David L. McKenna
Список книг автора David L. McKennaConfessions of a Streetwalker
In 2005 my wife, Jan, and I moved into a condo along the shores of Lake Washington. Even though I had served as President of Seattle Pacific University back in the 1970s, I was unknown on the streets of the resort-like village of Kirkland, Washington. Each morning Molly, our Maltese puppy, and I went across the street for her «potty break» and exercise. Soon, with Molly as the introducer, I discovered a new world where strangers became friends through the connection of our dogs. Later, after two back surgeries, Jan joined us on our daily walk down the street, through the village, and around the park by using a doggie stroller as a substitute for a walker. The sight of the three of us walking down the street, with Molly peering forward from her seat at the helm of the stroller, became a phenomenon of its own on the streets of Kirkland. Together, we walked through an open door of learning and found that friendship based upon listening, caring, and giving is a grace that God reserves for plain people who walk daily and serve joyfully in common places.
The Succession Principle
Succession is the hot topic in leadership development, but the subject has rarely been addressed in Christian literature. As a college, university, and seminary president who experienced three successions in leadership, David McKenna is eminently qualified to speak on the subject. He begins by introducing us to the Succession Principle:
What we bring to leadership is important. What we do in leadership is more important. What we leave from our leadership is most important of all.
Once our priority shifts from success to succession, the door is open to read John 17 as the Prayer of Succession for Jesus. In this final report, Jesus transfers to his disciples and to us the same enduring trust, transforming truth, and unifying love that he has received for leadership from his Father. With these legacies come specific gifts of succession to complete our task, develop disciples, advance the kingdom, and see the fulfillment of Christ's promise, «Greater things than these shall you do.» Succession in the spirit of Christ, then, is written not in terms of success, but in the seamless transition of sustainable gifts culminating in the gift of greater things.
When God Laughs with Us
Lighten up!
Most of us take ourselves too seriously. Christian leaders, in particular, are tempted by the position they hold, or the power they wield, to lose touch with their humanity, become arrogant, and alienate their followers.
But what about our tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot, time and time again? Can we laugh at ourselves?
David McKenna, a Christian college president, brings a lifetime of learning to this question. By confessing his own foibles and laughing at the ludicrous, he finds that God is laughing with him–not to ridicule, but to give the special grace that saves us from ourselves.
The lessons are humbling when the laugh is on us, but they can lead to the discovery that a sense of humor is a partner with the witness of a joyful spirit. McKenna shows us by example how to lighten up and find God as we laugh at ourselves.
Christ-Centered Leadership
"If a leader is a Christian, what difference does it make?" Giant strides have been made in secular leadership theory toward a Christian viewpoint. Priority is now given to character as well as competence, accountability as well as power, transformation as well as transaction, and servanthood as well as success. But these qualities apply to secular as well as to Christian leadership. So, the question remains, «What difference does it make?»
David McKenna finds the answer in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ–a divine act for him and a defining attitude for us. Philippians 2:11-15 sets the standard and gives the details. «Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ» means following his call to the cross, where we die to self and sacrifice all self-interest in position, power, and prestige in order to serve obediently, faithfully, and humbly for the good of others and the glory of God. Christ-centered leadership is not an extension of the highest and best of human leadership. Radical obedience to the call of Christ and utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit make a substantive difference. In the most practical terms, Incarnation continues in us when we live fully, lead freely, and go where he wants us to go.
Christ-Centered Higher Education
If the Christ-centered college or university did not exist, would it have to be invented? Back in the 1950s, the answer was in doubt. With few exceptions, Christian colleges wallowed in defensive self-doubt and divisive competition while under attack from the rising public sector. Students of American higher education predicted that they would soon become as extinct as the whooping crane.
Rather then succumbing to doomsayers, leaders in Christian higher education bonded together around the commanding truth that «all things come together» in Jesus Christ. They drove their stake for the future in the integration of faith and learning as the reason for the existence of Christ-centered higher education. Out of this commitment came a renaissance movement of common cause and unprecedented cooperation through the Consortium of Christian Colleges and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.
Will integration continue to be the energizing and all-pervasive influence that gives the Christ-centered institution its reason for existence? Trustees, presidents, deans and faculties in each generation must think and rethink the concept in the light of theological, academic, technological, and cultural change. David McKenna opens the conversation by remembering where we were, confirming who we are, and envisioning what we can be.