Servanthood

I just completed a great day in meetings with two of the three Bishops from my church's denomination. Included in the meeting were myself and three others who all work outside of the local church. We were asked to be part of the Commission on Leadership Development for our denomination.

This is the third year for us gathering together and each of our meetings have produced some really cool things. Today was no exception.

Despite all the neat stuff that happened today, two things have stood out to me. Bishop Matt, who is the leader of this charge, volunteered to pick us all up at the airport and deliver us to the hotel in which we were staying. Since we were all coming from different parts of the country, this meant multiple trips for him.

We were told to call him when we arrived and he would come to get us. I happened to be on the connecting flight with one of the other members of the team and he had an old friend pick him up. They offered to take me to the hotel so I thought I would save Matt a trip.

When I arrived I received a phone call from Matt. He said he went to the airport to look for me. It then hit me that he anticipated my call and wanted to be there waiting for me so that I didn't have to wait. He didn't want me inconvenienced...and it ended up that he was the one inconvenienced which I felt bad about.

Then during our meetings, he would occasionally get up from his seat throughout the day and come behind one of us to massage our shoulders during our discussions. He did this last year too but it had slipped my mind.

To some, this all may not seem like a big deal, but to me this is huge. Here is someone who is at the top position within his field and he is going out of his way to serve me! What a great example!

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Mark 10:45

Servant Leadership

Earlier this football season, I put up a post about Pete Carroll, USC's charismatic football coach, and how he kept his team loose before their big game against Ohio State.

Well, it appears he does some other things that many don't know about which also help him in his ability to be a great leader. He is a servant of others. Tim Moore from the Audience Development Group, wrote the following piece that I hope you find as interesting as I did:

It's eight at night. A reporter from LA Magazine is camped in Pete Carroll's office; the apex of Trojan football legacy on the USC campus. Suddenly Carroll ends the dialog and says, "I have to be somewhere." The writer asks if he can come along but is summarily refused.

"Absolutely not," says Carroll. The reporter asks again. With the critical eye of Joe Stalin, Carroll hesitates, acquiesces, and tells the writer he'd better change apparel. The USC coach rummages through a closet and flings a polo at the writer like a dished-off shovel pass. "Put this on," he says. The reporter asks, "How come?" Carroll tells the reporter that he might get shot wearing the bright blue. From there the writer struggles to keep up: an animated walk across campus to a waiting van, then to South Central Los Angeles. He tells J.R. Moehringer, now riding shotgun, to lose his notebook. There will be no quotations or formal written summary as it might make the people they'll be talking to anxious.

First stop, a group of guys on the street: maybe stoned, maybe drunk and possibly armed but to a person, stunned at who is approaching them. Carroll shakes hands, starts talking about football and the tension in the air falls away. They talk about their lives, the police, and other things...a car pulls up. Someone's mother, back from the store. Pete Carroll waves then helps her with groceries, carrying multiple bags. This can't be, she thinks; coach of the tightest, toughest, hippest college football team in the nation, a late night bag-boy? The scene is repeated with several other stops with similar reaction from stunned partisans of the night, until sometime after midnight they head for the obscure van and back to campus.

Carroll explains he feels this ritual is important, necessary in fact, to let these people know someone cares about them and has them in mind. He has found jobs for at least 40 men in these neighborhoods. On this night an emotional young man who thanks Carroll for coming out, places a bracelet on the coach's wrist; something he made and a symbol of solidarity.

Carroll admits few USC fans know of this routine. His wife, Glena, laughs and admits it worried her in earlier times, but not now. She tells LA Magazine writer J. R. Moehringer she's okay with it but drew the line on Baghdad.

If you're a UCLA or Cal fan, you've probably already made up your mind about Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans: arrogant, almost always a notch better, and so damn loose and cocky on the sidelines. If, however, you're ever invited on one of Carroll's after dark recon missions, you might just accept the premise that things are seldom as they appear. Pete Carroll defies the odds on and off the field, just as his boyish never-change-looks defy time. He keeps fun in the game and his players loose and unafraid. Once a card-carrying member of the NFL, he was only a number. Upon becoming the main man of Troy, Carroll became one the most prolific people in all of sports, and Trojan dominance of college football is evidence.

For those of us reaching for significance as leaders in a relatively short life, we'd do well to ask to ride shotgun in South Central Los Angeles with Carroll some night. If not, as an option spend 3 hours watching a Southern Cal game as Carroll strides the sideline in high animation, grinning ear-to-ear, patting players on the shoulders, having the time of his life. That's leadership. That's fun.

