Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Author Archives: Bill Pence


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THIS & THAT and Favorite Quotes of the Week

this.n.that-small

CHRISTIAN LIVING

TO MAKE YOU SMILETSHIRT

CURRENT EVENTS

GOOD RESOURCES

Favorite Quotes of the WeekEric Metaxas Quote

  • God sees us as we are, loves us as we are, and accepts us as we are. But by His grace, He does not leave us as we are. Tim Keller
  • I am praying and hoping for a President of the United States who has demonstrated a long and consistent commitment to the sanctity of life. Albert Mohler
  • May the gospel be the only offensive thing about you. Jack Miller
  • Grace must be preached in a way that is centered and focused on Jesus Christ Himself. Sinclair Ferguson
  • Believer, no matter how many ways you “blew it” today, you’re no less beloved. This doesn’t minimize our sin; it exalts God’s grace. Scotty Smith
  • Real life parenting: Alternating between crying because the years are going by so quickly and crying because they’re going by so slowly. Joshua Harris
  • It is in style now to debunk the transcendent. We have lost the sense of the eternal, yet we are always on the edge of it. Ravi Zacharias
  • God ordains people to salvation but He also ordains the means they come to salvation. He uses our words. Alistair Begg
  • Money and Wealth are not evil. They are a magnifier, they make you more of what you are. Dave Ramsey


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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

faith-work-cultureFaith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

Bryan Chapell on Vocation. Former President of Covenant Theological Seminary, where I got my Master Degree, and current Senior Pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church about an hour from our home, recently started a new sermon series titled “Mission at Work”. You can listen to the messages here.

The Realest Authenticity. Barnabas Piper writes “The truest authenticity, the best authenticity is humble. Authenticity without humility is a lie.”

Third Serving Leader Quote

10 Favorite Faith and Work Quotes of the Week Servant Leadership Quote

  • Real work is a contribution to the good of all and not merely a means to one’s own advancement. Tim Keller
    Resolved, never to lose one moment of time, but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can. Jonathan Edwards 
    What a pity it would be to have to tell God that we spent our life earning a living, and that’s it. Erwin Lutzer
  • Have you been holding back from a risky, costly course to which you know in your heart God has called you? Hold back no longer. Your God is faithful to you, and adequate for you. You will never need more than He can supply, and what He supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough for the present.  J.I. Packer
  • Surround yourself with people who acknowledge your progress and challenge you to be better. Dan Rockwell
  • There are not two worlds—sacred and secular—but one world—created, fallen, and saved by Christ and which will pass thru judgment into glory. Bethany Jenkins
  • A woman told me about getting involved in a Bible study that demanded strict commitment to the study of God’s Word.  ‘You should make the Bible your number one priority,’ she was told.  That meant getting up early and the very first thing in the morning doing Bible reading and having a quiet time with the Lord.  She did this, but to her consternation every morning as she would start to read her Bible, the baby would wake up.  She found herself resenting the interruption.  Here she was, trying to spend time with God, and the baby would start fussing, demanding to be fed and distracting her attention away from spiritual things.  After a while, though, she came to understand the doctrine of vocation.  Taking care of her baby was what God, at that moment, was calling her to do.  Being a mother and loving and serving her child was her vocation, her divine calling from the Lord.  She could read the Bible later.  She did not have to feel guilty that she was neglecting spiritual things; taking care of her baby is a spiritual thing! Gene Veith
  • The church’s approach to intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours and to come to church on Sundays.  What the church should be telling him is this:  That the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables. Dorothy Sayers
  • The maid who sweeps here kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays – not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors.  The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship. Martin Luther

Don't Waste Your LifeFaith and Work Book Clubs – Won’t you read along with us?

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. Crossway. 192 pages. 2003

Other than the Bible, this small book by John Piper has had the most influence on my life. It played a key role in my returning to seminary after ten years in 2005. I have read it almost each year since it was published in 2003. Listen to John Piper describe the book in this less than two-minute video.

This week we look at Chapter 8: Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5

