{"id":3292,"date":"2014-11-13T15:54:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T15:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3292"},"modified":"2014-11-13T15:54:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T15:54:40","slug":"profile-of-a-denominational-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/profile-of-a-denominational-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile of a denominational leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

After skimming and reading several chapters of \u201cHandbook of Leadership Theory and Practice\u201d; chapter ten caught my interest: Mark A. Zupan\u2019s \u201cAn Economic Perspective on Leadership.\u201d[1]<\/a> Don\u2019t judge the chapter by its title \u2013 this is very practical.<\/p>\n

The economic perspective presented is that of the \u201cprisoner\u2019s dilemma\u201d as a leader\u2019s opportunity: \u201cthe prisoner\u2019s dilemma illustrates that there are settings in which the pursuit of self-interest leads to suboptimal outcomes.\u201d[2]<\/a> This strategy is employed by law enforcement to encourage prisoners to confess to lesser offenses and thus shorter prison sentences vs. not confessing which can result in longer imprisonment. Working with law enforcement is presented as the best possible future.<\/p>\n

That approach offers insight for leadership: \u201cleadership involves the creation of a future and promotion of cooperative behavior by parties enrolled in an endeavor such that more is attained jointly over time than could be realized by individual, self-maximizing behavior in any given period.\u201d[3]<\/a> In other words, \u201cleaders ensure that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.\u201d This prisoner\u2019s dilemma framework produces the following successful outcomes that are applicable to leadership: \u201cvision, enrollment, commitment, integrity, communication and authenticity.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"stumbo-smiling\"The new denominational leader of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), John Stumbo, has demonstrated those very qualities of leadership. He has been the president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance for about sixteen months, and of note to our GFES community is John graduated in 2011 from George Fox with a D. Min in Leadership and Emerging Culture, and was the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Dissertation Award. John\u2019s bio can be seen click via this link: John Stumbo’s Bio<\/a>.[5]<\/a> For those interested in video blogs designed to share his vision and direction with C&MA pastors, these can be viewed here: Stumbo’s Video Blog<\/a>[6]<\/a> My favorite is #4.<\/p>\n

This alum is an outstanding leader; what follows is Mark Zupan\u2019s leadership qualities as demonstrated by John Stumbo:<\/p>\n

First Vision<\/strong>. Theodore Hesburgh stated, \u201cThe very essence of leadership is that you have a vision.\u201d[7]<\/a> Any leader needs to have a clear picture of the future state that he or she can inspire others toward. Without a vision, collaborative action by the group, in this case a denomination, wouldn\u2019t be possible. In the early months of his tenure, Dr. Stumbo, in collaboration with others, began to understand that a denomination is beliefs that we hold, a mission that we share and people that we value. That understanding applied became the following vision: we are \u201ca Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family.<\/em>\u201d While that sounds simple, it\u2019s rich; and it reflects our Alliance distinctive. Moreover, it captures John\u2019s profound sense of being Spirit-led, and his passion to reflect the diversity and scope of the Act 1:8 text. \u00a0It\u2019s encouraging to see that many changes\u2014some subtle, some wide-ranging\u2014have already been made to support this vision.<\/p>\n

Second Enrollment<\/strong>. This isn\u2019t being engaged because it\u2019s on my position description, or because I\u2019m going to be evaluated for it and compensated appropriately. This type of enrollment is strictly voluntary\u2014the gathering of advocates, promoters, supporters, workers because they believe in you, want to go with you. It\u2019s having followers. Vision and enrollment go hand in hand; people see where you are going and get on the bus. Dr. Stumbo is more down-to-earth than he is dramatic; you wouldn\u2019t be attracted to his charisma, you\u2019d be attracted to his passion. He\u2019s simply passionate about Jesus and about what the C&MA is doing around the world for Christ\u2019s kingdom. His passion and authenticity draws people to follow him with that same passion.<\/p>\n

Third Commitment<\/strong>. John\u2019s recent history includes a long, debilitating, life-threatening disease that almost took his life. Giving all glory to God for his healing, he\u2019d say he\u2019s mostly restored. \u201cMostly\u201d one would never know that by watching his actions. During Dr. Stumbo\u2019s first year as president he\u2019s been on the road with over one hundred speaking engagements: district conferences, churches, leadership forums, retreats, and missionary conferences around the world. His commitment is earnest and sacrificial. He\u2019s sharing vision, teaching and listening; listening to the rank and file, helping us realize we\u2019re all a part of this endeavor. His pace and passion is a great example to all of us.<\/p>\n

Fourth Integrity<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 From Dr. Stumbo\u2019s widely cast demonstration of commitment and his genuine story, he\u2019s become a type for others to follow. Others will continue to follow this leader as long as his behaviors continue to reflect a life in keeping with the vision that he\u2019s communicated.<\/p>\n

Fifth Communication<\/strong>. His communication is compelling and it\u2019s consistent. Every month he offers a video blog designed for senior church and mission leaders (see link above). These blogs, his books, along with his ambitious schedule create an environment of communication and accessibility to the president that hasn\u2019t been known previously.<\/p>\n

Sixth Authenticity<\/strong>. According to Mark Zupan, \u201cA number of prominent scholars, leaders, and writes have pointed to the importance of authenticity, character, or \u201cbeing\u201d as an essential aspect of leadership\u201d. He goes on to quote Frances Hesselbein, admired former CEO of the Girl Scouts and the Peter Drucker Foundation: \u201cLeadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do<\/em>.\u201d[8]<\/a> Dr. Stumbo drips with authenticity; meet him in person, read a book, watch a video blog \u2013 he is vulnerable and authentic. He\u2019s all out there, so when you experience his leadership you\u2019re getting to know the person.<\/p>\n

You might be surprised from reading this post that I don\u2019t consider myself a C&MA cheerleader. I\u2019d count myself as one of the many walking wounded when it comes to encountering denominational leaders. Yet this man makes me believe I can be better than I am. He calls me to a higher vision and a broader vision. Because of his leadership, I\u2019m trusting that a fresh wind of the Spirit is coming our way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, eds., Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice: an Hbs Centennial Colloquium On Advancing Leadership<\/em> (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2010), 265-290.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 267.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 269.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid.,<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> http:\/\/www.cmalliance.org\/about\/family\/leadership\/download\/stumbo-speaker-bio.pdf<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> http:\/\/www.cmalliance.org\/video\/series\/john-stumbo-video-blog\/<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, eds., Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice: an Hbs Centennial Colloquium On Advancing Leadership<\/em> (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2010), 269.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 285-286.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After skimming and reading several chapters of \u201cHandbook of Leadership Theory and Practice\u201d; chapter ten caught my interest: Mark A. Zupan\u2019s \u201cAn Economic Perspective on Leadership.\u201d[1] Don\u2019t judge the chapter by its title \u2013 this is very practical. The economic perspective presented is that of the \u201cprisoner\u2019s dilemma\u201d as a leader\u2019s opportunity: \u201cthe prisoner\u2019s dilemma […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[577,2,578,410,575],"class_list":["post-3292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cma","tag-dminlgp","tag-mark-zupan","tag-nohria-and-khurana","tag-stumbo","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3296,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3292\/revisions\/3296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}