My heart is full from all that Scott Hagan, Senior Pastor of Real Life Church, Sacramento, said tonight at the Jesus Culture Conference in Los Angeles. He talked about three different types of leaders and I’m super excited to share this with you. There are three kinds of leaders:
- Level one leaders – They go through the motions and produce no results. They are faithful but without faith.
- Level two leaders – They call the marginal the miracle; they are willing to settle for 50%.
- Level three leaders – They are committed to lay, stay and pray until the dead resurrects.
These types of leaders are explained based on 2 Kings 4. There is some important background to the story but I will paraphrase; I encourage you to read the entire chapter though. In verse 20 of chapter 4, the son of the Shunammite woman dies and she beckons on Prophet Elisha to come and pray for her son. Gehazi (Elisha’s servant) went ahead to the woman’s house and laid Elisha’s staff on the boy’s corpse but nothing happened. In verse 34, Elisha arrives at the house. Note that the boy is not fully conscious at this point at the end of this verse. Then, in verse 35, life is completely restored to him.
34. He went up and lay on the child, put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself on him and embraced him, the child’s flesh became warm.
35. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up again and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes.
Gehazi was a level one leader; he was faithful to Elisha, and he went through the motions of laying the staff on the corpse but produced no result. On the other hand, if Elisha had begun shouting “miracle” right at the end of verse 34, he would have been a level two leader because warmth had come to the boy’s body but he was still unconscious. Elisha settling for a body in comatose over a corpse would have been settling for the marginal. However, Elisha exemplified a level three leader; he was committed to lay, stay and pray until that boy was fully resurrected.
There is an urgent need for level three leaders across the nations of the earth today. Leaders that will be committed to to lay, stay and pray until the lost in our world find Jesus. Leaders with a radical faith that believe that those who are dead in sin can be resurrected unto the perfect love of Christ. Leaders that will spend themselves in prayer until they see change in their cities. Leaders that will pray the marvelous light of God in the darkest corners of their nations.
So what kind of leader are you? Looking back, I find that I have settled for the marginal many times. This call to be a level three leader weighs so heavily on my heart and I hope it does on yours too. If like me, you are not yet a level three leader, begin working towards it. The world is waiting on us.
Stay blessed and smile today!
With love from Smithia.
Finding My Way 