  • It would be a mistake to infer from the call to wartime living in the previous chapter that Christians should quit their jobs and go to “war”—say, to become missionaries or pastors or full-time relief workers. That would be a fundamental misunderstanding of where the war is being fought.
  • The war is not primarily spatial or physical—though its successes and failures have physical effects. Therefore, the secular vocations of Christians are a war zone. There are spiritual adversaries to be defeated (that is, evil spirits and sins, not people); and there is beautiful moral high ground to be gained for the glory of God. You don’t waste your life by where you work, but how and why.
  • The call to be a Christian was not a call to leave your secular vocation. That’s the clear point of 1 Corinthians 7:17-24.
  • Therefore, the burning question for most Christians should be: How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?
  • Our aim is to joyfully magnify Christ—to make him look great by all we do.
  • Boasting only in the cross, our aim is to enjoy making much of him by the way we work. The question is, How? The Bible points to at least six answers.
    • 1. We can make much of God in our secular job through the fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day in all our work.
  • When the saints are at work in their secular employment, they are scattered. They are not together in church. So the command to “remain there with God” is a promise that you may know God’s fellowship personally and individually on the job.
  • One way to enjoy God’s presence and fellowship is through thankful awareness that your ability to do any work at all, including this work, is owing to his grace.
  • This is the way God speaks to you through the day. He encourages you, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). He reminds you that the challenges of the afternoon are not too hard for him to manage: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). He tells you not to be anxious, but to ask him for whatever you need (Philippians 4:6), and says, “Cast all your anxieties on me, for I care for you” (paraphrase of 1 Peter 5:7). And he promises to guide you through the day: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).
    • 2. We make much of Christ in our secular work by the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry.
  • So if you go all the way back, before the origin of sin, there are no negative connotations about secular work. According to Genesis 2:2, God himself rested from his work of creation, implying that work is a good, God-like thing.
  • To be sure, when God sends us forth to work as his image bearers, our ditches are to be dug straight, our pipe-fittings are not to leak, our cabinet corners should be flush, our surgical incisions should be clean, our word processing accurate and appealing, and our meals nutritious and attractive, because God is a God of order and beauty and competence. But cats are clean, and ants are industrious, and spiders produce orderly and beautiful works. And all of them are dependent on God. Therefore, the essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God’s power, and in conscious quest of God’s pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God’s glory.
  • When you work like this—no matter what your vocation is—you can have a sweet sense of peace at the end of the day. It has not been wasted. God has not created us to be idle. Therefore, those who abandon creative productivity lose the joy of God-dependent, world-shaping, God-reflecting purposeful work.
  • True personal piety feeds the purposeful work of secular vocations rather than undermining it. Idleness does not grow in the soil of fellowship with God. Therefore, people who spend their lives mainly in idleness or frivolous leisure are rarely as happy as those who work. Retired people who are truly happy have sought creative, useful, God-honoring ways to stay active and productive for the sake of man’s good and God’s glory.
  • So the second way we make much of God in our secular work is through the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry. God created us for work so that by consciously relying on his power and consciously shaping the world after his excellence, we might be satisfied in him, and he might be glorified in us. And when we remember that all this God-exalting creativity and all this joy is only possible for undeserving sinners like us because of the death of Christ, every hour of labor becomes a boasting in the cross.
    • 3. We make much of Christ in our secular work when it confirms and enhances the portrait of Christ’s glory that people hear in the spoken Gospel.
  • There is no point in overstating the case for the value of secular work. It is not the Gospel. By itself, it does not save anyone. In fact, with no spoken words about Jesus Christ, our secular work will not awaken wonder for the glory of Christ. That is why the New Testament modestly calls our work an adornment of the Gospel.
  • So one crucial meaning of our secular work is that the way we do it will increase or decrease the attractiveness of the Gospel we profess before unbelievers.
  • Of course, the great assumption is that they know we are Christians.
  • Should Christians be known in their offices as the ones you go to if you have a problem, but not the ones to go to with a complex professional issue? It doesn’t have to be either-or. The biblical mandate is: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23; cf. Ephesians 6:7).
  • So the third way we make much of God in our secular work is by having such high standards of excellence and such integrity and such manifest goodwill that we put no obstacles in the way of the Gospel but rather call attention to the all-satisfying beauty of Christ. When we adorn the Gospel with our work, we are not wasting our lives. And when we call to mind that the adornment itself (our God-dependent, God-shaped, God-exalting work) was purchased for us by the blood of Christ, and that the beauty we adorn is itself the Gospel of Christ’s death, then all our tender adornment becomes a boasting in the cross.
    • 4. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while focusing on the helpfulness of our work rather than financial rewards.
  • The curse under which we live today is not that we must work. The curse is that, in our work, we struggle with weariness and frustration and calamities and anxiety.
  • Able-bodied people who choose to live in idleness and eat the fruit of another’s sweat are in rebellion against God’s design. If we can, we should earn our own living.
  • How then do Christians make much of Christ in working “to earn their own living”? First, by conforming willingly to God’s design for this age. It is an act of obedience that honors his authority. Second, by removing stumbling blocks from unbelievers who would regard the lazy dependence of Christians on others as an evidence that our God is not worthy of following. “Work with your hands . . . so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). We honor God by earning our living because this clears the way for non-Christians to see Christ for who he really is. Aimless, unproductive Christians contradict the creative, purposeful, powerful, merciful God we love. They waste their lives.
  • Third, we make much of God by earning our own living when we focus not on financial profit but on the benefit our product or service brings to society.
  • This is paradoxical. I am saying, yes, we should earn enough money to meet our needs. But, no, we should not make that the primary focus of why we work.
  • In other words, don’t focus on mere material things in your work. Don’t labor merely with a view to the perishable things you can buy with your earnings. Work with an eye not mainly to your money, but your usefulness. Work with a view to benefiting people with what you make or do.
  • So don’t labor for the food that perishes. Labor to love people and honor God. Think of new ways that your work can bless people. Stop thinking mainly of profitability, and think mainly of how helpful your product or service can become.
  • You are not working for the food that perishes. Your goal is to enjoy Christ’s being exalted in the way you work.
  • None of us in our vocations should aim mainly at the food that perishes—leave that to the Lord. We should aim instead to do the will of him who sent us. And his will is that we treasure him above all else and live like it.
  • If we simply work to earn a living—if we labor for the bread that perishes—we will waste our lives. But if we labor with the sweet assurance that God will supply all our needs—that Christ died to purchase every undeserved blessing—then all our labor will be a labor of love and a boasting only in the cross.
    • 5. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God.
  • So my point here is that, as we work, we should dream of how to use our excess money to make others glad in God. Of course, we should use all our money to make others glad in God, in the sense that our whole life has this aim. But the point here is that our secular work can become a great God-exalting blessing to the world if we aim to take the earnings we don’t need for ourselves (and we need far less than we think) and meet the needs of others in the name of Jesus.
  • God clearly tells us that we should work to provide the needs of those who can’t meet their own needs.
    • 6. We make much of Christ in our secular work by treating the web of relationships it creates as a gift of God to be loved by sharing the Gospel and by practical deeds of help.
  • But now I want to say that speaking the good news of Christ is part of why God put you in your job. He has woven you into the fabric of others’ lives so that you will tell them the Gospel. Without this, all our adorning behavior may lack the one thing that could make it life-giving.
  • Christians should seriously ask not only what their vocation is, but where it should be lived out. We should not assume that teachers and carpenters and computer programmers and managers and CPAs and doctors and pilots should do their work in America. That very vocation may be better used in a country that is otherwise hard to get into, or in a place where poverty makes access to the Gospel difficult. In this way the web of relationships created by our work is not only strategic but intentional.
  • In conclusion, secular work is not a waste when we make much of Christ from 8 to 5. God’s will in this age is that his people be scattered like salt and light in all legitimate vocations. His aim is to be known, because knowing him is life and joy. He does not call us out of the world. He does not remove the need to work. He does not destroy society and culture. Through his scattered saints he spreads a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples. If you work like the world, you will waste your life, no matter how rich you get. But if your work creates a web of redemptive relationships and becomes an adornment for the Gospel of the glory of Christ, your satisfaction will last forever and God will be exalted in your joy.


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Reflections on Integrating Faith and Work Sessions

Connecting Faith and WorkRecently, at our church, we held four men’s ministry sessions in which fifteen men serving in different callings/vocations shared what it was like for them to do their work for the glory of God. We had sessions with those in the medical field, college professors working in state/secular universities, senior leaders in large organizations, business owners, those in the insurance and financial services field and others. They shared how they are being salt and light in their workplaces. It was a great time of sharing and fellowship.

Using the Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City as our model, during these sessions we aimed to:

  1. Equip individuals of all backgrounds to develop and apply a worldview for work that better serves their profession and industry.
  2. Connect men within a field and across industries to inspire and challenge thinking and behavior with an aim towards personal and cultural flourishing.
  3. Mobilize men at large to become agents of change for the common good through existing and new institutions. Find the gift that work presents us: a place with the ability to renew hearts, communities, and the world.

Some of the questions I asked our presenters were:

  • What is your name and your primary vocation?
  • Would you please share what it’s like to be a believer in your particular vocation?
  • Do you feel that your vocation is something that the Lord has called you to?
  • How do you approach your vocation differently than a non-believer in your organization might?
  • Has your faith ever caused problems for you in the workplace?
  • Have you ever been asked to do something in your role that you felt conflicted with your beliefs?

