FROM THE 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. The theme of this issue is "Old Testament Perspectives of Leadership".

Some of the highlights in this issue include

 

 
 

articles exploring female leadership in the Old Testament; servant leadership; authentic leadership; spiritual leadership; and, finally, multiple articles on the Fruit of the Spirit in organizational contexts.

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.

   
   
FEATURED ARTICLES
   
   
THE FOUNDATION OF SELF: A BIBLICAL CONTEXT OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Kurt McDonald

This article seeks to build a firm foundation for ethical decision-making processes based on self-development. It is modeled with Paul's attempt to raise awareness that occurs in Romans 7:14-25. Examining this pericope from the perspective of inner texture analysis creates a firm foundation from a biblical perspective while also providing a model to follow for the remainder of the article. To accomplish the task of raising self-awareness, this paper explores value structures, ethical decision-making, becoming integral with oneself via self-development, and enhancing one's sense of awareness about him/herself. It is determined that awareness is the first item needed for the process moving from doing to being; being as an extension of self, aligning thought and action. The leader, being fully integral with his or herself, can make decisions as a natural extension of self rather than the complex, contemplative method that comes from doing. Because the leader is fully integral, he or she may be honest and trustworthy among peers and followers alike.
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AVOIDING SPIRITUAL BANKRUPTCY IN ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Cynthia M. Montaudon-Tomas

Spiritual Bankruptcy has emerged as a topic in organizational theory that refers to a permanent or temporary situation in which companies face spirituality problems associated with the misalignment of personal and organizational values. This research presents an exegetical study to foster organizational spirituality through the use of Christian values and traditional biblical wisdom; particularly that of the Fruit of the Spirit, as presented in Galatians. The Fruit of the Spirit and the Christian values have been introduced in business literature as transformational and innovative approaches. In the past decades there have been a sustained increase in the number of publications regarding spiritual wellbeing as a result of a growing interest in the spiritual dimensions of work, organizations and leadership, and the application of Christian perspectives to organizational life. Spiritualty has even become a trending topic in social media, within the workplace, and in business literature.
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INTEGRATION OF CHRISTIAN VALUES IN THE WORKPLACE
Debra J. Dean

The research objective was to evaluate work outcomes of employee engagement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational spirituality with independent variables from the Fruit of the Spirit including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The study was conducted with 176 employees. For statistical purposes, correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed with the data using IBM SPSS Statistics version 21. Based on the findings, the Fruit of the Spirit are beneficial to workplace outcomes of employee engagement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational spirituality. Each of the nine fruits correlated to those four workplace outcomes, and specifically, this research found that love, kindness, and self-control can predict employee engagement; joy and gentleness can predict job satisfaction; love can predict organizational commitment; and love and peace can predict organizational spirituality.
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TRANSFORMATIONAL PASTORAL LEADERSHIP
Tim Gregory

Pastoral leadership can take on many roles and can vary from church to church, but what must remain constant is the mission of the church to make disciples of all nations. For the local church to be effective at reaching the world for Jesus Christ, making disciples of all people groups, they will need strong pastoral leadership. Leadership that is able to create and sustain true transformation. This paper presents a case for transformational pastoral leadership and attempts to define it, concluding that this form of leadership is able to both initiate and maintain the transformation that congregants must experience to fulfill their God given role in the Great Commission. Transformational pastoral leadership provides a blueprint, which pastors can use to help them lead their congregations in the commission given to them by Christ their Lord.
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SELFLESS LEADERSHIP: AN ETHICAL FOUNDATION FOR LEADERSHIP
Philip Lloyd

This article argues that Jesus' teaching and example of selfless leadership found in Matthew 20:20-28 strengthens the foundation for ethical leadership found in virtue ethics. An argument is made for the foundation of ethical leadership and is developed by contrasting the egoist, deontological, consequentialist approach with the virtue ethics approach. The article moves on to consider the shortfalls of virtue ethics due to phenomena of bounded ethicality and fading ethics and argues that the characteristics of humility, service, and suffering found selfless leadership provided leaders with additional tools necessary to avoid such failings. The article employs Robbins' (1996) method of inner texture analysis of socio-rhetorical interpretation and exegetical analysis of the pericope.
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EMPOWERMENT IN THE SENDING OF THE 72: AN INNER TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF LUKE 9:57-10:24
Alex G. Wright & Joshua D. Henson

