Servant Leadership and Braveheart

We have a Church Developers Lunch once a month. It is a pretty cool thing in that there are about 100 pastors and church leaders who come from all denominational backgrounds to talk about ministry. I’m talking about Baptist, Methodist, Assembly of God, Anglican, Church of God in Christ, Disciples of Christ, Charismatic…. The funny part of it is that we are usually the only Presbyterian church there although today there was another Presbyterian from our mother church, Second Presbyterian Church. www.2pc.org

It is always good to have “mom” there.

 

Today there was a panel discussion and the subject was “Servant Leadership”. One of the panelist stated that his view of servant leadership is personified in the movie “Braveheart”. In this classic story you have contrasting styles of leadership. One leads safely behind the battle lines (King Edward I) while the other leads the charge in the heat of the battle (William Wallace). It is the difference of leading from the rear and leading from the front — leading by order and leading by example. Wallace led by example. He was in the middle of the fray with his people.

 

Servant leaders lead from the front.

We can strive to model this in these ways:

 

1. The senior pastor can work in the kitchen cleaning pots and pans during the Wednesday night dinner.
2. The leadership is modeling how to be aware of visitors around them by not just engaging their friends in conversation but looking for the person who is on the fringes looking a little out of place.
3. It should be part of the church’s DNA and reflected throughout the core values. Here are some of our servant-focused values:

We are committed to positively outrageous service

We achieve the unexpected

We do whatever it takes

We sacrifice our wants for other’s needs

We value the unchurched

We know it’s all about teamwork

What are some other ways that we can model servant leadership before our people?

Good Friday & THE Servant & Blades of Glory

I guess it is appropriate that I start this blog that hopefully points us toward serving on Good Friday — the day that we remember the ultimate servant, Jesus Christ and the ultimate act of service — the giving of His life for our salvation. Here are a few verses to reflect on as we remember his death:

Mark 10:45 (The Message)

That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served - and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.

 

Philippians 2:4-11 - (The Message)

4 Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. 5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. 9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth - even those long ago dead and buried - will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11 and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Okay, lest I come across as ultra-spiritual, let me say where “Blades of Glory” comes in.

Well, my wife and I went and saw this classic film tonight. No, we were not at a Good Friday service.

We were watching Will Ferrell skate across the big screen.

So, there you have it. There is a lot that I need to learn here. Help me!!!

I better quit now before I mention that we went to a Drive-In. And that it was my first Drive-In experience as a 48 year old.