{"id":36789,"date":"2024-04-08T13:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T20:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36789"},"modified":"2024-04-08T08:52:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T15:52:23","slug":"beat-the-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/beat-the-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Beat the System"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legendary Christian Rock band PETRA recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. They were formed in 1972 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is pretty close to when and where I was formed: 1971 in Osceola, Wisconsin. In 1981, at the age of 10, I was introduced to PETRA, with the vinyl of Never Say Die. <\/em><\/p>\n

NEVER SAY DIE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I cannot think of a band that has had more of an influence upon my Christian formation. I took in, nay, devoured, every riff, verse, chorus, bridge, photo, interview, music video, vinyl, cassette, and compact disc. For long hours I could be found studying the incredible detail on each and every piece of album artwork that PETRA put out. They were notorious for their intricate, guitar-shaped spaceships, battle-ready album art, in the vein of secular rock counterparts BOSTON. It was groundbreaking, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I was a young Christian kid that chose to never say die<\/em>, because this means war<\/em>, and it was time to get on our knees and fight like a man<\/em>. I zealously invited everyone I knew to come and join us<\/em> in the battle between good and evil, and if you sat idly on the sidelines, well, then, more power to ya<\/em>.<\/p>\n

MORE POWER TO YA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It was during this season (the late 70’s and early 80’s) that much of my theology surrounding spiritual warfare, the demonic, Satan, territorial spirits and dominions, sin, the flesh, and the unseen forces at work in the world was formed. And it was during this season of my life that I witnessed the first FALL of a Christian leader: my youth pastor. Little did I know that it would be the first of many, including a close call by yours truly, me. My first youth pastor, a layperson that looked like he just got off the bus from Haight-Ashbury or Woodstock, did his best. Ultimately, his theology got more and more head-scratching, racially charged, and sexually inappropriate, that he was asked to leave. My next youth pastor was awesome (a true 80’s word) and had a massive impact upon my life. I wish he could see me now, and rejoice in the fruit of his investment, but sadly, he got chewed up and spit out in a hyper-name-it-claim-it church. He lost his marriage, and walked away from the Lord. These are just two examples. Over my 25+ years of ministry, I have seen multiple casualties of “Jekyll and Hyde” Christian leadership. One after another of folks that are great on a stage, but riddled with pride, sexual indiscretions, money siphoning, abuse, and the like. It’s like they say: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.<\/p>\n

THIS MEANS WAR!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Growing up in a highly-charged, Pentecostal, spiritual warfare, overly “religious” culture (don’t look now, but there’s a demon under THAT rock!”), the only language I could employ when witnessing leadership failure or abuse was to blame “the devil.”<\/p>\n

Our passionate resolve was to “armor up, and go kick the rear-end of the enemy.” That, by the way, was a direct quote from a childhood pastor. Unfortunately, principalities and powers don’t give up that easily, and admittedly, over the years have gotten all the more cunning. I know that this has always been an issue, but yet it seems to be so much more prominent and visible today with the volume of high-profile, celebrity pastors. The elevated platforms that come with the internet and social media have only accentuated and inflated opportunities for domineering leadership. Woodward says, “we are taken by the charismatic personalities that draw the crowds, and the more the crowds flock, the more we deify our leaders. In such scenarios, leaders are viewed as beyond reproach, and domineering leadership often ensues” (Woodward, xxix).<\/p>\n

BEAT THE SYSTEM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>JR Woodward, thankfully, in The Scandal of\u00a0<\/em>Leadership<\/i> gives us better language and frameworks for understanding domineering leadership, and why leaders fall. Most importantly, he proposes a solution: “the only way to overcome the Powers is through imitation of Christ, in particular his desires, which always leads to how we act” (Woodward, xxxv). In\u00a0The Scandal of\u00a0<\/em>Leadership\u00a0<\/i>we are given an “imitation-based framework” – a way of becoming more aware of our desires, the way in which Powers seek to distort our desires, and how to fully imitate Jesus (Woodward, 49). For a comprehensive study on desires, I wholeheartedly recommend the newly released The Gift of Thorns\u00a0<\/em>by my friend, author A.J. Swoboda. Swoboda, along with James K.A. Smith, as well as JR Woodward, help the reader understand the WHY behind our desires for power, and how to reshape those desires into the image of Christ. It’s Jesus Christ that challenged the religious order of his day (and our day too) by declaring, “You are of this world, I am not of this world. (John 8:23). The “world” was a term the writers of Scripture used to name a system of domination. Walter Wink, spotlighted throughly by Woodward, asserts that John 8:23 is better interpreted as “You are of this System; I am not of this System” (Woodward, 81). Wink believes that this domination system “penetrates everything, teaching us not only what to believe, but what we can value and even what we can see” (Woodward, 81). He also asserts that the spirit of the Domination System is Satan.<\/p>\n

UNSEEN POWER<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Of course! The problem of domineering leadership is grounded in the work and power of the enemy Satan. We know this instinctively, as well as from SNL’s Church Lady: “The devil made me do it!”<\/p>\n

Yet there is so much more to it, seen and unseen. There is a mimetic culture, in which leaders, imitate the models we have in front of us, often exhibiting the same, or similar domineering behaviors. As well, leaders can have misshaped desires, disoriented identity, despair and anxiety, which ultimately lean towards exhibiting behaviors that hurt people (Woodward, 215). Perhaps the greatest unseen power, that which Woodward concludes The Scandal of Leadership<\/em> with is: humility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Imitate the humility<\/strong> of Christ…<\/p>\n

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled<\/strong> himself by becoming obedient to death\u2014even death on a cross!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place <\/span>and gave him the name that is above every name, <\/span><\/span>that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, <\/span>in heaven and on earth and under the earth, <\/span><\/span>and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, <\/span><\/em>to the glory of God the Father.<\/em> <\/span><\/span>Philippians 2:6-11 NIV<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legendary Christian Rock band PETRA recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. They were formed in 1972 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is pretty close to when and where I was formed: 1971 in Osceola, Wisconsin. In 1981, at the age of 10, I was introduced to PETRA, with the vinyl of Never Say Die. NEVER […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"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":[2310],"tags":[3133,3130,3131,3128,3129,3132,2846,35,809],"class_list":["post-36789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-beatthesystem","tag-morepowertoya","tag-neversaydie","tag-petra","tag-thismeanswar","tag-unseenpower","tag-woodward","tag-leadership","tag-scandal","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36789","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\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36789"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37289,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36789\/revisions\/37289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}