True leadership isn’t about simply giving orders,
it’s about being connected to the vine of Father’s Purpose
and emboldening others to do the same.
Ford was good with horses and cattle
I want to start out with a story. I was raised on a ranch in Montana, and my dad had a cow-calf operation. We had horses, and often gathered or moved the cows. A boy on a good horse was as good as a 40-year-old man if he knew what he was doing. My dad came from a ranching background and was really good with horses, as was his dad. He took pride in teaching me everything he could. He also liked to do things the right way because he had done it before and hated having to do it over if we screwed it up. So, he had an idea of how things should go, and if they didn’t go that way, everybody heard about it. Sometimes it was in the moment of frustration, but usually he laughed it off and teased whoever dropped the ball… sometimes himself.
I remember first riding at the age of six. Ford didn’t teach me how to ride in a correl. It all happened on the job behind a bunch of cows. You want to keep your reins even on a horse, because when you neck rein them, they get the right signal and respond. If your six-year-old son doesn’t keep his reins even, it’s hint that he might not be able to control his horse if something unexpected happens. So, it’s a safety issue and a training issue for both the kid and the horse.
I was riding an older gelding named Tango who, who was very gentle, and I had one rein hanging way down on the hackamore bridle when my dad told me, Johnny, get your reins even. So, I evened them up, but a little later on my mind wondered off, as it was prone to do, and one rein hung way lower than the other, again. That time Ford said, God damn it, Johnny, you get those reins even, or I’m going to take you off that horse and give you a spanking. Well, I had an awakening experience, and those reins stayed even for the rest of my life.
Co-laboring with Father feels right, even if the cows go wrong
We were always working together as I got older through my teens, and it was always a thrill to please my Father and get a job done well. He would try to tell me what to do and I would try to get it right and demonstrate my mettle. Often working together meant working separately; we weren’t always side by side. He was out-of-sight doing something a half mile away, and I was in a different part of the pasture carrying out my part. He would give me instructions on what to do, how it should go, where we would get back together, and I would always try to do it right. Afterward he would ask me how it went plus throw in some other question like, how’s the grass doing? How many bulls did you see? How many cows did you have? Were they mothered-up?  Well, I never thought to look at the grass or anything else for that matter, and didn’t have a good answer. After that happened a few dozen times, I would always rehearse in my mind how I would answer him when I got done with my job and reported back, because I knew some off-assignment question was coming.
The reality was that nothing ever went exactly according to plan. Dad knew that way better than me. Horses, cows, calves, and bulls all have minds of their own and there were always a thousand variables. Getting cows and calves to do what you want is like herding 300 mothers with kids through a shopping mall. It never goes exactly right; it’s never totally predictable, and if it goes south, it’s a bunch of extra work to put the train back on the track.
Sonship starts when we share Father’s purpose
So, around 12 or 13 my voice changed, and I finally began to realize that dad was really asking me to think for myself. And when I started to do that, we were on the same page, and he was proud of me. As I began to think for myself in terms of training my own horse, pretty soon he was not telling me what to do. He was gleaming over the compliments from other people about how well the horse was doing. He gave me more responsibility with fewer instructions; He treated me more and more like a man; a father who was proud of his son and what he could do.
That’s the difference between being a servant and being a son. When I began to think for myself, I was truly my dad’s son. We were a team, on the same page, sharing the same purpose.
A Staff of cowboys who can solve their own problems
This sonship phenomena works exactly the same way in a corporate setting. Instead of having servants trying to obey orders through a sea of complexity, we’re looking for people who can grasp the Kingdom purpose, think for themselves, hear from God themselves, and color outside the lines.
The real goal in business, is not trying to get people to do what they can do or hire good resumes and help people be as good as they can be. What we’re really looking for is, how do we get people to a place where we get what God can do through them? How do we get people who think for themselves, hear God for themselves and solve problems themselves.
I told the story about learning to think for myself, but the real kingdom shift is we’re teaching people how to hear from God themselves. That was a father’s gift Ford gave me as his son. I’ve carried it for the rest of my life. I looked him in the eye and thanked him for it multiple times.
The timely death of Servant Leadership
By contrast, even in a Christian business, this whole idea of servant leadership is that we’re teaching all the recipes, formulas, principles, and passing out the orders with Bible verses to go with it. We should have a priority for the welfare of the people we lead, but real leadership is putting Kingdom purpose first. Those two priorities complement one another in sonship; people connected with their Kingdom purpose are most blessed and most productive. Servant leadership was first popularized by Robert Greenleaf in 1970 when he was an executive at AT&T. It’s a secular concept imposed on managers like a new rule. Servant Leaders see people in a hierarchy of servanthood absent Kingdom purpose.
