As leaders of seminaries, we have many professional development opportunities, but biblical leadership success has less to do with style, strategy, or method than one’s disposition before God. It’s a challenge to continually submit ourselves in the way Scripture models. But it’s so freeing.
I have four words on a piece of paper on my desk that help me stay on track with this Scriptural model. The four words are: Remember, Reduce, Rely, and Rest.
As we remember God’s faithfulness to us, we realize again that it’s not all about what we do, but about what God is doing. In the book of Joshua, for example, God reminds his leader to remember God first. When we do that, we more easily adopt a posture of humility. We’re invited to rely on God and can do so because God is sovereign, present, and good. The command to leaders is not to make sure there’s long-term sustainability and high enrollment; it’s a call to rely on God. And the result of all those things is rest.
This is the pattern I follow as I pray, particularly in this role of president. I can even do it at a stoplight: “Remind me of your goodness. Help me humble myself. May I be reliant on you.” Then I pray: “And give me rest,” because, yes, it’s stressful.
This pattern is repeated all throughout scripture. The most obvious place is the Lord’s Prayer. It helps us remember that God provides what we need. We can find rest knowing God will guide us in ways divinely ordained, and therefore good.
