Risk Taking and Servant Leadership

In the Philippians hymn (2:5-11), Christ empties Himself by taking the forms of a slave. He thus becomes a person without social advantage, with little or no rights or privileges of His own, for the determined purpose of placing Himself completely at the service of others (MacLeod 2001, 321). The hymn makes use of several strong terms to encourage the Christian community not to succumb to the temptations of aspiring to the social values and stratification so prevalent in Roman Philippi. Most striking is the use of the terms slave and cross; which represents respectively, “the most dishonorable public status and the most dishonorable public humiliation imaginable in the world of Roman antiquity[1]” (Hellerman 2003, 424).

It is important that the exemplum used in the hymn here does not speak of mere service, but the radical quest to take the form of a slave. Framing Jesus as a slave was “to assign to Him a position of greatest opprobrium[2] in the social world” of the Philippians, living the in the “most status-conscious city in the Roman East” (Hellerman 2003, 427). These words must have challenged the “dominant view of reality” for the citizens of Philippi who “valued their imperial connections, their privileges, and their advantages as subjects” (Peterson 2004, 179-180) of the Emperor. In a community so highly socially stratified as Philippi (Wortham 1996, 281) this “temporary role reversal” (Wortham 1996, 283) as slave becomes an exemplary symbol of the mutuality and common humanity of all the members of the early Christian community. The incarnational motif of the first value of kenosis finds it social scope and dimension in a resolute identification with the lowest members in the social ladder within the community. The values of servant posturing are communicated in the “denial of self-interest”, in the “divestment of status and privilege” (Saunders 1998, 18).

A recent development in Pastoral Counseling (see Gau 2000, 403-409), building on the kenotic theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar[3] , aims to make use of this leadership value of servant posturing to effect a therapeutic process where both therapist and client experience healing and enhancement that “diminishes ego and heightens self-awareness” (Gau 2000, 408). Gau (2000, 407) describes the process as follows:

“The challenge for the pastoral psychotherapist is manifesting the Christ gestalt[4] to the client. The therapist does this by self-emptying and becoming a servant to the client, speaking the client’s language, and the focusing on the client’s needs. Despite the client’s defensiveness, the therapist trusts the client’s ability to merge, individuate, and learn emptiness and receptivity. As the client comes to trust and internalize the therapist, the therapist is able to act form within the client. Out of compassion, the therapist becomes poor so that the client might become rich and absorbs the client’s sin so that the client might know the goodness of God.”

Despite the rather heavy counseling language used in this section, the multiple applications of this approach in leadership are quite evident. When leaders, having practiced kenosis, are able to enter the world of their followers and take the posture of their servants, relationships of mutual trust and healing are formed that in time removes the social and power distance between them in mutual liberation and transformation. This radical approach of mutuality and service in leadership is one of risk-taking as Gregerson (2003) so eloquently demonstrates in his premise of a theology of kenosis and risk taking.

[1] My Emphasis.
[2] Disgrace; infamy; reproach mingled with contempt.
[3] 1905-1988 CE
[4] A physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.

Further Reading:
Gau, J. V. 2000. The Gestalt of Emptiness/Receptivity” Christian Spirituality and Psychotherapy. Journal of Pastoral Care 54.4, 403-409.
Gregerson, N. H. 2003. Risk and Religion: Toward a Theology of Risk Taking. Zygon, vol. 38, no.2: 355-376.
Hellerman, J. H. 2003. The Humiliation of Christ in the Social World of Roman Philippi, Part 1. Bibliotheca Sacra 160.640:421-433.
MacLeod, D. J. 2001. Imitating the Incarnation of Christ: An Exposition of Philippians 2:5-8. Bibliotheca Sacra 158: 308-330.
Saunders, S. P. 1998. Philippians and Galatians. London: Westminster John Knox Press.
Wortham, R. A. 1996. Christology a Community Identity in the Philippians Hymn: The Philippians Hymn as Social Drama (Philippians 2:5-11). Perspectives in Religious Studies 23:3: 269- 287.

Leadership and Grace in the Early Church

A good friend reminded me today of the traditional feastday for St. Cornelius (served as pope from 251-253 AD), my namesake, that falls on September 16. Cornelius was elected as pope during a very difficult time of persecution under the Roman Emperor Decius and reluctantly accepted this position only in response to his sincere desire to serve. His contribution to early Christian theology was his firm conviction that Christians that denied Christ during times of persecution could and should be re-admitted back into the community of faith after a time of repentence. Not everyone agreed with his understanding of grace and the forgiveness of God in Christ and a man called Novatian came to Rome to set himself up as antipope. Cornelius experienced many trails and suffering in his efforts to build God's Church on the principles of mutuality and forgiveness in Christ and was finally exiled by the Romans and died at the port of Rome in 253.