Here are a few reflections from these four wonderful sessions:

  • Diversity of experiences. As one man, who was both a presenter and also attended each of the sessions said, the experiences of each group of presenters were very different. For example, the first group included those from the medical field (doctors and a dentist). There was an openness expressed on how their faith came through. For example, the doctors expressed that they would often pray with their patients, invite them to Christian events or to church. The dentist, who is also a business owner, plays Christian music in the office, and sees leading his 12 employees as a ministry. On the other hand, senior leaders in large organizations were more limited on what they could express about their faith in the workplace, having to express “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” unless they knew that the recipient of the greeting was a believer.
  • A sense of calling. The vast majority of the presenters felt that their current jobs were a clear calling from the Lord. They clearly saw how what they did Monday through Friday in the workplace was serving the Lord. It was also wonderful to hear the men share their stories about how the Lord has directed their paths, working in their lives to bring them to the positions they are in now.
  • Sometimes living by faith in the workplace has consequences. One speaker, who is in sales, spoke about business he lost because he had The Story in his lobby. A client told him that he didn’t want to do business with someone who was so narrow-minded. After a phone call explaining how his faith helped him to provide better service and care for his clients, the relationship ended up OK, but the client still chose to take his business elsewhere.

Those are just a few of the many rich takeaways I had from the four sessions. How we integrate our faith with our work, or as pastor and author Tom Nelson says, “connect Sunday worship to Monday work”, is very important. There are now many excellent books and blogs addressing this topic. I’ve been encouraged with how my church is starting to have discussions on this issue, not only with these four sessions, but also in calling classes led by our senior pastor and a current adult Sunday School class on work and leisure led by another of our pastors. I would recommend you pursuing these conversations in your churches as well. Most of us spend much more time in our workplaces than we do with our families. Talking with others about how to do that in a way that pleases the Lord would seem to be time well spent.

Please share with us if you are doing anything in regards to faith and work in your churches.


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MOVIE REVIEW ~ Hail, Caesar!

Hail, CaesarHail, Caesar! Rated PG-13
**

This comedy from the Coen Brothers (four-time Oscar winners Ethan and Joel) is a tribute/spoof of 1950’s Hollywood. The brothers write, produce, direct and jointly edit this film under their Roderick Jaynes pseudonym. There are all kinds of inside jokes and references to real people and places here, including Eddie Mannix.

Oscar nominee (for Milk), Josh Brolin, plays Mannix, which is the name of a real person who did a similar job for MGM. Our Mannix is Head of Physical Production for Capitol Pictures. The film follows him through a day in his life in 1951 as he solves problems throughout the day and repeatedly goes to confession (dealing with his guilt about not stopping smoking, as he had promised his wife). He is being courted by Lockheed Aviation, who has made a lucrative offer and are pressing him for a decision. His studio is making a number of films, the biggest is the epic Ben Hur-like Hail, Caesar! A Tale of the Christ, starring Baird Whitlock (Two-time Oscar winner George Clooney in his fourth Coen Brothers film). Whitlock goes missing, kidnapped by a group of Communist screenwriters who call themselves “The Future” and take him to a luxurious oceanfront home in Malibu, demanding a ransom of $100,000.

Mannix also deals with star DeeAnna Moran’s (Scarlett Johansson) out of wedlock pregnancy, corporate’s orders to move singing cowboy Hobie Doyle (played by the likeable Alen Ehrenreich) to a romantic leading man, much to the chagrin of director Laurence Laurentz (Two-time Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes), and two persistent gossip columnists, both played by Oscar winner (for Michael Clayton) Tilda Swinton. (Note: Swinton also portrayed the White Witch in the three Chronicles of Narnia films).

The film is rated PG-13, and includes minimal language issues that you can hear on network television, including one misuse of Jesus’ name. It also includes a good deal of faith related content played for comic purposes (from the filming of Hail Caesar! A Tale of the Christ, to Mannix’s frequent trips to the confessional, to Mannix’s humorous meeting with leaders of varied faith communities to assure that the film doesn’t offend any of them). Sexual content is more subtle and inferred (Moran’s Esther Williams aquatic number and Channing Tatum’s “No Dames” all-guys dance number).

The film has a strong cast (I haven’t mentioned Frances McDormand (Oscar winner for the Coen Brothers’ Fargo. Wife of Joel Coen, this is her eighth collaboration with the Coen brothers, as well as two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill in small roles), and has much (probably too much), going on as we follow Mannix through his day. The film is narrated by an uncredited Michael Gambon, known for his role as Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films.

I enjoyed the sets, hairstyles and costumes of 1950s Hollywood that are recreated here by production designer Jess Gonchor and costume designer Mary Zophres. Unfortunately, though I have seen several of their films, I don’t always get the Coen Brothers’ humor, though some in our theatre certainly did. Instead, despite the strong cast, I thought the film was just slow and boring, not really funny at all. Let me know if you feel otherwise.


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Movie Review – Suffragette

SuffragetteSuffragette, rated PG-13
** ½

This film shows the battle for women’s right to vote in political elections, or suffrage, in England in 1911-13. It is directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan, who wrote the screenplay for Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep. Streep, who is a three-time Oscar winner and has an incredible nineteen Oscar nominations, appears in this film as well, though it is misleading to have her on the movie posters or DVD boxes, as she appears in just one short scene, lasting no more than five minutes, in the film. She portrays Emmeline Pankhurst, the figurehead of the suffrage movement.

The film chooses to focus on a fictional character named Maud (Carey Mulligan, Oscar nominee for 2009’s An Education). As the film begins, Maud lives happily with her husband Sonny (Ben Whishaw, “Q” in the James Bond films Spectre and Skyfall), and their young son George (Adam Michael Dodd). Maud and Sonny work in a laundry, with bad working conditions, low wages and a sexual predator for a boss. Maud has spent her entire life in the laundry, having been born to a mother who also worked there.

A co-worker at the laundry, Violet (Anne-Marie Duff), is involved in the suffrage movement and invites Maud to secret meetings led by Edith (Helena Bonham Carter, two-time Oscar nominee) and her husband Hugh (Finbar Lynch). Edith is a pharmacist who we see breaking laws that she wasn’t allowed to vote on.

In a key scene in the film Violet is to testify about the hardship of women in front of a panel led by future Secretary of State for War Lloyd George (Adrian Schiller). When she can’t testify, having been badly beaten, Maud reluctantly does so. Rather than following the prepared statement, she shares from her heart, impressing George. However, when George later informs the women gathered that the suffrage bill didn’t pass, a protest breaks out. The police brutally batter women, including Maud, while Inspector Steed (Brendan Gleeson) looks on. Steed is overall kind to Maud throughout the film however, seeing the working-class women taking the front-line risks in the movement that the upper-class women would not take.

This begins a pattern of arrests for Maud, who deceives her husband about her involvement in the movement. This leads to personal consequences for Maud. We later see her refusing to eat in jail, being involved with Edith and others in bombings and the blowing up of Lloyd-George’s summer home. All of this culminates with a scene at “Derby Day”, where King George is entered as a rider.

We see women making sacrifices (family, jobs and life itself) and repeatedly breaking the law in pursuit of the ability to vote and later better working conditions and wages. I would have preferred for the film to have been more focused on the movement. Instead, much of it was about the fictional story of Maud and her family – thus my lower rating for the film.

