Servant Leadership
Defintion of Servant Leadership
A pastor models servant leadership, equipping others in a God-given direction through Christlike character, leadership capability, and love.
Overall Reflection Statement on Servant Leadership
For my competence in servant leadership, I am submitting four PDFs which demonstrate my engagement with leadership. My resumé is littered with leadership experiences, but what distinguishes me is my thinking about leadership. These three PDFs represent not merely intellectual exercises in the discipline of leadership. They are reflective, integrative, and application-oriented. They are birthed from my experience, my learning, and my vision. They wrestle with the spiritual and practical aspects of leadership.
Learning Reflection
As I grow and exercise servant leadership, I have found that the central aspect of my leadership is a deep-rooted desire to influence people spiritually. This desire manifests itself in three primary expressions. First, I am a thought-leader. I lead through teaching in order to influence how people think. Second, I plan and organize in order to influence how things get done. Third, I lead leaders. I recruit them, I coach them, I develop them--all so that greater spiritual impact may be achieved.
Lifelong Development Statement
As a result of the experiences documented by these artifacts, I will continue to develop in servant leadership by pursuing ever-increasing conscious competence in leadership. Instead of leading simply from my gut's intuition--a state of unconscious competence--I will strive to better understand both the art and science of leading as well as my own leadership aptitudes and style. Doing so will improve not only my own leadership effectiveness, but also my ability as a thought-leader to develop leaders around me.
Artifacts
Developing a Budget
Budgets--for many people, that term is held in contempt, but managing fiscal resources is a powerful lever in leading. It seems that every ministry always wants more money, and then there are the multitudes of ministry opportunities who all want to get funded. So how does a church decide what ministries get what dollars? Well, I think like a venture capitalist. I want to invest money where I think there is a good probability for a positive return. In order to make that assessment, I need to weigh the players and their game plan.
The PDF below is the first step to such an approach, a bottom-up approach. I wanted my ministry leaders to think through their ministries, to ask why and how they do what they do. Moreover, I wanted my frontline leaders to tell me what they thought they needed to do their ministry effectively. I also sought to create space for new ministry ideas to surface. And I structured the process to intentionally encourage their thinking in key areas, especially leadership development.
My leaders were to create a rough draft that I would review and provide feedback. Once they submitted a final draft, my bookkeeper compiled them into a master list of ministry initiatives. Then this list would be evaluated, adjusted, and culled down to a strategic investment portfolio of ministry initiatives for the next year, a portfolio that made financial sense for the coming year's estimated giving.
The PDF below is the first step to such an approach, a bottom-up approach. I wanted my ministry leaders to think through their ministries, to ask why and how they do what they do. Moreover, I wanted my frontline leaders to tell me what they thought they needed to do their ministry effectively. I also sought to create space for new ministry ideas to surface. And I structured the process to intentionally encourage their thinking in key areas, especially leadership development.
My leaders were to create a rough draft that I would review and provide feedback. Once they submitted a final draft, my bookkeeper compiled them into a master list of ministry initiatives. Then this list would be evaluated, adjusted, and culled down to a strategic investment portfolio of ministry initiatives for the next year, a portfolio that made financial sense for the coming year's estimated giving.
| Budget Worksheet.pdf |
Philosophy of Change
Fundamental to leading is change. Leaders call men and women to leave what they know and step out into new territory, and the icebergs of leading change have sunk many an important initiative. So I chose this paper to represent my macro-level thinking about leading change in the church, how to approach it, and how to implement it. The professor awarded it a perfect score, with the comment: "You are a really good writer. Outstanding job!"
| Philosophy of Change |
Leadership Boot Camp
"The future of the church rests in the hands of her leaders." Obviously this is proverbial wisdom. The sovereignty of God, the power of the Spirit, and the headship of Christ trump whatever impact man has on the church. Nevertheless, leaders can be either a blessing or a curse to the church. Historically, a strong correlation has been witnessed between the health and vitality of church leaders and that of their church. Hence the need to nurture the heart, train the hand, and teach the mind of leaders is of utmost importance. To that end, I developed a ministry proposal for a leadership boot camp that would kick-start a person's leadership journey.
|
"You have developed an outstanding ministry proposal! You have done excellent work and I know God intends to use you in the years to come to motivate many people to grow in their faith and understanding of God and His truths. Leadership development is a key part to ministry success," wrote the grading professor, with an A+ grade.
|
| Leadership Boot Camp |
Recruiting Workshop
The unique function of calling others to serve is a sacred stewardship entrusted to leaders. For the sake of the person God wants to use as well as the mission of the church, leaders must get better about asking volunteers to give of themselves, their time, and their talents. Sensing that recruiting was a pressing concern for the church during my internship, I proposed a workshop on recruiting to two major ministry pastors. With their buy-in, I created a two-hour, interactive workshop for their teams. The PDF below consists of the PowerPoint presentation, the notes page for participants, the exercise instructions, the workshop evaluation form I created, and the results from the evaluations.
| Recruiting Workshop |
