C h a p t e r 1 3
LEADERS ARE
PLANNERS
“As the time approached for Him to be taken
up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
And He sent messengers on ahead...to get things ready for Him...”
(Luke 9:51-52).Good leaders must also be good planners. To use a term from the secular
business world, a leader must always “do diligence.” His planning is based
upon diligent preparation. A leader reads, researches, studies, analyzes,
discusses, modifies and refines as a part of his planning process. As he
plans, a wise leader seeks to “leave no stone unturned” in his attempt to
fully consider all of the issues. Unfortunately people of the world are
often better at “doing diligence” than God’s people. As Jesus said: “The
people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind
than are the people of the light” (Lk. 16:8). Too many Christian leaders
“spiritualize” the planning process. They often gloss over the necessity
of “doing diligence” with a veneer of spiritual verbiage, “faith talk” and
presumptuous prayer!
We have seen earlier in this book that Jesus was a planner. Just because
He was the Son of God, Jesus did not cease to plan. Even though He was
God Incarnate, Jesus did not live His life spontaneously or randomly. Even
though He was always open and responsive to what appeared to be the