Barnabas Ministries UK

Rev. John Maxwell

THE LAW OF EMPOWERMENT: WHAT DO POTENTIAL LEADERS NEED?

Taken from the John Maxwell leadership Bible

Numbers’11:16-30

Often pastors in traditional churches ask, “Is it really my job to equip people to serve and lead? Am I not merely to be a shepherd and teach the people on Sunday?” This question demonstrates how our culture has blinded us to the biblical call for leaders to equip other leaders. Numbers 11 demonstrates that equipping laypeople to lead and serve is God’s idea, not man’s. Leaders are to identify, prepare, and release teams to work.

God left no doubt about how Moses was to train the seventy leaders he had selected. In Num­bers 11:16-30 we see the answer to the question: What do potential leaders need? God says:

1/.  They need authority (v. 16, “bring them… that they may stand there with you”).

2/.  They need anointing (v. 17, “I will take of the Spirit… and will put the same upon them”).

3/.  They need ownership of the vision (v. 17, “the Spirit that is upon you … upon them”).

4/.  They need responsibility (v. 17, “they shall bear the burden of the people with you”). ‘

5/.  They need specific ministry roles (v. 24, “placed them around the tabernacle”).

6/.  They need to express their gifts (v. 25, “when the Spirit rested upon them… they prophesied”).

7/.  They need a secure shepherd who will release them to succeed (w. 26-30, Moses).