Leading Like a Shepherd: Lessons from Psalm 23

summary

In this episode, Branden Sewell explores the biblical metaphor of shepherd leadership from Psalm 23, emphasizing how leaders can serve and care for their teams and clients through empathy, guidance, and love. He shares practical insights on navigating challenges and leading with a kingdom mindset.


 keywords

leadership, Psalm 23, shepherd metaphor, servant leadership, business, faith, motivation, personal growth


 key  topics

Shepherd leadership as a metaphor for guiding teams
The spiritual and practical aspects of leadership
Facing challenges and valleys in leadership and life
Leading with love, empathy, and purpose
The importance of faith and biblical principles in leadership


 takeaways

Leaders should serve their teams like shepherds care for their sheep.
Facing valleys and challenges is part of growth and shaping.
Leadership rooted in faith and love impacts others positively.
Success in kingdom leadership is about life change, not just profits.
Embracing God's guidance helps navigate difficult seasons.


Titles

Leading Like a Shepherd: Lessons from Psalm 23
How to Shepherd Your Team and Customers with Love


 sound bites

"Even in the darkest valleys, God is with us."
"Lead with God's heart, love your team and customers."
"The reward of leadership is life change, not profits."


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Leadership and the Podcast
01:27 The Shepherd's Role in Leadership
03:51 Facing Challenges and Overcoming Valleys
06:15 Leading with Compassion and Empathy
09:11 Redefining Success in Leadership

 resources

Leadership Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell - https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Promises-Every-Day-John-Maxwell/dp/0785288394

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.09)
Welcome to the Off the Ladder Podcast. My name is Brandon Sewell. I am the owner of Seal Pro Painting and the host of the Off the Ladder Podcast. And we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. welcome to today's show. if you're just joining in, these are shorter episodes that I do every other day besides

Wednesdays. So Wednesdays, we have a longer episode that we put out. and these are just meant to be shorter episodes to give you something quick to listen to, maybe on the drive to a job site while you're working on a job or on your drive home. And give you some quick actionable advice for your leadership and getting off the ladder. I've been reading from a John Maxwell devotional. It's called Leadership Promises for Every Day.

And just going through reading each daily devotional and giving my thoughts on it afterwards and how it just applies to what we do as business owners. specifically, you know, the trades and getting off the ladder. So let's jump into today. it says, Lead as a shepherd does. The scripture for today is the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely

Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalms twenty three six. John Maxwell goes on to write in Psalm twenty three we learn not only about God's nature but also about his leadership. Both the Old and New Testaments use the term shepherd to illustrate leadership. The word communicates the love that

Branden Sewell (02:25.342)
nurture and spiritual care a godly leader provides. It involves both the rod correction and staff direction. Psalm twenty three describes the ultimate shepherd performing several functions. The shepherd provides necessities, confidently leads, guides and directs, feeds and anoints, loves unconditionally, gives rest,

renews and restores, protects from harm, corrects and comforts, furnishes permanent shelter. Man, what a good scripture. I mean I think a lot of us you know probably grew up hearing this this scripture it's just pretty well known Psalms twenty three you know just that classic yay through though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I shall fear no evil. just good. Good stuff. knowing that he's with us, he's for us. so two things I want to kind of touch on with today's reading is one, man, maybe you're listening today and you're overwhelmed. Maybe it's you're overwhelmed with home life, personal life in some way. maybe you're

you know, facing battles in your business, maybe with employees or whatever the case may be. maybe there's challenges ahead of you that you've just looked at and you said, I have no clue how I'm going to face this. And I just want you to know that you are not alone, that in the midst of whatever you're going through, that God is walking with you through it, He's with you in it, and there is a purpose.

To the season that you're in. And sometimes in the moment, we don't understand it. We don't understand how God's shaping us or what He's doing. But I can promise you, from experience, facing some of the biggest battles, going through some of the darkest valleys, on the other side of those valleys, I understood that God was creating in me something that I needed to.

Branden Sewell (04:48.738)
For the season that he was bringing me into. And so the battles that you're facing today, the valley that you're walking through today is preparing you, it's shaping you, it's molding you into the man or the woman that you need to be to take on what is in front of you. And you can't get to that next thing, you can't get to the mountaintop without going through the valley.

And I would say learn to enjoy those valleys, learn to embrace them, learn to look for God in the midst of them, and learn how to be at peace in that, knowing that he is with you. As it says, you know, you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemy. Man, he

You know, it says he anoints your head with oil. He he prepares you and gives you what you need in that valley. So I hope that's encouraging to you. So that's the first thing I wanted to just encourage you with that. Now, from a leadership standpoint, you know, ultimately God wants you to do the same thing and be the same thing for those that you are leading.

So we lead by his example. So as he walks with us through valleys, as he you know, provides for us and helps us and serves us through those valleys, man, the reality is is that the people that are working for you, the customers that you are serving, they most likely are going through valleys.

How can God equip you as a leader to be the one who shows up in the midst of an employee's valley season or a customer's valley season and to be a comfort, to be a shepherd in that moment? And I promise you, if you lead with that heart of like, you ask like, God, give me your heart. Help me to love my team the way that you love them.

Branden Sewell (07:14.872)
Help me to love my customers the way that you love them. Help me to love my vendors the way that you love them. help me to care in my business and and run it in a way that the same way that like you love us. And man, I tell you what, Jesus even living a perfect and sinless life, self-faced opposition.

That's not meant to discourage you. That's meant to help you understand that you can be doing a lot of good things and a lot of right things and honoring God and it's gonna still be hard. Just because you honor God or you love like He does, or you care for people and show compassion and empathy and mercy and all the fruits of the Spirit long suffering. even though you show those things and you walk in that way.

doesn't mean that it's gonna be easy. And so I I just want to encourage you. It's like not everything that you do that is with godly principle is going to have what the world calls success, right? because the kingdom of God is like flipped upside down. So I just want to encourage you, don't look at like the the situations of

leadership in your life and look for success in the same way. Like success as a kingdom leader is like you know, for me, I had one of my guys get baptized this past year and gave his life to Christ. And it's like that was the reward of how I run and lead my people. Not better profits or more money.

The reward was the people that God has placed in my life, them being changed and hopefully positively influenced by my leadership. And if there's anything that like is worth it to me would just be if people's lives are changed and made better. and you know, ultimately we do that by how we serve them. And so the

Branden Sewell (09:42.158)
Like any success or monetary success or gain that comes, that's just icing on the cake, but making a difference in people's lives, that's what it's really all about. So I guess ultimately today, I just want to encourage you, care for your people, shepherd them well, shepherd your people, shepherd your customers. and if you don't know what that looks like, I encourage you open up the Bible, start reading, see what kind of leader Jesus was.

and you know, I think that'll inspire and encourage you in your leadership and how you do things. Well, I am gonna bring this episode to a close. although you may be listening to this in the morning, it is ten o'clock at night and I am tired. but I'm gonna bring this episode to a close. If you enjoyed this episode episode, please share it with somebody. Share it with somebody else so they can be encouraged.

if you need any resources, check the show notes below. if you use any of those resources, please use my affiliate links. I do get credit if you use them. and I'd really appreciate that. share this episode, rate and review it. And as always, I'll see you next time on the next episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast.