Leadership Lingo. Servanthood Slogans.

When I was a pastor/parish priest I was a lousy leader. There are many reasons for that. I'll admit that I'm still sorting that out.

These days, of course, I'm no longer a pastor. I work in a super market as a manger of what's called the Front End, i.e., the cashiers and baggers and cart handlers (at least, as it's organized at the store that employs me).

When I was invited to join the management team at the store, the person who held the interview revealed that the primary reason I was selected was my "leadership." I always thought of myself as hardworking but only average on the job. It seems that I was perceived as leading even as a store employee.

That remark has stuck in my mind because I never had an intention of leading in any way. I simply, moment by moment, projected how Jesus would behave and I attempted to be that and to do that to the best of my ability. Apparently, that Jesus-ness was seen as leadership.

Go figure.

Now, as a member of the leadership team of this business, perhaps interestingly, I actually am intentional in not attempting to lead.

From the first day I held the title of manager, I spoke openly in the language of a servant, using the verbs of servanthood.

In the way our front end operates, a manager's job consists significantly of dealing with problems cashiers have.

When a cashier calls my name, my most common reply is, "How may I serve you?" By now, I've probably said those words more than a thousand times. And, then, I'm always careful to conduct myself as a servant would in the presence of a master.

When I'm working and the only higher ranking manager is also present, I always greet him saying, "What can I do to serve the interests of the team?" And, no matter how menial or unpleasant the task may be, I always do it cheerfully.

These, I thought, were small things and I did them, more than anything, to remind myself that Jesus teaches that to be greatest in the Kingdom is to be slave of all.

As it turns out, these little servanthood memos to self are not a small thing.

More and more, I hear others using my little slogans.

The lowest ranking of the five managers and I often work together and lately he's taken to approaching me saying, "As you say, how can I serve the team?"

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What I'm learning is that servanthood is contagious.

In my parish priest life, I was never very good at getting people to follow when I tried to be a leader.

In this life, living as a servant, I don't try to get people to follow me ... And they do!

Could it be that Jesus was actually right: To be great is to be a servant.

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It seems to me that, in churches and denominations, the more people with authority teach and talk leadership, the less following takes place.

What would happen if those people dropped the leadership lingo and talked...and lived...as servants?

My guess is that following would just happen. At the very least, it would happen more than it is now.

Update on my Posting on the CONTAGIOUS Blog

Michael Martin, moderator of the blog, not only published my comment to his Acting/Being post but he actually REPLIED to my comment. 

This is a first, if I'm correct, for the blog. A member of General Conference staff created a post which generated a comment, and then, participated in a conversation about it on the blog.

I hope you've already seen Michael's reply. It was cordial and constructive. And, it took the opportunity of my reply to extend the thought he set forth in his initial post.

I was questioning Michael, if not challenging him, on his understanding of what salvation is and how a person becomes saved.

And, he replied by describing his, well, doctrine of salvation in greater detail.

The question, as I see it, is the relationship between faith and works.

The issue is crucial because what we, in the CGGC, do will inevitably in the near future will be fruit of what we believe about how faith and righteousness are connected.

This is a conversation that has been going on since the ministry of Jesus and it was picked up by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10 and by James in James 2.

The Reformation was, in effect, a church split over the question Michael and I are discussing.

And, you can read it on the CONTAGIOUS  blog.

A few moments ago, I submitted, for moderation, a reply to Michael's second comment.

As you will see, if and when it passes moderation, I take a position that connects faith and works much more intimately than does Michael.

I cite teachings of Jesus and Paul and James. I also refer to the lifestyle of Jesus and His early followers.

And, I appeal to the early days of the Church of God, when it was a dynamic and blessed movement.

I welcome your comments on the CONTAGIOUS Blog, here or off the blog.

Forecast Affected Retail Transaction Syndrome

It amazes me how people around here behave when the weather person on TV or radio says the word, "snow."

Working in a super market, it directly impacts my life.

It seems to me that many people go crazy.

Among the front end employees at the store, we, well, most, but not exclusively, I, call it Forecast Affected Retail Transaction Syndrome. Or, F.A.R.T.S..

As a follower of Jesus, it's difficult for me to be patient and loving to people who are behaving thoughtlessly, giving into some sort of demented and depraved hoarding instinct. It takes a ton of self-denial.

Clearly, this trait, so common in human behavior, is proof of our fallen, sinful nature.

"Honey, Joe Calhoun on Channel 8 is saying we may get 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow. I'm gonna run down to the store and pick up some milk and bread and, while I'm there, $200 worth of other stuff,...just in case."

And, like zombies, they come in droves!

This past week, Joe was predicting a small snow Thursday night and and mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain for Saturday into early Sunday.

At the store, F.A.R.T.S. started on Tuesday afternoon and continued into Saturday. Saturday morning it was Category 5!

FIVE CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF F.A.R.T.S!

Every customer in the store was blank-eyed. And, half of them were complaining that everyone ELSE thinks they need to rush out to the store as soon as snow is in the forecast.

Crazy, man, crazy!

Exhausting.

Enrolling in Medicare

There have been some moments in my life that have resulted in my suddenly feeling old.

Curiously, the birthday that hit me hardest wasn't one you'd expect: 30, 40, 60. It was 26. Quite out of the blue, I became depressed, if only briefly.

Today, I enrolled for Medicare on line.

Recently, I received an update on Social Security stuff that instructed me that I must enroll in Medicare three months before turning age 65, even if I don't plan to receive benefits, or there might be problems with coverage later on. So, I did.

