Effective leaders handle conflicts personally, privately and with the spirit of forgiveness. Read Luke 17:3-10.

Jesus, knowing His disciples would soon have major leadership roles, continually taught principles that would make them more effective leaders. When He told them they should forgive a person who had wronged them, even if they wronged them seven times, as long as that person returned and ask for forgiveness, His disciples’ first thought was this may be too much and they would need more faith to accomplish the task. Jesus simply told His team their faith was sufficient and conflict resolution and forgiveness was part of a leader’s everyday job. Jesus was clear that a leader should not expect praise for doing what was an expected part of their leadership role.

Generosity is a desirable core truth for any leader. Read Luke 9:10-17.

Jesus’ message and His ability to heal people from sickness and disease attracted crowds. There were times when Jesus teaching was so captivating the crowds demanded more by simply refusing to leave. At one point, He had approximately 5,000 people follow Him into a deserted place. As evening drew near, Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked Him to send the crowds away so they could find food and lodging in surrounding villages. Jesus simply told His team to give them something to eat.

Skilled leaders not only look at past performance, but also at potential when choosing their team. Read Luke 5:10-11 and 27-28.

In the early stages of Jesus’ public ministry He selected individuals for a team that He would mentor and entrust the ministry to when He finished His assignment from God and returned to heaven. Since Jesus knew His time on earth would be limited, prevailing wisdom would say that He should choose religious leaders who had previous training and background and a proven track record or maybe business people well respected in the religious community who had the ability to successfully raise funds and get wheels under Jesus’ vision.

The wise leader recognizes the need to establish their credibility. Read Luke 1:1-4.

Luke was a doctor and companion of the apostle Paul on several missionary journeys. He was not one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. To the best of our knowledge he was not an eyewitness of Christ’s day-to-day ministry and he was not a theologian, yet he wrote one of only 66 books that are part of the Bible. Rather than launching in to his account of the Gospel without an introduction, Luke made certain his readers knew why he chose to write his account of Jesus’ life and that his account of Jesus’ life was based on historically verifiable information. Luke understood and acted on the leadership principle of establishing credibility for his message.

Leaders do not have to be superstars or great heroes to make a significant impact. Read Mark 14:51-52; Acts 13:13; Acts 15:38; Colossians 4:10; and 1 Peter 5:13.

We know little about the author of the book of Mark or as he was also known, John Mark. Our first introduction (at least according to many Bible experts) shows him as part of the group at the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was taken captive the night before His crucifixion. Not a real flattering moment for Mark. The next time we meet him he is accompanying Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. Again, not all that flattering for Mark because for some unexplained reason Mark leaves his friends and returns to Jerusalem. This act created such tension that Paul refused to allow Mark to accompany him on his second missionary journey explaining “…he had deserted them.” Mark’s beginnings didn’t show much promise that he would be a major contributor to the faith.