Cornelius fought to keep the church free from leadership informed by selfish ambition and greed for power and is remembered together with his friend Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, for their extra-ordinary love for God's people and a commitment to the leadership values of humility and mutuality. The writings of Cornelius remain a testament to this faithful servant and his desire for authentic Christian leadership. Here is a link to the letters of Cornelius:
http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_Cornelius_I_Letters.html

First Steps in Kenotic Leadership

My thinking this week continues to center around the possibilities of a kenotic approach to leadership. D.L. Whiteman (2003, 409) proposes seven leadership practices and values statements informed by a Missiological and Anthropological reading of the values imbedded in the Christian doctrine of the incarnation of Christ as found in the Philippians hymn (2:5-11):
1. We start with people where they are, embedded in their culture, and this frequently requires downward mobility on our part.
2. We take their culture seriously, for this is the context in which life has meaning for them.
3. We approach them as learners, as children, anxious to see the world from their perspective.
4. We are forced to be humble, for in their world of culture we have not yet learned the acquired knowledge to interpret experience and to generate social behavior.
5. We must lay aside our own cultural ethnocentrism[1], our positions of prestige and power.
6. To be incarnational means we will be very vulnerable; our defenses will have to go.
7. We make every effort to identify with people where they are, by living among them, loving them, and learning from them.

[1] Ethnocentricity is the human tendency to see the world primarily through the perspective of one's own ethnic social history and culture.

Whiteman, D. L. 2003. Anthropology and Mission: The Incarnational Connection. Missiology 31.4, 397-415.

Leadership Hostility in Community

Leaders sometimes locate their leadership orientation and behaviour in hostile competition with others - the thinking goes something like this; that we construct our own credibility and leadership position by discrediting the person and behaviors of others. I am increasingly convinced that authentic Christian leadership only makes sense in true community where we transform (to make use of Nouwen's matrix of communal transformation) our "natural" hostility towards others into Gospel hospitality.

Maybe the first step is to change our perception and understanding of community and thus leadership. Henri Nouwen says it best:

“Some of us tend to do away with things that are slightly damaged. Instead of repairing them we say: ‘Well, I don't have time to fix it, I might as well throw it in the garbage can and buy a new one.’ Often we also treat people this way. We say: ‘Well, he has a problem with drinking; well, she is quite depressed; well, they have mismanaged their business...we'd better not take the risk of working with them.’ When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds. We all are bruised reeds, whether our bruises are visible or not. The compassionate life is the life in which we believe that strength is hidden in weakness and that true community is a fellowship of the weak.”

May we move away from ego-affirming, competitive approaches in leadership to the Christian call to consider others "better than ourselves" (Philippians 2:1-4). For me, this also means accepting those who find themselves in this kind of competitive orientation towards us in true Christian hospitality and to act towards them ensuring our hearts and actions are devout of "selfish ambition or conceit."

Professor Madge Karecki on the Leadership Example of St. Clare of Assisi

Our dear friend, Sister Madge Karecki (SSJ-TOSF), is featured this month in Leadership Talks. Madge provides clear and inspiring insights on Christian Leadership as lived by St. Claire of Assisi.

Professor Madge Karecki, OSC, a Franciscan Sister (Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis.) was born in Chicago, Illinois. She has degrees in both spirituality and missiology from St. Bonaventure University in New York and The University of South Africa. She was a missionary in South Africa for 21 years. Before returning to the USA in her response to the continued call to Christian mission, she was an Associate Professor of Missiology and Christian Spirituality at the University of South Africa. In 2004 she won the university's prize for teaching excellence. She also taught liturgy and missiology at St. John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria South Africa. She has written several articles and essays on St. Clare and other Franciscan topics. She has published articles in The Cord, Missionalia, and The South African Journal of Higher Education and Development.

You can find the link to this talk at:
http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls/leadershiptalks/home.htm

Spiritual Direction and Leadership

It has been a while since I last posted. This has been a truly busy, but yet fruitful time. I am teaching a course on spiritual direction in the Schools of Divinity and Psychology and Counseling here at Regent this semester. This wonderful oppertunity to spend some time with emerging and bright ministers, counselors and psychologists has helped me to focus my thinking on the relationship between spirituality, spiritual formation and leadership. What is the role of a spiritual director? I have been taken by two really good descriptions of the role of a spiritual director.

