A Macchiato with Power on the Side
Starbucks is a strange place to have a threshold experience with the dynamics of power. But on a November day in 2023, at a café in a town you’ve never heard of, meeting with a courageous leader you’ve never heard of, that’s what happened for me.
For a long time, I held a pretty unnuanced view that power was simply corrosive, especially when concentrated, and it needed to be leveraged as little as possible in order to minimize trauma. I was forced to start reimagining some of this when I enjoyed a coffee with a friend and mentor of mine—a retired special operations general in the United States military. United States. Special operations. Military. General. Those are a lot of “power” words, representing a great deal of concentrated power. Now, what may be helpful in context here is that this man is one of the most humble and open-handed leaders I’ve known—you wouldn’t know of his storied and highly-decorated past or the billions of dollars in assets he has overseen in global leadership unless someone else told you.
I asked him how he avoided the corrosive effects of power, especially in leadership. First, he invited me to step out of my frame that power must be corrosive. Second, we chatted about the most powerful person in history he could think of: Jesus. “Jesus had all the power, but it wasn’t corrosive to him. Power is not, in itself, good or bad; it’s how you use it. Using power to serve, mentor, empower, protect, and elevate others is good leadership, and it honors Christ.”[1]
He told me stories of risking his career for what was right in elevating others, of the need to regularly release power because of the cycle of (re)deployments, and of learning to lead others out of his own wholeness. Though he didn’t use the term “undefended leader,” using Walker’s book as a frame, it’s evident to me this is what he grew to model, especially in moments where trust in self and others were required.[2] The need for character, or what Walker would say as “who you are, not what you know or skills you have….[because] leadership is about trust and it is about power,” was evident throughout our conversation.[3]
The issue of power and how it’s used is not the only element of undefended leadership Powell highlights, but it is a central one. It appears that how we view power and our use of it is directly related to how we view those around us. Are we more trustworthy than they are? Or they than us? Are we willing to risk, to fail, to disappoint?
It’s worth noting that another intersection in my world is the call to mutual authenticity and trust. I’m currently leading my staff team through Benner’s The Gift of Being Yourself; like Powell, he underscores the need to be rooted in something outside of ourselves so that we can truly be ourselves.[4] [5] Undefended leaders and authentic ones are in community with and for others. In undefended leadership, there is freedom because of a security of identity that allows us to “be ourselves” as Christ calls us to life in him. [6] In that space, we interact with power very differently than we might otherwise. [7] But none of this comes without transformation.
There is both hope and danger in power, and the defended preservation of power has resulted in tremendous, systemic injustices.[8] In Reckoning with Power, David Fitch notes that there is “power over” and “power with,” and long-term “power over” (that leverages power differentials and guards them, even with good intention) breeds toxicity, dependence, and division.[9] “Power with” is the undefended power Walker explores—that which is willing to be released to be released as an act of empowerment and development, not simply regained later or leveraged differently. Both Fitch and Walker point to the cross as both an example of undefended power and power with.[10] [11] Fitch would point out that if this undefended/power with is not formed in the way of the cross, it will quickly become power over with hellacious consequences.
So, it seems that concentrated power can be corrosive, but it doesn’t have to be. If we recognize that Jesus is the one who holds power, then it is concentrated with him; he entrusts it to us to use on his behalf as he would use it. Here, we see our engagement with power as a stewardship for which we must give an account; “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Jesus would remind us.[12] Using that power must be modeled in the way of the cross and in pursuit of thriving for the world; here, in that same authority, Jesus invites us to transformation, where we find undefended spaces of adventure.
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[1] Name withheld, personal communication, November 16, 2023.
[2] Walker, Simon P. Leading out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership (The Undefeated Leader Trilogy, bk 1). Carlisle: Piquant Editions Limited, 2007.
[3] Walker, pg. 19.
[4] Walker, 216
[5] Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery, expanded ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 18.
[6] Benner, 75
[7] Walker, 227
[8] Fitch, David E. Reckoning with Power: Why the Church Fails When It’s on the Wrong Side of Power. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2024.
[9] Fitch, 12.
[10] Fitch, 46.
[11] Walker, 10.
[12] Matthew 28:18, NIV
About the Author
Jeremiah Gómez
I get to be Sarah's husband and Jubilee's and Zechariah's dad. I also get to serve as lead pastor at Trinity Church, a dynamic church in the Midwest where we're diligently seeking to Love God, love others, live sent, and be transformed together in community. I love the privilege of working across differences, championing healing and reconciliation in many forms.9 responses to “A Macchiato with Power on the Side”
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Jeremiah,
Thank you for being willing to share your backstage thoughts on power. I am intrigued by the corrosive and concentrated points that you brought out. I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on that and the amoral nature of power under the pretense that it’s all Jesus’ (maybe in Cape Town).
As you consider power and our stewarding responsibility, do you see Jesus’s entrustment of power to us as an expectation that we use it or simply as access if we choose to?
I’ll link to Darren’s rather than start a parallel thread.
