Please describe your leadership style
My leadership style is grounded in the Reformed Tradition's belief in the priesthood of all believers. A Minister of Word and Sacrament is called to participate in God's plan for redemption by equipping the saints to fulfill their part in that plan and nurturing the spiritual growth of the community which has been gathered by the Holy Spirit.
The leadership style that has been most meaningful in my own professional development is based on collegial working relationships united in a common goal. As a result, when I am called to lead I seek to empower others and cultivate their leadership skills. I want to serve as a resource and a guide to help them find their path to our goal; at the same time, I accept that the path they take might not be the one I would have chosen for them, but I trust that for them that path can be the one that most helps them to grow in Christ and in confidence.
In any of life’s interactions, but especially when I have been called to lead, the other person’s worth and dignity as a human being and a child of God are foremost in my mind. All people, whether they are young or old, whether their life’s journey has led them to be doctors or grocery clerks, lawyers or waitresses, have value and are important to me, because God created them and called them good.
Practically, that means that I hear, I value, I encourage, and I equip those I have been called to lead so that we may work collaboratively and reach our goals together.
In the church it is very clear that God is always doing a new thing; therefore to be called to the church means to be called to navigate waters of change swiftly and to do so with a pastor's heart. I believe that God has gifted me with talents that enable me to thrive in those changing waters, where others often flounder.
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