Mulligan delivers a solid performance as Maud. Bonham Carter is even stronger as Edith, and Gleeson is excellent in an understated performance as Inspector Steed. The film is rated PG-13 for a small amount of adult language, violence and one brief scene of nudity when women are stripped of their clothing and given uniforms in jail.


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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS

Hymns IIMusic Review ~ Hymns II: Shine on Us – Michael W. Smith
****

This is the follow-up to the multi-talented Michael W. Smith’s 2014 Hymns album recorded for the Cracker Barrel restaurants. This one could have been titled Hymns, Worship Songs and Patriotic Songs, as it includes some or all of these. As with all of Smith’s projects (and I’ve been a fan since his 1983 debut Project (a song from that album is included here), they are done with excellence. Here are a few thoughts about each song included on the project:

Down to the River to Pray – a fantastic version (musically and vocally with background choir), of a traditional song that was sung by Alison Krauss on the soundtrack of the 2000 film O Brother Where Art Thou? It starts off the album on a high note. It’s my favorite song on the album.

I Need Thee – the traditional hymn written by Annie Sherwood Hawks in 1872, with the chorus written by Robert Lowry and music composed by Robert Lowry. Begins with Smith on piano and vocal with light strings and then builds with a backing choir.

Jesus, Only Jesus – this is Matt Redman’s excellent song from his 2013 Your Grace Finds Me album. Starts with Smith on piano and vocals, and then builds powerfully with light drums and backing vocals.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus – written by Helen H. Lemmel in 1922. Features backing vocals from Audrey Assad. Begins with Smith on the piano and vocal and some light strings.

I’ll Fly Away – An upbeat version with drums, fiddle, banjo, backing vocals and a bluegrass feel. Was written by Albert Edward Brumley in 1929.

I Don’t Know Why (Jesus Loves Me) – a wonderful Andre Crouch song. Smith brings a smooth black gospel feel with choir to it. Not the first time Smith has covered an Andre Crouch song, singing “Jesus is the Answer” on the 1996 Tribute: Songs of Andre Crouch album.

His Eye is On the Sparrow – the song was originally written in 1905 by lyricist Civilla D. Martin and composer Charles H. Gabriel. The song is most associated with actress-singer Ethel Waters who used the title for her autobiography. Smith uses a scaled back approach, singing with piano and some backing strings.

Shine on Us – really a prayer to the Lord written by Smith and wife Debbie that has been covered by Phillips, Craig & Dean. It’ a ballad with piano, strings, light drums and backing vocals that gently builds toward a powerful ending.

That we may be saved
That we may have life
To find our way In the darkest night
Let Your love come over us
Let Your light shine on us

Nearer My God to Thee – a beautiful rendition of a hymn written by Sarah Flower Adams in 1841. Opens with violin and then Smith’s voice and piano. Features a duet with Susan Ashton.

I’d Rather Have Jesus – based on a 1922 poem by Rhea F. Miller, this was one of George Beverly Shea’s signature songs. Smith gives us a beautiful tender vocal, with piano and strings that builds gently with backing vocals.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded – Paul Gerhardt provided a German translation of Bernard of Clairvaux’s text in 1656, and about 200 years later James Waddell Alexander translated Gerhardt’s German text into English. Smith gives us a beautiful tender version with piano and strings that builds gently with backing vocals.

Be Still My Soul – This hymn was originally written in German by Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel in 1753. Smith’s vocal is paired with his piano and light strings that builds with backing vocals.

Great is the Lord – an excellent new version of Smith classic song from his first album Project in 1983. Features excellent backing vocals and instrumentation.

Great are you Lord
And worthy of glory
Great are you Lord
And worthy of praise
Great are you Lord
I lift up my voice
I lift up my voice
Great are you Lord
Great are you Lord

A Mighty Fortress is Our God – Martin Luther’s great Reformation hymn is based on Psalm 46. It is a celebration of God’s sovereign power over all earthly and spiritual forces, and of the sure hope believers have in him because of Christ. Smith gives us a beautiful and powerful version of this triumphant hymn, slowing down the pace and featuring excellent backing vocals and church organ. Definitely a highlight.

America the Beautiful – this is the one misstep as far as song selection is concerned. Its inclusion reminded me of when Cracker Barrel stuck “Cinderella” at the end of Steven Curtis Chapman’s excellent 2013 hymns project Deep Roots. Both songs are good, they just don’t fit on a hymns project. Like many of the songs this one starts simply with vocal and piano and then builds to a powerful ending with strings and backing vocals, with a bit of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the very end of the song. I can hear this song being played during 4th of July fireworks celebrations this year.

Most of the arrangements and instrumentation is kept simple, except where noted, and for the most part Smith chooses to goes with a light, scaled back production, different from his normal releases. The scaled back production and instrumentation at times expose his voice, never strong, as vulnerable and at times thin. But overall, this is a highly satisfying and wonderful new release which will be loved by those who love the hymns and Smith’s music.

music news

  • Wow to the Deadness. I’m excited about the February 5 release of Wow to the Deadness by Steve Taylor and the Danielson Foil. Read our review here.
  • New Andy Mineo Video. Check out the video for his song “Now I Know”, from his excellent album Uncomfortable.
  • New Scott Roley Music. I got to know Scott a bit when he joined Michael Card at a Biblical Imagination Conference at our church a few years back. I was excited to hear about his new album Nine Guitars which is now available on iTunes. The album includes “The Old Man”, which Scott included on his Patient Endurance release of a few years back (compilation of earlier songs and a few new ones). Scott is a believer who walks the talk as he lives among the poor in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out his books Hard Bargain: A Beautiful Place to Live and God’s Neighborhood: A Hopeful Journey in Racial Reconciliation and Community Renewal

Favorite Quotes of the Week

  • Double lives take half as long. Steve Taylor
  • People will always question the good they hear about you, but believe the bad without a second thought. Lecrae
  • Leaders activate people through passion, not pity. Andy Mineo
  • Starve your distractions. Feed your focus. Lecrae
  • I know many super-smart Christians who say Two Corinthians as opposed to 2nd. That being said, please God – protect us from a Trump presidency. Fernando Ortega
  • And as He stands in victory,
    Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
    For I am His and He is mine—
    Bought with the precious blood of Christ. “In Christ Alone” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Chris Tomlin Quote

Song of the Week           

Whatever Happened to Sin? by Steve Taylor

 

This song was included on Steve Taylor’s 1983 debut EP I Want to Be a Clone, but the lyrics are as current as if they were pulled from today’s news. Listen to the song here.

The Christian counselor wrote, quote
“Who is the only humane choice aheadSteve Taylor
If you can’t support it
Why don’t you abort it instead?”

You say you pray to the sky
Why? When you’re afraid to take a stand down here
‘Cause while the holy talk reads like a bad ad lib
Silence screams you were robbing the crib

Say it ain’t none of my business, huh?
A woman’s got a right to choose
Now a grave digger, next you pull the trigger what then?
Whatever happened to sin?