I appreciate your reference to Fitch’s book. Michaela started his doctoral program before switching to her passion for the NT. She came home talking about ‘power over’ versus ‘power under’. With your prompting, I pulled the final product off the shelf and appreciate the emphasis of ‘power with.’
I have a thought on Darren’s question of expectation or access. Few commandments jump out like those addressing care for widows, orphans, and to some extent, sojourners (the powerless). I am tempted to combine that with the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, which is commonly taught as a call to use gifts and abilities for the kingdom. Combining the two with a dash of Puritan leaning puts me on the side of expectation. We are extended power for good, ‘power with’.
My read of Walker also landed on the subject of power. Thanks to both for keeping my mind engaged here. I would like this to linger beyond the reading of the week.
Thank you for some great interactions here, Darren and Rich!
Rich, I’m with you in that it seems to be an expectation; Jesus even tells the disciples to wait until they have “been clothed with power from on high” before they go out as his sent Kingdom emissaries (Luke 24:49, NIV). In his sending and promise of power, there is an expectation of its deployment–again, in the way Jesus would use that power.
Darren, do you have a lean here?
Rich, you connect the parable of the talents (expectation) with Jeremiah with the Luke 24 reference to the access, assuming that it will be deployed in the way Jesus would use it. Yet there are times when the apostles could not access the power—Paul with the “thorn” and the disciples’ inability to heal the demon-possessed boy. It seems like these would both be “power over / power with” situations, yet it was not available.
I hear you. The inability to heal passage In Matthew 17 is one where the simple explanation isn’t completely satisfying. One of my commentaries speculates that they were probably relying on their own gifts. ‘Probably’ does not get the citation.
You point me back to 2 Corinthians 12, the fourth time this week. I must really need to hear from this passage. Referring to his thorn, Paul writes, “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’”[1]
I’ll go back downstairs to see if Fitch talks about ‘power from.’ This is Paul, the author of much of the NT. This is written on the heels of his description of visiting the third heaven, whatever that is. If anyone has power, it’s this guy. Yet God uses this thorn in Paul’s side to keep his dependence on the source of power, not on the power itself or how to use it.
I am reminded of Mr. Tumnus describing Aslan to Lucy. “He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”[2] We can only experience the fullness of his power when we recognize our position of weakness with fear and awe.
Finally, I appreciate Jeremiah’s return to a definition of power in his exchange with Geoff. My initial thoughts are aligned with the ability to direct behaviors and decisions. If we are extended power—personality, resource, or positional—then God would expect us to use it for others rather than for ourselves.
I wonder if I am missing a subtilty in your original question and went off in pursuit of my own line of thought.
[1] 2 Corinthians 12:8-9a (NLT).
[2] C.S. Lewis, ‘The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.’ (New York: Dreamscape Media, 2018), 71.
Rich and Darren – I’m so grateful for this interaction. You’re giving me a lot more to process and sit with as I examine how power works and what our invitation into it is. I find myself wondering how someone who has been denied power or agency would answer some of these questions we pose to each other.
I can’t speak for them–as someone who spends a lot of time in roles with positional power and even “expert” authority, I’m sure my perspective is limited. That said, I do have friends who have expressed feeling at the “whim” of the decisions of others based on their immigration status. They’ve likewise expressed feeling very powerless in this cultural moment; to a person, those who are followers of Jesus have expressed that they have the power and wisdom of God to live in that complexity and to offer hope and consolation to others. The power for them isn’t to change their circumstances, but to live faithfully within them.
I wonder if this in some way ties into the “thorn” that Paul refers to, because there Jesus reminds him “my POWER is made perfect in WEAKNESS.” Paul then goes on to say that makes him boastful of his weakness…because that is the very place where God’s power is present and perfect.
Dear Jeremiah,
I think you’ve identified an important topic for us as leaders. How we choose to use the power we have is critical. Jesus’ time in the wilderness preparing for ministry seems to be a vital example of how power should not be used, and his gospel message and healing seem to demonstrate how power should be used.
Based on your journey of considering its merits or demerits, how would you define power today?
Great question, Joff!
First, I agree that in the Gospels, we see power used in the way of Christ and in ways counter to that: the rebuking of the leaders who tithe their spices but neglect justice and mercy, for instance, and the juxtaposition of Jesus, Herod(s), and Pilate as those who engage with power can’t be missed as just a couple of examples.
I’m still sitting with a good, working definiton of power–it’s challenging (I think this is why Fitch defines “power over” and “power with” separately, though “power” is a common term). At a base level, power is the ability to direct behaviors and decisions of others/groups, even against resistance. This is more a “power over” definition, but I think it’s one most would articulate. Power “with” requires us to honor the agency and dignity of others. Fitch offers “power with” as one that “refuses to coerce” but is “released via personal embodied presence, rationality, love, [and] mutuality.”1
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1 Fitch, 38
I love the contrast between “power over” and “power with.” From my various experiences, I can confidently say that “power with” feels much more welcoming and inclusive than the notion of dominating others. Our reading really highlighted how people choose to follow leaders based on trust. So, how can leaders foster that trust to encourage others to follow their lead?