FROM THE CO-EDITOR
Joshua Henson

On behalf of the Regent University's School of Business and Leadership and the editorial board of the Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership, I thank you for support of the journal.

This issue continues to broaden the horizon of exegetical-based research in organizational leadership in both scope and research methodology. As with all organizations and publications, 2020 offered a significant shift in our original plan to have two issues including a special issue "Biblical Perspective of Gender, Race, and Diversity in Leadership" along with our theme for 2020 "Women in Leadership". In this issue, we include articles on both topics.

Some of the highlights in this issue include articles exploring the role of Africans in the Bible; the American working woman; transformational leadership; authentic leadership; and courageous followership. This issue also explores exemplars such as Esther; the little maid of Syria; the Ethiopian Eunuch; Daughters of Zelophehad; Priscilla and Aquila; and Lydia.

We remain grateful for the support and guidance from our esteemed reviewers and the visionary support of Dr. Gomez and Dr. Winston at the School of Business and Leadership at Regent University.

Grace and peace in the name of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Lauren had a heart to rediscover biblical restorative justice. She wrote in her dissertation: "The law according to God, as revealed through Jesus is merciful, it is ethical, and it considers all people. Justice is not intended solely for the ruling class, but rather is in place to protect those without power." What a wonderful perspective as we consider our 2020 issue.
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This article applied social - culture and ideological analysis to Acts 2 and Acts 13 to show how the first church and the development of Christianity were founded by a diverse group of leaders, which included leaders with African heritage. The Holy Bible, as current-day believers and scholars know it, would not be possible without the contributions made by people of African descent. Yet there has been a deliberate attempt by the dominant culture found in Europe and the United States to de-Africanize the Holy Bible. De-Africanizing the Holy Bible, minimizes the role(s) and contributions completed by people with African ancestry. The most common place where de-Africanization occurred in the Bible was when Africans held leadership positions. Through a socio-rhetorical analysis of selected passages, scholars discover the high level of diversity found within the founding fathers of the Christian church. Since God incorporated diversity into the original leadership of the Christian church, current-day Christian organizations have an example of what diversity in leadership can do and should strive for diversity when creating an executive leadership team. Hambrick and Mason's (1984) Upper Echelon Theory explains the benefits of diversity in leadership positions.
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Using the socio-rhetorical methods of socio-cultural analysis, the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18–30 yields insights applicable to Transformational leadership theory. The socio-rhetorical method reveals how Luke's Gospel portrays the church as a thaumaturgical utopian community reflecting an inaugurated eschatology. The limited good worldview of Luke's day informs the reader that Jesus gave the ruler an opportunity to repent of his greed. While the limited good worldview is not as pervasive in 21st century North America, modern-day Christians are likewise urged towards generosity to the less fortunate in their communities. Christian leaders should have modest expectations of the results of applying Transformational leadership theory. The eschatological and thaumaturgical nature of the kingdom of God is beyond the scope of Transformational leadership theory. Christian leaders should also be aware of their motives in employing intellectual stimulation. Innovation and creativity should be used to raise economic equality in the community. Unlike Transformational leadership theory, the Gospel is good news for the poor instead of promising individuals and the upwardly mobile.
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Authentic leadership is one of the most researched leadership theories in the past 20 years and has garnered much attention due to the values-based theme of this leadership style (Avolio et al., 2004; Ladkin & Taylor, 2010). This article contains a literature review on authentic leadership from a conceptual framework to practical applications. An exegetical analysis using inner texture, as a form of socio-rhetorical criticism, is utilized to understand the texts of Philippians 2:5-11 properly. Inner texture analysis is a tool to understand the meaning of texts through a review of the inherent factors such as the nature of repetitions, patterns, and other underlying intentions of the texts. Finally, this article explores the referenced pericope. It draws insights and applications to authentic leadership, applying it to Jesus Christ, who is believed to be the greatest leader to have ever lived (Youseff, 2013).
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The epistle of Jude is often an overlooked book of Scripture with only 25 verses but offers important instructions for early and modern Christians who are threatened by false teachers. This epistle also includes several Old Testament references to address a very specific crisis facing early Christians (deSilva, 2004). To make accurate interpretations of this text, this paper follows Osborne's (2006) method of genre analysis to help draw out the meaning for followers of Christ. Chaleff's (2009) five dimensions of courageous followership: the courage to assume responsibility, the courage to serve, the courage to challenge, the courage to participate in transformation, and the courage to take moral action, are then examined in relation to this epistle. As a result, Jude's epistle highlights the importance of Christians being courageous followers, protecting themselves and their fellow Christians from those who would pollute them or lead them astray. It is evident that Christians must be courageous followers of Christ and contend for the faith since Jesus and the apostles gave Christians all the tools and resources, needed to live a Godly life. Moreover, followers should monitor and correct errors made by leaders, showing courage to make a stand when needed (Hurwitz & Hurwitz, 2015).
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the interactions between Esther and Mordecai through the lens of a social and cultural texture of Esther 4:1-17. The paper investigates the social and cultural factors existing in the background of the text, including specific cultural topics such as cultural rhetoric and common social concerns such as honor and shame. The challenges presented within the book are examined in relation to the responses to and actions that occur as a result. The paper seeks to link the behavior of one of the main characters to the aspects of transformational leadership and to identify how modern leaders can look to this pericope for guidance in their individual situations. As the transformational leader often rises in response to uncertain times, times of changes, or times of great adversity within societies (Bass, 1978), it is crucial that leaders possess sound judgment and the ability to act decisively, move followers to action, and identify creative solutions to novel problems.
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This article explores the role and impact of the embodied Marginal Leader as seen in the unnamed "little maid" in 2 Kings 5. The anonymity of the little maid does not negate the significant contribution she makes to the physical and spiritual healing of her captor. The influence the little maid exemplifies is consistent with the character of Yahweh who uses unlikely people to accomplish great things. The actions of the little maid who is described as a marginal leader reveal notable lessons that leaders should remember to be successful in various ministry and organizational contexts.
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The conversion of the first Gentile, a dark skinned, African eunuch, has historically commanded scant attention from biblical scholars. This analysis uses Robbins tool of ideological texture analysis to uncover insights on this under-emphasized, historical pericope. Analyses of the text reveals that God offers His salvation not only to the masses, but to each and every individual regardless of race, background, and social status. The examination discloses: a) Luke's desire and passion to communicate to both the Jew and Gentile, God's proclamation, that all men and women throughout the world are offered salvation and redemption; b) Philip's use of the authoritative text of the Old Testament to support and explain the implications of the prophetic Scripture for the Gentile; c) the reversal of the popular, incorrect ideology of the time that eunuchs, non-Jews, and those of different ethnicity would find themselves outside God's favor; and d) an assessment of the marginalization of ethnic minorities in Scripture. The exploration concludes by applying the findings to contemporary leadership theory, noting Philip's combination of servant and spiritual leadership traits impact his effectiveness as a leader.