Empowerment occurs when a leader enables a follower to complete a task which he/she was previously unable or unwilling to complete.1 Throughout his public ministry, Jesus regularly used average people to accomplish extraordinary things. The purpose of this article was to perform an exegetical study of Luke 9:57-10:24 using Robbins' inner texture analysis method. Insights gleaned from that analysis were then be applied to contemporary leadership theories of empowerment. This pericope is related to empowerment because of the juxtaposition between the three would-be followers at the end of Luke 9 and the seventy-two disciples at the beginning of Luke 10. Jesus told each set of individuals that following him would be very difficult, yet they responded differently. The interactions which Jesus had with these two sets of individuals revealed three important points about empowerment. First, a leader must know which followers to empower. Second, empowering followers does not mean making it easy for them. Finally, two-way feedback is necessary for effective empowerment.
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1 Jay A. Conger and Rabindra N. Kanungo, "The Empowerment Process: Integrating Theory and Practice," Academy of Management Review 13, no. 3 (July 1988): 474, doi:10.5465/amr.1988.4306983.

   
TOWARDS A THEORY OF LEADERSHIP FOR HUMAN FLOURISHING IN A GLOBAL COMMUNITY: A HERMENEUTIC, PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND PROCESS THEORY EXPLORATION OF THE LEADERSHIP OF JESUS IN THE FOUR GOSPELS
Edward W. Hatch & Subodh Kumar

Climate change, forced human migration, global economics, and geo-political instability among are hard realities of this world. If leadership is fundamentally about helping people move to a better, then to mitigate the problems and threats to human flourishing is a leadership challenge and the most significant challenge of 21st century. Leadership as an influence is at the root of most understandings of the phenomenon and is one common denominator that can focus all theories of change and strategies of hope. This one denominator was evident in the leadership of Jesus. This study examined the leadership of Jesus of Nazareth with a view to develop an extant leadership theory to explicate the nature of leadership for human flourishing. A comprehensive research methodology was crafted from the fields of phenomenology, process theory, and biblical hermeneutics and applied to the narrative texts of the four Christian Gospels. Three-dimensional leadership theory of people, process, and place emerged from the life work of Jesus. This study concluded by presenting and explicating the middle range theory called three-dimensional leadership theory. Support for the proposed theory was found in contemporary organizational leadership and philosophical and scholarly research leading to 11 supporting propositions.
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THE OLD TESTAMENT ROOTS OF JESUS' LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY
Dave Keehn

Leadership transitions place a priority on the intentional development of emerging leaders. Various studies the benefits of the leadership development pathway modeled through internships and Realistic Job Previews, in which the organization's purpose and values (i.e. message) and its operations (i.e. tasks) are learned by new recruits. The Bible gives us an excellent example of this methodology in Jesus' leadership style, of which his method, tasks and message are rooted in Old Testament practices, when his Apostles were invited to participate in his mission, as outlined in Matthew chapter 10. This methodology has applications to both the Church and Business worlds. Jesus' strategic training would seek to provide a "Realistic Job Preview" to his Apostles, as they followed him for 3 years, watching him teach and perform miracles. The apprenticed leadership development of the Apostles is related to the three phases of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, which can be implemented both in the church and business setting for vocational training. All that the twelve Apostles had observed and heard Jesus do in the past, Jesus now empowers them to use his authority to speak and act in the same manner, to continue his mission of redemption and establishing his kingdom. These elements resonated with the new Apostles because they have seen and heard of these methods, tasks and message in their study of Old Testament Scriptures and practices.
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AN EXAMINATION OF HOW YHWH ASSESSES GOOD AND BAD LEADERSHIP: KINGS OF JUDAH AND EZEKIEL 22 AS FOCAL POINTS EZEKIEL 22
J. Randall Wallace

An analysis of how YHWH assesses the success or failure of the Kings of Judah is prepared with special attention to YHWH's summary of their failures as found in Ezekiel 22. The constraints on kingship outlined in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 are explained and the structure of leadership for the nation, consisting of kings and their executive and judicial counterparts, along with priests and prophets are explored showing their ideal role in the society. A list of activities associated with leaders who failed YHWH is provided and generalized into a master list and then translated into a list of opposite activities that would be labeled positive or successful. The Kings Asa and Josiah are examined in terms of their successful leadership and a list of their activities provided. A synthesis lists of the converted failures and successes provides a template or guidebook for how leaders can lead in a manner to please YHWH.
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SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN THE BOOK OF SAMUEL
Monica L. Isaac

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interactions between David and other characters within the pericope of 1 Samuel 25. The study reviews the challenges David encountered and his responses and actions. The use of language within the text is analyzed through the lens of socio-rhetorical criticism to showcase how David's responses can lend guidance to the modern Christian leader when approaching different peers. The goal of this research is to link David's behaviors to the situational leadership theory (SLT) as developed by Hersey and Blanchard through an examination of the narrative voices, emotion-infused language, patterns, repetition, progression and other word structures employed. Leaders must be able to respond effectively and appropriately to the various members with whom they interact. This paper seeks to find examples of different levels of leader-follower relationships within the passage and define how modern leaders can gain insight from this passage.
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THE HISTORIAN'S HEROINES: EXAMINING THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FEMALE ROLE MODELS IN THE EARLY ISRAELITE MONARCHY
Cheryl You

