One of the most important parts of being an effective mastermind facilitator is to lead by example. Your members will look to you not just for guidance and support, but also for a mentor and role model. You should always remain aware of this: your members are observing your behavior and taking notice of your virtues and vices.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t have any character flaws. That would be impossible. Instead, you should do your best to understand and acknowledge your flaws and practice self-awareness. Your members will appreciate your vulnerability and transparency about your shortcomings. They’ll feel inspired to work and improve upon their own flaws.
We all learn behaviors and values from others. As a mastermind leader, you should be aware that many of your members are apprenticing under you. Moreover, you should apprentice under spiritual visionaries like Jesus. If this idea sounds familiar, that is because John Mark Comer talked about it extensively in his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
What It Means to Apprentice Under Jesus
Apprenticing under Jesus means using his example to create a lifestyle incorporating values he exemplified. The Hebrew word talmidim referred to the many people that became disciples under Jesus. The word can also be translated as apprentices, referring to the many people that learned under Jesus.
What does it mean to apprentice under Jesus? There are three simple steps.
- Be with Jesus
- Become like Jesus
- Do what Jesus would do if he were you
It’s a simple formula for mastermind leaders to follow, and one that has the power to change their mastermind group for the better.
Check out The Mastermind Playbook for more actionable insights and formulas that will help you become a better mastermind leader.
Why Apprentice Under Jesus?
The goal of apprenticing under Jesus is to model all of your life after him. In doing so, you can experience the deepest levels of healing. It’s well known by Christians that to apprentice under Jesus is to find salvation. However, what’s often overlooked is the fact that the Greek word soteria, meaning salvation, can also be translated as healing. So, when you’re reading the New Testament and read that someone was saved by Jesus, and someone else was healed by Jesus, you are often reading the same Greek word!
Wherever Jesus went, he was always offering some form of invitation. He would frequently say things like, “Come with me,” or, “Come, be my apprentice.” This was Jesus’s encouragement to listeners to apprentice under him and find healing.
In one particularly poetic statement, Jesus said the following.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…
And I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…
For I am gentle and humble in heart…
And you will find rest in your souls.
For my yoke is easy…
And my burden is light.”
Here, Jesus is providing an invitation to everyone, especially those that are weary, burned out, and fatigued. In our current digital age of hurry, stress, and tension, it is an invitation well worth considering to all of us. At no time has burnout been more pervasive and common than today, which is why it’s so important to seek healing and rejuvenation.
As a mastermind leader, it is your duty and responsibility to avoid burnout at all costs. You have to bring your best self to your members and your mastermind group, which is why it’s so important to find healing and peace.
Check out The Mastermind Playbook for more information on how spiritual healing will change your life, and transform your mastermind group.
Shifting Lifestyle and Values
How can you be healed by apprenticing under Jesus? Simply, to apprentice under Jesus means to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus. That’s only possible by observing his actions, ethics, and values. However, this commitment to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus doesn’t come easily. In fact, many of the values that underlie our current culture like consumerism, materialism, and selfishness run counter to the values that Jesus lived and preached.
Therefore, to apprentice under Jesus often means to become somewhat separated from many aspects of popular culture and mainstream worldviews. However, doing so is worth it. Uncovering the deeper spiritual values of life is infinitely more gratifying than any material luxury or worldly indulgence. As John Mark Comer puts it, by adopting Jesus’s lifestyle, you get back far more than you give up.
By adopting the lifestyle of Jesus, you become a better mastermind facilitator, and a better leader, because you are learning from one of the great spiritual teachers in history. Moreover, doing so will give you the strength to empower your members to help them make life-changing connections and achieve their goals.
Check out The Mastermind Playbook for more great insights into how applying the wisdom of spiritual leaders can enhance your mastermind group.