Sabbath Reflection on Leadership

It (Christian leadership) is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest. I, obviously am not speaking about a psychologically weak leadership in which the Christian leader is simply the passive victim of the manipulations of his milieu. No, I am speaking of a leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love. It is a true spiritual leadership. Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine and who let everyone else make decisions for them. They refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly. From Henri Nowen's In the Name of Jesus (63-64).

The Blame Game

We see it all the time.

Ministers blame elders. Elders blame ministers. Both blame church members. Church members blame ministers. Church members blame elders.

Spouses blame each other, sometimes, even the children. In-law's blame the son-in-law. Grandchildren blame the aunt or uncle.

The assembly line blames middle management. Middle management blames the executives. The executives blame the other way.

At university's . . . faculty blame administration. Administration blame staff. Staff blame faculty. Students blame administration. The vicious cycle continues.

Rarely when something goes wrong do various factions of any entity stand up and take responsibility for their own individual contributions to the mess. This has happened in Washington and Wall Street. It happened during Katrina, and the onset of the Gulf War.

Right here in Detroit and Metro Detroit, the demise of the auto industry and scandal surrounding former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Everyone wants to create a scapegoat.

G.K. Chesterton (well-known thinker/writer from the U.K.) famously once wrote in to a London Newspaper regarding the turmoil that consumed Europe in the early stages of the twentieth century.

You want to know what's wrong with the world?

I am.

Sincerely,

G.K. Chesterton

Regarding leadership . . . I'm interested in surrounding myself with people who are willing to a) own up to their own shortcomings and weaknesses b) come together to draw upon the strengths of the group and c) courageously carve a path forward in hope.

The blame game is out-of-control. We are a society of "it's someone else's fault."

And I'm one of the reasons.

Leadership

If you have a chance to read Wade Hodges blog today on church leadership, do it.

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After my freshmen year of basketball at the college level (which, no matter level that is, is so far removed from the world of high school sports) I decided that I wanted to transfer to a different school. Partly because I thought I should've played (I red-shirted that year), partly because I wanted to get out and see more of the "world"--something I'd get to do for grad school by living in Nashville and Abilene. I went to my coach, Garth Pleasant, who I've written about on this blog in the past . . . and the conversation went something like this.

"Coach, I want to be up front with you. I'm thinking about going to ______ instead next year."
"Really?"
"Yes. I've thought this over" (I'd pondered this decision for all of two weeks) " . . . and I think this is what I'd like to do."
"Well, I'm really surprised to hear you say that. We have big plans for you. We want you to be here. We think you have a chance to be a really good college player."

Something clicked inside of me in that moment. In my immature mind, I thought leaving was the answer. I thought my surroundings were the result of feeling depressed. The truth is always much more complicated than that. The truth is that what I was really looking for affirmation, for someone to say, "we value you" and "you have a place here." Instead I masked that need for something else.

This happens on college campuses all the time. Happens in marriages, at churches . . . we think that if our circumstances change, our hearts (and general disposition) will follow. This simply isn't the case. If it's true that "the hardest place to live is right where we are", as one great thinker has written, than "right where we are" is the only place God can break into our life.

It's also a reminder to us "leaders"--sometimes people aren't following us because we've simply failed to ask.

I decided to stay and play for Coach Pleasant for four more years. Four of the best years of my life.