Spiritual Life
University Chaplain
1. To provide opportunities for students, faculty and staff to express, learn more about, and grow in their own religious faith. 2. To provide the opportunity to learn about the religious beliefs of others. To serve as a liaison to communities of faith in the surrounding area and to be a resource for students whose religious needs extend beyond our campus. 3. To provide opportunities for discussion and dialogue on matters of religious belief and ethical behavior.
Don Harrison, M.Div. Phone (770)534-6259 dharrison@brenau.edu
November 26th 2012
SERVANT LEADERSHIP-RELIGIOUS or SECULAR?
I recently was asked if Brenau’s Servant Leadership was a religious program. My answer was “yes” and “no”. The term “servant leader” was coined by Robert Greenleaf, AT&T’s Director of Management Development in the 1960’s. He said that the major characteristic he looked for in potential managers was “an innate desire to serve”. Now, all the world’s major religions have some precept and teaching that says that “the leader of all must be the servant of all”. To that extent then, Servant Leadership has its roots in various religious teachings.
Servant Leadership is also a style of management that emphasizes the value and contributions of each employee where the goal is to meet people’s needs as opposed to the acquisition of power. The team concept is at the heart of servant leadership. It recognizes and values what each team member has to contribute and allows each to fully participate. Bill Turner, who has led teams in the development of major national companies says, “The leader’s primary responsibility is to meet the needs, whatever they may be, of those who serve the organization. It involves listening to others and together shaping a vision that everyone can own. The servant-leader becomes a funnel that creative ideas come to naturally from others who are themselves becoming servant-leaders. Servant-leaders are encouragers, communicators, and cheerleaders.”
Brenau’s Servant Leader Scholars Program began five years ago and with ten young women selected from over ninety applicants. Today the program has expanded to fifteen members. In 2012 we had forty applicants for five vacant slots. Each member receives a $500 scholarship from the General scholarship Fund and is required to meet regularly for training and service projects. The group has provided clothing for women at a court-appointed facility, assisted with the annual spring fund-raising for the Humane Society and developed a mentoring program for low income grammar school students. Servant Leaders are sorority and class officers, athletes, Honor Court members, peer assistants, and leaders in nearly every organization on campus. Each senior receives a specially designed pendant with the Brenau Servant-Leader logo in gold and surrounded by semi-precious stones and on the back of the pendant is inscribed, “She who leads must first serve”.
