Hawks discusses Jesus’ example as model leader
FOR RELEASE: Thursday, July 30, 2009
Huntington, Ind.-On July 23, the Huntington University Center for Leadership sponsored a leadership luncheon featuring Rick Hawks, the founder and 14-year senior pastor of The Chapel, a nondenominational church in Fort Wayne, Ind. Hawk's presentation was titled "Maximizing your Influence: The Secret Lessons of Leadership from Jesus." Hawks came at the subject of leadership from a different perspective saying that leadership is counterintuitive because "it is something that works better when you do it the way it shouldn't work."
The presentation centered around four secrets of Jesus and how those four secrets offer us examples of leadership. "Many times we miss the obvious," Hawks said.
He first illustrated this by saying that Jesus taught that "winning is losing." Hawks gave an example for this point by saying that when one loses oneself to one's spouse, that person will win.
The second secret of Jesus is that "to receive more, you must first give more." Hawks admits that this goes against all economic laws, but he compares it to the NFL because for each winner, there is a loser. This means that "wealth can be created" and that it is not just something you take from someone else. Money is not just a "certificate of civic contribution," Hawk said. "It truly has no value."
Jesus' third secret that Hawks discussed was that "to move higher you must be willing to bend lower." Hawks suggested that to move forward, one must lower themselves to God.
The final secret Hawks brought up was "to be a great leader, you must be willing to become a great servant."
Hawks also offered a few thoughts on leadership in which he pointed out that "the more effective leader you are at meeting the needs, the more needs there will be" and that "the more effective leader you are, the more people will try to get you to do something else." His thoughts suggested that the better leader a person is, the more that is more required of them, the more that is working against them and the more responsibility weighing on them.
He challenged his audience to follow Jesus' example of what it means to be a leader and to use the model he gave us in the Bible.
This event was part of a series of luncheons offered on the fourth Thursday of every month.
The Huntington University Center for Leadership is housed on the university's campus in the EXCEL Adult Degree Programs office. Under the leadership of Dr. Rick Upchurch, director of the EXCEL program, the CFL provides leadership training and resources to businesses, community leaders and pastors in northern Indiana.
