The effective leader finds a number of ways to constantly restate the goals and priorities of their mission. Read Luke 15:1-32.

Jesus was clear about His mission. According to Luke 19:10 He came “…to seek and to save what was lost”; those that were separated from God. Jesus found many ways to communicate that goal to the crowds that followed Him, His team, and the religious and political leaders. In Luke 15 Jesus reinforced His mission through three different stories about different situations; the sheep were lost naturally, the coin got lost accidentally, and the son got lost willfully. No matter what created the lost condition, Jesus came to find and help those who were separated from God.

Effective leaders get their team to buy into their vision. Read Luke 5:1-11.

As Jesus began His public ministry He started speaking to larger and larger crowds. At one point Jesus was speaking near the Lake of Gennesaret and as the crowd grew in size and pressed in on Him, Jesus got into a fishing boat at the water’s edge and asked Simon (later known as Peter), the owner, to put out a little from shore. Free from the press of the crowd, Jesus sat in the boat and taught the people.

The effective leader reminds their team regularly of the mission. Read Mark 13:1-37.

Jesus was in Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion. As He and His disciples were leaving the temple the disciples drew His attention to the beautiful stone work in the temple. This opened the door for Jesus to help His disciples understand more about what would happen in the future to usher in the Kingdom of God. Right in the middle of talking about the birthing pains to establish the Kingdom i.e. wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes, etc., Jesus refocused His disciples on the team’s mission. Verse 10 says, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.” In His leadership role Jesus often called attention to the vision of God.

Building effective teams takes both action and patience. Read Matthew 16:13-20.

During His public ministry Jesus chose 12 men that would be closest to Him and in whom He would invest tremendous amounts of time in a mentoring process. He was able to able to be with these men 24 hours a day for nearly three years. The Bible chronicles His mentoring relationship and we find there were times when He needed the patience to explain even the simplest illustrations and other times when Jesus challenged His disciples intellectually.

Effective Leaders do all they can to prepare their team for the future. Read Matthew 10:1-42.

Jesus’ public ministry had flourished. Large crowds were coming to hear him speak and many highly qualified individuals desired to become His disciple. Out of His many choices, Jesus chose a team of 12 that He would mentor very closely. Jesus developed these leaders by working closely with them, helping them understand the inner-hidden-deeper-secrets of God-honoring leadership by training them, and by sending them out to do the work of the kingdom. Jesus was very clear that He intended to reproduce His own leadership in them. As part of this preparation, He even prepared them for some of the hardships they would face.