Posted By Rusty Ricketson on July 4, 2010
My mother went to be with the Lord last week on her 85th Birthday. She had battled Alzheimer’s for the last few years and we were grateful for God’s mercy in calling her home.
There are never any words that accurately express the depth of the impact this woman has had on my life. In a very quiet way she molded my thinking about the world. Her questions about things personal, political, and theological required me to delve into areas long resting and self-assured. She kept me mentally fit.
Her laugh will always be in my mind. A petite beauty she could belly laugh at herself and, when appropriate, others. She raised me and taught me until the day she died. I am a blessed man.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on June 16, 2010
This week at the Southern Baptist Convention I was a part of many varied conversations brought by many different people with different points of view regarding the major decision before the convention. What I found interesting was that both those who were for and those who were against the proposal wanted the same thing, a hearing.
These people knew that in order to be significant in the decision making process they needed to know within themselves that their ideas and concerns were being heard. They wanted someone to listen to them not ignore them.
Listening, valuing, and respecting the speech of others is vitally important when leading. Granted, not all speech will be pleasant or agreeable. Still, the point remains that leaders MUST hear others and let them know that they are being heard. Simply ignoring those with whom you disagree breeds distrust and animosity. The key word for today and everyday is listen and hear. Find a quiet place in your soul so that you can hear the hearts of others.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on May 16, 2010
One of my students mentioned that it took more courage to follow than to lead. As we discussed the point, I began to see that following does require a type of courage not found in most leadership material.
Leader courage is usually described as facing the unknown, willing to take risks, etc. However, from the follower perspective, a follower must also risk. After all, when a follower follows a leader there is a degree of trust that has to be exhibited by the follower toward the leader that the leader does not have to exhibit. Followers must have the courage to believe in another; trust another human being. Such a risk takes courage for the depths of the human spirit are often unknown.
As followers, we can see the fruit of a person’s life over time and come to some conclusions regarding the person’s integrity and trustworthiness. Yet, in the end followers must risk if they are to be followers of integrity.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on April 29, 2010
Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God and Jesus (John 17:3). Living eternal life is a constant journey filled with opportunities to know God and Jesus through various events. The beauty of living life in this way is that every event, even the most mundane, can be reveal nuances of the character of God and His work in the world.
Jesus promises to reveal Himself to all who obey His commands (John 14:21ff). As we follow His commands, we can know Him in new and different ways. Knowing Jesus intimately is the essence of eternal life and makes living on planet earth a follower’s delight.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on April 6, 2010
I like to think I keep my word. If I make a promise to you, you can be certain that I will fulfill that promise unless providentially hindered. Keeping promises to others and to God are an important aspect of being a person who can be trusted.
Still, there is one person to whom it is easy for me to break my promise….. me. I find that I can easily promise not to eat too much, or discipline my time, or any number of things that I convince myself I need to do. Yet, I often break the promise.
As a result, my life is diminished, I am unproductive, and my heart is filled with regret. I am to love my neighbor as I love myself. How can I do this if I cannot be trustworthy to my own self?
Perhaps one solution is not to make a promise to my deceptive self, but rather make my promises to God and rely upon His enabling power to fulfill the promise that impacts me. Any other ideas?
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on March 6, 2010
I should have expected it, but it still took me by surprise when speaking to a group of ministry leaders, two of them walked out in the middle of the presentation. Of course I have no way of knowing why they left. I can only assume that the content was not to their liking. After all, the prevailing bias against followers by leaders and leader ‘experts’ is extensive.
Following the conference, I had a couple of attendees approach me and shared with me a beneficial insight. They both reported that at the beginning of my presentation they did not like what I was saying because it went against the template of what they had been taught for years. In their words their “defenses” were up. However, they reported that as I continued, they decided to become more receptive and try to understand the concepts I was sharing. It was toward the end of my presentation that the proverbial light bulb came on and they saw the benefit of becoming a Following-Leader.
What this teaches me is that ‘follower talk’ may not initially be received because of the 30 years of bias against followers and for leaders. However, when presented with the logic and the support material surrounding the Following-Leader concept, people can change their minds. They, like followers, have the choice.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on February 25, 2010
There is no such thing. The term ‘follow’ requires action or it cannot be performed. You may think you have followers who are not following, but the reality is you may only have ’standers’ or ’sitters’ who refuse to follow. Standers and sitters are not followers.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on February 20, 2010
I, along with millions of others, watched with interest the apology given by Tiger Woods yesterday. Pundits will no doubt take his words and parse them to the minute detail. Was he sincere? Did he say enough? Did he say too much? Most of this talk will be an exercise in futility because only Tiger is inside his own head.
What struck me was his reasoning for his actions. To paraphrase, Tiger said that he had wandered away from the values he had been taught as a child. His own indictment of himself was that he had begun to think that the common rules of society did not apply to him. He followed his own senses and partook of the temptations offered.
I bring this up not to debate what Tiger ’should have’ done but to point out that Tiger admittedly lost his way when he choose not to follow. The ethic we embrace is the foundation of the values we use to determine our decisions. If we do not follow these values and act upon our ethic, we all will lose our way.
Tiger has chosen Buddhism as his ethical value system, but this is a conversation for another day.
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on February 15, 2010
Had the opportunity this past week to walk the hills of Galilee and the streets of Old Jerusalem. I had last visited Israel in 1979 before going to seminary. Thirty-one years later I have such a greater appreciation for the sites, sounds, smells, and history of the Holy Land.
In the weeks ahead I hope to synthesize some of my impressions of the trip with my current thinking on following and how such thinking impacted not only the lives of the disciples of Jesus but how it impacts our lives as well.
On that note I offer this tidbit. Gideon, the great army leader, followed the direction of the Lord and paired down his army from thousands to 300. This counter-intuitive action was done for God’s purpose of bringing sole glory to Himself; making certain that all would know that GOD had won the battle.
“…God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong…that no man should boast before God.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-28
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Posted By Rusty Ricketson on February 4, 2010
My students and I had a hearty debate the other day regarding the ‘cause-effect’ statements of some of the leadership literature. The basic question is, do leaders actually cause change within the followers or do they simply create a climate where the followers may choose to participate with the leader?
If followers have a will to choose (and they do), then it stands to reason that the decision to participate actually belongs to the follower. Leaders present an option before the followers but, aside from coercion, cannot effect the change. Leaders can inspire the followers, but the followers still have the capacity to be or not to be inspired (sounds a little Shakespearian to me).
It appears that even in matters of coercion that the followers are not necessarily bound to follow the leader’s wishes if the follower is willing to pay the price that not complying with the leader’s request would entail. If the power to participate or not resides with the follower, what exactly do leaders do?
We will explore this matter further in future posts.
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