LeadershipConneXtions

Praying Through the Pews on the Road to Finishing Well (Jack Hayford)

Miriam Philipps writes about her encounter with a leader who has been around for a long time. I think you'll enjoy her moving tribute to a truly great leader.  Thanks Miriam.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

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Last week I was in the position to see behind the scenes of Jack Hayford  and a room full of people he has influenced. Pastor Jack, at the age of 75, had just flown in from China where he had preached for 10 hours per day.  A few of us knew that he was in continual pain due to a needed surgery that was scheduled for after his return to the States; we kept serving him Sprite and crackers for his queasy stomach. 

 

Now, I’m not easily impressed by people in positions of authority just because of their title. (My journey as aging ex-flowerchild quasi-postmodern European has left its stamp.) But as a Jesus-follower, I’m willing to honor, serve and cooperate with all servants of the King, whatever their position.

 

As a leadership developer intent on helping people "finish well," I was doing my practical acts of service for Pastor Jack and the people in his organization, feeling a bit like a spy.  Guess what? I’ve added a new hero to my list!  I only got to hear snippets of his sermons, but I witnessed almost all of his other interactions and informal sharing.  And this is what I conclude:

1. I’ve never seen anyone more fully engaged with each person and each audience – a lifetime of listening had honed his skill of being able to instantly tune in when he converses with each person—from the young man bringing him water to the denominational leader asking his advice.

2. Pastor Jack never rushed, no matter what the schedule.

3. He expressed genuine thankfulness for each act of kindness.

4. He empowered those around him at every opportunity by commending the unique added value of each to the wider audience.

5. He didn’t assume that his perspectives on the world would necessarily be shared by an international audience. (Humility in an American leader is experienced as particularly endearing.)

6. He shared his personal practices as a spiritual leader freely, but with a focus on blessing the hearer, not on impressing.

7. These attributes were characteristic of all of the leaders high in his organization, numbers of whom were present.

My favourite story from Pastor Jack was told to an audience of about 30 leaders from about a dozen different countries.  He told us that, from the time when he was young and just beginning in ministry, it was his custom to enter the sanctuary of the church he pastored and to walk through the aisles, praying over each empty seat, for the person who would occupy it during the Sunday service.

Now, he says, he is still a pastor, but in his role as international leader, he still feels a pastoral responsibility, but for the world. Much as he prayed through the empty chairs each Saturday, he now prays almost every Saturday evening, wherever he is in the world, for each country by name (admitting that he sometimes has to peek at his list to make sure not to miss any).  So he could tell each one present that he had being praying for them every week in their place of ministry. A rare holy moment of intense spiritual connection.

 

Jack Hayford -- it was a great refreshment to see him finishing so well.  I pray for him (not just rhetorically) that the possible future challenge of releasing formal organizational control will be met with the same Spirit-filled graciousness we’ve glimpsed thus far.

 

Miriam Phillips

Amsterdam, Holland

High Accolades Indeed!

Listen to the accolades that were given to three people in the December 2005 Time Magazine about these "People of the Year."

for being Shrewd about doing good

for Rewiring politics and Re-engineering justice

for Making mercy smarter and hope strategic

and then Daring us to follow . . .

Wow!

What deeply moving words! 

Almost poetic.

That is both immediate accolade and lasting legacy!

The three individuals?

Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Bono.

What they were able to do on a massive scale due to their resources and reputation, we can seek to do on a micro, local level. 

The prophet Micah said these beautiful and powerful words:

He has shown you, O man (and woman) what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  (Micah 6:8)

We are to do these things in "our neck of the woods."  On our "corner of the neighborhood."

When we do this, Jim Collins says we are creating "Pockets of Greatness."

When we do this, we will hear the even higher accolades:  "Well done, good and faithful servants."

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Christian Business Men's Community (Moses and Finishing Well)

I am friends with several of the men (Chuck Blouse and Steve Parthree) who give leadership to the York chapter of the Christian Business Men's Community. I wound up scheduling to be their speaker the day after I arrived back from my Chile/Argentina trip. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but . . .

I decided to use a theme that Ruth Haley Barton got me thinking about from her wonderful book I reviewed in yesterday's post. In the final chapter, she talks about one of my favorite leaders in the Bible - Moses. She addressed the issue "Did Moses finish well even though he didn't enter the promised land?"

I was pretty motivated to go back to that text - Deuteronomy 34. Here is how I read that text and this is the essence of what we talked about at our lunch meeting.

