Leading By Serving

There is so much written on the topic of “Leadership” today that you can get lost in the Leadership section of Barnes and Noble.  It seems anyone who has ever led anything, from toddlers in a country church VBS to a Fortune 500 Company, now is an expert on leadership.  While I do believe there are great leaders all across this earth serving in both humble contexts and high profile contexts I do not believe just anyone who has led is automatically equipped to be an expert on the subject.

Let the above statements serve as the disclaimer for myself.  I do lead but I am not an expert - far from it actually.  However, I do enjoy learning from those who have displayed proficiency in the area of leadership or have at least studied the topic at great length.

Two men who fit the discription of both leader and learner are John Maxwell and Jim Collins.  John Maxwell has written dozens of books on the topic of leadership and has proven his own leadership skills throughout a life-time of service leading within the church.  Jim Collins has grown in fame during the past decade due to his research and writting (Built To Last, Good To Great) on the topic of business performance and leadership startegies within the business world. 

During a recent conversation with friends on the topic of leadrship and the work of Collins and Maxwell I found it interesting that their findings are similar in ways but different as well.

In his book, Developing the Leader Within You, Maxwell identifies the Five Levels of Leadership as being Position, Permission, Production, People Developement, and Personhood.  The People Developement Level (level 4) is described as “reproduction” when people follow you as a leader because of what you have done for them.  The Personhood Level (level 5) is described as “respect” as people follow you as a leader because of who you are and what you represent.  Maxwell claims that level 5 leadership is reserved for leaders who have spent years growing people and organizations with very few ever making it to this level.

Interestingly, Jim Collins also identifies the importanct of a Level 5 Leader in his book Good to Great.  Collins uses the term Level 5 Executive and describes this leader as someone who builds “enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”

In some ways I agree with both Maxwell and Collins.  Like Maxwell, I also believe that respect of character is perhaps the most important trait of a Level 5 leader.  However, my fear is that Maxwell’s description of the Level 5 leader is lacking in humility.  While usually someone’s character is not respected if they do not pocess some level of humility we have all witnessed respect given to leaders only because of their longevity and what they represent as a “pillar” of consistancy within the organization.  I guess my main issue is the lack of mention of humility and service.  Maxwell’s Level 4 leader I feel fits more closely with Collins’ findings.

I appreciate Collins’ findings summed up in his equation…

HUMILIY + WILL = LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP

This equation can of course be best observed in the person and leadership skill of Jesus Christ.  We must not confuse humility with weakness.  Jesus led with humility, He served those He loved and led and through His service displayed the traits of His “updsidedown Kingdom”.  Jesus was not weak, He was (and is) confident in His role as the Son of the most high God and the Saviour sent to our sorry world.  The early followers of Jesus no doubt followed Him because they discovered who He was and what He represented.  However, few discovered who Jesus was and what He represented apart from His service.  As Jesus served by healing, listening to, washing, praying for His people they discovered who He was and what He represented.

Maxwell and Collins would no doubt agree that Level 5 Leadership is both repsect and service, character and humility.  I believe we can only serve as leaders when we know who we are and who we represent…

Leadership Defined?

I asked my friends in the Leadership Learning Community to give their personal definitions of “leadership” - here is what some of them came up with…

“Leadership is the act of working to inspire or guide others toward a specific vision or goal.” - Lori Kornack

“Leadership is moving others to fulfill a vision or  goal that they didn’t even know they had.” - Leslie Schultz

“To be a leader we must be humble and give our entire lives to God and allow His will to be done in our lives.” - Zuzu Madanat

 Good stuff.  Any other ideas out there for a working definition of “leadership”?  Please, do share….

Thoughts from the Leadership Learning Community (3 Marks of A Good Leader)

I love learning from others around me, people I share life with who are on this journey of leadership and ministry along with me.  Recently one of our Young Life Leaders sat in on a leadership training time where Bob Davidson spoke.  Bob is a Young Life staff member in the Chicagoland Region and therefore thinks alot about ministry, leadership and following Jesus.

Below I have included some notes from my leader friend who attended this training time led by Bob Anderson.  I think Bob is on to something… Take a look at some of the questions posed below and see what you think.

Bob Davidson said there are 3 things that good leaders possess:

1- Leaders attempt to DEFINE REALITY and attempt to describe things as so.
We talked about how this relates to our lives, as well as kids lives.
How do you do this? What does it look like? Is it easy or hard? Do we
simply think that what Christ has done is true/real vs. actually
acting as if it is true/real? Have you ever really experienced God’s
love? What does Christ’s beating death and rising mean to us today?
How do you bring this, define this, to kids so that it’s real?

2- Leaders are GREAT PROBLEM SOLVERS. How does this relate to defineing
reality in our lives, kids lives, and YL ministry in general?
Where are you going? Where do you take kids?