I heard the reverend say
“Gay is probably normal in the Good Lord’s sight
What’s to be debated?
Jesus never stated what’s right”

I’m no Theology nut
But the Reverend may be a little confused
For if the Lord don’t care and he chooses to ignore, ah
Tell it to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah

Call it just an alternate lifestyle, huh?
Morality lies within
Consciences are restin’, please repeat the question again
Whatever happened to sin?

When the closets are empty and the clinics are full
When your eyes have been blinded by society’s wool
When the streets erupt in your own backyard
You’ll be on your knees praying for the National Guard

If you don’t care now how the problems get solved
You can shake your head later, that you never got involved
‘Cause the call came a ringing from the throne of gold
But you never got the message, never got the message
‘Cause your mind’s on hold

A politician next door
Swore he’d set the Washington Arena on fire
Thinks he’ll gladiate them
But they’re gonna make him a liar

Well, he’s a good ole boy who was born and raised
In the buckle o’ the Bible Belt
But remember when you step into your voting booth
He’ll never lie, he’ll just embellish the truth

Promises were made to be broken, right?
You’ve gotta play the game to win
When you need support, tell them that you born again
Whatever happened to sin?


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

book_review
Stephen CurryStephen Curry: The Incredible Story of One of Basketball’s Sharpest Shooters by Clayton Geoffreys. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 102 pages. 2014
***

My interest in this short unauthorized biography was not necessarily that Stephen Curry is the reigning National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Most Valuable Player, a member of the 2014-15 Championship team or the fact that that his team is currently an incredible 43-4 as I write this, with a real shot at beating the all-time record of 72-10 set by Michael Jordan’s Bulls in the 1995-96 season. What really attracted to me to Curry’s story, in addition to all of the above, is that he is known for his Christian beliefs.

Curry was born in 1988 in Akron, Ohio. His father Del was an NBA player and coach and his mother Sonya was an accomplished volleyball player. They met at Virginia Tech.   His parents provided Stephen and his brother Seth (also a basketball player), the following priorities in life – faith, family and academics above everything else, including sports.

Curry attended Davidson University, where he played for three seasons before leaving for the NBA where he was drafted as the seventh overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in the 2009 draft. In his 104 games at Davidson, Curry finished with averages of 25.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. His 2,635 total points and 414 total three-pointers are both Davidson records.

Curry’s early seasons were hampered by injuries (he spent the entire 2011-12 season recovering from ankle injuries and undergoing a season-ending surgery). He and teammate Klay Thompson, are nicknamed the “Splash Brothers” for their shooting abilities. The author states that even at this relatively early stage of Curry’s career, some are already considering him the greatest shooter in history.

The author takes us through Curry’s NBA career, through most of the 2014-15 season when the Warriors had a league-best record of 67-15, Curry was the top vote-getting in the All-Star Game, and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player. The book went to press before the end of the playoffs and the Warriors winning the NBA Championship.

Curry professed Christ while in the fourth grade at the Central Church of God in Charlotte. He writes bible verses on his basketball shoes. He is married to Ayesha and the couple has two daughters. He has a strong work ethic and though only 27 years old is a wonderful role model. The author tells us that Curry has stated in interviews he felt that God wanted to use him in the league to show that not all successful athletes live the celebrity lifestyle that comes with all the money and fame.

I enjoyed this short book about Steph Curry. The author sometimes goes overboard with superlatives and didn’t have any contact with Curry. Still, for those who want to know about this role model, this is an excellent book to check out.
book news

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount BOOK CLUB – Won’t you read along with us?

Studies in the Sermon on the MountStudies in the Sermon on the Mount by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This book made a significant impact on my wife Tammy when she read and discussed it with friends thirty years ago. When I picked up my diploma the day after graduation ceremonies from Covenant Seminary last year I was given a copy of this book. After enjoying Lloyd-Jones book Spiritual Depression (and the sermons the book was taken from), I couldn’t wait to read this book, which is the printed form of sermons preached for the most part on successive Sunday mornings at Westminster Chapel in London. This week we look at Chapter 22: The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin

    • There is nothing at the present time which is more urgently necessary than that we should truly grasp the biblical doctrine with respect to sin. I assert that most of our failures and troubles in the Church, as well as in the world, are due to the fact that we have not really understood this doctrine.
    • I suggest that unless we are clear about the doctrine of sin we shall never truly understand the New Testament way of salvation.
    • Regeneration is meaningless to people who have a negative view of sin and do not realize its profundity.
    • If you dislike the New Testament doctrine of sin, it simply means that you are not a Christian. For you cannot be one without believing that you must be born again and without realizing that nothing but the death of Christ upon the cross saves you and reconciles you to God.
    • There is no true evangelism without the doctrine of sin, and without an understanding of what sin is.
    • A gospel which merely says `Come to Jesus’, and offers Him as a Friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convicting of sin, is not New Testament evangelism.
    • If you do not like the doctrine of hell you are just disagreeing with Jesus Christ. He, the Son of God, believed in hell; and it is in His exposure of the true nature of sin that He teaches that sin ultimately lands men in hell.
    • Self-satisfaction, smugness and glibness are the very antithesis of the New Testament doctrine of holiness.
    • Above all, this doctrine of sin leads us to see the absolute need of a power greater than ourselves to deliver us. It is a doctrine that makes a man run to Christ and rely upon Him; it makes him realize that without Him he can do nothing.
    • Finally, it is surely only a true grasp of the New Testament doctrine of sin that enables us to realize the greatness of God’s love to us.
    • Why do not we love God as we should? It is because we have never realized what He has done for us in Christ, and this itself is because we have not realized the nature and the problem of sin. It is only as we see what sin really is in the sight of God, and realize that, nevertheless, He did not spare His only Son, that we begin to understand and to measure His love.
    • The first thing our Lord emphasizes is what we may call the depth or the power of sin.
    • Sin is not merely a matter of actions and of deeds; it is something within the heart that leads to the action. In other words the teaching here is the characteristic teaching of the Bible everywhere about this subject, namely, that what we must really concentrate upon is not so much sins as sin.
    • Then there is the perverting nature and effect of sin. Sin is something that perverts.
    • Sin has perverted man, turning good itself into evil.
    • Finally, sin is something which is destructive.
    • God and sin are utterly incompatible, and therefore sin, of necessity, leads to hell.

I'm currently reading...


