| Greetings From the Executive Director
George Fox students encounter leadership opportunities that have the potential to shape their lives. Many of those opportunities are on campus, but students are involved in leadership off campus as well.
We hear about leadership all the time, don't we? It's defined, dissected, and analyzed. One can study leadership in the context of ministry, the military, media, the corporate marketplace, or the family.
The fact is, you can't stereotype leaders. You can't boil leadership traits down to predictable descriptions. This is because leaders are ordinary people with unique personalities and skills. God specializes in calling ordinary people into leadership every day, and He's been in the "business" for a long time. Moses, a reluctant leader, can attest to that!
So, what does this have to do with George Fox students, who hear about leadership all the time, and who have a host of leadership opportunities to choose from? How can parents partner with George Fox by encouraging their students to take steps toward leadership?
I have a few simple suggestions:
1. Encourage your daughter (or son) to be exactly who God created her to be. When she becomes a leader, her style doesn't have to emulate someone else's style. If she is drawing her strength from the Source (God), she can be herself and lead.
2. Encourage your son (or daughter) to spend plenty of time in the presence of God. Time with God will show him who he is - who the Father designed him to be. If your son submits his personality and future to God, I believe he can more rapidly move into the Master's unique calling on his life.
3. Encourage your daughter (or son) to be present and available to people. It's vital to care about people, and to be authentic and real in leadership. At its most fundamental level, leadership should be about "being Jesus" to each other.
However simple these ideas may be, they are practical steps into leadership. If you are like me, when you stumble in your leadership role, it's connected to one of these issues. It could be I'm trying to be someone other than who I am, I'm not submitting to God's plan for my life, or I'm not "being Jesus" to others.
May the Lord bless you in your role as parent and mentor for your college student!
Sheri Philips
sphilips@georgefox.edu
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