Presented to
Liberty University
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for RLGN 489-D01
BOOK REVIEW OF GREAT LEADER, GREAT TEACHER:
RECOVERING THE BIBLICAL VISION FOR LEADERSHIP
1 "Dr. Gary Bredfeldt." The Liberty Champion. Accessed August 23, 2018.
http://www.liberty.edu/divinity/index.cfm?PID=39766.
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Bibliographical Entry
Bredfeldt, Gary. Great Leader, Great Teacher: Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership.
Chicago: Lifeway Church Resources, 2006.
Introduction
Leadership books are extremely popular in today’s society and Christian leaderships books
are fast becoming almost as popular as secular leadership books. Great Leader, Great Teacher:
Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership is one such popular Christian leadership book
written by Dr. Gary Bredfeldt. Dr. Bredfeldt earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is the Director of the Doctor of Education in Christian
Leadership program at Liberty University. He has served in Christian higher education roles
since 1986 and has authored 3 books. He has also served in pastoral positions as well as being a
church planter.1 His education and experience make him equipped to write this very educational
Christian leadership book.
Summary
Very simply, Dr. Bredfeldt’s purpose in writing this book is to show that great Christian
leaders need to be great teachers. Dr. Bredfeldt said that “BEHIND this book is a conviction that
God’s most common means of leading His people is through those who teach His people”
(Bredfeldt 2006, 9). He shows that this form of leadership style is biblical and that it is the way
God would have all leaders to lead. He focuses on the great biblical leaders such as Moses,
David, Ezra and most importantly Jesus. He shows how their leadership style of leader-teacher is
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the leadership style every leader should aspire to. He also writes about more current leaders to
make comparisons and give examples of why those leaders were much more successful if they
were leader-teachers than if they were not. Dr. Bredfeldt gave three simple reasons why teachers
are great leaders such as “they have great influence, they bring about great change, and they can
invoke the highest levels of follower development” (Bredfeldt 2006, 18). He then goes on to
flesh out these ideas to prove his point.
Dr. Bredfeldt also touches on today’s churches and the issues that they have regarding
leadership. It has gotten to the point that many churches and especially mega churches are run
more like businesses. The pastors are spending so much time on the business aspects of their
church that they are neglecting their Bible studies and they are not actually teaching. As Dr.
Bredfeldt pointed out, “The demands of a contemporary church and, in some cases, an incorrect
philosophy of ministry, have repositioned the pastor into the role of church CEO and away from
the biblical role as the shepherd-teacher” (Bredfeldt 2006, 38). He makes it clear that God calls
pastors to be leader-teachers and not CEO’s.
Critique
I have read many Christian and secular leadership books, but I have to say that this has been
my favorite so far. I have seen myself how employees flourish under management that is lead by
leader-teachers. Great Leader, Great Teacher: Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership is
one of the few books I have ever read that I agreed with everything that was written. Dr.
Bredfeldt is on the mark when he says that “The most powerful means of leading the people of
God is by teaching them the Word of God. Through its teacher-leaders, truth is spoken in love
and thus prepares God’s people for works of service that lead to the growth and maturation of the
body of Christ. That maturity is marked by increased unity, knowledge, and Christlikeness, as
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well as a lessening vulnerability to the deceptions of false teachers” (Bredfeldt 2006, 19). I wish
I had read this sooner. I have been a part of a mega church that is run like a business and it took
me four years of volunteering and participating to realize that their leadership is not truly
concerned with the spiritual growth of the members. They are only worried about the numbers. I
am not just saying this for effect but everything that Dr. Bredfeldt wrote in this book resonated
with me. I believe that the principals that he expounded on are relevant to Christian leaders and
secular leaders alike. One of the statements that he made that really hit home for me was that
“Biblical leaders value people as divine image-bearers” (Bredfeldt 2006, 147). I feel that this is a
valuable lesson not only in leadership but for everyone in every walk of life. When we see others
as divine image-bearers, we will start to treat them as such. This in turn will make us better
leaders as well as better people in general.
Speaking of church leadership, this book was generally directed towards church leadership. I
agree with Dr. Bredfeldts comment that “The church should be dynamic, cutting-edge, and life-
changing in its impact. But this happens only when church leaders teach the Word of God in a
relevant manner while retaining a firm commitment to the biblical text and biblical authority”
(Bredfeldt 2006, 29). I feel that in this age of mega churches and TV evangelists, this is an
important issue to address. Most of these churches are not genuinely teaching the Word of God.
They are only “tickling the ears” of their “congregations”. Telling them what they want to hear to
make them feel better about themselves and then in turn those people will give in order to make
themselves feel better, not to tithe in the biblical sense. I loved Dr. Bradfeldt’s comment that “the
leader’s call is not to build the church, but to equip the saints. That is done as leaders “speak the
truth in love” (Ephesians 4:11–16) and thus, teach as Jesus taught and lead as Jesus led. You see,
if we are to lead like Jesus, we must learn to teach like Jesus” (Bradfeldt 2006, 64).
2 MacArthur, John F. Pastoral ministry: How to shepherd biblically. Thomas Nelson, 2017, xi.
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Lastly, I loved Dr. Bradfeldt’s explanation regarding the difficulty of having a biblical
worldview and dealing with contemporary culture (Bredfeldt 2006, 71). His analogy using
ditches made his point very understandable and enlightening. I believe that every Christian
leader and layperson should read this particular section of the book. I know in my own life I have
had a difficult time walking that road and not falling into either ditch of cultural accommodation
or cultural isolationism. I have leaned both ways at different points in my life but after reading
this book I have a much better view of how to avoid these issues.
Evaluation
In my opinion, this book has great value for every Christian regardless of whether they are
leaders or not. However, it would definitely be beneficial for anyone involved in leading a
Christian ministry or a Christian organization of any type. This book would be of great use to
help these people to stay on a biblical path when leading others. It has a wealth of information
for living out the leader-teacher way of leading others that would be incredibly helpful to lead in
a biblical way in our contemporary culture. As John MacArthur states, ministering is a privilege
and “Fulfilling this privilege and discharging this responsibility demands a comprehension of the
church and its ministries that is correct according to God’s word”.2 Everything that Christian
leaders do and say needs to be Scripturally based and sound. Great Leader, Great Teacher:
Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership is a wonderful resource for helping Christian
leaders get on and stay on the right path.