ONE:  The people of Israel get to enter the promised land. For any leader - that is SUCCESS. The people get the blessing, the organization prospers, the team wins. In a biblical understanding of leadership, the leader, first exists for the sake of the people and not the other way around. I think Moses was deliriously happy that the people were finally going into the promised land.  This is the heart of a servant leader. (vs. 1-4)

TWO:  Moses doesn't go with the people, but his legacy does. His story does. I am really impacted by these verses. There will be no tomb, no "Moses" shrine to worship, no monument to the glory of Moses. But there will be a legacy that will inspire God's people for the millenium to come. Wow. And what a legacy. They will tell inspiring, follow-his-example stories about Moses the leader until Christ returns. For a leader, it just doesn't get much better than that.  (vs. 5-8)

THREE:  Even though Moses didn't get to lead them in, Joshua did! Again, I think Moses must have had a deep satisfaction about this. His son in the faith, his decades-long mentoree, his successor - he gets to take the people in. This is the heart of the leader as steward. A steward exists to develop others. The best leaders develop their successors. I don't think it bothered Moses at all that Joshua gets to take them into the land. If anything, Moses was grateful that he had a successor like Joshua. Go get'm Joshua. Be strong and courageous.  (vs. 9)

FOUR:  And here is what Barton alerted me to. As soon as she said it I thought - YES, this is the key to the entire passage. Moses didn't need to go into the Promised Land. He had long since entered the even greater promised land and that land is known as The Presence of God (Exodus 33). The Promised Land held nothing for him. He had already received all he could on this side of the veil. Now he was ready for the even greater glory of and friendship with God that was on the other side of the veil. (vs. 10-12)

These four things are what true success looks like for the Christian leader. Pull your Bible off the shelf, dive into this story of Moses in Deuteronomy 34, reflect on these things and may this week be another chance to pursue what is most important to leaders.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Selling Sugar Water or Changing the World

Here is an "in your face" question.

"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?"

Leander Kahney says, "It's perhaps the most famous challenge in the modern business history. It's an insult, a compliment and a soul searching philosophical challenge rolled into one question."

And it the question the young Steve Jobs asked of John Sculley. At the time Sculley was the enormously successful president of Pepsi Co who recreated that company and transformed it into a dominant rival to Coke. In 1983, with Apple just six years old and rapidly growing, CEO Jobs wanted Sculley to come and be the new CEO of Apple.

In the end Sculley said, "If I didn't accept, I'd have spent the rest of my life wondering if I had made the wrong decision."

There are a lot of people who are devoting their lives to making sugar water.

As leaders and mentors, we throw down the gauntlet and invite others to a greater engagement in the world. Sometimes, but not necessarily, leaving their vocation.  But certainly changing the focus in their vocation.

God invites us to be world changers.

What have you done toward that end?  And . . .

Who have you challenged this week to that greater engagement?

Brian Rice

Obits

I recently finished a very nice book of short biographies of ordinary people who led extraordinary lives. The name of the book is OBIT and you can find it on the right hand column in the Current Reads list.

I really recommend this little book for some summer reading.

On the other hand, a few weeks ago, I came across a pretty funny obituary that Len Sweet recounted in his book 11 Indispensable Relationships You Can't Be Without (also in the Current Reads list). Here is that obituary. Read it first and then be sure to note the explanation that follows.

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SUDDEN DEATH OF LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS - FOUND DEAD IN BED BY MAID

A brilliant and most unhappy career is ended. . . . The charity which is fitting at all times, but most fitting when we are speaking of the newly-dead, urges that much should be forgiven to this poor, bewildered man, who with all his gifts, will perhaps only be remembered by the scandals and the quarrels in which he involved himself.

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The obituary was in the February 4, 1921 edition of the Evening News. There was only one slight problem. Lord  Alfred Douglas was somewhat surprised to be reading about his own death. He was 51 years old when he read his pre-maturely posted obituary. He then sued the newspaper for defamation of character.

By the way CLICK HERE to read some of the "sordid" details of his life. Even though Douglas sued the paper for libel and won, history affirms the verdict of the premature obituary.

A few quick thoughts:

   (1)  I hope you won't prematurely read your obituary.

   (2)  I hope it won't be as negative as was Lord Douglas'.

   (3)  I hope you won't need to sue for defamation of character for what others say about you.

Brian Rice

Leading Edge 2008 Course and Finishing Well

Last week, my good friend and LWCC colleague, Connie, was the presenter  for Leadership Foundations and she talked about Finishing Well.

Here was a quote that Connie used that i found very meaningful.

The real danger for professing believers lies not in the more glaring and grosser temptations and sins, but in a slow deterioration of vision, a slow depth to daring, courage and a willingness to adventure. J.B. Phillips

Some of us may not finish well because of some glaring temptations and sins.