Barry and Connelly describe it as follows:
“We define Christian spiritual direction as help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.”

Barry Augustine think of the role of a spiritual director in the following way:
“The Director is not to teach his own way, nor indeed any determinate way of prayer, but to instruct his disciples how they may themselves find out the way proper to them…”

These two erudite descriptions open the way for us to consider the prophetic way of humility, mutuality and service in authentic Christian leadership.

GLE Organizational Values

I am teaching a course in Organizational Ethics and Values this semester in the Doctor of Strategic Leadership Degree here at Regent University. I have been reflecting today on our own organizational values in the newly formed School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship (GLE) and how this intersects/reflects with the values of Biblical Christianity. The Dean of our school, Dr. Bruce Winston asked me and others to help in framing our values. We came up with the following:

In the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship (GLE), we value:

• Devotion. We worship God, our Creator, through Jesus Christ, and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to offer our work and interaction with everyone as our reasonable service to Him through the biblical values of love, service, mutuality, humility and obedience.
  


• Excellence. We strive to be professionals of excellence in the quality of our work as we offer innovative solutions and insight to our organizations and entrepreneurial enterprises.
• Innovation. We embrace the new and test the old in order to find the best for both today and tomorrow as we seek to develop new and creative tools and methods to achieve our mission. We are committed to examining how we do what we do, why we do it and what we should be doing.
• Efficiency. We choose to be servants to those whom we encounter, providing consistent, efficient and accurate assistance. This requires that we be stewards of resources and seek the greater good of the greater whole.
• Integrity. We strive to always exhibit Christ-like character in our actions, words and deeds. We seek to be who we say we are and to have our deeds measured against our words as we "walk our talk."
• Respect. We are a family of brothers and sisters in Christ as we demonstrate healthy respect for, and build eternal relationships with, one another. This requires that we embrace diversity of faith traditions, cultures and history as we operate in unity toward the fulfillment of the greater mission.
• Peace. We strive to be ambassadors of peace in the midst of diverse beliefs and interpretations of faith and love as we stand firm in our convictions and provide insight and encouragement, so we may edify and refine one another in the pursuit of truth and the advancement of the mission.

Leadership free from confusion

I have been wondering if it is possible to seek God in a position of leadership, when most of the contemporary pursuit of leadership is burdened by desperate illusions and inordinate desires for power, prestige and status. The example and message of Jesus and his early followers propose that is very possible to see leadership as a determined relinquishment of our carnal desire for fame and fortune, and to use the call to lead as an oppertunity to emulate Christ, who desired to be made of "no reputation" (Philippians 2:7). I have been rereading Merton for the last few weeks in my devotional time and came upon this section, earlier this morning:

“This then is what it means to seek God perfectly: to withdraw from illusion and pleasure, from worldly anxieties and desires, from the works that God does not want, from a glory that is only human display; to keep my mind free from confusion in order that my liberty may be always at the disposal of His will; to entertain silence in my heart and listen for the voice of God; to cultivate an intellectual freedom from the images of created things in order to receive the secret contact of God in obscure love; to love all men as myself...”

This, for me, is an erudite description of the process of value/s formation in Christian leadership.

From New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972. Pages 45-46.

Paper on Mimetic Christological Model of Leadership available

The paper I read at this year's Servant Leadership Research Roundtable entitled, "The Philippians Hymn (2:5-11) as an early mimetic Christological model of Christian Leadership in Roman Philippi", is now available at: www.regent.edu/acad/sls/ under publications and proceedings.

The abstract reads as follows:

This paper proposes an early mimetic Christological model of Christian Leadership in Roman Philippi by exploring the judicial, rhetorical structure and the social function of the Philippians hymn (2:5-11) as a cursus pudorum (course of ignominies) that stands in contrast to a cursus honorum, the formalized sequence of public offices in first-century Roman cities. The Philippians hymn challenged the notions and principles of the prevalent shame/honor social matrix of Roman societies by offering an alternative set of behaviors and values that stood in stark contrast with those of the dominant culture. The hymn makes use of a cursus pudorum in which the voluntary abasement, humility and obedience of Christ becomes an exemplum that offers a critique of the tyrannies of the timocratic leadership style of Roman Philippi and offers an alternative vision of service oriented leadership rooted in humility and mutuality.

Merton's Insights on the False Self

I have been rereading James Finley’s monumental book on Merton’s theology of spiritual identity, this week: “Merton’s Palace of Nowhere”. The section dealing with the False Self continues to shape my thinking and writing on authentic Christian identity and in turn our quest for true Christian leadership, free from selfish ambition and inordinate competitiveness.

