Shepherds Always Lead from the Front
Justin Taylor Blog | May 23, 2012
Timothy Witmer:
The story is told about a group of tourists in Israel who had been informed by their Israeli tour guide, after observing a flock and their shepherd, that shepherds always lead their flocks from the front. He told his attentive listeners that they never "drive" the sheep from behind.
A short time later they drove past a flock along the road where the shepherd was walking behind them. The tourists quickly called this to their guide's attention and he stopped the bus to step out and have a word with the "shepherd."
As he boarded the bus he had a sheepish grin on his face and announced to his eager listeners, "that wasn't the shepherd, that was the butcher!
---Timothy Z. Witmer, The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church (P&R, 2010), 156.
Dr. Witmer's next book, The Shepherd Leader at Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, and Providing for Your Family, is due out from Crossway in September 2012.
Comments:
May 24, 2012 at 08:20 AM
Still waiting for all the shepherds who read this to log in and comment...
R. Delaney
May 24, 2012 at 09:16 AM
I agree with this whole-heartedly, but how does this square with the ultra-churchianity of your associates at 9Marks? They fence in the church cattle while trying to lead the flocks, seems counter productive...