The Andrew Paradigm: How to Be a Lead Follower of Jesus. This item is unavailable.The Andrew Paradigm: How to Be a Lead Follower of Jesus

The current trend in church leadership involves looking for a highly gifted leader who will take over, direct the future, cast a vision, and attract the faithful to a new mission or purpose. This desire for a leader to come to the rescue is eerily reminiscenet of the desire of the Israelites for a king, so they could "be like every other nation." In spite of Samuel's warnings, the people insisted, so God reluctantly gave them King Saul. That didn't go so well. While we always need good, new, and talented leaders, we also need leaders who know how and when to be good followers. Particularly in a culture of distrust, leadership must be granted, earned, and supported by those who are willing to follow. Leading begins with the counter-intuitive command: "Come, follow me." This imperative is far from easy. Many turned away from Jesus, unable to follow. However, one excellent model of "followership" stood out from the rest - the little-known disciple Andrew. In fact, Andrew is the model and paradigm for being a Lead Follower. Excellent Christian leadership is more about following Jesus than it is about learning the latest fads or tricks from business, the marketplace, or the academy. Being an excellent Christian leader involves first and foremost being an excellent and faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Bishop Michael J Coyner is the Bishop of the Indiana Conference of the The United Methodist Church. Bishop Mike as most people call him, is originally from Anderson, Indiana. He served churches of various sizes, served as a District Superintendent of the former Lafayette District, and was also the Executive Assistant to Bishop Woodie W. White for the Indiana Area. He was elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church in 1996 and was assigned to the Dakotas Area where he served two terms as resident bishop. In 2004 he was assigned to serve the Indiana Area, and in 2008 he was assigned to a second term. Bishop Mike and his wife, Marsha, live in the Indianapolis area. He oversees the life and ministry of over 1,200 United Methodist congregations in Indiana, including over 200,000 members organized into 10 district