We’re wrongly conveying this letter of the law approach is how it should be. God gave us the law so we could prove we can’t keep it (Rom 5:20, Gal 3:21-25, James 2:10). The rules/obedience/accountability model in servant leadership keep the letter and miss the spirit. It’s a superficial leadership style that misses the purpose in the hearts of staff and God. Some approach a doctrinal position that servant leadership is the corporate purpose. It’s really corporate introversion and the price tag is missing the corporate Kingdom Purpose.
Servant leadership even has the tone of religious codependence that services the managers need to preach and control. That’s not equipping our staff to hear from God for themselves, get clarity on Kingdom purpose, and handle the unexpected warfare. The difference is night and day, compliant servants vs. innovative sons.
The difference between religion and kingdom is that when we have a staff who can hear from God, they’re going to solve problems and build wings on our vision that we wished for but hadn’t thought of. Good things happen when we have a team of sons and daughters who hear from God and own their metron from their Father. God has given sons and daughters an inheritance to own like a son, not a business to steward like a servant. It’s not just that we’re all on the same page, and in unity, and Ecclesia forms. It’s that an army of mighty men are sent to go in their direction, the one God wrote in their own hearts, at the direction of the Holy Spirit who speaks to directly to them. And they themselves are up and down in God’s Council, and they can handle spiritual warfare by going to the Courts of Heaven all by themselves. They don’t have to run home to their servant leader to figure it out all the time.
We’re paving a way to this new frontier in Kingdom Business, and we have not articulated it quite this well before. It gets clearer and clearer as time goes by, that servant leadership is not the goal, it’s actually becoming a hindrance.
I admit that people are going through phases, and it’s okay to be empathetic and attentive to the needs of others. Servant leadership is a religious construct, a little bit of a sacred cow, and a little bit of a religious spirit whose time has expired. Servant leadership is often a substitute for sonship, the religious spirit’s excuse for dodging ascension.
In the context of His Kingdom, Father is offering a new and living way that is the mainstream, the living stream right now. Father is inviting sons to be present in the Courts and Council of heaven. Why? Our job as sons is to bring heaven to earth and even more specifically, we’re engineering a Reformation of Nations, and that’s why we need sons who can hear from God and participate in turning this world upside down.
The future God’s sons and daughters can create
We’re a few days from an election. It feels like it’s going to go the right way, but it’s not the end of the warfare. Probably the warfare is just starting, and we can expect the unexpected. There are all kinds of ominous prophetic rumors and political conspiracies. But in general, what the Father is doing is such an overwhelming flood that evil, corruption and sleepy people will not survive it. They’re going to get blessed. And we’re on the eve a Third Great Awakening, a Reformation of Nations, and amazing breakthroughs that improve lives and living standards analogous to the Industrial Revolution.
Sonship is a relational privilege, not just a theological construct
The price tag for Kingdom Business is the privilege of sonship. Let’s put it in context: in Genesis six, the sons of God came into the daughters of men. They were sons in Father’s the divine Council and at least part of them fell. It was as tragic as Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, or the fall of Satan. There are four falls, and Jesus redeemed them all. Jesus redeemed the way for us to be in the Father’s presence, to ascend to heaven, and to be seated at the Council and have conversations with the Father and Son and Seven Spirits. Father is replacing those fallen sons with us. When we say yes to ascension, He’s repopulating the Council of Heaven!
It’s no longer okay to say we have need of nothing, we already have servant leadership. It’s becoming inappropriate in the Spirit to have that attitude before God. He might have winked at it in the past, but not now. Some who are entrenched may say this is all just your opinion, we’re going to stick with servant leadership. Well, guess what? The train is leaving the station. There’ll be more than one train. This is not a threat, it’s a promise that we’re being invited to ascend to heaven and be the people whom Jesus is not ashamed to call brothers and sisters, fellow sons and daughters who put His kingdom first and champion a Reformation of Nations.
Keep your Reigns Even (Priest and King)
Reigning with Jesus starts with son-priests occupying our seat in Heaven’s Courts and Council. The fruit of doing what Father is doing is grown on earth by kings in their Business ministry. Jesus is not King of servants, He’s the King of kings. We’re kings, Father’s sons reigning with Him to bless nations. We teach other sons how to be priests and kings, where love and connection fuel Kingdom Purpose.
Keeping your reigns even means that we as sons and daughters both ascend as priests and descend as kings. Jacob’s ladder is a prophetic picture of Jesus’ redemption of our access to the garden and the Council.
Rev 5:10 – And You made us kings and priests to our God,
and we will reign over the earth.
John 1:51 – Verily, verily, I say to you, henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened,
and the messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.
