Radical Leadership

"But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Mark 10:43-45

The passage above has been my "go to" passage whenever addressing leadership.  In these verses, Jesus succinctly presents a counter-cultural view of leadership.  The disciples had been arguing about who would get to sit on which side of Jesus in the Kingdom.  James and John started it, and we read that the other ten were indignant when they found out that James and John were talking about this, probably because they hadn't thought of it first!  It was in that context that Jesus taught them the difference between "lording" and "leading".  Lording involves exercising authority over others, leading involves serving others.

J Oswald Sanders in his classic volume Spiritual Leadership said this about this passage:  "Jesus is teaching us that that worldly conceptions of greatness and leadership cannot be carried over into His spiritual kingdom.  In that kingdom there is compete reversal of earth's values.  In heaven, gold is used for road-metal ....Not the number of one's servants, but the number whom one serves, is the heavenly criterion of greatness and the real preparation for leadership.  Greatness of exaltation is in proportion to greatness of service humbly rendered."

It was with delight that I observed HCA JrHi students recently partner with YouthFront to pack meals for their Something to Eat campaign, a crisis response meal-packaging plan that binds together the privileged and the poor.   Since 2009, this initiative has involved more than 20,000 people packaging more than a half-million meals to orphans in Haiti and Africa.  One afternoon in December, over 40 HCA students served together to package 4,160 meals for this effort, practicing the servant leadership that Jesus was talking about.  Service to the "least of these" is true leadership.

True Leadership in Action

When HCA was established four years ago, one of the academy’s first priorities was to develop
opportunities for students to be actively involved in service outside the school itself. Toward that end, Steve Adams, the Dean of Spiritual Life and Technology, met regularly with several parents who were passionate about this topic. It quickly became evident that they wanted to find a way for the students to develop long-term discipleship relationships through service rather than involvement in a series of one-and-done projects.

Simultaneously, in God's providence, a new ministry was starting in Johnson County focused on reaching out to unreached people in our community ... a ministry with a "neighbor's heart" - taking Jesus to people in need by extending help and hope. As HCA representatives talked with the leadership of this new ministry, Mission Southside, it became obvious that a partnership would be mutually beneficial.  In the spring of 2011, HCA began a student-led discipleship ministry to a group of elementary students in a local community.

"My passion is to see the kids respond to the message of Jesus for the first time. It's powerful to think that we can be a part of that,” said junior Adam Asselta.

Every Wednesday afternoon for the past four years, HCA students travel through this community on one of the HCA buses and pick up kids as they arrive home from school. After arriving at a local church, which has generously provided their facility, HCA students lead a Bible study and activity time for these elementary students.

This is truly a student-led ministry. HCA students prepare the weekly Bible studies, plan the activities, promote special events, and basically show love and compassion to the neighborhood kids each week. In addition, they recruit succeeding leadership from the student body for the sustainability of the ministry.

"More than anything else, I love seeing the smiling faces on the students as they see our bus arrive; they are so excited to see us,” said senior Emily Hocker. “It is so gratifying when we can see them grasping the Bible story, asking questions, being involved ... it makes it worth going every week.”