Here follows three of Finley’s probing insights on Merton’s understanding of the false self:

• The False Self is a whole syndrome of lies and illusions that spring from a radical rejection of God in Whom alone we find our own truth and ultimate identity.
• Merton equates sin with the identity-giving structures of the False Self – thus the focus of sin is shifted from the realm of morality to that of ontology.
• Sin, and therefore the False Self, is a fundamental stance of wanting to be what we are not. Sin is thus an orientation to falsity, a basic lie concerning our own deepest reality.

For Merton, our deep and truest identity is found in our rediscovery of God through the revelation of His Son, Jesus of Nazareth:

“The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God….Ultimately the only way that I can be myself is to become identified with Him in whom is hidden the reason and fulfillment of my existence. Therefore, there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him.”

Finley, J. 2003. Merton’s Palace of Nowhere. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press.
Merton, T. 1961. New Seeds of Contemplation. New York: New Directions.

Building with/out God

I was deeply struct by a reading from Thomas Merton this morning. Merton in his usual erudite manner show the danger of thinking that leadership is primarily about power and dominance:

“Those who seek to build a better world without God are those who, trusting in money, power, technology and organization, deride the spiritual strength of faith and love and fix all their hopes on a huge monolithic society, having a monopoly over all power, all production, and even over the minds of its members. But to alienate the spirit of man by subjecting him to such monstrous indignity is to make injustice and violence inevitable. By such means we may indeed increase economic production but in doing so we will onlymake the world worse.”

I could not help but to think of the words of Psalm 127 (verse 1): "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. "

May our quest for moral leadership be focused on the "power" of love and faith, rooted in our desire to imitate He who is all truth.

From Disputed Questions by Thomas Merton (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, Inc. 1960), page 129.

Spiritual Formation and Leader/Follower Development

The quest for Spiritual Formation falls in the academic field of spirituality. The Oxford Dictionary defines “spirituality” as the quality or condition of being spiritual. In turn it defines “spiritual” as devout, holy, pious, morally good. Kenneth Leech defined Christian Spirituality in the 1980's as being about a process of formation. We are thus formed by, and in, Christ. For Leech – it (Spiritual Formation) is a form of Christ-[ening] – being clothed with Christ, and so being transformed into the same image. This simple description seems to conform Paul’s understanding of this in Romans (8:29) when he links destiny, vocation and spiritual formation:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that they might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

In simple language to be formed as a Christian – in this instance, formed as a leader – is to be formed into the image of Jesus. It is interesting to note that Paul consistently makes use of the Greek word “icon” to the describe the image we are suppose to be transformed into – thus this image is not an end in itself – but rather a window of a larger reality. Thus we become an image/window of a larger reality – in this case, an image of Christ – not a representation but rather a window.

The major question would then be how this happens – the process of formation. A preliminary reading of the Pauline writings suggests that there might be a very clear model of spiritual/leadership formation in his thoughts/theology. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians (3:18):

“And we all (literally in the Greek – in the midst of us all – or, all of us together), with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord as within a mirror are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Three elements/steps seem to emerge from an inner texture analysis of this text that might be useful to describe a Pauline understanding of spiritual/leadership formation:

• Accept our environment (…and we all…) – this might describe the value/act of giving consent to where God puts us – a sensitivity to our context – Situational Leadership. This might further refer to accept the calling/vocation that our situations bring to us.
• Have voluntary honesty (…with unveiled face…) – a socio-cultural reading of this links Paul’s use of this reference with both Old Testament thoughts as well as the Greek use of masks in their comedy and tragic plays. This might describe the values/acts of integrity/authentic approaches in leadership.
• Have a determined (devotional) focus on our deepest inner truth (…beholding as within a mirror the glory of the Lord…) – this might refer to the willingness to be gathered and formed by our inherent “spiritual” truths within us – in a Christian sense to surrender to the Truth of the Spirit within us. In a nutshell the willingness to be formed by the image/ethos/attitude of Christ.

It seems to me that when these three elements work together that Christian spiritual and leadership formation takes place within the follower/leader.

Poverty of Spirit

Dr. Bruce Winston, the Dean of our school (School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship) here at Regent University, proposes that the first beatitude in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount (5:3); "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven", is the foundational and primary value for Christian Leadership. Judith Hougan proposes that poverty is central to our experience as humans: "...poverty is part of our story, our reality, part of who we are in this fallen world. This poverty is not specifically our sin nature, but in our weakness, we certainly fall prey to sin." Hougan continues on and describes how the "myth of competence" hinders our acceptance of our "poverty of spirit" and thus keeps us from accepting and receiving the kingdom of heaven: "The myth of competence is founded in a competitive framework for living, the idea that life is about 'bigger and better'."

