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 on 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 "Pauline Perspectives of Leadership".

Some of the highlights in this issue include multiple

articles on servant leadership; an indepth examination of organizational strategies for bringing transformation; multiple articles on the Pastoral Epistles; and finally, an examination of followership from a biblical perspective.

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.

The modern church is diverse in both orthodoxy and orthopraxy. However, church growth models and church health metrics seem to only apply to certain types of ecclesial expression. The Sacred Text employs a wide variety of metaphors to depict the Church. These metaphors may offer insight into the biblical standards for ecclesial composition and praxis. This article explores various biblical metaphors for the church and the implications those metaphors have for ecclesial life, health, and growth metrics.
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Since Servant Leadership has become a popular leadership theory, consideration of when this style does not seem to attain its anticipated outcomes is important to deliberate. The paper uses intertexture exegetical analysis of Mark 10:17-31 to examine why the rich young ruler failed to respond to Jesus' appeal to sell all of his property, to give to the poor, and to come and follow Him. The research suggests that values must be aligned before servant leadership will be effective. Value alignment and communication are considered as possible next steps in the development of servant leadership.
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The Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership (JBPL) promotes the research and exploration of leadership-related topics through the lens of Hebrew and Christian scriptures, serving as a crossroads for both scholarly leadership and theological thinking and learning. Servant Leadership is one of the theories routinely mentioned in the journal, but the description and characteristics of the theory seem to differ slightly, article to article. Why? This paper employs a meta-analytic process to assess the articles in the JBPL to determine what patterns emerge on Servant Leadership. The results yield confusing patterns, indicating the ongoing state of development in the theory. The article offers several recommendations for preparing and evaluating future Servant Leadership-related JBPL articles, to include: (a) maintaining awareness of related, ongoing research and publications, (b) reviewing and incorporating the most current research when publishing Servant Leadership-related material, (c) aiming for specificity, recognizing the theory's state of development, and providing clarity by associating references to a published Servant Leadership model/description, (d) developing and refining Servant Leadership theory by building upon the growing body of knowledge in this area of study, and finally (e) being specific when benchmarking leader performance with Servant Leadership theory.
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The purpose of this research is to explore the contributing factors to the making of organizational leaders. Historical leaders from the political, social and spiritual arena in the persons of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Mandela, 1998), Mother Teresa (Spink, 1997), and William Carey (Carey,2009) have been chosen and studied. This paper used the case study research design (Yin, 2014) along with the content analysis method (Padgett, 2016). The contributing factors to the making of organizational leaders are identified as a sense of calling; burden and passion for solving problems; singleness of purpose; commitment to causes beyond self; steady predictable character; vision clarity and articulation; servant attitudes and lifestyle; hardworking behaviors; and finishing strong.
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This study explores and examines the leadership framework of emotional intelligence and its five constructs (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills) and juxtaposes them with the life of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John. It also identifies the intertextual elements present through a sub-textural exegetical analysis of the pericope and discusses the relationship of the findings to the theory of emotional intelligence.
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This exploratory case study examines John 9 and the reaction of the blind man to both Jesus Christ and the Pharisees attempts at transformational leadership. Using socio-rhetorical criticism to examine the pericope revealed important themes. The blind man's motivation and manner of the progression through the pericope provided evidence of Jesus Christ and the Pharisees' leadership methods. Jesus Christ fulfills Bass and Riggio's four-component model of transformational leadership. The Pharisees are a closer match to pseudotransformational leadership.
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This paper provides an interpretation of the leadership of Jesus revealed in Chapter 21 of the Gospel of John. The socio-rhetorical interpretation provided in this writing are used to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the leadership of Jesus. As such, the basic principles and guidelines of a socio-rhetorical interpretation are discussed and shown as an effective means for gaining a greater understanding of scripture. The strategies of a socio-rhetorical interpretation were used to provide an exegetical interpretation of John 21. Jesus' role as a change agent is also discussed. A comparison of leadership from a Johannine perspective and current leadership models are also made.
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Inner texture analysis is a method of socio-rhetorical criticism, which uses a variety of methods to analyze various sub-textures of a text. This paper will use four methods of inner texture analysis to analyze Psalm 91: repetitive, progressive, opening-middle-closing and sensory-aesthetic. This paper has two components: the first is to conduct an inner texture analysis of Psalm 91; the second is to apply this analysis to the theory of transformational leadership. The inner texture analysis of the pericope reveals that God exhibits all four factors of traditional transformational leadership theory: charismatic influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. The author argues that Psalm 91 enhances transformational leadership theory by adding a fifth criterion: individualized protection. The analysis suggests that leaders must shield their followers from external threats to employee development to ensure transformation.