3- Leaders continually SAY THANKS before God, before other people.
Humbling your self. Bob also talked about how listening to God plays into this. Have you
ever attempted to really listen to God and operated as if he is speaking?
Do we control whether or not we listen or not or harden our heart
towards listening (Hebrews 3:7-9)? Bob said we must STOP, DEFINE REALITY, and then LISTEN.

Leadership - Not Rocket Science

Althougth the title suggests that Leadership is not rocket science sometimes it feels like being an effective leader is just about as difficult as constructing a rocket and blasting myself into space.  That’s difficult, believe me, I’ve tried it….

I am amazed though as I read in scripture the accounts of Jesus and how He led His followers to life transformation and the accomplishment of great things. 

I remember standing at Young Life camp years ago, watching as leaders and high school kids interacted with one another, played with one another, shared joy and life with one another.  I remember marveling at the fact that these kids were here with us in Colorado for no other reason than a Young Life leader had entered their world, their school, their life and asked those students to “follow them”, promising they would see and discover great things.  That is pretty profound really, that a high school student today would be attracted and would follow, but then again, its not rocket science.

When I read in Matthew 4:18-22 or Mark 1:16-20 or Luke 5:1-11, 27-32 or John 1:43-51, I see Jesus simply walking from village to village, encountering people, entering their lives, inviting them into His life and calling them to follow Him.  The amazing thing is that the people Jesus encountered responded, they gave up their lives and they followed Him.  No doubt they followed partly because Jesus promised they would “see greater things than that”, the important thing though is that they followed.

I suppose the lesson here is obedience.  To be a leader we must be obedient to enter the lives of others and invite them to enter ours.  We must be obedient to God’s calling on our lives to pursue Him above all else.  We must be obedient and confident enought to call others to follow us as we follow Jesus.  The Apostle Paul displayed this obidience and confidence eloquently in Philippians 3:17 when he encouraged others to follow his example and live as he lived.  A scary thing sometimes, to think of calling others to follow us as we follow Jesus, but that is the model we are given and I can’t help but think that in so doing we will certainly see “greater things than these.”…

Upcoming Events

Camp Leader Training

If you are (or may be) attending Young Life or Wyldlife Camp as a leader for the first time this summer then join us for Camp Leader Training on Saturday, May 10th from 12noon-3pm (lunch included) at the Young Life office in Washington.

This training time is designed for leaders who have never attended camp as a leader or have not done so during the past 3 years.  Be there at 12noon sharp for lunch and come prepared to learn all about YL and WL camp!

Some Good Reads

Built To Last - by Jim Collins

Good To Great - by Jim Collins

Courageous Leadership - by Bill Hybels

Hurt - by Chap Clark

Searching For God Knows What - by Donald Miller

Blue Like Jazz - by Donald Miller

The God Bearing Life

Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture - by Walt Meuller

Go, Discover Your Strengths - by Marcus Buckingham

Now, Put Your Strengths to Work - by Marcus Buckingham

Life Together - by Deitrich Bonehoffer

A New Kind of Christian - by Brian McLaren

GOAL 150

Through an intentional, shared process that is relational in nature, Central Illinois Young Life will recruit 150 committed Christian volunteer leaders by the end of December 2010. Central Illinois Young Life leaders are trained through a multi-tiered training process, designed to equip and encourage leaders while creating committed followers of Jesus Christ as well as effective ministry leaders. 

Matthew 4:19“Come, follow me”, Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Come:  Leader Recruitment§        intentional, shared process that is relational in nature

Follow Me:  Leader Training§        equip and encourage leaders, creating committed followers of Christ

I will make you fishers of men:  Leader Development §        creating effective ministry leaders 

Leader Recruitment

Central Illinois Young Life Leader Recruitment is:

• Intentional in process
• Relational in nature
• A shared responsibility among all current ministry leaders

**Central Illinois Young Life Leader Recruitment is an intentional process that is relational in nature and understood to be a shared responsibility among all current ministry leaders.

  Leader Training & Development

Central Illinois Young Life Leader Training is:

• A multi-tiered training process
• Designed to equip and encourage both new and veteran leaders
• Creating committed followers of Jesus Christ as well as effective ministry leaders.

**Central Illinois Young Life Leader Training is a multi-tiered training process, designed to equip and encourage leaders while creating committed followers of Jesus Christ as well as effective ministry leaders.

Leadership Explored

It’s crazy to me how so often we learn best in atmospheres of give-and-take discussion but insist on teaching only in one-way lecture formats.  I find I learn the most about people and life within the context of community.  These tendencies were highlighted for me a few nights ago as I met with 5 college students who serve as Young Life leaders in Central Illinois.  We are embarking on a journey we call the Leadership Learning Community.  We will explore the topic of leadership in an open discussion within the context of community.  When reading the accounts of Jesus and His disciples in scripture it is evident that they were intentional in learning and teaching while sharing life together within the context of community.  This is a tall order in the culture we know in 2008, however, its a journey that we’re excited to embark on.  Check back regularly as I share thoughts on the topic of leadership, life with Christ, and community….