“Fully and Magnificently Fulfilled in Christ”
A review of The God Who Goes Before You in the latest issue of Themelios, and also some fun with A.I. images
Christopher Sarver reviewed my book The God Who Goes before You: Pastoral Leadership as Christ-Centered Followership in the most recent issue of the academic journal Themelios.
The God Who Goes before You is my one and only book on leadership, because I said all I have to say about leadership in this book. Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of the book may be, what you read in The God Who Goes before You is how I lead and it’s how I think about leadership.
Here’s an excerpt from the review that effectively articulates the heart of the book:
Jones argues that it is mistaken to view the Old Testament offices of prophet, priest, judge, and king as new covenant leadership typologies. Rather, he maintains that God would have us see these offices as fully and magnificently fulfilled in Christ. Then, as one follows Jesus—the archetypal prophet, priest, judge, and king, as well as Immanuel—in the context of the redeemed community, the leader’s entire life and approach to leading are transformed….
Much contemporary Christian leadership literature not only reflects an individualistic bias and leader-centric focus but often neglects the communal orientation of the Scriptures. The God Who Goes before You avoid these mistakes. First, they hold that the phenomenon of leadership should only be leader-centric inasmuch as Christ is recognized as the singular leader. Second, they emphasize the pastoral leader’s place within and as part of the broader community of Christians. Thus, congregational leaders are mindful of their status as followers of the one true leader, Jesus, and as fellow followers among many.
Our offices of leadership are “fully and magnificently fulfilled in Christ”! That’s one of the most important visions that I wanted leaders to glimpse as they study this book.
You can read the rest of Chris’s review here: The God Who Goes before You: Pastoral Leadership as Christ-Centered Followership.
What Happens When You Enter the Book Title into an A.I. Image Generator?
If you are more interested in laughs than in a book review, I entered the phrase “The God Who Goes before You” into an A.I. art generator, and—as you can see above and below—some of the images were epic, others were odd, and some got very lost in a very scary uncanny valley.