  • Loves others; puts others or mission before self-advancement.
  • Lover of truth – lifelong learner.
  • Follower of God’s will.
  • Can forgive – doesn’t hold grudges.

Is there anything on this list with which you don’t agree? If you had to pick five absolute, non-negotiable qualities, which ones would they be? What are the qualities that differentiate a world leader from a church leader?

While you may agree with this list, do you find it functional, helpful, actionable in choosing a leader for your nation, state, city, or church? Is there something missing that, despite your recognition of the value of these qualities, limits their usefulness when choosing a leader?

For instance:

  • Honesty.
    • If most people want honesty in leaders, why do so many politicians have histories of dishonesty and why do they get re-elected? In other words, why do people keep electing leaders who have histories of dishonesty if we value honesty?
  • Integrity (own mistakes, puts safety/quality over profits/does what’s right/moral/ethical no matter the political or social cost).
    • If most people want leaders with integrity, why do so many politicians have histories that reveal a lack of integrity and why do people keep re-electing them?
  • Sincerity/enthusiasm, has the ability to inspire others.
    • Does it matter what the person is sincere about? If we see a charismatic, sincere, enthusiastic leader who inspires others, does that mean they know where they are going, are honest, or have integrity? Have you seen people who follow charismatic leaders down destructive paths?
    • How about if someone is honest and does have integrity but is sincerely wrong in their understanding of what is best; is it wise to follow the sincere person of integrity who inspires us with their charisma?

What about qualities like:

  • Loves others – other-centered, puts others or the mission first.
    • Would this make someone safe to follow?
    • Can a person love others or put the mission first but have no idea what they are doing, where they are going, or how to fulfill the mission?
    • Can a person be completely self-centered but present themselves as interested in others, compassionate, and concerned? In other words, if we don’t have a personal relationship with someone, can we actually know their heart motives?
  • Just and fair.
    • How can you determine if someone is just and fair?
    • Are the reports of others reliable evidence?
    • If you don’t know all the variables, all the secret details of the various cases or issues, if you don’t know both sides of a story, can you truly know whether the person is just or fair?
  • Kind.
    • What determines what is kind and what is cruel?
    • Can you always tell by the action itself? Do the circumstances matter?
    • Can people tell whether another person is kind or cruel based on how it feels – “it felt unkind”/“that hurt my feelings?”
  • Sensible or reasonable.
    • What determines whether something is sensible or reasonable? Would a person’s intelligence, understanding, wisdom, and perspective impact our understanding?
    • When Jesus refused to go to Passover and publicly promote Himself in the way His brothers encouraged Him to do, did His brothers think Jesus was being sensible? (John 7:1–7).
    • When Jesus went to Jerusalem on crucifixion weekend, did His loyal disciples think He was being sensible or reasonable? (John 11:7–16).
    • How many turned away from Jesus after He said they must eat His flesh and drink His blood? (John 6:53–67). Why? Did they think He was being unreasonable?
    • Do our own biases, prejudices, and beliefs impact our ability to understand? Do we accept as reasonable things that are unreasonable? What determines whether something is reasonable or not? Would their understanding of God’s law (design versus imposed) matter?
  • Follower of God’s will.
    • Is this the litmus test – the one question that can tell us who we can trust as our leader?
    • Certainly, we don’t want leaders who refuse to follow God’s will, but how can we tell if someone is following God’s will?
    • When false messiahs come, who will they claim to be following?
    • Can someone be a genuine follower of God yet misunderstand and need correction? Did King David, when he wanted to build the temple for God, need redirection from the prophet Nathan? (1 Chronicles 17:4).
    • Can someone actually be following God’s will and yet we are still not to follow them? For instance, can someone be called by God to a specific action or mission, while at the same time God has called us to a different action or mission?
    • So even if someone is a follower of God, does that always mean we are to follow them?
  • What if they have gifts of the Spirit, such as the gift of prophecy? Surely, we could follow anyone who has confirmed genuine gifts of the Spirit – right?
    • If that is so, then we would follow the apostle Peter when he refused to associate with certain people. Or would we have some way to realize that this leader of God’s church should not be followed but corrected, as Paul did (Galatians 2:11–13)?

What are we missing? Is there some additional element that you can think of that would help us differentiate a leader we can support from one we should not?

What about leaders who:

  • Understand Design Law and God’s methods and principles – meaning they actually speak and promote integrated truth, applying the integrative evidence-based approach that harmonizes Scripture, science, and experience. They demonstrate a knowledge of how reality works, and their explanations make sense and are testable, reproducible, and reasonable. They practice the principles of truth, love, and liberty, meaning they don’t coerce people who won’t agree with or follow them, but rather leave them free and show respect for them as people.
  • Understand the great controversy over God’s character and methods.
  • Demonstrate the ability to make evidence-based, not feelings-based, decisions – a leader who can be aware of feelings but isn’t governed or swayed by them; in other words, they follow the truth.
  • Have maturity and possess the ability to discern at a mature level of moral decision-making. (See my blog on the seven levels of moral decision making.)
  • Have a record of outcomes that people can review to evaluate whether their rhetoric comports with reality.

