211: Joanne J. Jung & Richard Langer | Follow Jesus to Become a Better Leader

Joanne J. Jung & Richard Langer | Follow Jesus to Become a Better Leader

Joanne J. Jung (PhD, Fuller Seminary) is a professor of biblical and theological studies and the associate dean of online education and faculty development at the Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.

She is the author of Knowing Grace; Character Formation in Online Education; and The Lost Discipline of Conversation.

She and her husband, Norman, attend Harvest Community Church in Irvine, California. 

Richard Langer (PhD, University of California, Riverside) is a professor of biblical and theological studies and director of the Office for the Integration of Faith and Learning at Biola University.

He is an ordained minister with over twenty years of pastoral experience and a coauthor of Winsome Persuasion and Winsome Conviction.

He and his wife, Shari, are members at Fullerton Free Church in Fullerton, California.

 

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Joanne J. Jung, Richard Langer, and Amber discuss our never changing call to follow Jesus and how to pursue that in a world that views following as weakness. They also discuss the West’s obsession with leadership.

Questions Discussed During Follow Jesus to Become a Better Leader:

  1. In chapter 1 of The Call to Follow you compare leadership to money and I loved it! At one point you write, ” And leadership is like money. Leadership, too, is an instrumental good. It helps get things done. But it is not an intrinsic good-it is not to be pursued for its own sake.” Will one of you dive into how leadership is like money?
  2. Historically, what seemed to be the tipping point for Christian culture’s current obsession with leadership language? Or has it always been this way?
  3. While culture says you must be a leader to be successful, the Bible speaks much about being a faithful follower of Yahweh, of Jesus. Expound on the language the Bible uses as it pertains to leadership and followership.
  4. To be a successful leader, you need to be a follower.  Why is that absent in so much of our teaching?
  5. How do we begin to shift the language, with those we’re discipling, to be more about successful leadership looks like faithful followership first?
  6. What advice about being a healthy, faithful follower would you give to people in leadership?
  7. In a world, where the prevalent messaging is to be EXTRAORDINARY, end with a few practices that can help us be ordinary faithful followers of Jesus?

Follow Jesus to Become a Better Leader Quotes to Remember:

Richard: “We’re not writing an anti-leadership book, we’re trying to write a book that helps leadership be in its proper place.”

Richard: “If you want to be a leader, the key is to cultivate virtue. Well, you fast forward 120 years and pick up a leadership book and you have chapters on how to assert yourself, how to find your identity, how to…work with others to achieve your goals, how to win friends and influence people. The incredible shift from virtue to self centered self expression is striking over the 20th century.”

Joanne: “Jesus says, ‘I only do what I see My Father doing’….I sat with that…Jesus right here is saying, he follows. He’s following the Father. So if we’re going to be Christ followers, if we’re going to be Christ disciples, it only makes sense that we too would be followers.”

Richard: “The way to be the best leader you can be is to be the best follower.”

Joanne: “We would argue that being a faithful follower is not easy work. It takes intention, it takes purpose, it takes a compelling mission. And so we incorporate these things in our followership, so that if and when we are ever called to a leadership role, we would be most prepared by being a good follower.”

Joanne: “In order to be a healthy, faithful follower, we must be connected with God in His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the direct agent for our transformation, our becoming more and more like Christ.”

Joanne: “Leadership can become an idol. And as I explore this idol language a little bit more discovering that control is the master idol and fear is the master cause.”

Scripture References

Resources Mentioned:

Related Episodes:

If you want to be a leader, the key is to cultivate virtue. Fast forward 120 years, pick up a leadership book and you have chapters on how to assert yourself, how to find your identity, how to...work with others to achieve your goals....The incredible shift from virtue to self centered self expression is striking over the 20th century.
We would argue that being a faithful follower is not easy work. It takes intention, it takes purpose, it takes a compelling mission. We incorporate these things in our followership, so that if and when we are ever called to a leadership role, we would be most prepared by being a good follower.
Leadership can become an idol. as I explored idol language, I Discovered that control is the master idol and fear is the master cause.

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