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THIS & THAT and Favorite Quotes of the Week

this.n.that-small

CHRISTIAN LIVING:

  • Should You Share Your Sexual Past? David Murray writes “Should you share your sexual past with the person you plan to marry? Personally, I’ve never been convinced that this is always necessary or wise for a dating or an engaged couple.”
  • Colton Dixon and the Craziness of Saving Sex for Marriage. Trevin Wax writes about comments posted to a recent People magazine article about Colton Dixon and his new wife waiting until marriage to have sex.
  • Anxiety. In this “Minute with Maxwell”, John Maxwell encourages us to share our anxieties with God or others. Don’t keep them, but find a way to pass them on.
  • D.A Carson on the Grounds of Our Assurance. Here is a powerful reminder from D.A. Carson, the President of The Gospel Coalition.
  • Desiring Knowledge and Maturity. Kevin DeYoung writes “All else being equal, I’d rather have a mature Christian with simple theological knowledge than an extremely knowledgeable, well-read Christian without a lot of maturity. But, of course, neither situation is desirable.”
  • A Prayer for Reaffirming, Resting and Rejoicing in God’s Sovereignty. Here is our prayer of the week from friend Scotty Smith.
  • mormonsWhen the Mormons Come Calling. Tim Challies writes “So this is my strategy when the Mormons visit: Preach the gospel. The gospel, after all, is the source of true joy. This is the same strategy I employ when the far-less-polite and far-more-aggressive Jehovah’s Witnesses come knocking.”
  • Defy the Impossible in Front of You. Marshall Segal writes “Whatever the burden or obstacle or fear is in front of you, today is another opportunity to ask, “Is anything too hard for God? (Genesis 18:14). Another opportunity to redefine what might happen if He moved. Another opportunity to defy the impossible with faith.”
  • 11 Questions to Ask Ourselves about Debt. Randy Alcorn offers these questions to consider before we go into debt.
  • Jesus and Performance Fatigue. Scott Sauls writes “When we lose our intimacy with God, it’s not because God has shifted. In these moments and seasons of distance, we can truly say to him, “It’s not you, it’s me.”
  • The Character of the Christian: A One-Woman Man. Tim Challies continues his series on the character of the Christian.
Doug Michael’s Cartoon of the Week

              Doug Michael’s Cartoon of the Week

CHRISTIANS AND CULTURE:

Courtesy of World Magazine

                                         Courtesy of World Magazine

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

  • Antinomianism Is Not the Antidote for Legalism. Tony Reinke writes “I doubt I will ever forget the place I was walking when I first heard (Sinclair) Ferguson explain why antinomianism is not the antidote for legalism, and why legalism is not the antidote for antinomianism. One deadly poison cannot cure another deadly poison, but each poison calls for the counterpoison of grace.”
  • Questions and Answers with R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and Steven Lawson. Watch this video from a Ligonier conference in which R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and Steven Lawson answer questions about standing firm in the faith and other doctrinal issues. The Questions and Answer sessions at the conferences are always among my favorite sessions.
  • Deserted Island Top 5: John MacArthur. Listen as Stephen Nichols visits with John MacArthur about his top 5 books should he be on a deserted island.
  • Go and Tell, “It is Finished” This eleven minute video is part six of a six-part series through John Piper’s book What Jesus Demands from the World.
  • Covenant Seminary to Offer Classes in Nashville.  Megan Fowler writes “Beginning this month, Covenant Theological Seminary (Note: where I got an MATS degree), will offer live classes in Nashville for its Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS) degree. The second site will allow students to earn up to 23 of the 48 credit hours in Nashville in conjunction with completing the rest of the of the blended MATS degree either online or at Covenant’s St. Louis campus.”
  • Old Princeton: Her Pastoral Heart. I was blessed to have two courses at Covenant Seminary with Dr. David Calhoun. He writes “For a hundred years Old Princeton Seminary trained men of missionary zeal, evangelistic fervor, pastoral loyalty and scholarly ability.”
  • God’s Glory in Judgment. In this short video from the 2010 Ligonier National Conference, R.C. Sproul considers God’s glory in judgment from a message in which he addressed the difficult question “Can we enjoy Heaven knowing of loved ones in Hell?”
  • 12 Church Enemies. David Murray writes “Every pastor will eventually have to face enemies within the church, people who are dedicated to damage and even destroy them. As these enemies have a range of motives and methods, and can be deadly if not recognized early, here’s a selection of the kinds of enemies that can be found in many churches (some belong to more than one category – some belong to all!)”Sermon on the Mount
  • Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Romans 7. Ben Bailie shares the final installment in a special three-part “Perplexing Passages” forum examining the long-debated Pauline passage, Romans 7:13–25.
  • Sermon on the Mount.  I’m excited about this new 12-part teaching series from Sinclair Ferguson. I’ve listened to the first message of the series and look forward to the rest of the messages. It’s an excellent companion resource to Martyn Lloyd-Jones Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, which I’m reading at this time.

Quotes of the Week

  • We are free to choose, but we are always a slave to our greatest desire. Jonathan Edwards
  • The poison of self-righteousness = the main thing keeping you from God isn’t so much your sins but your damnable good works. John Gerstner
  • If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning Christ’s name in it, it ought to be his last. Charles Spurgeon
  • If your name is in the Book of Life, your calling is not to stay alive but to stay in love with Christ. John Piper
  • “If I have THAT, my life will have meaning. I’ll have value and feel significant and secure.” THAT—is the object of your worship. Tim Keller
  • We are great sinners but Jesus is a greater Savior! John Newton
  • In the Lord Christ alone; in him only is God an all-sufficient God to any, and an exceeding great reward. John Owen
  • Read two old books for every new one. J.I. Packer
  • Compassion gives people space to be themselves. It doesn’t decide what people need. It doesn’t treat others like machines needing to be fixed. Paul Miller

R.C. Quote


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My Interview with the authors of THE SERVING LEADER and an Excerpt from the Book

My Interview with Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert, authors of the best-selling leadership classic The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business and Community

I recently visited with the authors of this best-selling leadership classic which Ken Blanchard has called “the most practical guide available to implementing servant leadership in your life and work”. The book has just been released in a 10th Anniversary Edition, which includes a very helpful new chapter. The authors use a compelling and at times quite touching fictional story based on real characters to outline the basics of what they call “Serving Leadership”.

So many themes in the book resonated with me as I too have a passion for servant leadership, helping people find work that plays to their strengths, learning from failure, etc.

Coram Deo (CD): A theme that flows through the book is the paradoxical nature of the Serving Leader. Could you speak about that?
Paradox lies at the heart of a great deal of wise living. For example, a good parent must be both firm and warm with their child, hold strong standards and also bend to show care and empathy with a beloved child. In leadership, we noticed paradoxes throughout great leadership practice. For example, to reach many people with our leadership influence, we need to focus very carefully on how we influence those closest to us. Another example is that the best way to show care and respect for those “beneath” us is to help them stand taller, grow stronger, and gain capacities that we have.

CD: You use the active word “serving” leadership. What were your reasons for that, rather than the more commonly used servant leadership?
There has been a great deal of confusion for executives in the servant leadership space, and some of it has come from seeing servant leadership as a set of ideals or lofty principles. It is difficult to know what to do with an ideal, other than to admire it. We chose the language of “serving leadership” to make this work a verb, to focus on the actions, applications, behaviors, and disciplines that we see great leaders exhibit. As an active word, we can practice it, master it, measure it, and teach others to do the same. All our work is about the applicability of key leadership behaviors, and how the research correlates those behaviors to real results.