Serving Others

Yesterday in Toledo, we had our Community Leaders Prayer Breakfast which we hold annually on the National Day of Prayer. This was our 20th year so we decided to ask John Maxwell come to share with us. He also conducted a three hour leadership session. Both events really helped a lot of people.

Because I was on the committee that put this on, I had the privilege of spending some time with John at dinner the night before. Bob, who was the chairman of this year's event, was asking John at dinner how he wanted things to go on Thursday and John replied, "Bob, it doesn't matter to me, I'm just here to serve you." Here is maybe the world's top leadership expert who has written 50 or so books and speaks all over the world telling Bob that he was simply here to serve him. Very cool.

During his seminar, John shared that leadership is simply influence and that if you want to increase your leadership capabilities, you must increase your influence. So you may say, how can I increase my influence? John said that the way to increase influence is simply to add value to others. In fact, he says he gets up every morning and asks, "Lord, who can I add value to today?" Then before going to sleep he asks, "Who did I add value to today?"

John was constantly looking for ways to add value to all of us. He came to serve us. Now that's a leader!

“Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:26b-28

Lessons in Humility

I mentioned that I was traveling last week. The reason for my trip was that I was asked to be part of a Commission on Leadership Development for my church's denomination. In our meeting were the three North American bishops, one pastor and five "lay" people.

Matt, one of our bishops who was leading the meeting, taught me something about servant-hood and humility. During discussions, he would periodically get up and rub someone's neck and shoulders. He did this to me at least twice during the day and a half we were together. At first, it felt a little funny. But then I began to enjoy it and see it for what it was--Matt serving each of us.

I imagine it would be easy for Matt to feel he was above each of us, especially those not employed by the denomination. But that is not how he is. These acts of service left an impression on me...it truly meant a lot to me and it left me to wonder how I can better serve those around me.

The other impression I had from these meetings was that I felt inadequate. This room was filled with some incredibly talented people who had some amazing gifts. I was wondering why I was there. I felt as if I was not bringing much to the table.

I have a tendency to want to do things on my own. This is more than likely a pride issue. I feel that God was showing me that if I am going to be successful at anything, I will need Him and others round me...I cannot do it on my own. I know this in my head, however, I must need to get this in my heart, because this message came through loud and clear last week.

I truly was humbled...hopefully I can stay there.

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

James 4:6b

The Power Of The Little Thing

I returned early this morning for a trip to California which went well.

Yesterday, Yvonne, the wife of one of them men who was in meetings with me was at a coffee shop. She had ordered something to eat and was leaving the counter when a small portion of her food dropped on the floor. Rather than leave it there, she came back to pick it up.

A Spanish speaking woman asked her why she did that. Yvonne, who happens to speak fluent Spanish, responded that she didn't want anyone to slip on it. This led to further conversation which then led to a discussion about faith.

It turns out this woman had just lost her mother 11 days ago and was looking for answers. Yvonne ended up praying with this woman and she prayed to receive Christ! How cool is that?!

Yesterday evening I got on the airplane and was seated in a middle seat in the exit row. I had two men on either side of me. Neither seemed like the talkative type--in fact they both seemed rather unfriendly. Not a word was spoken for the first four fours of the four hour 20 minute flight. This was fine with me because I had work that I could do and some things to read.

As we were making the approach to the airport, I reached in my briefcase and got a piece of gum. I offered a piece to both of my non-communicative seat mates. They both accepted and were extremely grateful. It was as if they were saying, "Why did you offer me something when I haven't given you the time of day?" They truly seemed shocked. We actually talked a little bit for the remainder of the flight.

I would love to tell you that I prayed with both of them as Yvonne did, but that did not happen. However, I hope and pray that a seed was planted with them. Next time, I will try to do something nice for someone earlier in the flight.

On my drive home, I was struck by the power of a simple gesture and how someone's life literally can be changed forever by that.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

1 Peter 3:15b

Bus Stop

This morning I read something in the book of Mark that really got me thinking about my motives for doing what I do. Mark 9:35-37 says:

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

I knew I was selfish, but it really struck me for some reason this morning that I do some things for the wrong reasons. One of the areas I am most selfish in is my "to do" list. I have this desire to always get everything done on it and when the list is too large, it stresses me out. This morning was one of those where I knew I had a lot on my plate so I wanted to get to the office early.

I kissed my son goodbye and left for work in a pretty steady rain. I got about a mile away and I was thinking about my son who was preparing to walk to the bus stop. It started raining more so I turned around and went back home. I told him I wanted to give him a ride to the bus stop.

He was very surprised...and thankful.

Lord, please help me to do this sort of thing more often!