5 Examples Of Leaders From The Bible

When I think of great leaders, I think of the myriad of leaders in the Bible. You can’t get away from the fact that while the people highlighted in the Bible were flawed, many of them were examples of great leadership.

People like Moses, King David, Abraham, Esther, and more… These people had their issues (just like you and me), but they also had the makings of great leaders.

I want to focus on some of the great people in the Bible and what their example can be for us today as leaders.

5 Examples Of Leaders From The Bible

Deborah:

Women were overlooked for far too long in the church and leadership sphere. Yet, the Bible is clear that many of the women in the Bible were leaders.

Take Deborah, for example.

Making Difficult Decisions With Confidence And Integrity

You’re a leader. You have to make the difficult decisions within your organization. These are the decisions that weigh heavy on your conscious.

Some of these weighty decisions could be:

  • Whether or not to do rolling layoffs in the midst of an economic downturn
  • Releasing an employee for a moral or ethical failure
  • Closing the doors of your organization
  • Standing firm in your beliefs

Each of these decisions requires you to be bold, strong, and courageous. Each of these decisions can also hurt someone else. That’s what makes these decisions so weighty…

There’s a consequence behind the decision.

But…

As a leader, it’s your responsibility to make these tough decisions. You must search deep in your soul and choose the right actions to take.

Not everyone will like your decisions. You will have to live with them. But they’re yours to own.

Bible Reflection: Be A Barnabas Leader

Youth pastor Sean Nelson recently preached a fantastic sermon to our church youth group. He shared the story of Barnabas, a man who is referred to as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).

The message stuck with me for multiple reasons. First and foremost, Barnabas’s life exemplified what a Christian leader’s life should look like.

Sean shared four characteristics of Barnabas. For each additional characteristic, I nodded my head and thought these are characteristics every leader should strive for.

I want to encourage you to be a Barnabas leader in this post.

Bible Reflection: Be A Barnabas Leader

What does a Barnabas leader look like? They have four characteristics that make them unique. These are characteristics you can work on as well. 

Balancing Work, Family, And Faith: 4 Ways To Set Priorities

If you’ve been a leader for any amount of time, you know that your time is a critical asset. People are reaching out, trying to get you to solve a problem, and then there are your family and friends. There’s always something happening.

Work-life balance seems unattainable. It’s this mythic beast that roams around that you just cannot tame.

Or so it feels…

You can tame the work-life balance beast. It’s not a unicorn. It’s something that can and must, be done.

The Challenge

The challenge of balancing work, family, and faith is a real one. You want to do your best at your workplace. You want to do the best job raising your family and caring for your spouse. And, I hope, you want to be a good member of your local church.

What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do

There are times when we struggle to figure out what to do next. How do you put one foot in front of the other when you can’t even take the next step? That’s life sometimes.

We are hit with unexpected life circumstances. Your spouse decides to leave you. A child (or dog) dies. You get laid off.

Confused man sitting on the couch not knowing what to do

Photo by Nik Shuliaahin

These life circumstances make your next decision difficult. How do you continue forward after such a blow?

Life Isn’t Rosy

You’ve been hit by a bad life circumstance. Maybe you’ve experienced one of the ones I’ve already mentioned. Maybe you’ve encountered a life circumstance worse than one of those.

Whatever situation you’re currently in, it might not be so rosy. You may feel like God has abandoned you. Or your friends and family have turned their back on you.