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This paper argues that an organization which faces extreme hostility can not only survive but thrive in adversity. Acts 19 highlights Paul's three-year "consultation" with the Ephesian church, the principles of leading them through stages of pioneering a Christian ecosystem to having an established structure designed to transform the broader community. Key to this development was Paul's commitment to align the internal culture by identifying its core competencies, strategic intent, and competitive advantage. His centrifugal missiological strategy provided a plan to expand the core values and virtues of the Church into the Ephesian city and the province of Asia. Facing a syncretic cultural and religious ecosystem that was hostile to these values, Paul's investment resulted in such success that it radically changed the entire economy of Ephesus. The principles studied through this biblical account provide a guide for how organizations can thrive in the midst of adversity.
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Stewardship is often viewed through popular approaches primarily as a financial attitude. However, the entirety of Scripture places stewardship in the domain of whole-life leadership. Stewardship is examined by tracing stewardship through the Biblical perspective with a primary focus on the Pauline tradition. Further analysis of steward leadership is provided through a literature review. Finally, practical applications are provided for implementing steward leadership by Christian leaders.
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Second Corinthians 6:14-18 houses critical data for personal and corporate relational partnerships. This paper services Robbins' (1996) intertextual analysis to evaluate the Apostle Paul's recitation, recontextualization, and reconfiguration of biblical and extra-biblical texts that prohibit certain relational partnerships and demand personal holiness. After a thorough intertextual analysis is completed, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 and its analysis will engage the four primary categories of transformational leadership: (1) idealized influence, (2) inspirational motivation, (3) intellectual stimulation, and (4) individualized consideration. The Pauline exhortation enhances these four primary categories and recommends areas for further consideration in Pauline literature and transformational leadership.
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The need for follower development is not well documented. This study sought to understand follower development as described in the sacred text of the New Testament narrative. The literature review explored the lack of research on followership and follower development. The qualitative research study was framed through the question: In what ways does Paul's charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:10-17 inform development of followers? Data analysis utilized intertextual socio-rhetorical framework as described by Robbins (1996). The text in 2 Timothy 3:10-17 served as data and was examined through four intertextual categories: a) oral-scribal, b) cultural, c) social, and d) historical (Robbins, 1996b). Positive modeling was perceived as a primary method for follower development. Paul's charge to Timothy emerged with four follower development themes: show virtuous living, model fortitude, practice sound teaching, and serve through benevolent deeds. The conclusions of this exploratory study assist in making connections between the field of followership and Scripture.
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The purpose of this paper is to understand followership as it relates to Titus 2:1-10 through the framework of a genre analysis. A genre analysis is an exegetical tool that allows researchers to study ancient texts through the lens of the literary genre. Titus is a pastoral epistle, and as such, was examined through form and authorship. In light of form and authorship, the text was further analyzed for supracultural principles for modern followership application. This analysis utilized Osborne's hermeneutical model of identifying supracultural indicators, ancient cultural practices, and distance. Several supracultural principles were identified and are applicable to modern followership. The first supracultural principle discovered was that individuals can be trained to be followers. The second supracultural principle was the specific traits of followers. This aligns with trait theory in that certain traits are applicable across time. Although there is robust research on traits of leaders, there is no Trait Theory of Followership. Titus 2:1-10 establishes the foundation of a Trait Theory of Followership through the supracultural principles and descriptions of traits. This is the first genre analysis to examine Titus 2:1-10 and the first paper to find supracultural principles in Titus 2:1-10 that relates to modern followership.
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The author utilizes the values identified in Paul's Epistle to Titus as a model for the development of organizational ethics: faith, integrity, authenticity, service, piety, love, justice, fortitude, temperance, and prudence. Interweaving Biblical and organizational sources, the author examines how each core value can help to shape the culture, policies, and decision-making of organizations. The author argues that reflecting on Biblical values provides leaders the ability to review the alignment of organizational values and current practices.
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Paul is highly regarded as an influential Christian leader and role model who wrote letters to numerous followers and communities during the First Century. God spoke through Paul to teach other Biblical, and now modern Christian leaders, the values and attributes of effective Christian leadership and the expected behaviors of the followers they influence. Titus 3:1-8 is a letter that Paul wrote to his colleague, Titus, to guide him in bringing order to the discontented church community of Crete. In addition to reflecting on their transgressions, Paul explained the need for respect for others and the path to salvation through transformation and good works. Modern organizational leadership theories are established to identify and develop leaders that can bring order to similarly discontented organizational communities. At the foundation of many of these ethical leadership theories is authentic leadership. Through genre analysis of the epistle of Titus, Paul reflects the same self-awareness, accountability, influence, and trusting relationships with followers that authentic leaders emulate. Modern Christian leaders have an opportunity to provide significant influence on followers and a positive impact on an organization through the understanding and intersection of their authentic leadership values with Paul's instructions to Titus.