More of us will deal with the slow deterioration of vision and courage.

Either way - we won't finish well.

Which one is going to be your greatest danger?

Brian Rice

The Last Lecture (Living Well, Dying Well)

Here is a powerful video clip that is well worth watching. It is about 12 minutes, but it goes fast.

Click on the link to watch the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He was a guest on Oprah. He is dying of cancer, has only a few months to live, but his optimism is contagious.

While his words are not specifically Christian, still, his attitude is exemplary of what followers of Christ should be like.

You may want to pass this link on to others.

Have conversations about it at work. Ask your co-workers - what can give a hope like this?

Brian Rice

Tomorrow:  The Leader as Mystic

The Legacy of Wilberforce

Here is a great statement of the legacy of William Wilberforce. This legacy is etched on to his tombstone that is in Westminster Abbey.

Download WilliamWilberforceTombstone.pdf

It is all about leaders leading strong, being faithful for the long haul and ultimately finishing well.

Brian Rice

(Clinton's) Top Six Reasons Leader's Don't Finish Well (with an application to Eliot Spitzer)

Okay, I have to apologize. On this post about a week ago I said that I wouldn't blog any more about Eliot Spitzer.

Well, I have to do one more, but it is not really about him, other than as an illustration of Dr. Robert Clinton's finishing well paradigm.

The top six reasons (not in order) that leaders don't finish well are:

1. Pride
2. Misuse of money
3. Abuse of power
4. Sexual failure
5. Plateauing (they stop growing)
6. Social base (or family problems)

Here is a reality. Where there is the presence of one (i.e. where there is smoke) there are probably others as well (the fire).

I didn't know much about Spitzer's leadership. I've been reading articles on him and he is described as angry, a steam-rolling, non-collaborative, my way or the highway, double standard guy (where he expects much of others but not of himself), non-teachable (doesn't learn easily from others or take advice from others), belittling of others, questioned about and evasive of fund raising tactics - and on it goes - kind of leader.

Well, in that short paragraph  you can see (1) pride, (2) the possible misuse of money, (3) certainly the abuse of power. Now, he has been undone by (4) sexual failure that has with it (2) the misuse of money, and he is certainly going to have a ton of (6) social base  marriage and family problems to work through.

The point is that bad qualities tend to come in clusters. If you sense or see the presence of one in the life of a leader (including yourself) you better be alert to the emergence of others.

Here are two books for leaders who really want to pay attention to issues of character formation.

Gary Thomas, The Glorious Pursuit: Embracing the Virtues of Christ is still one of my favorites.

And a little more challenging is Os  Guiness's book, Steering Through Chaos: Vice and Virtue in an Age of Moral Confusion.

One of the core premises we have with Leadership ConneXtions International is that character counts and the formation of the leader's character, that begins deep below the water line, is crucial for finishing well. This may seem like the "soft side" of leadership. But the hard reality is this:

For most leaders who do not finish well, it is not due to lack of skills or technical competency. It is due to character issues, inner life issues, relationship with God issues, emotional intelligence issues, etc.

Brian Rice

Burned Out and Leaving in Droves: Not So Good News About Pastors

Here is a rather discouraging report about pastors. I found it in The Millenium Matrix who listed the source as a report of a survey of 1000 pastors in a study done by the Fuller Institute of Church Growth.

• 80% of pastors believe their pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families.
• 50% felt unable to meet the demands of the job.
• 90% felt inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands.
• 70% have a lower self-image than when they began their profession.
• 50% had considered leaving the ministry within three months prior to completing the survey.

If I was a part of that survey and it was being done today, I would CURRENTLY only be described by the first statistic. That's the good news.  If I had been a part of that survey during the years of 1999 - 2001 I would have been included in every category!

And here is an interesting blog on Why Young Pastors Are Leaving the Ministry

Leadership, especially pastoral leadership, can be hazardous to your health.

What do you think about those incredible statistics?

What is going wrong that so many pastoral leaders feel so hurt and broken because of their pastoral role?

Brian Rice

I have this crazy idea ...

A few years ago, Barbara Kellerman of Harvard University published a book, entitled, Bad Leadership. It was a fascinating study in corrupt, rigid, intemperate and other bad characteristics of leadership.

I'd like to do doctoral level work on Bad Christian Leadership. I know, that's not too uplifting or encouraging. At the same time, bad leadership by Christians is of epidemic proportions these days. There are books which are anecdotal and others which are autobiographical (such as Jim Bakker's, "I Was Wrong.") But I do not know of any research that has been done from a Christian perspective about the causes, sources, and challenges of bad Christian leadership.

