When they understand team dynamics, leaders choose team members carefully. Read Mark 3:13-19.

Jesus’ ministry had amassed hundreds of faithful followers. These were individuals that actually spent time with Jesus and followed Him from town to town to listen to His preaching and to minister to His needs. From this large pool of followers, Jesus selected twelve men to become His apostles, His entrusted messengers and ambassadors. This was such a significant decision that Jesus prayed all night to prepare for it. This was a decision that Jesus made alone with only the guidance of God.

Effective leaders select specific team members very carefully and for specific reasons. Read Mark 2:14-17.

It could be argued that Jesus formed the most effective team in human history. He chose 12 individuals that He dedicated three years of His life to mentor. These 12 individuals, after only a few years with Jesus, took His message to the known world and even now, 2,000 years later, Christianity is still changing individuals and changing the world.

The God-honoring view of how a leader gains greatness is a mirror image of what most leaders assume. Read Matthew 20:20-28.

Jesus had a very intimate moment with His disciples in Matthew 17-19 when He laid out for them the treatment He would receive leading to His death in Jerusalem. He was making clear to them how He, the Son of God, would be called upon to sacrifice for those He led. He must have experienced some disappointment when in the following hours James and his brother John, two of His closest disciples, made a request (through their mother) for positions of power when He returned to heaven. Jesus’ response clearly defines His view of how a leader gains power.

Encouragement is one of the greatest tools in a leader’s toolbox. Read Matthew 17:1-13.

Peter, James and John were three of the twelve disciples who Jesus relied on heavily to complete His mission even after He was no longer living on earth. In today’s verses these men accompanied Jesus to a remote area in the mountains of Judea and to their great surprise Jesus was suddenly transfigured from a man they worked with everyday to a heavenly being, the man of grace, who was joined by Moses, Israel’s first lawgiver, and Elijah, Israel’s greatest prophet. As if this were not enough they heard the very voice of God giving Jesus’ work His approval from heaven. Can you even imagine how encouraged these men were from what Jesus revealed to them concerning the scope of their mission? The impression was so lasting that Peter later writes about it in one of his books, 2 Peter 1:16-18.

Wise leaders involve their team in solving difficult problems. Read Matthew 15:29-39.

As the crowds following Jesus grew He moved further into the remote regions of Judea using the open area to accommodate His ever expanding audience. At one point large crowds had been following Jesus for three days and were totally out of food. Jesus disciples urged Jesus to send the people away to purchase food but Jesus, afraid some may actually faint on their way to find food, told His disciples to feed them before they left. This presented a major problem because the crowd numbered 4,000 not including the women and children and the lack of food was the problem.

Instead of simply calling bread down from heaven, Jesus involved His disciples in solving the problem. He had the disciples determine the available resources, and then asked the disciples to become the primary means of distribution of those resources; He asked them to be stewards of whatever may be leftover. Jesus did the miracle of expanding the resources but He gave the disciples confidence by giving them a role in the process.

John Maxwell discusses the fastest way to gain leadership credibility in his notes in the Maxwell Leadership Bible:

1. Jesus deepened His credibility by solving the problem of a hungry crowd:
2. He identified the problem and informed His team (v. 32).
3. He instructed them to brainstorm the solution (vv. 33, 34).
4. He invited them into the problem-solving process (vv. 35, 36).
5. He included them in the solution (vv. 34-37).

Even though leaders won’t be able to supply the miracle Jesus supplied in solving this problem, the wise leader can learn from the team involvement processes Jesus used.

Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.”