This blog was inspired by the last blog and the discussion video plus two council sessions:
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Cutting Room Floor
Jesus did wash the disciple’s feet, but the major emphasis is that he laid down his life for us. Taken as a whole, Jesus didn’t just decide to be a servant leader. As a son he chose to do what His father was doing and to say what his Father was saying (not the real emphasis of servant leadership). The deepest emotion of being with Jesus is the feeling of being loved and included.
Sons lead by their example of their conversational connection, putting the Kingdom first and doing what Father does.
- They show others how to be branches in the same vine (Jn 15:5)
- They help others ascend to the council and hear his voice, become seers
- They can intercede for others in the Courts of Heaven
- take down accusations,
- release the decrees that set captives free
Mk 10:42 – You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them;
and their people in high position exercise authority over them.
43)Â Â Â But it is not this way among you; rather,
whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant;
44) Â Â Â and whoever wants to be first among you shall be slave of all.
45)Â Â Â For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Jn 10:11 – I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Jn 10:15 – I lay down My life for the sheep.
Jn 10:15 – For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back.
18) Â Â No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own.
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back.
Rom 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 16:4 – They risked their lives for me.
Gal 2:20 – who loved me and gave himself for me.
1Jn 3:16 – This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Q and A
Good stuff. It is truly time to challenge the servant-leader oxymoron.
I always assumed it originated in the church!!! added this:
Servant leadership was first popularized by Robert Greenleaf in 1970 when he was an executive at AT&T. It’s a secular concept imposed on managers like a new rule. Servant Leaders see people in a hierarchy of servanthood absent Kingdom purpose.
It feels like “good (but dead) human works” without Father’s purpose = religion!
One question on content and then a question continuing a theme of discussion I have left off for a while (but can’t help getting back into!)
- “The price tag for Kingdom Business is the privilege of sonship.” This is a little confusing.
Trying to suggest it’s both a theological challenge and an honor to replace fallen sons in the council
- The “four falls” did not help (I see only 1 fall affecting us – Adam. Satan’s disobedience is never really described as a “fall.” Jesus’ statement of seeing Satan fall from heaven is more akin to a judgement rather than an individual decision causing a fall.) So, how is a privilege a price tag? This seems a little like the oxymoron of “servant-leader.”
Most theological types refer to Satan as one of the falls (Heiser, Eberle)
Jesus work on the cross addressed multiple falls (Isa 53:4-6). Father’s intervention began with a first-born son, but He didn’t stop there. All creation has been waiting for many sons whom Jesus calls brothers and sisters and whom Father calls family. There is a practical ramification in the world and in my own heart from these falls.
- Lucifer and fallen angels (rebellion against God), I want to be my own God.
- Adam/mankind (sin, missing the mark), I want the knowledge to make my own decisions.
- Fallen sons (iniquity, or the propensity for evil). I want to fulfill my own carnal appetites, dreams.
- The Tower of Babel (Independence from God). Let us make a name for ourselves.
In the spirit of still trying to understand the significance of “courts and council” language…
- When you say, “ascend to the courts and councils,” are you speaking metaphorically or physically?
- Metaphorically means to me that you are just using this terminology to describe prayer, like I believe Hebrews 4:16 (approach the throne of grace), similar to the analogy of “being seated with Christ in heavenly places.”
- Physically would mean that our human spirit connects elsewhere in the spiritual kingdom, say the 3rd It may or may not leave our body since the spiritual world is clearly of a different “dimension,” but it is like leaving our body, such that our consciousness/mind is focused on actually being elsewhere from our physical presence. Scripture indicates our spirit has some type of physicality – “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” So again, if you mean it in a physical sense then our spirit is physically moving away from our body.
hmmm… not physically, I guess spiritually. The conversations are real, and they seem to be part of the fact of ascension (more than a metaphor)
I get other incidental stuff in the course of the day, but “going” is a key for me… being present in my seat in Heaven.
I’ve divorced myself from trying to explain it all in detail intellectually, in favor of the experience of the conversations.
None of my intellectual explanations convince anyone, it’s always the prophetic substance of the conversations that is convincing, or the experience of going themselves.
I only bring this question back up again because I sense in your communications that your emphasis has shifted to this experience of “ascending” as the most critical factor in our relationship with Jesus, let alone our success in business activities/purpose.
Trying to communicate the value of the conversations with Father, Son and 7 Spirits. For me, ascension is part of the package.
I’ve been putting links to the council session notes in the blog from that week. I’m getting the blog topics from those conversations.
Most of the time they don’t flow as well, yet they seem even better (more alive) than the blog in many cases.
And one last crazy thought regarding biology and engineering…I believe like you that the “sons of God” in Genesis were spiritual beings. If this is true, then consider the amazing reality that God created these non-human spiritual beings to have sexual desires and the capability to breed (combine DNA) with humankind. The thought boggles the imagination!
We entertain angels unaware. I wonder if all spiritual beings can take on a human form?