When leaders accept our own poverty of spirit, we are free to be honest and true - free to speak about our brokenness, sin and wrong motives within the larger community and thus we are ushered into the arena of the possibility of growth and Gospel transformation that the kingdom of heaven offers. Dietrich Bonhoeffer comments: "He who is alone in his sin is utterly alone....The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners."

Christian leaders take the first step in leading, by accepting their own personal brokenness and poverty and so come to the end of themselves - ready to accept that Christ shall be all and that He is the only hope for moral and transformative leadership.

References:
Bonhoeffer, D. 1954. Life Together. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, page 110.
Hougen, J. 2005. The Community of the Broken. Conversations, Volume 3:2, 55-60.

Pride as Madness

Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century Jewish/Dutch philosopher (1632-1677 CE) described pride as a form of madness: "Thus we see that it may readily happen, that a man may easily think too highly of himself, or a loved object, and, contrariwise, too meanly of a hated object. This feeling is called 'pride,' in reference to the man who thinks too highly of himself, and it is a species of madness." C. S. Lewis described pride as the "complete anti-God state of mind...the great sin."

The problem of pride in leadership is that it provides leaders with a completely false sense of themselves. They find their identity in their talents, expertise, accomplishments and possessions. The only cure for this kind of prevalent leadership madness is a clearer vision of God in which we find our own true self, created and sustained in Him. John Calvin made this connection, "...it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face...For, because all of us are inclined by nature to hypocrisy, a kind of empty image...". I am persuaded that authentic Christian leadership starts withthe quest for a clearer vision of God in which the false images of pride are stripped away to provide, in the words of John Michael Talbot, "an empty canvas" ready to bear the image of our Lord.

Leadership as Spiritual Practice

Anthony Robinson (2005) defines leadership as a spiritual practice that in the words of Dorothy Bass is part of "those shared activities that address fundamental human needs and that, woven together, form a way of life." I have been challenged recently by one of my mentors as we shared a meal, Eric Watt (our local pastor and one of the humblest and accessible men I have ever met) to think of Jesus as my friend that desires to spend time with me and share in my life. This challenge has led to several new avenues of personal exploration on the nature of leadership as a shared activity: shared with God and the people we serve.

Robinson (2005, 28), influenced by this idea of leadership as a shared spiritual activity/practice, writes about the misconceptions about leadership, vision and expertise:

"True leadership does not simply influence the community to follow the leader's vision, but also enables the community to face its most critical challenge and to be what God calls and enables it to be. There is too much stress today on the leader as the person of vision. A vision is not imported from somewhere else, and it is not the idiosyncratic vision of one charismatic woman or man. A vision arises from a careful reading of the context and the work required by God of a particular people with a particular identity....Leadership is not the same as expertise, although the two are often confused. Experts come equipped with a variety of technical fixes, new tools. These are fine as far as they go, but they don't engage people in loss, risk and trust. In fact, people may try to avoid the challenge of the more difficult work of preoccupying themselves with the latest tools and techniques. Experts do things for us; leaders go with us."

Robinson, A. B. 2005. Give and Take: Leadership as a Spiritual Practice. Christian Century 122.20, No. 20: 28-32.

Church Service with Ph.D. Leadership Students at the oldest standing Church Building in the USA

I will be leading a church service with our second and third year Ph.D. students during their upcoming doctoral residency at Venerable Historic St. Luke's, Mother Church of Warrosquyoake County (now called the Isle of Wight), this Sunday, August 6. This church building might be the oldest standing structure of Christian faith in the United States of America and dates back to 1632. This is picture of the beautiful windows of the church. One cannot help but be deeply humbled by the deep witness of this structure of faith through the ages and hope that our commitment to authentic Christian Leadership may also stand the test of the ages.