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The purposes of this article included the need to fill a gap in scholarly literature about the specific method and content that Paul used in his evangelization approach in Acts 17-19. The other purpose involved the development of a formula that composed the form of transformational influence that Saint Paul used during his discourses. The following study used Robbins's (1996) socio-rhetorical method, Osborne's (2006) hermeneutical perspective, and Saldana's (2013) discourse analysis method to interpret the writings in Acts 17-19. The results indicated that Saint Paul used interconnecting thoughts between the label of the unidentified deity and commonly known poetry to build his argument that God represented the actual goal of their daily works, philosophical dialogues, religious rituals, and intellectual labors. He also used his knowledge base of secular worldviews, Jewish beliefs, Christian teachings, and methods of philosophical reasoning in order to engage in dialogues inside public marketplaces and specific institutions. The following formula composed the practice of intellectual discourse from a transformational perspective through five traits: (a) demonstration of empathy, (b) "epistemic cognition", (c) ability to philosophically reason, (d) emotional expression of boldness, and (e) ability to integrate Gospel teachings with scientific worldviews (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009, p. 86).
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One of Paul's early epistles, the book of Galatians captures a profound identity struggle in the early church. Would the young Galatian church continue in the gospel they first learned from Paul, or would they veer to a new course of faith? To keep the Galatian churches in line with the true gospel, Paul writes an autobiographical statement to bolster his credentials and demonstrate his apostolic authority. Typical interpretations of Paul's narratio focus on the polemical elements. This paper will explore the social and cultural textures to find alternative elements. At the heart of Paul's story, there is a testimony of transformation. Paul's transformation story has profound consequences for biblical interpreters and ministry leaders today. This paper will conclude with a practical discussion for how Galatians 1 can enhance transformational leadership theory.
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This paper extended Kok's (2014) use of social identity complexity theory as a heuristic tool in New Testament studies by applying socio-rhetorical exegetical analysis methods in conjunction with the social identity complexity theory. In particular, socio-rhetorical analysis provided insight into the identity and conflict situation represented in Galatians 2-3. Intertexture-reference, purity codes, and religious community provided socio-cultural analysis background and articulated the intergroup conflict supporting an application of social identity complexity theory to understand Christian identity in the church at Galatia.
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Galatians 3 focuses largely on Paul's efforts to bridge a cultural divide that was prevalent within the church at Galatia. His tactics translate to a contemporary strategy for today's global leaders. These leaders are faced with increased racial division, ethnocentrism and corporate conflicts, even at the height of globalization. An ideological texture analysis helps translate Paul's efforts into a modern, global model of relatability, corporate identity and unity.
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The following socio-rhetorical analysis utilizes an inner texture analysis and sacred texture analysis of Romans 14:13-23 to illuminate, refine, and critique ethical leadership theoretical foundations. In particular, the narrational units and opening-middle-closing textures and argumentative texture provide support for specific ethical conduct of leaders towards followers in the example of the stronger brother's conduct toward the weaker brother. A sacred texture analysis provides evidence that the character of the Christian directly stems from their identification as part of the Christian community. Together these analyses provide evidence that conduct and character remain inextricably linked. Finally, the analysis provides evidence supporting the ethical leadership construct of moderation orientation both as a viable construct and as having support in the Christian faith.
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The following paper is an exegetical study of Romans 12:3-8 against the backdrop of authentic leadership. The focus is to understand Paul's command to not think too highly of one's self, but with "sober judgement." By considering the important findings from exegetical research I conclude that accurate self-knowledge is tied to communal identity and healthy interdependence. This foundational exegetical implications has practical application within leadership studies. Therefore, Paul's words to the church in Rome provide insight into the leadership theory of authentic leadership. One of the highest values of authentic leadership is consistency; consistency with self, thinking, others, and behaviors. Romans 12:3-8 elevates the value of consistency to alignment with the Gospel, and thus helps to develop authentic leadership from a Christian perspective. By applying the exegetical research findings of Romans 12:3-8 to authentic leadership this paper offers guidance to develop important aspects of a uniquely Christian authentic leader.
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This article argues that Paul's theology of leadership in the letter to the church in Philippi should be understood in light of the central Pauline idea that believers live in communion with Christ (koinonia). Paul's theology includes an ecclesial vision of a church unified by a shared cruciform wisdom that sees Christ as both Lord of the world and as well as an example of humble self-giving leadership. It is argued that Paul's understanding of the koinonia of Christ moves beyond the imitation of Christ to a form of participation in the cruciform leadership of Christ through the Spirit. This kind of leadership takes place as facilitation of, and participation in Christo-practices, which includes cruciform moral reasoning and self-giving love through liturgical-charismatic worship, preaching, teaching, service, economic gifts and peace-making.
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The concept of kenosis is explored in the Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5-11 from a praxis viewpoint as opposed to a purely theological exegesis. How does this idea of "self-emptying" or "radical subordination" translate into leadership? This paper shows how two super-leaders, leaders who train leaders, Dr. Y.C. James Yen and Myles Horton, embodied the idea of kenosis in the way they practiced leadership in at-risk communities and how this practice was essential in altering the sense of self-efficacy and perceptions of personal identity for the impoverished. It reveals kenosis in the practice of leadership to be transformational.
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