Biblical narratives are often read with an androcentric lens, resulting in the marginalization of women's stories. Female figures appear frequently throughout the text, and their stories can function as exemplars of leadership if the reader is able to bring these women-stories to the forefront. This article examines the characterization of Hannah, Abigail, Bathsheba, and Rizpah in the books of Samuel and Kings—essential figures for the trajectory of the monarchy towards God's purposes. These women of ancient, patriarchal Israel were not powerless and subservient as they are often made out to be but had the power to alter the course of history through their speech and actions. Through the study of biblical narrative and characterization, this paper seeks to contribute towards developing a composite picture of women in leadership that is not confined to conventional roles and titles, but one that reflects the mutuality of the Imago Dei: men and women together, reflecting the image of God to the world.
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BEYOND RICHES AND RUBIES: A STUDY OF PROVERBS 31:10-31 AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Elizabeth Graves

This paper determines enhancements to servant leadership theory by comparing it to the Old Testament poem about a noble woman (Prov. 31:10). Through intertexture analysis, an exegesis of Proverbs 31:10-31 revealed a very simple approach to servant leadership, whereby one's character and actions for others, out of their fear of the Lord resulted in spiritual riches. When compared with scholarly research on servant leadership, the Proverbs 31 example of servant leadership enhances the theory by adding two components: an emphasis on action as behavior and servant leader growth as an outcome.
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UNSEEN SUCCESS IN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP FAILURES
Matthew Cloyd

Failure within the area of leadership is often confined to quantifiable measures of poor performance of a leader's direct actions (Liu, 2010). Failure is often categorized as emotional failure, moral failure, and communication failure (Dalton, 2015; Dong, Montero, & Possajennikov, 2018;Raymond, NDinguri, & Phipps, 2015). The challenge arises when a leader proves to be effective at communication, emotional intelligence, and moral integrity, but still experiences failure by not meeting the expectations of culture, themselves, and followers (Peterson & Dawn, 2000). While science encourages a measurable examination of leadership success and failure, leadership within the Christian context must take into account the spiritual effects that occur outside of a leader's control. The purpose of this research will be to examine individuals from the Old Testament and the failures resulting from his leadership. Old Testament leadership in fact reveals that a Christian leader's failure to meet expectations of culture, themselves, and followers results in unseen success when obeying God's direction. The research revealed as a leader evaluates his or her success through the lens sanctification and obedience, God's expectation may differ from the expectations of culture, followers, and self-resulting in unseen success.
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EMPOWERING STEWARDSHIP: LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM EXODUS 18:13-27
Cassi Lea Sherley

Moses presents an excellent model for the study of biblical servant leadership in the Old Testament and exemplified many of the qualities of modern servant leadership theories deem essential such as compassion, humility, altruism, stewardship and service of others (Patterson, 2003; Patterson & van Dierendonck, 2015). Although far from perfect, there are ample stories from Moses' life that point to the motivations and virtues of his leadership (notions of being) as well as the antecedents and outcomes of Moses' behavior as a leader. This exegetical analysis of Exodus 18:13-27 furthers the study of biblical servant leadership by examining the necessary connection between a servant leader's motivation to "serve first" and the overflow of that desire into action that empowers others. By examining servant leadership through the lens of biblical narrative, a rich picture of leadership emerges as Moses demonstrates how important stewardship and empowering others is to the optimal functioning of a community and organization.
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SAMSON'S BLINDNESS AND ETHICAL SIGHT
Benjamin Crisp

Until recently, ethics research, and Scripture's contribution to it has been sparse. It is, therefore, critical to contribute serious exegetical investigation to the conversation. Ethical blind spots impact every individual. They must not be ignored or placated. Inner texture analysis of Judges 13-16 exposes ethical blind spots in Israel's last judge, Samson. The repetition of words and thematic progressions reveal Samson's ethical shortcomings, and his ultimate redemption, as an example for contemporary leaders. Additionally, Samson's ethical code, tandem with a driving metaphor, prescribes contemporary solutions to ethical waywardness. Ethical blind spots distort the LORD's divine calling. Wrong decisions carried out with discretion seem hidden and harmless. Samson's narrative teaches that they mutilate one's character and calling. Christian leaders must address ethical blind spots through the evaluation of past experience, alignment between the "want" and "should" self, and rootedness in their relationship with the LORD and with others.
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MOSES AS AN AGENT OF ADAPTABILITY: AN INNER TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF NUMBERS 11
Laura Wahlin