Without the Design Law, great controversy perspective, if someone doesn’t actually know God, His methods, and that God’s laws are what reality is built upon, then they may be:

  • Honest, yet they lead by wrong methods, wrong principles, and false ideas.
  • Sincere/enthusiastic, but they lead in wrong directions.
  • Decisive, but their decisions may frequently be harmful.
  • Visionary, but their vision might be warped.
  • Confident, but their confidence might be misplaced.
  • Seek to be just and fair, but their justice may be punitive, worldly, warped, like the justice of the Pharisees, who wanted to stone Jesus – and who did stone Stephen, etc.
  • Claim to be reasonable, but they may actually be unreasonable as they apply the world’s methods of rule enforcement instead of God’s principles for life and health.

The qualities of good leadership are very difficult to determine in people with whom we don’t have a personal relationship. So, the best approach for each of us is to develop our own ability to reason and discern. This means that we are to have our own personal relationship with God, understand His character, design laws, principles, purposes, and the great controversy over His character and principles for ourselves. We are to have a working knowledge of Scripture.

This means that we use the integrative evidence-based approach to knowing truth and then we examine the evidence of a prospective leader’s achievements – the outcomes of past actions, along with their stated mission, platform, goals, intentions, plans, and agenda. In other words, we evaluate where they are going and decide if they are someone who we could support for the role they are pursuing, because we share their goals, support their vision or mission, and have evidence of their achievements.

 

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Testimony 31

It was very touching to hear the testimony of your class share how viewing God’s true character has changed their lives. My feelings are the same – there is so much freedom in knowing that God LOVES me – regardless of my… just, REGARDLESS! I’m still blown away by the true gospel, the fact that God is not ready to strike us when we fail. He is not arbitrary. He simply loves us and warns of the natural consequences because He can’t stand to see us suffer. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS GOD!!!

Ceil V.,  UT, USA

 

Testimony 56

I cannot thank you enough for opening my understanding to the beautiful truth of God’s Law of Love and how it applies to everything. I have been a Christian for over forty years, but I feel like I am only now seeing with my eyes open. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Tammy Cinzio, Australia

 

Testimony 35

I am so pleased with the response your message is receiving at my church from the middle-aged to the young adults. I have given out 100 copies of the first two seminars and there are more request every week. One of my [class members] came to me after viewing the series, grateful and impressed with how easy the message was retained. He had been a Seventh-day Adventist in fear all his life, and felt like the scales were removed from his eyes after viewing the seminars. I am so impressed by the change I see in members who have received this message, we are in one accord. However, I am sadden by the negative response of the older people. I am verbally attacked anytime I talk about imposed laws, but I believe my mission is to enlightened everyone I can. I watch your Bible Study Class on YouTube every Friday night and I feel like I am apart of the class. All of you are in one accord and I am so blessed to have found you. I pray that all of you continue to spread this message and I am committed to doing my part.

Clara S., Westfield, MA, USA

 

Testimony 70

I have been watching you for many years and have learned to love God with all my heart. I was raised by a loving Christian mother that had been lied to about who God really was, so our religious upbringing was hell fire and damnation. As soon as I was old enough and moved out, I not only left the church, I ran as fast as I could to get away from it. Sad to say, it wasn’t until the past couple of years that I learned and understand who my Father really is and how much He loves me. I understand God’s Design Laws (which make sense) and when I’m teaching my church Bible study class, I’m able to really put to use the things I’ve been learning and Holy Spirit is leading. Thank you for introducing me to my Father of true, pure love. Everyday with Him is new and exciting. One thing that breaks my heart is that I didn’t know Him sooner. God Bless you and your ministry!

Judy Phelps, Reno, NV, USA

Testimony 51

I Love This Ministry!!!!!!! I see first hand how this message is desperately needed, how erroneous beliefs about God and His Character negatively affect humanity at every level. I thank God for your ministry, as I was searching on my own and was discovering some of your same beliefs and was blown away when I found your ministry. I know you hear it all the time, but it is truly life changing. May God continue to reveal His Will to you and Bless you!

Eric S., Sanford, FL, USA

 

Testimony 17

The blessings of clarity and understanding you and your class inspire me to take from the word of God have impressed upon me so greatly the true, loving character of our Creator. I have found amazing freedom and joy through building a stronger, more intentional relationship with Him. What is new is that this is now a relationship built on love, reverence and respect rather than fear and obligation, and as such my eyes have been slammed OPEN as I am continually impressed by the manifestations of God’s true character in His provisions for fallen man.

