Larry Osborne on From Leading to Being Led

Larry Osborne of Northcoast Church kicked off our main sessions today on the topic, “From Leading to Being Led.” Larry has authored a number of books, but I have been particularly helped by Sticky Teams.

Here are my notes from Larry’s session:

Three main concerns:
– We often confuse discipleship with leadership
– We can lose our compassion for the hurting, who are not yet there
– Many of our leadership conferences unintentionally do more harm than good; the conviction of God on my own life becomes a judgmentalism toward others’ lives

Things we should never forget about discipleship:
– the most dangerous place to be in the life with Jesus is not at the back but at the front;
– why? because right at the beginning is the temptation to pride (‘seven things The Lord detests’)
– sometimes as we grow our attention shifts from Jesus to those around us; we become “accidental Pharisees”; “when we become Pharisees, it’s always accidental”

Joseph of Arimathea:
– cameo appearance, but saves the body of Jesus
– Isaiah 59 – prophecy about Messiah buried in the tomb of the rich
– was the first step of Jesus’ exaltation being buried with the rich?
– Matthew 27:57-61 — he was rich and a genuine disciple
– Mark 15:42-47 — he was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin and he was bold
– Luke 23:50-54 — he did not consent to Jesus’ execution
– John 19:38-40 — he was a disciple but secretly because of fear
– Joseph is a smoldering wick and a bruised reed

When we think about discipleship, let’s call our people to sacrifice but let’s not leave out the compassion for the struggling, the hurting, and the not-yet-there.