The effective leader finds a number of ways to constantly restate the goals and priorities of their mission. Read Luke 15:1-32.

Jesus was clear about His mission. According to Luke 19:10 He came “…to seek and to save what was lost”; those that were separated from God. Jesus found many ways to communicate that goal to the crowds that followed Him, His team, and the religious and political leaders. In Luke 15 Jesus reinforced His mission through three different stories about different situations; the sheep were lost naturally, the coin got lost accidentally, and the son got lost willfully. No matter what created the lost condition, Jesus came to find and help those who were separated from God.

It is critical that a leader constantly restate the organizational goals. Read Mark 4:1-20.

Jesus told a lot of parables (short simple stories intended to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson) during His communication with both His team and the general public. We discover these parables had a specific purpose when Jesus explained them to His closest teammates, but there are alternate truths that come out of these parables without destroying the original reason the story was told. In the parable of the sower Jesus talked about a sower of seed (the Word of God) and also the result when that seed landed on a certain type of soil (the hearts of the people). His point was that all may hear but not all will act upon the Word and only a few will have fruitful results from the truths they heard.

Leaders effectively communicate vision when they use terms, examples, and word pictures that their audience can understand. Read Matthew 13:1-52.

Jesus was a master teacher. In His public ministry He often had crowds with varied backgrounds; some educated, some illiterate, some leaders, some laborers, some religious, some agnostic, some who preferred to work with their hands, some who worked with their mind, some honest, and some who did not know what an honest day’s work was. In chapter 13, Jesus uses a style of communication that effectively cast a vision for the Kingdom of Heaven which created a longing in the heart of virtually everyone in the crowd. Jesus’ use of parables and word pictures did not trivialize the profound truths about heaven but captured the imagination and heart and riveted His hearers’ attention on the kingdom He proclaimed.

Leaders can learn a lot about communication by observing how God communicated with the people of Judah. Read Joel 1:1-20.

God communicated to the people of Judah through His prophets. Verse one says, “The word of the Lord that came to Joel.” Through the words of Joel, God would establish an understanding of some basic principles the people needed to live by. In the specific case of Joel, God had Joel use a physical object lesson that had the people’s attention—a swarm of locust had destroyed all their crops and the people were in danger of starving. This object lesson helped the people understand a spiritual lesson concerning the devastating results of sin. Throughout the Bible, God used many different individuals and a number of different methods to communicate. Leaders can learn a tremendous amount about communication by studying just a few of the methods God used to communicate to His people.

Christian leaders sometimes get caught in the trap of seeking success separate from a growing relationship with God but sooner or later they reach the conclusion that humanism and materialism provide incomplete counsel for decision making and life goals. Read Ecclesiastes 1:1-11.

As we start into a new book of the Bible it is wise to get an overview of the book’s content and the leadership principles it contains. The book of Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon of Israel. It was written approximately 950 years before Jesus was born. Even today, as historians look at human history, Solomon is recognized as the wisest, richest, and one of the most powerful men to have led any nation. The nation experienced almost complete peace during his 40-year reign as king and leaders of other powerful nations came from great distances just to sit under his teaching. Solomon’s leadership knew success at a level most of us will never experience. His discoveries concerning sources of fulfillment are addressed in the book of Ecclesiastes.