CD: The book states that the Serving Leader model works for a small team, a large business or a community of several million. I haven’t read as much about how leaders impact large communities. Could you comment on that?
Center for Serving Leadership gathers Serving Leader communities together in major cities and geographies for the purpose of embedding the practices of serving leadership into many companies as well as public sector and social sector agencies. We do this in Cohorts so that the leaders learn together as a cross-section of leaders in that area. For example, Rochester, New York, is building a Serving Leader Community around their work with Center for Serving Leadership, and is leveraging the teachings from the book to catalyze a Greater Rochester movement to transform the economic and social conditions of the region. Similar groups in Chicago, Indianapolis, West Palm Beach, and elsewhere are doing the very same this with us.

CD: In the book you use an upside down pyramid model for the Serving Leader. Could you talk about why you chose that model?
Leadership is exercised both from the top and from the bottom. Leaders hold their authority in championing vision, watching over values, and keeping a sharp eye on the disciplines needed for success. At the same time, in Upend the Pyramid, leaders go to the bottom, as it were, putting themselves at the service of helping grow, become more, gain what’s needed for success, etc. “How can I help you achieve your goals?” is a great question for a leader to ask followers. This is a “serving leader” question, to be sure, not a command-and-control question. And it really drives great results.

CD:  The book at times touches on the faith of some of the characters. I enjoy helping people to integrate their faith and work. It would seem that a Serving Leader model would resonate with people of faith. Would you agree with that?
I do agree with that. I’m a person of faith, and have many clients who are, too. I also have many clients who are of differing faiths, or no faiths, and I am very committed to serve them well, help them get better, and share the principles that just plain work.

CD: One of the teaching points in the book is “To address your weaknesses, focus on your strengths”. That seems like one of those paradoxes we were talking about. How do you do this?
This is another paradox. We must fix certain weaknesses, such as always showing up late or having a tendency to stretch the truth. Such weaknesses can’t be ignored. But if we’re bad at spreadsheets and great in business development, our best contribution to the team is to do more business development and to partner with a colleague who is great with spreadsheets. There is no well-rounded leader; however, there are well-rounded leadership teams.

CD: I was interested in the discussion about Serving Leaders running to a great purpose. You write that this is the first action that marks the Serving Leader, the foundation that everything else follows. Can you tell us what you mean by the great purpose?
In the greatest companies on earth, leaders are helping their people understand the meaningfulness of daily labor. People do their best work when they understand how their tasks serve others, make the world better, and cause their work day to be worth it. Great Purpose, if it is to awaken great commitment and engagement within people, must speak to the question of how this job contributes to the valuable service of others. For example, Industrial Scientific Corporation manufactures gas detection devices worn by industrial workers. They read The Serving Leader, and fashioned this Great Purpose Statement, “The workers of Industrial Scientific are dedicating their careers to eliminating death on the job in this century.” This is the kind of Great Purpose statement that gets people excited about coming to work. They teach their people to ask, “Would the device I’m working on right now be acceptable to me if I knew that it was my dad’s life that depended on it working well?”

CD: I enjoyed the new chapter in this anniversary edition titled “Mike Wilson’s Updates”, which has Mike looking at lessons for personal growth and also lessons for organizational performance utilizing the framework of the Five Powerful Actions of Serving Leaders.  One of the things I learned was how Serving Leadership can strengthen (and heal) family relationships. Can you talk about that?
We see Serving Leader work traveling home with our clients all the time. In our Cohort work at Center for Serving Leadership, when I’m talking to an executive who is on the fence about joining a Serving Leader Cohort, and when I know that their wife is friends with the wife of another company owner who previously was in a cohort, I ask the wives to talk to each other. The reason I do is that spouses and children see the difference, feel the difference that is created by this work. It works at work and it works at home.

CD: Another learning I noted was under “Blaze the Trail”, where Serving Leaders are encouraged to physically co-locate teams that will benefit from working closely together, or find innovative ways to effectively collaborate virtually. We are doing both in the organization that I work in. Are you seeing a lot of organizations adopt these best practices?
We are seeing this more and more, but there’s a long way to go here.

CD: You talk about failure being a gift. Is that another of those paradoxes? What do you mean by failure being a gift?
Great leaders have awareness both of self and of others. They pay attention to how they are impacting others, and what kind of a wake they are creating behind them. Failure helps us develop that capacity. Many leaders start out with a great deal of talent, drive, and confidence, which is wonderful and all. But it’s failure that helps them start to wonder how others are doing, what others are thinking, what they’re missing in their dash to their goals. I’ve never met a great leader that didn’t go to the school of failure, learn from it, and start to pay much, much more attention to what their teammates and colleagues see, think, know, are concerned about, etc. Failure (and the pain of it) CAN make us better. Some leaders respond to failure by doubling down on protecting themselves from having to feel anything, but that’s not a path to lasting results.

CD: In discussing “Building on Strengths”, you mention strengths assessments.  Do you have any favorite assessment tools?
I use many, including StrengthsFinder, System for Investigating Motivated Ability (SIMA), StandOut, DiSC, Predictive Index, and Kolbe.

CD: Mike mentions that he will be writing “How the Serving Leader Grows”. Might this be a future book?
This book is done in its first draft. Perhaps a 2017 publication.

CD: I really enjoyed this updated edition of The Serving Leader, and hope that many take advantage of this new release. Do you have any closing thoughts?
Big, big, big appreciation to you, and my apology for such a late response. I was traveling early to late all week, and couldn’t keep my eyes open at night. I hope this is still useful to you. Blessings!

CD: Thanks so much for your time. Best wishes with the new edition of the book.

EXCERPT FROM THE SERVING LEADER

The Serving LeaderKenneth R. Jennings is a best-selling author, speaker, and active consultant in organizational leadership, serving as Chairman of Third River Partners. John Stahl-Wert is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and expert in growing great leaders, serving as Director of the Center for Serving Leadership. Together they co-authored The Serving Leader – now revised and updated for the 10th Anniversary Edition and available on Amazon.

The following is excerpted from their book, The Serving Leader. In this excerpt, Mike (who has been called to help his dying father’s leadership project) and his father are using their last days together to repair their relationship. Together they are exploring the concept of servant leadership. Here they discuss the spiritual aspect of servant leadership.

The Spiritual Part

“Can I ask you both a question?” I continued. “While we’re dealing with missing pieces?”

“Ask,” Dad responded.

“How does the spiritual part work? Or more precisely, is the spiritual part required for Serving Leadership to work? You both carry around Bibles.”

“It’s important to me, Mike,” Dad said, his voice quavering with emotion. “My faith is important to me because it keeps me in mind of the fact that my life doesn’t belong to me. My living needs to serve something bigger than myself.”

“I know that’s true of you, Dad,” I answered, wondering why he was explaining this to me. I knew it full well.

“I want it to be true of you, too, Mike,” Dad continued, his face now full of feeling.

“It is true of me,” I answered strongly, now understanding how he had taken my question. He thought I was back to my personal ruminations, which at this moment I wasn’t. “It’s becoming true of me, I should say. If you’re troubled about my part in this, you can put your mind at ease. I’m on the way.” I walked over to where my dad was sitting and gave him a hug. I really appreciated how much he cared for me, for the whole of me.