For more information see: http://www.historicstlukes.org/index.html

The Philippians Hymn (2:5-11) as an early mimetic Christological model of Christian Leadership

I will be presenting a paper this next week on the Philippians Hymn (2:5-11) as an early mimetic Christological model of Christian Leadership at the annual Servant Leadership Research Roundtable in Virginia Beach. A draft version of the introduction of the paper reads as follows:

The myriad scholarly discussions on the Christological hymn (compare the excellent overview of the research in Martin 1997) in the letter of Paul to the Philippians (2:5-11) have traditionally been occupied with the issues of ontological Christology (Hellerman 2003, 424), questions on authorship (Martin 1997, 42-62) and literary form and function (Black, 1995) with little or no agreement amongst scholars on these issues (Stagg 1980, 340). Recent studies have attempted to escape the inertia created in these studies by exploring the hymn as an ethical rhetorical device and paradigm (Fowl 1990, Geoffrion 1993), as mediating tool in the midst of communal disunity and strife (Peterlin 1995, Williams 2002), as social drama (Karris, 1996, Wortham 1996), and as resistance against local timocratic rule (Heen 2004, Hellerman 2003, and Oakes 2001). What these recent developments have in common is a determined effort to place the hymn within the social and cultural context of first-century Philippi and the consensus that the hymn is a religious response to the tyranny of local Roman ruler and leadership. This opens the door for scholars to explore the hymn as an exemplary model (a rhetorical exampla) of ethical leadership rooted in a mimetic Christological spirituality. This paper proposes an early mimetic Christological model of Christian Leadership in Philippi by exploring the judicial, rhetorical structure and the social function of the hymn as a cursus pudorum (course of ignominies).

Bibliography (of the draft version of the introduction):
Black, D. A. 1995. The Discourse Structure of Philippians: A Study in Text-linguistics. Novum Testamentum XXXVII, 1: 16-49.
Fowl, S. E. 1990. The Story of Christ in the Ethics of Paul: An analysis of the Function of the Hymnic Material in the Pauline Corpus. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
Geoffrion, T. C. 1993. The Rhetorical Purpose and the Political and Military Character of Philippians. Lewiston: Mellen Biblical Press.
Heen, E. M. 2004. Phil 2:6-11 and Resistance to local Timocratic Rule: Isa Theo and the Cult of the Emperor in the East, in Horsely, R. A. Paul and the Roman Imperial Order. New York: Trinity Press International.
Hellerman, J. H. 2003. The Humiliation of Christ in the Social World of Roman Philippi, Part 1. Bibliotheca Sacra 160.639:321-336.
Hellerman, J. H. 2003. The Humiliation of Christ in the Social World of Roman Philippi, Part 1. Bibliotheca Sacra 160.640:421-433.
Karris, R. J. 1996. A Symphony of New Testament Hymns. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press.
Martin, R. P. 1997. A Hymn of Christ: Philippians 2:5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the setting of Early Christian Worship. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.
Oakes, P. 2001. Philippians: From People to Letter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Peterlin, D. 1995. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Light of Disunity in the Church. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Stagg, F. 1980. The Mind of Christ Jesus: Philippians 1:27-2:18. Review and Expositor 77.3:337.
Williams, D. K. 2002. Enemies of the Cross of Christ: The Terminology of the Cross and Conflict in Philippians. London: Sheffield Academic Press.
Wortham, R. A. 1996. Christology a Community Identity in the Philippians Hymn: The Philippians Hymn as Social Drama (Philippians 2:5-11). Perspectives in Religious Studies 23:3: 269- 287.

For more information see: http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls/conferences/roundtable/home.htm

4th Annual Foresight Conference for Christian Leaders

My friend, Jay Gary is hosting Foresight 2006: Leading from the Future in Virginia Beach, September 20-22. Foresight 2006 is the fourth annual foresight conference for Christian leaders, and this year's theme of leading from the future, not just the past, is focused on the genetics age and the challenges facing organizations, churches, ministries and schools.

Jay described the conference as follows:

Imagine spending three days conversing over lunch and in small groups with leading strategists from faith-based, academic and business contexts from all across the country. You'll spend time with Dr. Ted Peters, America's leading theologian on science and religion, bio-ethics and futures thinking.

In workshops such as "Developing and using scenarios in public and private sectors," you'll learn the art of strategic thinking from national consultants like Dr. Clem Bezold, chairman of the Institute for Alternative Futures and board member of the World Future Society.

You'll also hear Tom Hoffmann, pastor and missional leader, speak on driving forces shaping global Christianity. You will grapple with what it means to be part of a church that is shifting its center of gravity to the south. Also, Mary Beth McEuen, VP of People and Potential at Maritz, will speak on cultivating strategic leadership with forward views.

Foresight 2006 is for anyone interested in the future of leadership and transformational change. Whether you are a manager, consultant, ministry leader, educator, pastor, health-care worker, military leader or teacher, this conference is for you.

