My life as a follower of Jesus really crescendoed a few years ago while in college, specifically while I was a part of the enlivening Wesley Foundation at Florida State University. As a precursor to becoming Catholic, this Methodist campus ministry cemented my devotion to God, teaching me not only what it means to be a man but also what it means to follow God wholeheartedly in today’s world. The pastor, Vance Rains, and my friends from there are still the dearest to my heart.
So it was with great excitement that I accepted an invitation to speak to a current group of leaders at the Wesley Foundation this past January. They asked me to give a couple of talks on “leadership” during their semi-annual Leadership Retreat.
I have heard and read a good deal on leadership–as most of us have–and have found most offerings to be trite and steely. Many leadership ‘strategies’ offered by Christian leaders are identical to the ones offered by secular leadership experts.
Most teachings on distinctly Christian leadership aren’t distinguishable from teachings on non-Christian leadership. When I spoke to these college students, I didn’t want to repeat what has already been repeated myriad times, and I didn’t want to teach a leadership disconnected from the following of Jesus. What is different between worldly leaders and leaders following Jesus? How does being a Christian make the leadership you seek distinct?
Buzzwords within the common, secular understanding of leadership include “maximize”, “authority”, and “efficiency”. I would argue that our God–in many senses–operates out of a completely different paradigm. He operates out of simplicity, humility, and inefficiency.
So, I approached the topic of Christian leadership from the back door. I walked around the oft-repeated modern advice and snuck through the passageway of the ancient Saints. The Saints understand authentic Christian leadership in a unique way. They understand that true Christian leadership begins in the core of a person–in their heart. To be a good Christian leader, you must be a good Christian, and to be a good Christian you must have a good heart.
Using castle imagery–as a semi-allusion to St. Teresa of Avila–my entire first talk on leadership centered on the “interior of the castle”–the interior of one’s leadership, which is the heart. Before delving into what a leader does, we focused first on who a leader is. We talked about becoming enchanted with the cosmos, becoming saintly (holy), and becoming a disciple; three necessary pre-requisites of authentic Christian leadership.
Once the interior of the Christian leader is oriented in the right direction, then it is time to be concerned with outward actions. The second talk focused on things outside of the “interior castle”. In this talk we discussed leading in the ordinary circumstances of life, leading at the Wesley Foundation, and leading beyond (leading around the greater F.S.U. campus and ultimately around all of Tallahassee).
Beginning with the heart, these two talks walked through the entire blooming process of leadership from the heart to the mind to the body and, finally, to the community. From the heart to the world, from the interior room to the great surrounding country.
There were plenty of guest appearances in the talks made by saintly men and women, including Mother Teresa, St. Josemaria Escriva, Pope Benedict XVI, Peter Kreeft, and St. Francis. And as a final offering, I extended many book recommendations at the conclusion of the talks to dive deeper into the things we discussed.
Below you will find each of the two talks given on how to be a Christian leader, along with the final list of book recommendations on Christian leadership:
(To listen to any of the talks, simply hit the ‘Play’ button below or. To download a talk to your computer, right-click the link below the player and select “Save Link As”, choosing where you would like to save it on your computer.)