The leader who has a heart for the Kingdom has to ask, “Will I help people even if it hurts my organization?” That is a tough question for any leader. Jesus no doubt dealt with this issue. Once, a man who was suspected of a heinous murder began to attend my church. Word spread through the community and it cost me some church members. In the end the man got saved, confessed to the crime and was sent to prison. In this life all I got was a smaller church attendance. But how did the Kingdom benefit? And was that enough for me? Were the loss of some church members and financial support more important than a soul being saved and the murderer being removed from society?

Our church was one of the first integrated churches in our city. We had the first bi-racial staff and leadership team. And I may have performed one of the earliest integrated marriages in our city. After I performed my first integrated marriage I asked a friend of mine his position on the matter. He warned me against it. He was sure it would hurt my church. In fact, he had refused to perform interracial marriages for that very reason. He was right; I performed the wedding and lost a few of my biggest givers! But what did the Kingdom gain? What was modeled to the world and our church about the Kingdom of God? There was no difference between what I faced and what Jesus faced for preaching to the Samaritans.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus seemed to strike at the very core of this exclusion of ministry based on social factors. He was maligned because of his inclusion of the poor, the sinful, the outcast and those of racially rejected backgrounds. Yet, this simple parable stabbed at the hypocrisy of the racial heart.

The way the carnal mind keeps score; Jesus was not a good leader. To the carnal mind growth of the organization is the true earmark of success. But it seems that Jesus had something else in mind. In the beatitudes Jesus seemed to say that the very people that were considered the losers of the day, by the religious community, were the very people who had a heart to grasp the Kingdom of God. Jesus didn’t seek out those who had the power and resources to help him build a large affluent following. Instead He sought those who had a heart for the reality of this new Kingdom! Read Entire Article