So I am having conversations with some seminaries, from Fuller Theological Seminary where I did a couple of master's degrees to Denver Seminary to Boston University's School of Theology.

I'll keep you posted.

- Brian Newman

Worldviews, Mentors and Friends

The journey is a long one.

If leaders are to sustain a meaningful vision of life that maintains the connection between personal faith (spiritual discipline) and engagement with the public world, then according to Steven Garber, there are three things that must be present.

(1)  They had a worldview sufficient for the challenges of the times in which they are living.

(2)  They had found a teacher/mentor who incarnated that worldview and modeled it for them.

(3)  They had forged friendships with others who shared and lived out of that worldview.

Of the many people Garber interviewed on this, he said, "There were no exceptions."

Brian Rice

Lew Smedes on "Hope"

The past few days my hope has been flagging. The death of our friend Deela (see previous post), along with a couple of high-profile deaths in Denver, has caused me to feel a bit deflated.

I am reminded of Lewis Smedes, who taught ethics at Fuller Seminary for many years. I had the privilege of sitting in several of his courses 15 years ago. One of Lew's comments about hope helps me keep perspective: "Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs.  Lose hope and you die. They may not bury you for awhile, but without hope you are dead inside.  The only way to face the future is to fly straight into it on the wings of hope....hope is the energy of the soul.  Hope is the power of tomorrow." - Lewis Smedes

- Brian Newman

Remembering Deela

Our dear friend, Deela Dyck, died yesterday after a three-year battle with cancer. Deela and her husband Al and three children serve with Christian Associates in The Netherlands. We have known them for a decade and they have become very close to our family.

Deela had a tremendous spirit and her faith in Jesus remained strong to the very end. She is one leader who finished well. She will be dearly missed by many people whose lives were touched by her grace and warmth.

Now we commit Deela to Jesus and His Kingdom. I am sure as she met the Lord face-to-face he said, "well done, good and faithful servant."

- Brian Newman

Honoring a Public Servant

As you have heard, President Gerald Ford died earlier this week. He is perhaps most famous for pardoning Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal, which probably cost him the 1976 election against Jimmy Carter.

I was especially moved by Carter's statement about his former political foe:
"One of the most admirable public servants and human beings I have ever known... An outstanding statesman, he wisely chose the path of healing during a deeply divisive time in our nation's history... He frequently rose above politics by emphasizing the need for bipartisanship and seeking common ground on issues critical to our nation. I will always cherish the personal friendship we shared." — Former President Jimmy Carter

That is quite a legacy!

Goya on Life Long Learning

Life Long Learning is one of our passions and personal values. Bobby Clinton says that one of the qualities of those leaders who ARE NOT FINISHING WELL is that somewhere along the way they stopped learning. They settled into life on a plateau. And on the other side, one of the characteristics of leaders WHO DO FINISH WELL is that they find ways to constantly learn and grow.

Here is a quote by Francisco de Goya, and a "setup" by Ian Jackman to introduce it.

Long deaf, and old and infirm, Goya (1746-1828) wrote on one of his last drawings, "I keep learning."

I hope that on one of my last sermons, or last seminar notes, or blogs, (many years from now) I will be able to write those same words. "I keep learning."

Click here on GOYA to go a good website on Goya.

Brian Rice

The Long Good-bye article

A little more than a year ago, my family and I concluded our ministry at Crossroads Church in Amsterdam. Shortly thereafter I was asked by Leadership Journal if I would write an article about the transition I went through. I called it "The Long Good-bye." If you are interested in reading it  check it out here. Download long_goodbye.doc

- Brian Newman

Leaders and the Lies They Tell Themselves

This past Tuesday Living Word Community Church had our monthly All-Staff meeting. Pastor Steve Almquist (senior pastor) shared some of his thoughts about the Ted Haggard episode.

Steve encouraged us not to put the focus on Haggard himself, but on the issues that are involved with Haggard's personal story being illustrative of those issues. Steve said some of his own personal reflections went down the path of thinking about the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we exert great energy to maintain as the years go by.

Steve said, there are some questions we need to ask:

1. What lies about myself have I bought into?
2. How will I know, since almost by definition, I am blind to these lies or have so rationalized them that I can't see them very well.  (This is above all the matter of self-awareness.)
3. Who can help me see the things that I can't see or don't want to see?
4. How will I build and maintain meaningful accountability structures in my life, where certain individuals speak truth in love into my life?

Good stuff! In fact, more than good . . . it is VITAL!

"Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  (Proverbs 4:23)

Let's make sure we figure out how to guard the heart.

-BR