Healthy Leaders | Issue 30
The first "C" of healthy leadership.
Welcome to Issue 30 of Healthy Leaders. In this issue, we begin with the first of the five C’s of healthy Christian leadership.
Hello friends,
Welcome back to our ongoing conversation1 on healthy Christian leadership and leader development.
One of our core models here at LeaderSource is our ConneXions (5C) Model, which outlines healthy Christian leadership through 5 “C’s” — Christ, Community, Character, Calling, and Competencies. We’ll get into the details on the other four C’s soon enough, but let’s start with the first C.
In 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, Paul says:
“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
There is no other foundation, no other source from which healthy Christian leadership will ever stem, but Christ Himself.
Here’s Malcolm with more.
And by the way, if you’d like an article version of this video (and lots of new articles!) check out
’s Substack:
In Christ, we are not only freed from bondage to our sin, we are also empowered to live for Christ as healthy leaders!
But what if we’ve laid a different foundation than Christ in our leadership?
Brother Philip, a leader from Africa, discovered through one of our long-term training programs that this was the spot he was in: foundationally deficient. He described it this way:
“I came to the ConneXions program thinking I just needed a little knowledge, but as weeks went by my eyes were opened to the reality that I am seriously spiritually sick. The teachings were so deep and true that they exposed my many weaknesses, things that I thought were my strengths. It showed me that the solid foundation I was standing on was already sinking, that my knowledge of who God is was very shallow and that my fellowship with God was far away from what it should be.”
Any foundation built on something other than Christ will one day be revealed for what it is. In the same passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul does not mince words about this:
“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
By the grace and power of God — and when is it ever by anything else? — Brother Philip realized the faulty nature of his foundation, and turned to God for help.
“This last week has brought me to my knees again, with tears running down my eyes, ceaselessly asking God for mercy and grace. Every joint in my spiritual body has been broken. I stand here to testify that God is working in me, renewing and restoring my sick spiritual body! I am far better than when I came six weeks ago. How much better and greater will I become in the coming months! Glory to God!”
What foundation have you been building on in your leadership? A personal, intimate fellowship with Jesus? Or something else — your own gifts, abilities, charisma, or wisdom? It’s never too late to fall on the mercy of God, turn to Him, and start fresh.
Sometimes all it takes is fresh evaluation of yourself. We offer this, as well as the opportunity to get evaluations from people you trust, through our 5C Checkpoint tool. Check it out!
What about you?
We’d love to hear your stories about a turning point in your life when you realized you were building on something other than Christ – whether that is when you came to Christ for the first time and accepted His gift of salvation, or when He brought you to a new level of faith in your walk with God. Share them in the comments below!
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris
Recommended Resources
For more resources, visit our website.
Thanks to our friends at Fifty-Four Collective for putting together a comprehensive set of video courses for growing healthy organizations, starting with this series of courses on leadership by Malcolm. We’ll be using some of their videos and some of our own. Be sure to check out what they’re doing!
Ever since I came across the teachings on the 5Cs, my life was exposed to so many wrong foundations that was laid, I was so ashamed of my self, I was thinking that I have a healthy work with God, but I didn't know that I was full of religious activities, I was so far from that intimacy and union with Him, I truly so my nakedness. I went back to the Lord and cried for a deeper engagement with Him, for a fellowship with Him which I discovered is one of the things he desires from me so that from that fellowship I was able to hear him clearly and follow in His footsteps as he leads. I have become so peaceful so refreshed every time I long for Him for fellowship it has become so much real for me to hear God and to depend on him for every step no more religion🙏🙏🙏🙏. Am truly grateful because I am growing day by day. Thank you so Dr Malcolm.