Keywords: minorities, redemption, ideological texture analysis, contemporary leadership theory, servant leadership, leadership effectiveness
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The Bible offers many models of women displaying both formal and informal leadership. The story of the five daughters of Zelophehad found in Numbers 27:1-7 is an example of strategic leadership operating from a marginalized position in society. Operating within a patriarchal culture, the daughters overcame cultural and legal challenges to claim their rightful inheritance. Using the socio-rhetorical hermeneutic, this paper analyzes the social, cultural, and sacred textures to bring insight to the text. The actions of the daughters are then critiqued using the framework of strategic leadership, as suggested by Hughes et al. (2014), to see how the daughters utilized strategic thinking, acting, and influence.
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This qualitative research explored the gender equality and race equitability phenomena within the contemporary organizational structure and leadership context of the United States (U.S.) and Polish cultures in the backdrop of the biblical culture since both nations originate from the Christian roots. The gender equality phenomenon was examined from the perspective of women's access to (a) reproductive choices, (b) employment opportunities, and (c) pay egalitarianism. The phenomenon of race equitability was analyzed from the standpoint of (a) socio-political inclusion, (b) employment opportunities, and (c) pay egalitarianism. Grounded in the environment contingency theory (Burns & Stalker, 1961), which posits that the environment of an organization determines its best form of governance, this study probed the American and Polish organizational environments from the perspective of gender equality and race equitability to provide insights on factors that might have determined the ways to govern.

Keywords: Diversity, gender equality, national culture, organizational structure, organizational leadership, race equitability
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Every narrative in the Bible provides stories of leaders and followers. However, limited academic Christian literature exists on leadership partnerships such as joint ventures between women and men. This article focused on Acts 18 as an exemplar of how Priscilla and Aquila worked as co-leaders, retaining their faith as they moved from Rome to Corinth to Ephesus to Rome. This pericope illustrated that couple made tents together and they conducted ministry together, while keeping their individual identities. This raised the question of whether their effectiveness could be attributed to authentic leadership since the duo expressed various traits of this organizational leadership theory. They chose to express accountability together by leaving Rome instead of abandoning their religious freedom; altruistic since they opened their home to Paul and to the local Ephesian church; fair in their behavior in engaging with small groups and in instructing Apollo; honest in earning their keep since they continued as tentmakers as they lived through their diaspora; kind on deciding when to engage aggressively and when to retrieve; optimistic in their newfound religious freedom and continued to share it; and they chose to trust Apollo.

Keyterms: Priscilla, authentic leadership, Acts 18.
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The purpose of this paper examines the intricacies of the cumbersome transformational leadership style to provide insight into the details and how to implement the style into one's personal leadership methods. Looking into the biblical examples, the inner texture of Esther 7 demonstrates how Queen Esther utilized transformational leadership to initiate change and innovation, in order to save the Jewish people in the Persian Empire. All four "I's" of transformational leadership behaviors are explained and seen within the inner texture of Esther 7, and the paper productively contributes various methods of how one could learn and adapt the example into one's personal leadership style. The correlation of the story of Esther and transformational leadership truly displays divine history and the work of God to provide biblical examples for his followers to utilize.

Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Esther, Inner Texture, Biblical Application
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The past century has witnessed many changes in our society and in the workplace specifically. This essay reviews the last 120 years of American women in the workplace and discusses their journey as their roles in American society continue to change. It will then identify ways women can thrive in the workplace and in their leadership potential today, as well as how this is expressed specifically in the lives of Christian women. Thriving at work is not to be achieved at the expense of not thriving at home. Thriving should include the whole person and include all areas of a woman's life.
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This article attempts to answer the question, was Lydia a leader of the first-century church in Philippi? The paper combines insights from the disciplines of organizational leadership, ancient cultural studies, and biblical theology. Acts, chapter 16 tells Lydia's story. Following her baptism, she opened her household to Paul, his co-workers, and the new Christian congregation. The research literature supports the idea that Lydia acted as a benefactress of the church in line with the Roman model of patronage. In the first-century Roman culture, female patrons were active and influential in the community's public life. As part of the new order that belongs to the new creation, Lydia was not subject to the same restrictions on women's leadership that were customary in the synagogue. The role of women in the ministry of Jesus models this new situation. As domina (the female form of the Latin word for master or owner) of her household and patron of the house church, she functioned as a congregational leader.
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