servant leadership

Pacesetters break down barriers and help us see what is possible. Pacesetters are driven by values, not by their own ambitions or desires. True Pacesetters see the world as God sees it...Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was that kind of man — a true Pacesetter. He believed all men and women are created by God and in the image of God, and he believed that standing up for the oppressed and marginalized was worth dying for. 

Mine. As a parent, you’ve heard this more than once. My toy. My fruit snacks. My blanket. From the very start of life, selfishness is inherent.

I hope you feel some level of comfort knowing that “me first” thinking is normal. My children are just as rotten as yours sometimes. However, the real concern for us parents sets in when we realize that some children never grow out of it. Selfish children can become selfish adolescents and eventually selfish adults. We don’t just outgrow selfishness as we get older, we must be led into something better.

Today, we are going to discuss a few ways you can lead your children out of selfishness and into service of others. 

Have you ever played rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to go last—or to see who gets to sit in the backseat? 

My college roommate would yell, “Backseat!” every time the two of us rode with another diver. He also had the unique custom of tipping the ice cream server for his milkshake at Baskin Robbins. He explained, “Think about it...you tip the bartender, and all they do is knock the top off of a bottle. The person making your milkshake spends so much more time with your order.” He was a strong, yet empathetic leader in college and continues to be one now. I think that growing up in a household of four kids taught him that life was about much more than him—and these lessons have had a great deal to do with his success.