Is arrogant the new humble?

Jesus is the model of true humility. Even though He is fully God, he was willing to be made human, one of us, and to die a humiliating death so that we could be freed from the bondage of sin (Philippians 2:1-11, Psalm 32:1-5). The result is that we can have relationship with God our Father.

I grew up with some amazing models of humble leadership around me. Two pastors that have had a huge impact on the way I view ministry, particularly pastoral ministry are 'The Davids', namely David Manuel and David Epp. The first David was a man I watched preach powerfully in front of hundreds and then come home and be the hands of Jesus to me and my family: washing the dishes, polishing my shoes, playing marbles, talking, praying. Pops is a brilliant man with powerful friends, but you would never know it because he only name-drops one name: Jesus.

The second David, Pastor Epp, is someone who was the Lead Pastor at my church when I was growing up at South Abbotsford M.B. Church. It was always amazing to me that he knew my name. Not only did he know my name, but he knew about my life and I wasn't an exception. He cared deeply for the people God put under his care, and it was obvious. It wasn't a corporate-business-church leader, but a caring pastor. To this day, if I see Pastor Epp, he will know my name and will take time to ask about my life and I have little doubt that he will take time to pray with me. If I were to find myself in the hospital today, I wouldn't be surprised to have a visit from Pastor and Mrs. Epp. Humble. Caring. Leadership. I'm convinced that Pastor Epp didn't know everything, have all the answers, or have an online following because of his presentation skills. I do know with 100% certainty that he led me to Jesus as my pastor, not by being the best but by realizing that he wasn't. Amazing.

As a young leader taking my masters courses I spent a day shadowing the superintendent of West Vancouver, Doug Player. He was known to us as an innovative leader who was able to take his district in new (and crazy) directions. This looked like someone I wanted to spend time with. What I learned from Doug was not what I had expected to learn. For part of our day, he took me on a tour of a number of his schools. The following is the learning that has stayed with me to this day some 15 years later. Doug knew his people; he knew the secretary of each school, the custodians, the library techs. He knew their names, their stories, and their families and took time to follow up with them: "How is your mother doing?" "Did you get a roof on your shed?" It really didn't seem to matter who the people were, what their position was, or what they looked like; they were all important to Doug.

Confidence is very different than pride, and we have an unshakable confidence once we have given our lives to Jesus. The 'Two Davids' taught me this: You can't be a humble follower of Christ without displaying huge amounts of confidence in what we are called to do. This is because we put our trust in the Lord our God instead of things, successes, or people (Psalm 20:7). If we are not extremely careful, however, we can get caught up in being the best, winning, being right, judging others, knowing the most, not needing others, building our own empires, and being proud of our accomplishments.