{"id":37278,"date":"2024-04-09T10:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T17:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37278"},"modified":"2024-04-07T19:33:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T02:33:39","slug":"humility-and-honesty-leadership-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/humility-and-honesty-leadership-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Humility and Honesty…Leadership Goals!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGod resists the proud but gives grace to the humble\u201d [1]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

What an interesting time to read a book about the scandal of leadership. I have been thinking a lot about flaws, challenges, and failures of leadership in recent weeks. Admittedly, it has been a tough year for me. Leading an organization in transition for 8 months, tested me in ways that I had not anticipated. Looking at the experience in my rear view, my tenure as Interim CEO concluded in February, I can see so many areas that I could have been a stronger leader. I have been extremely self-reflective about my experience. My most recent experience is not the only thing that comes to mind when I think about the scandal of leadership. The most prominent thought in my mind is the upcoming Presidential Election. On both sides of the aisle, scandal has filled the political landscape. We are in sad times, when most Americans are choosing between what they perceive as the lesser of two evils. Yet here we are, in the midst of another polarizing election season making decisions to vote for candidates that will lead this country. God be with us all.<\/p>\n

In the book The Scandal of Leadership, <\/em>J.R. Woodward gives an analysis of leadership through a theological lens. He offers insight on how to lead in a manner that imitates Christ and warns of the pitfalls that leaders encounter. The Christian leader must balance the call to walk in the footsteps of Christ and the pull of the sinful temptations that life in the public eye exposes them to. The tension is sometimes described as the fight between the spirit and the flesh. Woodward describes it as, \u201cThe \u201cscandal\u201d of leadership will be either negative or positive. The negative scandal occurs when we become obstacles to those who look to us as models. But it becomes a positive scandal when we imitate the way of Christ, which is often a scandal to the world in which we live because it always leads to a cross.\u201d[2]<\/a> The way in which the Christian leader behaves, holds this tension, will impact those around them. As Woodward describes it, the scandal of leadership will lead others down the path that is modeled by the leader. Whether this path is honorable or less than honorable, it will possibly cause others to follow. Woodward says, \u201cThe scandal of leadership takes place when we, as leaders, scandalize those who look to us as models. If an individual desires to be the lead pastor and that person\u2019s desires are malformed, those who look to that leader will find themselves with this desire as well.\u201d[3]<\/a> This was a bit hard to digest.<\/p>\n

So how does this relate to what we have witnessed in Churches across America? There have been scandals, in recent history, where Pastors have had some of their worst moments publicly judged. It is heart wrenching to see the effects it has on the church leadership and the congregation of these churches. Although personal struggles should be private, I have always had mixed feelings about Christian leaders not making some sort of address in the aftermath. I fully believe that just because you are a leader does not mean that the public should have full access to your entire lives. However, I do believe that Christian leaders have a responsibility to lead by example and that does not mean getting everything right or saying the right thing. For me, it means being authentic and honest with those that look to you as an example. It takes humility and honesty to be an effective leader. Woodward relates this to Christian leaders by stating, \u201cAs leaders we must humble ourselves, submit ourselves to God, and resist the devil.\u201d[4]<\/a> I believe when others witness this type of Christian humility in leaders, it changes them and rightfully destroys the false narrative that leaders are perfect, sinless, and without temptation. When we are truthful with our shortcomings, our challenges, our scandals we are able to lead others in every stage of their Christian journey. Woodward shares, \u201cThus, as leaders, we are called to repentance and to cleanse our hands, purify our hearts, lament, mourn, weep, and ultimately humble ourselves.\u201d[5]<\/a> When we are able to share this experience with others, we are able to lead in an authentic way and the struggle (scandal) is transformed into a testimony.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> James 4:6 (CSB)<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> J. R. Woodward, The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church<\/em> (Cody, WY: 100 Movements Publishing, an imprint of Movement Leaders Collective, 2023), 221.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 217.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 220.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 220.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGod resists the proud but gives grace to the humble\u201d [1] What an interesting time to read a book about the scandal of leadership. I have been thinking a lot about flaws, challenges, and failures of leadership in recent weeks. Admittedly, it has been a tough year for me. Leading an organization in transition for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"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":[2489,2846],"class_list":["post-37278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-woodward","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37278","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\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37279,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37278\/revisions\/37279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}