godliness, integrity, humility

August 9, 2021/Paul Windsor/
Last week I had the privilege of opening the Word of God at a pastors’ conference (link here). 
A room with an (early morning) view — MICamp, Waitetoko, Lake Taupō

With the sad and shameful stories that have grabbed headlines and hurt people, I tried to address the topic of character-driven leadership. Learning to lead (a) in the midst of a crowd of names, with Paul; (b) as a song reaches its crescendo, with Asaph; (c) from thumbnail sketches in a letter, with Jude; and (d) in the glimpse of a saviour passing by, with John.
In my preparation, I stumbled across ‘a few of my favourite things’.
On godliness, my favourite Tim Keller quotation…
You may not have strong public-speaking gifts, but if you are godly, your wisdom and love and courage will make you an interesting preacher. You may not have strong pastoral or counseling gifts (eg., you may be very shy or introverted), but if you are godly, your wisdom and love and courage will enable you to comfort and guide people. You may not have strong leadership gifts (eg., you may be disorganized, or cautious by nature), but if you are godly, your wisdom and love and courage will mean that people will respect and follow you (Preaching, 196).
On integrity, my favourite learning exercise…
After listening to translators stumble and pause whenever I used the word ‘integrity’, before proceeding to explain that single word of mine with a paragraph of their own (!), it dawned on me that we had a tricky word on our hands — and so I devised a whole new way of teaching the session. I’ve blogged about this one before, describing what we do here and here. 
Here are some outcomes, on a whiteboard in Bangalore and then in Mumbai:

On humility, my favourite collection of characteristics…

I’ve always been fascinated by humble people. ‘The sweetest grace of all’. It starts with Jesus and it moves on to people we meet, be it in books or in life, who follow his example. I watch them carefully and the difficult settings in which their humility shines, the very same settings in which I struggle! Maybe that is why I notice it so readily. Then I keep a collection of those settings — a little list, to which I add new settings as I observe them. I am up to nine now (I’ve blogged on this previously as well — here). Here they are:
Receiving criticism with grace. 
Watching credit go elsewhere with silence.
Serving in obscurity with calm. 
Apologising with haste.
Honouring the past with respect.
Listening with attentiveness.
Remaining teachable with curiosity.
Monitoring personal pronouns with care.
Stepping back with joy.


Yes, we do well to re-frame the discussion on leadership more around matters of character because, in the end, that is what matters. May the Lord be gracious with each one of us.

Doing it all again in the South Island, next week…

nice chatting

Paul

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About Me

paul06.16

the art of unpacking

After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.

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