ShepherdLeader.com

“…the truly innovative motif in Gospel shepherd traditions: the shepherd’s intention to die for his sheep… The contrast between Jesus and others is drawn sharply: life for the predator entails death for the flock; life for the flock requires death for the shepherd. It is now clear that the shepherd ...

“Jesus defines his followers as those who ‘gather’ with him, and his enemies as those who ‘scatter’.” (201) The Gospel of Luke provides a few, highly significant, references to shepherding and how that vocation might shape an understanding of pastoral leadership. Most famously, Jesus tells a parable...

“While theocracy was preferable to monarchy, the last five chapters of the book [of Judges] reveal a tendency among the people rather towards a third and less desirable option: anarchy.” (96) We know that reading the end of Judges is hard to stomach. People engage in raw brutality towards each other...

I appreciate that Dr. Laniak started with a general job description, of the typical shepherd, in the region of Israel. Knowing ‘what most shepherds do’ laid a great foundation for the way the image is used in the Scriptures as a measuring stick for leadership that is done well and done poorly. “The ...

When I teach on leadership or teach on justice, I teach on Ezekiel 34. These days, helping people to see the call to leadership as a call to work for justice is more challenging than it was thirty years ago. This is because leadership has been redefined as being loud, brash, and rigid. At the same t...