T.E.H., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

 

Testimony 40

I was brought up in a different faith and have been petrified my whole life of God. I believed that I would burn in hell for eternity. When I was 12 I started pursuing the things of this world, but for the next 45 years the Spirit was always calling me, as I knew there was a God through nature. I could see the vast sea of stars in the universe and knew there was something bigger out there. Five years ago, through a Revelation seminar, I was blessed to learn about God’s character and government.

Then I found Come and Reason Ministries and have come under some extreme pressure when I speak about the ministry. One time a member sent me an internet article titled “Whats wrong with Tim Jennings?” I asked her what she thought of it and she said “I don’t know, I didn’t read it.”

I have always wanted to find out for myself the truth about God, so I stayed with the Design Law construct and have been liberated to understand the big picture. Once we consider Design Law, all other Bible stories and prophecies seem to fit perfectly. It is truly beautiful to see people grasping how God operates this Universe of Love and the liberation it has provided in their lives. It blows my mind to see how consistent Design law is with what our founders believed. I hear statements like “This makes so much sense.”

Tom W., Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA

 

Testimony 28

I have been following your Bible study class for about a year now. I must say I am impressed with how your ministry has grown. I took it upon myself to listen to all your lesson podcasts from the past and they have both enriched me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I have learnt a lot from this class. I have also noticed how the class has grown in spiritual strength. One of the things that benefited me is that now I am not afraid of God. I use to be, but now it has melted away. The second thing is that you helped me to have a real life relationship with God. Now He is my friend that was always there and I love having him with me all the time. Thirdly, because of this class, it inspired me to take over and lead a class. I have called it “Let Us Reason Together,” adapting your inquisitive style and creating a class of free thinkers.

T. Banda, Malawi, Africa

 

Testimony 13

I borrowed “Healing The Mind” DVDs from a friend and showed them at my home for a small gathering of women friends. Neither of my friends are Adventist, but they both enjoyed and embraced the messages you taught. In fact, one of the ladies prayed out loud in our group and that was the first time she had ever had public prayer.

J.B. ,Dalles, OR, USA

 

Testimony 18

The Healing the Mind DVD set tarted me on a journey that has changed my relationship with our loving God more significantly than any other study, and brought me to your book and Bible study podcasts, which I now listen to daily, thanks to the availability of archived content on your site and on iTunes.

Anonymous

 

Testimony 68

Your message of design law vs imperial law is so uplifting and makes so much sense- it is a game changer for me. The fact that Jesus’s death is not a big payment by an angry God is , quite frankly, a relief.

Laura G., London, Ontario, Canada

 

Testimony 8

Thank you for the ministry you are sharing with us, it is a real blessing to us and especially to my husband and myself! You are encouraging us to think for ourselves and not just to except everything, without thinking it through, with God’s word!

M.K., USA

 

Testimony 20

I just wanted to personally thank you for your teachings and insight into scripture. I came across your website via my cousin who suggested I look into “Healing the Mind” information. My youngest daughter has been struggling over the last couple of years and it all came to a head this spring. When I started listening to the “Healing the Mind” lectures my own life began to be transformed. I began sharing with all my daughters the concepts you laid out so clearly. I ordered your book and soaked it up. I just want to say “Thank You!” My walk with the Lord has been refreshed and renewed. Your obedience to the Lord is a blessing to so many.

R. K., Anderson, SC, USA

 

Testimony 60

Just watched watched lesson 10 in the 1st quarter 2021 bible study classs on Isaiah. I want to thank you for your intellectual spirituality; it’s not an oxymoron! From the point of view of a teacher I also enjoy seeing how much personal pleasure you clearly take in not just tasting, but feasting on God’s word – it reminds me of Jeremiah not being able to hold it in! It makes me smile that your cup is so full and overflowing that you make it to Tuesday’s lesson (on a good day). It just goes to show the richness of God’s Word.

God bless the Come and Reason Team from our church here in Great Britain.

Andrew H., Great Britain

 

Testimony 30

God lead me to your book “The God-Shaped Brain” while I was searching for another book about the brain and then to your interview about your book on HeartWise Ministries [where] I found out about [Come And Reason Ministries]. I’m now devouring the webcasts of your Bible studies. I have been so greatly blessed and I thank God so much for your courage to speak the Truth in love no matter what. Listening to you contrast the two opposing systems (laws) and digging deep to unearth the hidden treasures in the Bible makes me so incredibly happy and I feel very blessed to be part of your Bible Study Group although I live far away. I am just so excited that there is a group of people that is spreading the Truth about the character of God and it saddens me how few realize what our Father in Heaven is really like.

Kessy B., Australia