Dear Friend,
Recently I reread, "Things I Learned from my Pastor," by
Larry Taylor. It's a little booklet which presents some of the biblical
principles that the author learned while serving alongside Chuck Smith while on
staff at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. For those of you who are not
familiar with Calvary Chapel churches, Pastor Chuck was the founder of the
first Calvary Chapel church and the leader of the Calvary Chapel movement that
has produced hundreds of Calvary Chapel churches throughout the country. Pastor
Chuck was responsible for hundreds of men entering the ministry, the
author of the booklet being one of them.
Having first met Pastor Chuck at a pastor's retreat in western
Pennsylvania over 30 years ago, I knew nothing about the Calvary Chapel family
of churches. However, I was immediately impressed with the servant's heart of
its founding pastor. So, when I read the author's reflections on Pastor Chuck,
I wasn't surprised to hear him extolling his many virtues, one of which was his
selfless and servant spirit. Chuck set a high bar for servanthood; he was truly
a servant of the Servant.
Taylor writes, "In all my life I have never met anyone who
was more of a servant than Chuck Smith. You 'could' find him installing urinals
in a new building in the middle of the night, picking up trash at the
Conference Center, crawling in an addict to fix a leaky pipe, in the parking
lot helping someone jump start their car, or babysitting children. He was
always helping and serving others. Why did he have such a capacity to
serve others? Because he loved God and loved his people. "Things I Learned
from My Pastor," Larry Taylor.
Pastor Chuck wonderfully demonstrated the upside-down leadership
org, chart. For him leadership was best exemplified by an inverted pyramid with
Christ at the bottom and everyone else on top. He well knew that the way up was
down, and the way to succeed was to serve.
The higher one goes on the inverted leadership pyramid, the more
people one serves. Such a concept is not normal in today's corporate world
where the CEO is perched atop the leadership pyramid with everyone else
situated under him and expected to serve him.
As we look at the life of Jesus, we see a man who knew that the
greatest principle of leadership could be summed up as follows: "A leader
leads by serving and serves by leading."
Jesus said, "A new command I give you. Love one another. As I
have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34)
The most effective way to demonstrate that we are his disciples is
through our love for others, and one of the clearest ways of communicating
that love is through serving others. It is by serving others that we are best
able to lead others into the loving arms of Jesus.
Our service may not always seem significant in some people's
sight; it can me a lowly, menial action like picking up papers in the hallway,
like one of my former principal's, LeRoy Schwab was often seen doing, and which
to this day I have never forgotten.
I closed with a reminder: "Servanthood is not motivated by
manipulation or self-promotion. It is fueled by love. In the end, the extent of
our influence and the quality of our relationships depend on the depth of our
concern for others. That's why it is so important for leaders to be willing to
serve." Relationships 101, John Maxwell, P. 87
Are you a servant? The best way to find out is to ask
yourself, "How do I react when someone treats me like one?
You may not be ready to pick up a towel and basin, but you could
begin by just picking up some paper in the hallways. Just a
thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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