And, upon completing the process, I felt old.

Feeling it now doesn't surprise me as it did when I turned 26. But, I feel old...

...an AM old.

Why I Registered as "Dr. bill Sloat" on the CONTAGIOUS Blog

As I said earlier, there was a time I tried to register in the past. The program administering CONTAGIOUS said I'd receive an email confirming my registration and it never came. Perhaps, in some way, I failed to complete the process properly. I don't know.

I tried again to register to comment on Michael Martin's post, "Broken in Acting Instead of Being," and gave my name, as I do, as "bill Sloat."

The site responded saying that I had used illegal characters. Just to be certain that there wasn't an error I couldn't see, I tried the same thing again and got the same response.

So, I figured that, perhaps, the site didn't like the small case in bill, so I tried "Bill Sloat." And, I got the same message.

Frankly, I was already wondering at that point, if it was my name, period, that was what was illegal as far as the CONTAGIOUS blog is concerned.

Next, I tried putting something in front of "bill" to see if that was legal. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Dr.."

I tried it with "bill Sloat" EXACTLY as I spelled it two times earlier when that spelling of my name was illegal. With the letters in front, it was legal and I was permitted to register.

So, I couldn't register as bill Sloat but with a prefix to those words, the words, "bill Sloat" were legal.

That is a truthful account of how I've come to be registered on the CONTAGIOUS blog in the way I am and not, simply, by my name.
Of course, Michael did publish my comment, which he didn't have to do.

Then, again, I promised to detail what the comment was if it didn't appear on the blog. And, the comment certainly wasn't offensive and, I think, was actually constructive. Ifc anyone cared, I believe it would have been difficult to justify censoring it.

You can draw your own conclusions.

Michael Martin Walking CGGC Talk on the CONTAGIOUS Blog

On January 9, Michael Martin published an article he had written in the Repentance category of the CGGC CONTAGIOUS blog, entitled, "Broken in Acting Instead of Being." It's a thoughtful, well-crafted article.

And, what's more, it reflects CGGC talk: It reflects our talked-about commitment to the Bible as our "only rule of faith and practice."

The article is heavily reliant only biblical teaching. It contains insightful references to a number of Bible verses/passages, mostly from the Old Testament. It demonstrates the unity of Old Testament and New Testament truth.

As it concludes, it focuses on Jesus' warning, very near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, that not everyone who calls Him, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mike points out that Jesus warns that people who had done "some pretty incredible spiritual stuff" are the focus of this warning. (People who prophesied, cast out demons and performed miracles in the Name of Jesus.)

Mike notes that these people, nevertheless, in the end, didn't do the will of God.

For all I can say in praise of Mike's article, I actually disagree, to an extent, at least, with Mike's ultimate point.

And, after going to great lengths to get myself registered to participate on the blog, I submitted a comment suggesting, in the form of a question, a mild tweaking of Mike's argument.

Perhaps, at some future time, I'll describe the great lengths I had to endure to register as a blog participant. And, if neccessary, I may summarize, here, the concepts I raised about Mike's conclusion.

I assure you that my comment was as constructive and respectful as is this blog article.

And, I will suggest that the comment I entered, which is still awaiting moderation, serves as a test of the subtitle of the CONTAGIOUS blog, i.e., Collaborating for Kingdom Impact.

In the past, I've noted my concern that there is no conversation, no dialog, on the blog. What little exchange of ideas there was in the early days of the blog has fizzled. There have been no comments...at least comments that have survived moderation...in a month.

I've blamed the CGGC body for that in part.

But, I believe, if we are going to become a people who engage in meaningful and edifying dialog about Bible truth and important issues, the people whom the CGGC has placed in positions of leadership will have to allow themselves to become vulnerable and participate with us in the process of collaboration.

They will have to take the lead in conversing if there's any possibility that the body will follow and join in.

As I noted, the point I made in my blog comment raised a question.

I have two questions about the question itself:

1. Will Mike publish it?
2. Will he respond to it?

Mike, in my opinion, took one important step in realizing the CGGC walk by publishing this excellent Bible-focused article. Will he, now, empower collaboration in the body's walk, which we claim is ruled by submission to the authority of the Bible, by collaborating in a search for understanding of Bible truth? Will he, a member of the General Conference staff, submit to questioning and collaborate with a member of the body in a mutual quest for truth?

Update on Evie Nearly Five Months After Surgery

The story's not over just yet. She has an appointment with a surgeon who works on electrical irregularities of the heart in about a week and a half to determine if there's anything he can do to help her.

And, we'll see what comes out of that.

But, for now, things are going well.

Evie takes a boatload of medications every day, something I didn't anticipate before the surgery. Without them, I suspect, she'd be living but without much quality to her life.

But, they are working.

The insurance I have through my employer pays enough of the cost for the medications to allow us to still survive financially, though I can't begin to imagine what we'd do if we had to pay the retail price for this stuff.

And, they work so well that the cardiologist is saying that the surgery to correct the electrical problems almost certainly not worth its risk.

Anyway,...

Evie's back at her part-time job. She visits mom regularly, though mom's sick now and, in her dementia, she doesn't always want to be visited.

And, she walks Laddie, often between 2 and 3 hours a day.

And, she's doing cardiac therapy, which exhausts her but is building up her stamina.

We're content, all things considered.

And, very thankful for your prayers and support and for God's mercy and grace.