“You were really asking two questions, weren’t you, Mike?” Rock said. “One of a personal nature and one more professional.”

“Thank you, Rock, for saying that so well,” I answered, glad for the graceful transition he offered. “I work with a lot of clients, and I need to provide business value regardless of a client’s spiritual orientation or nonorientation. I want to promote principles and actions that can be applied in many different settings and that work for many different kinds of people. Some of them are spiritually inclined, to be sure. And some have deeply humane principles that aren’t religiously motivated. And some are driven to build great and profitable companies. So, yes, my question is, does Serving Leadership just plain work?”

“It just plain works,” Dad answered. Rock nodded. “Many of our friends are from different faiths,” Dad continued, “and many of the firms that use our principles have no faith agenda.”

“We have colleagues in government,” Rock added, “who are reporting great benefit from Serving Leadership. I use these principles right here in my Navy post.”

“I guess I loaded up your schedule with a lot of the more faith-oriented colleagues, Mike,” my dad then said, a grin of confession on his face. “A father’s prerogative.”

“But here’s the point,” Rock continued. “Bring great purpose to the table, turn your leadership into service to your workers, hold high expectations, make sure your team has what it needs in training and resources and clear running ground, and maximize the strengths you have. Take these actions, and you’ll get real acceleration and impact. We believe it’s how we’ve been designed to function best.

“Faith or no faith,” Dad added.

“Whether working with a small team, working with an entire corporation, or working with all the sectors of a great city,” Rock said.

“Live it out very personally, or set the principles in motion at a large corporate level. Let it bring deep private meaning to your life and to your family, or let it produce great public value,” Dad added. “Better yet, do both.”

Both men paused.

“But please don’t steer clear of God in your own life, Mike,” Dad continued. “Your father speaking here. Serving Leadership requires a deep humility and a willingness to pour yourself into the good of others. I pray that you let yourself be nurtured for this by something larger than yourself.”

I picked up my notebook, which was an almost unreadable scribble of notes, filled with whole sections of Rock’s remarks that I tried to capture word for word, as well as sidebar notations. I knew I was going to have my hands full getting it down more clearly later. Not to mention the job of actually living it out. That’s going to make the job of writing it all down a cinch in comparison.

I looked over at my dad, who had not yet gotten out of his seat. He looked back at me with eyes that were suddenly very tired. And very content.


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The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business and Community BOOK REVIEW & QUOTES

The Serving LeaderThe Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business and Community by Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert. 10th Anniversary Edition. Barrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 165 pages. 2016.  
****

This best-selling leadership classic, which no less of a leadership expert as Ken Blanchard has called “the most practical guide available to implementing servant leadership in your life and work” has been revised and updated with a helpful new chapter in a 10th Anniversary Edition. The authors use a compelling and at times quite touching fictional story based on real characters to outline the basics of what they call “Serving Leadership”.

Much as leadership fables by Patrick Lencioni do, this book, though written as fiction, is based on real people, organizations and results achieved. The story revolves around the relationship between Mike Wilson and his successful and respected father Robert Taylor Wilson, the CEO of his organization. Their relationship hasn’t been the best, to say the least. Robert often wasn’t there for Mike growing up. Now he reaches out to Mike, saying that he is ill and needs Mike to step in for him for a while.

When Mike gets to Philadelphia, he is introduced to the “No-Name Team”. They introduce him to the concept of “the Serving Leader”. He is told that this approach paradoxically turns almost all previous thinking about leadership and turns it on its head. To demonstrate this they use an upside-down pyramid.

The plan was for Mike to spend time with each member of the team focusing on the person’s key projects, learning both by observation and getting to work on some of the projects. After Mike finds out that his father is very ill and doesn’t have much time left, he realizes that he has three objectives:

  • Learn what Serving Leaders do and how their approach works
  • Use the upside-down pyramid to structure what he learns
  • Be with his father while he dies

We follow Mike as he spends time with each member of the “No-Name Team”, learning the concepts of a Serving Leader. That leads him to write a job description for the Serving Leader. A summary of that description, using the upside-down pyramid, is that Serving Leaders:

  • Run to Great Purpose
  • Upend the Pyramid
  • Raise the Bar
  • Blaze the Trail
  • Build on Strength

A helpful new chapter for the 10th Anniversary Edition is “Mike Wilson’s Updates”. In the years since we last heard from Mike, he shares lessons for personal growth and organizational performance by utilizing the Five Powerful Actions of the Serving Leader, putting each lesson into one or another of the actions.

So many themes in the book resonated with me as I too have a passion for serving (servant) leadership, helping people find work that plays to their strengths, learning from failure, etc.  I highly recommend this book, which would be a good one to read and discuss with your leadership team or those you are mentoring.

15 Quotes from The Serving Leader by Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert

 I recently read 10th Anniversary Edition of The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business and Community by Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert. Here are 15 helpful quotes that I appreciated from the book:

  • The Serving Leader is down here unleashing the strengths, talents and passions of those he or she serves. It works this way for a team of two, a business with a thousand employees, or a community of several million.
  • When a leader keeps personal ego in check – and builds the confidence and self-esteem of others – it is then possible for the team to work together.
  • I’m realizing that something else is going on that’s very different, that seems almost contradictory. On the one hand, you’re serving people, but on the other hand, you’ve got really tough standards!
  • The model used by Jesus of Nazareth is instructive here. He could have chosen from thousands of his eager followers, but he chose only twelve, spending the rest of his time relating to them, serving them, and preparing them to do the very same with others. And look at the multiplied results that today validate his methodology.
  • Paradoxically you get better results by shifting attention away from your weaknesses. It’s far more productive to shift your focus to your strengths.
  • Serving Leaders are living paradoxes.
  • My role model for this business of great purpose is found in one of the oldest management texts in the world. The text is Nehemiah.
  • Run to Great Purpose is the first action that makes the Serving Leader. It’s the foundation. Everything else follows.
  • Making a difference for others is the point of our lives. It is the great purpose that gives us everything we need to run the best race we can.
  • Serving Leadership requires a deep humility and a willingness to pour yourself into the good of others.
  • What the greatest Serving Leaders have taught me over the years is that the lion’s share of great acts committed inside great businesses day by day are done by ordinary workers who choose to give their full best.
  • Growth in Serving Leadership strengthens organizational performance and strengthens (and also heals) family relationships.
  • Great leaders take active steps to really learn who those people (their direct reports) are, who they are as people. They ask them about their lives, their aspirations, their strengths and needs – and then they make sure to really listen!
  • If you want your workers to go above and beyond, to dig deep and do their utmost, then you must go above and beyond. Raise the Bar starts with the leader who raises the bar for his own attitudes, intentions, behavior, and results. Leading involves going first, and that is never truer than with the leader’s own commitment to being fully engaged.
  • Failure brings with it one of the best chances to grow and develop real strength.

Second Serving Leader Quote