by Andrew Prusinski
I love how God guides His followers. Scripture is full of stories of divine encounters, steps of faith illuminated by the Word, and everyday events that tell an eternal story. It’s through these stories that we can see how God guides His people to participate in the work of God. Why God chooses us, I may never know, but I trust that God’s ways are higher than mine!
by Mark Bahr (with contributions by Ben Stellwagen, Scott Ernstmeyer, and Jim Pingel)
Leadership is arguably the most important factor for the success of any organization. The best leaders wield tremendous influence across an entire organization and can typically shape and hone the direction and operations for all the employees.
by John Lottes
Who would have thought that the “Pandemic Disease” component (if you even had one) of your school’s Crisis Response Plan would get such a workout this past year? Even with a plan in hand, it was very difficult in the midst of an evolving crisis to stay agile, keep operations underway, and keep everyone safe.
by Scott Fogo
I was sixteen years old in 1986 when the original Top Gun movie debuted. I think many of us from that generation dreamed of piloting a F-14 fighter, flying around with our hair on fire. Unbeknownst to my parents, I would often quote Tom Cruise right before slamming down the accelerator of their brand new Ford Thunderbird, “Maverick supersonic! I’ll be there in 30 seconds.” My parents couldn’t understand why we went through tires so quickly.
by Reverend Dr. Patrick Ferry, President CUWAA
The submission date for this little piece was due a few days before the national election. I also completed the writing before a decision was made regarding the confirmation of most recent nomination to the Supreme Court. While I was pulling this together the number of daily COVID cases in Wisconsin was disturbingly high and climbing across the state. Around the country infection rates were high and the death toll continued to mount.
by President Brian Friedrich
Several weeks ago, the advertisement promoting the Council of Independent College (CIC) January 2021 Presidents’ Institute, “So Much More… than Zoom” grabbed my attention. CIC, arguably the gold standard for education and resources for leaders of independent institutions of higher education, annually hosts an in-person gathering at the dawn of the new year.
by Dr. Sandra Harris
As a leader, everyone wants to be inclusive and have a diverse population in their organization. I would like to share recommendations as to how Lutheran high school principals can demonstrate their valuing of diversity as they work to be inclusive and equitable with their student population and with faculty and staff. I feel confident that every Lutheran high school principal wants to have a diverse population, and wants to lead a building that is open and accepting of students, faculty, and staff who are different than the majority of the population.
by Chris Steinmann
This morning I walked the dark hallways of an empty school. It has been that way for a month now, since we were mandated to close our schools by Governor’s order. Despite walking those dark hallways each day, I haven’t gotten used to it yet. It is disconcerting and depressing over and over again. Every single time I walk the barren schools of our Association, my heart cries out, “God, how long?”
Here are some newly published books which would benefit each of you greatly in your ministry and leadership development. Any one of them would make for a terrific book club group too.
There are so many other things I want to learn more about rather than listening I remember thinking as I picked up this book on a “just published” bookshelf. I’m so glad I was wrong and had the courage to crack open the first chapter of this work. Filled with splendid research, anecdotes, and easy takeaways, You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters is a terrific and joyful read—something I was not expecting. I also discovered that I had a lot more to learn about listening. As President Calvin Coolidge once said, “No man ever listened himself out of a job.”
As you might expect, the book unpacks bad and good listening habits and dispositions as well as what you can do to improve them. Even more interesting are the research tidbits on the relationship between innovation and listening, curiosity and listening, and influence and listening. If you want to become a more curious, innovative, and influential Lutheran high school administrator, this book provides the research and compelling ways you can improve in all of these areas and more.
Another highlight of the book is Murphy’s use of word phrases, analogies, and illustrations to depict powerful listening habits and dispositions. “When someone says something to you,” she writes, “it’s as if they are tossing you a ball. Not listening or half-listening is like keeping your arms pinned to your sides or looking away so the ball sails right past or bounces off you clumsily.” Who wants to play catch with someone who doesn’t even try to catch your toss? Do you listen in the same manner—not catching the other person’s ball toss?
We all know that listening is an important disposition and skill for every leader. Yet too often we see individuals who struggle in their leadership role because they are not good listeners. How good a listener are you?
You’re Not Listening will teach and motivate you to become a better listener. It will also encourage your school and team members to listen to your students, parents, donors, and other constituents more deliberately too. What school can’t use more of that!
Any Lutheran high school leader who thinks he or she won’t have to deal with religious liberty issues and fights in the future is woefully unprepared. Published only a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic, the content of Free to Believe: A Battle Over Religious Liberty in America could not be more relevant or applicable to Lutheran administrators and Christian leaders today. Over the past few months, the religious freedom issue has resurfaced in primetime—can churches be “shut down” and deemed “non-essential” by declaration of governors and state assemblies in the name of the public good? Under what pretexts? If the government can shut down churches, what about your school? Under what circumstances? With religious liberty being eroded subtly and not so subtly in our country today, Lutheran high school students must be taught and embrace a rigorous understanding of the most essential liberty in our Constitution.
One particular strength of Goodrich’s well-researched book is that it provides a balanced argument to the religious liberty issue. The opening chapter, “How Christians Get it Wrong,” illustrates how some well-meaning Christians go too far in making the religious liberty argument all about defending and promoting the Christian faith only. This zealotry, while perhaps well-meaning, can potentially do more damage to the precept of religious freedom and Christian organizations in general.
Goodrich’s concluding chapters—“Let Go of Winning,” “Learn from Scripture,” and “How to Prepare for the Future”—provide encouragement and guidance for Lutheran high school students, administrators, and teachers alike. These chapters alone would make terrific pre-service or book club discussions with your faculty members. This work is required reading for engaged Christian citizens in the postmodern age.
Despite the fact that 2020 is an election year, and the subtitle is The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow’s Schools, this book is not about politics. While the twenty-two contributing essayists offer some limited praise and criticism for education policies on both sides of the political aisle, these education gurus instead primarily focus and offer their vision and predictions on what education should, or must, look like in the future.
Though a diverse group of educational experts and researchers, there were some major and common themes which emerged in the book. Exemplary schools in the future will:
Focus on teaching critical and patriotic citizenship
Embrace character education
Help students find their life purpose
Demand a rigorous work ethic in students
Counter groupthink and compliance
Measure the data meaningful to their mission
Establish a family culture.
Not specifically written for Lutheran school leaders, this work will nonetheless take you on a futures ride and force you to reflect and evaluate your school’s current, strategic, educational trajectory. You will rethink the questions like: Just what is the purpose of our school? How will or do we need to “do school” in the future? If we could start from scratch, what kind of school would we look like?
Sit back and read one different essay a week. Ponder and debate the argument. And then think of the many ways God is leading you to lead your school into the future.
When my ten-year old son was six, my wife and I signed him up for karate at the local recreation center. Weekly he would join around twelve other six-year olds and his teacher would put them through all sorts of drills and discipline exercises. We sat in the “parent gallery” and watched.
