What Has Happened To Servant Leadership?

June 2006

What has happened to servant leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention? I have been following all of the stories related to the departure of Bob Reccord from the North American Mission Board. I was shocked to hear about private plane trips, a trip to England to attend a movie premiere, and other perks usually associated with corporate executives.

It has been obvious to me for some time that a secular, corporate mentality has invaded the leadership levels of many of our Southern Baptist entities.

The argument has been that high dollar salaries and perks are required to get the best of our leadership to come to work for the denomination. If that is what it takes to get the best of our leadership to serve us, then, what does that say about our leadership?

What does it say for our future and for our work in the Kingdom of God that we have to begin thinking in secular terms to man our agencies? Where are the leaders of yesteryear who were so consumed by passion for the gospel that they often served at a financial sacrifice? Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I am not one of those who want our denominational leaders to serve at starvation wages. But, is it time that we should re-evaluate our denominational compensation scheme?

Over the past few years, we have seen a great deal of criticism leveled at our denominational leaders. Supposedly, the conservative resurgence was going to bring an end to that.

Well, it did end the criticism aimed at commitment to the Bible. All of our current leadership has had to demonstrate an unconditional loyalty to the authority of Scripture. But, there seems to be more dissatisfaction with leadership now than there was before the conservative resurgence. Why?

Along the way, we forgot that doctrinal purity does not guarantee a missional heart. Commitment to the Bible does not necessarily mean commitment to the Great Commission. We were worried about liberalism undercutting our commitment to the authority of the Word of God, but we did not pay attention to the subtle influences of secularism that promoted a worldly attitude toward wealth and position.

All of this makes me wonder:

  • What would happen if we looked more at a man’s personal integrity more than the size of his church?
  • What would happen if we still made choices based upon “spiritual” leadership?
  • What would happen if we prayed more and fasted more in these choices?

I want to make a personal plea to our trustees who are searching for a new NAMB president.

Don’t just look for someone who has built a “big church.”

Don’t just look for someone who has managed a multi-million dollar ministry. Find us someone whose heart is sold out to the Kingdom of God.

Find us someone whose heart beats with God’s heart in a desire to see the Great Commission fulfilled in North America.

Find us someone with a strong missional heart.

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