For more information see: http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls/conferences/foresight/

International Conference on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership

Regent University's School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship and the University of Delhi's Faculty of Management Studies have issued a call for papers for their International Conference on Integrating Spirituality and Organizational Leadership (ICISOL) to be held in Delhi, India, February 8-10, 2007.

Conducted in the English language, the ICISOL will bring together leading scholars from the USA, Europe and Asia to systematically explore and map the field of spirituality and organizational leadership from various disciplines and spiritual traditions to focus on the role of spirituality and leadership in renewing the contemporary management praxis.

Designed for academicians, business leaders and those representing business associations, civil society and the media, this conference will address:

• Changing business paradigms to meet the ecological and social realities of our age
• The change from work and worship to “work is worship”
• The role of spirituality in transforming contemporary management theory and praxis
• Integrating perception of self and identity into managerial context
• Contributions from different religious traditions and their value perspectives for the renewal of corporations and their cultures
• Transcendental approaches for optimal performance
• Implications of transpersonal experience and non-ordinary states of consciousness for ethics in general and for business ethics in particular
• Promoting a spirit–centered leadership style for generating happiness in the workplace for optimal performance

For more information see: http://fms.edu/conference/IntConf/rtc.htm

Seminar on Hermeneutics and Leadership at Heritage Bible College

I will be presenting a seminar on Hermeneutics and Christian Leadership at Heritage Bible College in Dunn, North Carolina tomorrow, July 17. As I prepare for this I cannot help but to once again think of the importance of proper exegesis and the use of Scripture to explore Leadership. I wonder why so many leadership scholars are reluctant to look at the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures as valid sources in our exploration of moral leadership. I am reminded of a wonderful rabbinical story that Knut Grønvik relays that might explain this scholarly hesitance:

Rabbi Eliezer was the first to speak. “If a man really wants to understand a word in scriptures,” he said, “he has to enter into it with his whole being.” “But is it not impossible for a grown-up man to enter into a small word?” one of his disciples objected. “I did not speak about men who think they are bigger than words,” the Rabbi answered.

May we all be humbled by the (T)ruth of God's eternal Word.

Grønvik Knut. "Letting Scripture read you." Conversations 3:1 (Spring 2005).

Merton, Sin and Organizational Sickness

I am busy writing the first of series of articles on the nature and remedy of organizational sin. I hope to use the nine prime sins of the Greek Desert Fathers and Mothers as a foundation for my exploration. One of the most peculiar practices amongst Christian leaders is the pervasive habit of discrediting another brother, minister of family in order to somehow establish personal or even organizational credibility. Thomas Merton, the American trappist and hermit, reflects on this:

"It has been marked that the more totalitarian a society is, for example, that of Russia or of Hitler's Germany, the less its members feel any sense of sin. They can commit any evil without remorse as long as they feel they are acting as members of their collectivity. The only evil they fear is to be cut off from the community that takes their sin upon itself and 'destroys' them. This the worst of disasters, and the slighest indication of disunion with the group is the cause of anxiety and guilt."

When we loose the "sense of sin", we loose the possibility of sanctification. May we learn the wisdom of Jesus that calls for a open heart and a non-judgmental attitude towards others (Matthew 7:1). May we follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind esteem others as better than ourselves (compare Philippians 2:1-2).

Merton, T 2003. The Inner Experience. New York: HarperColins. Page 120.

Spirituality, Systems Thinking and Healthy Relationships

I spend the last week at Forest Home Ministries in California where I was the evening speaker for one of their family camps. I spend the week exploring the Divine invitation of Jesus to find our way, home, purpose and joy in Him (compare John 14:6 and 15:1-11).

I had the privilege during this week to spend time with Dr. Mark Brewer, Senior Pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church, who presented in the mornings. Mark is a marvelously gifted speaker and presented some great insights from systems thinking and his experience in ministering to people in the entertainment industry.

Mark presented five principles of healthy relationships that I think hold great promise for future research and thinking in leadership and spirituality:

• Relational systems resist change (the principle of homeostasis), even if the change brings about a better system.
• The neediest person in a system is often not the sickest one (the principle of the identified patient). Energy should be spend on the most responsive person in the system, not the apparent neediest one.
• The power of one's presence holds great promise (the principle of differentiation). Leaders should be present to their followers by defining who they are and not become part of the problem.
• When two people are experiencing problems they will include a third person, system or issue into the equation (the principle of triangling).
• Relational system are more complex than what they seem (the principle of the extended family). People operate in several connected system at a time.

Mark has a great book out entitled: "A Walk in the City: Discovering the Principles of the New Relationships between Urban and Suburban Churches." (ISBN: 0-9704619-0-9) that makes a much needed contribution to our understanding of relational leadership in pursuing Church unity.