This paper explores the adaptive leadership style of Moses from the eleventh chapter of the Book of Numbers. Specifically, an inner texture analysis of the pericope from the socio-rhetorical criticism realm is presented to highlight repetitive and progressive patterns, narrational and opening-middle-closing structures, as well as argumentative and sensory-aesthetic effects. The analysis reveals that Moses follows five adaptive leadership behaviors theorized on Govindarajan's (2016) article, suggesting that in the passage – he is attuned to weak signals, recognizes and utilizes others who think differently, practices planned opportunism, manifests courage in many ways, and views challenges as great opportunities. These findings classify Moses as an agent of adaptability as he leads the people in the March to Canaan, which also applies in an organizational context for Christian leaders.
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THE ETHICS OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: EXPOSING LIMITATIONS AND REFINING CORE VARIABLES
Andrew L. Cavins

Research of authentic leadership theory has expanded rapidly since its inception over a decade ago. Well known for its emphasis on seeking greater trust and commitment from followers, authentic leadership theory represents a renewed focus on ethics in leadership. The present study seeks to examine the ethics of authentic leadership theory by testing it against an ethically challenging scenario. The Jeremiah 1 pericope presents such an opportunity. This study will apply Robbins' (1996) social and cultural texture analysis to the Jeremiah 1 pericope in order to extract ethical leadership principles to compare and contrast with authentic leadership theory. The Jeremiah 1 principles largely support the core components and antecedent variables of authentic leadership theory. However, limitations to authentic leadership theory's ability to simultaneously meet ethical and effectiveness aspects of leadership are exposed. Jeremiah 1 provides new directions for research, as well as refines the theory's variables of (1) optimism and (2) balanced processing.
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JOSEPH: AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP FORGED IN THE CRUCIBLE
Melody Smith

Authentic leadership, a relatively new leadership theory, helps fill the need for principled and trustworthy leaders. Issues of integrity, values, and care for others are emphasized, aligning well with biblical foundations for Christian leaders. Of special note is the role of major life events or crucibles, referring to some transformative experience or hardship which tests a person's limits, but also provides the means of personal growth, empathy, self-knowledge, and deeper reliance upon God. Joseph exemplified authentic leadership in practice and through years of life-changing hardship. Through his own values, self-control, compassion, and sense of purpose, he earned the trust of high officials, and even more importantly, he was found trustworthy by God, who was consistently blessed his leadership.
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OLD TESTAMENT VIEW OF ROBERT GREENLEAF'S SERVANT LEADERSHIP THEORY
Derwin Earl Lewis

An observation of Herman Hesse's "Journey to the East" inspired Robert K. Greenleaf to coin the term "Servant leader" (Greenleaf, 1970), leading to the development of the servant leadership theory. The servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first, then lead (Greenleaf & Frick, 2002). Since its launch, scholars such as Spears (1998), Blanchard and Hodges (2004), Sipe, and Frick, (2015) have taken certain concepts and amended this theory or used it to construct other leadership models. Although Greenleaf has been credited with the origin of servant leadership, the characteristics of the theory have biblical implications. The purpose of this article is to present a theological view of a servant leader as the philosophical foundation for this theory. Servant Leadership is one of the few concepts scholars associate theologically, referencing it to the earthly ministry of Jesus (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002). An exegetical character study from the Old Testament will build the conceptual framework to argue the biblical origin of a servant leader. The theological framework is presented through a comparative analysis of Old Testament leaders; Moses, Joshua, Saul, and David, to argue that leadership is more theological than it is theoretical.
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LEADERSHIP FORMATION THROUGH MENTORING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Jerusha Drummond

Since mentoring involves relationships, mentors support, encourage, and teach out of mutual respect for mentees (Freeks, 2016). Leaders drive change through urgency, creating a significant difference in the life of their followers (Kotter, 1996; Taylor, Cocklin, Brown, & Wilson-Evered, 2011). Leadership formation is assisting others in creating leadership competence (Van Gelder, 2009). The Old Testament consists of men, women, kings, prophets, judges, and military leaders, who followed the plan of God mentoring and leading people that he ordained to use in his kingdom. The Spirit of the Lord initiated the mentoring duties by Moses, Elijah, and Deborah (Deut. 31:8-9; 2 Kings 2:9-13; Judg. 4:3-7). God instructed Moses to make Joshua his successor over the people of Israel and lead them to the Promised Land (Num. 27:18-19). God told Elijah to anoint Elisha as a prophet in his place (1Kings 19:16). Deborah's prophecy from God was to deploy Barak and his troops to fight Jabin's army (Judg. 4:6-7).
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The Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership is a publication of the
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