WHAT WOULD JESUS LEAD: IDENTITY THEFT, LEADERSHIP EVOLUTION, AND OPEN SYSTEMS JAY E. GARY Recent discussions of “What would Jesus drive?” by environmental groups have raised the issue of whether Jesus of Nazareth would embrace the industrial growth paradigm. This paper evaluates this public policy debate by examining various leadership typologies that have been used to study Jesus. Drawing upon Daft’s four-cell evolutionary theory of leadership studies, this paper lays out an open systems and postindustrial research agenda for leadership scholars as they examine Jesus’ actions within a first-century context. On November 20, 2002, the Evangelical Environmental Network launched a public relations campaign in Detroit. Their director, Jim Ball, turned the popular question “What Would Jesus Do?” into the now-famous retort “What Would Jesus Drive?” Six months later, Ball and his wife Kara drove a Toyota Prius from Austin, Texas, to Washington, DC, to dramatize how creation care was a biblical mandate and not a “liberal claptrap cooked up by enviros to wreck the economy.” 1 Riding a wave of criticism about rising gas prices, the “gas-guzzling” sport utility vehicle (SUV) became demonized as “Axles of Evil,” in part responsible for American addiction to foreign oil and driving the Middle East conflict. Sales of SUVs began to plummet from their highs in the 1990s. 2 Not all evangelicals embraced Ball’s campaign or the moral support offered by the National Evangelical Association. As recent as March 2007, Dr. James Dobson and 1 Alexander Lane, "Evangelist: What Would Jesus Drive?," Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), February 12, 2006, final, News, 19. 2 Sarah A. Webster, "SUV Sales Teeter at Turning Point with Mixed Signals from Buyers," Detroit Free Press, May 1, 2006, Business and Financial. Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership 1, no. 2 (Summer 2007), 89-98. © 2007 School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University