When I was a platoon leader our company was spending a month in the field for some extensive training as we prepared to deploy. Our battalion constantly had one of its three companies deployed, so we were on an 18 month rotation. Six months of training, six months deployed and six months in recovery. We had recently received a new Battalion Commander and Command Sergeant Major and since we were the first company to deploy under their command, we became the focus of the battalion. Despite the focus placed on our company, the Battalion Commander and Command Sergeant Major never came out to check on our training. One night as we were eating chow one of my E-4s came up to me and asked “Sir, do the Commander and CSM not care about us? Under the old Commander and CSM, if we were in the field, they were there every night to serve us chow.” Wow. How profound
As Jesus and the disciples were sitting around after the last supper an argument started about which of them was the greatest. Jesus, the greatest leader to ever walk the face of the earth, responds with some profound words. He says “the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Jesus turns the disciple’s worldly view of greatness on its head. He said that the greatest leader is the one who serves.
That night in the field that E-4 opened my eyes to one of the greatest leadership lessons of my military career. In order to be more like Christ in my role as a leader, I needed to learn to be a servant. As I began to walk the path of becoming a servant leader to my soldiers I gained the loyalty of 40 of the best soldiers in the U. S. Army. I challenge you to apply Christ’s words to your life in whatever sphere of influence God has given you, and see how it changes you and everyone around you.