Contemplation of death and the quest for Christian leadership

One of our colleagues, a Godly and accomplished woman by the name of Betty Davis, went home to be with our Lord unexpectedly yesterday. This kind of close encounter with death in an organizational context made me think again today of the fragility of life and our common call to authentic Christian leadership.

Christian thinkers going back to St. Paul have described Christian leadership as an engagement with the eternal struggle between two opposing spiritual forces. St. Augustine of Hippo spoke of the City of God and the City of the World: the Civitas Dei and the Civitas Mundi. The former is dedicated to serving others and to God's will and to His glory. The latter is dedicated to the pursuit of worldly ideals - communities, cities of selflishness.

It is clear that St. Augustine was right; and that the contemporary western intellectual world, like the world of his times, is a battleground in which rages a battle for the souls of this world.

Today there is a challenge before us: Christian leadership to change the world. How do we do this? How do we ensure that we do not follow the road of worldliness (the road that leads to the Civitas Mundi, in St. Augustine's words) taken by so many others that have came before us? How do balance the call to holiness and leadership?

St. Francis of Assisi, in the thirteenth century, writing in a letter to the leaders of his day proposes a surprising approach to this tension in leadership:

"Pause and reflect, for the day of death is approaching. I beg you, therefore, with all possible respect, not to forget the Lord or turn from His commandments by reason of the cares and pre-occupations of this world...you should manifest such honor to the Lord among the people entrusted to you...that praise and thanks may be given by all people to the all powerful Lord God."

I would like to highlight the central thought of St. Francis here: contemplating our own mortality as a way to understand and to surrender to our vocation to service, witness, holiness and transformation, because we have a sacred duty to those entrusted to us.

This idea is not new to scripture. Moses writing in Psalm 90 says: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Contemplating death has a way of focussing us and distilling our vision of God and reality. This does not mean that we must exclusively focus on death or adopt a morbid spirituality. On the contrary, the Swedish Leader Dag Hammarskjöld once said:

"Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment."

We do not walk blindly. Albert Schweitzer once reminded all that: "Example is Leadership."

The quest for Christian leaders is to follow and lead as Christ did, so that we all one day can stand before our Maker and declare: "It is finished." We have done what was asked of us.

Seminar on Christian Leadership at Project Bridges in DC

I will be leading a one-day seminar on the call and process of Christian Leadership at Project Bridges in Washington DC on Saturday, June 24. I have entitled the seminar, "Following in the footsteps of Jesus: The Call and Process of Christian Leadership." Project Bridges' mission is to strengthen and expand the capacity of churches and community organizations through strategic alliances and partnerships that provide relevant training, services, programs and resources. For more information on Project Bridges, follow the link to their website:
http://www.projectbridges.org/welcome.html

The following is a synopsis of the seminar:
The call of Christian leadership brings a deep challenge to those who desire to emulate the leadership of Jesus Christ. Christian leadership requires the voluntary relinquishment of temporal power by those called to lead. The theological construct of the kenosis (self-emptying) of Christ as mentioned in the Philippians Hymn (2:5-11) provides Christian leaders with a foundation for the understanding and application of true biblical leadership formation. This seminar will provide you with a biblical foundation for true Christian leadership and explore practical steps on how leaders are called, shaped, empowered and sent as community leaders that in turn will change their world.

Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership (JBPL)

I am excited to announce that our school has launched a new on-line journal that seeks to explore the Biblical base for Christian leadership. This journal will be known as the Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership or JBPL for short. I have been asked to be the editor of this new journal and look forward with great anticipation to the opportunity to learn and grow together with so many other scholars and practitioners that seek to facilitate the unfolding of God's Word in our world. The following is a short excerpt from the up-coming news release on the journal as well as links to the journal's homepage (click on the underlined title of the journal below):

The Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership (JBPL), Regent University's newest online publication, seeks manuscript submissions for possible publication in its inaugural issue scheduled for a late Fall 2006 release. All submissions should meet JBPL submission guidelines and be received by JBPL at jbpl@regent.edu no later than August 15, 2006.

Sponsored by Regent University's new School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship (GLE) and led by GLE Associate Professor Dr. Corné Bekker, the JBPL is a refereed scholarly journal that aims to provide a forum for international research and exploration of leadership studies focused on the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

Please feel free to forward the link to the journal to anyone you know who shares in this passion for the re-discovery of the Biblical (T)ruths of scripture in our pursuit of Christian leadership.