Tag Archives for Martin Luther King Jr.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP & The full text of MLK JR.’s Drum Major Instinct Speech

“Dodge gets pushback for Super Bowl commercial using Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice” The Washington Post

Dodge aired a commercial for its Ram truck series during Sunday’s Super Bowl featuring a portion of a sermon from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that has drawn a backlash on social media. The decision to allow King’s sermon to be used was made by his estate.

The ad begins by noting that King delivered the sermon – known as “The Drum Major Instinct” – on Feb. 4, 1968, 50 years ago today. In the same sermon, delivered the same year he was assassinated, King also advised people not to spend too much on cars.

According to Stanford University’s reprinting of his sermon, this particular sermon was an adaptation of the 1952 homily ”Drum-Major Instincts” by J. Wallace Hamilton, who was a well-known, white liberal Methodist preacher at the time.

Here is the text from the sermon that was used as a voice-over in the commercial:

“If you want to be important – wonderful. If you want to be recognized – wonderful. If you want to be great – wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness. . . . By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great . . . by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. . . . You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know [Einstein’s] theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

His sermon, delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where he was a pastor, referenced the biblical passage Matthew 23:11-12, “The greatest among you will be your servant.”

… What the Super Bowl ad doesn’t include is the part from King’s sermon where he warns against the dangers of spending too much when buying a car and not trying to keep up with the Joneses.

“Do you ever see people buy cars that they can’t even begin to buy in terms of their income? You’ve seen people riding around in Cadillacs and Chryslers who don’t earn enough to have a good T-Model Ford,” King said in his sermon. “But it feeds a repressed ego. You know, economists tell us that your automobile should not cost more than half of your annual income. So if you make an income of $5,000, your car shouldn’t cost more than about $2,500. That’s just good economics.”

King concluded that sermon by imagining his own funeral, saying he wanted to be remembered for doing good deeds, including serving others. This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of King, who was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968…

Read more at … http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2018/02/dodge_martin_luther_king_comme.html

INNOVATION & Video of Simon Sinek graphing the “diffusion of innovation” & the “tipping point” at TEDxPuget Sound

Commentary by Prof. B.: As an early adopter (13.5%) I sometimes grow impatient with the slowness brought to the diffusion of innovation by the slow pace of the early majority and late majority.  As Sinek has pointed out, you cannot have a movement until you have attained 15-18% market penetration (the so-called “tipping point”) between the early adopters (me) and my colleagues/students (early majority).  Here is Simon Sinek graphing this relationship in a short 10-minute TEDx talk.

Read and watch more at … https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action and https://startwithwhy.com/

ETHICS & Simon Sinek at TEDxPuget Sound on “How great leaders inspire action”

Commentary by Prof. B.: In my introductory course on leadership we discuss the importance and impact of ethical behavior in leaders.  We look at Alexander Hill’s three aspects of ethics: right action, just action and acting in love.  Hill bases these elements on a biblical and theological foundation.  Simon Sinek, author and futurist, describes these same three aspects of ethics in his TEDx talk on what inspires action in followers.

Read and watch more at … https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action and https://startwithwhy.com/

Download the rest of the chapter “Becoming a Leader After God’s Own Heart” by Bob Whitesel in The Church Leader’s MBA: What Business School Instructors Wish Pastors Knew About Management, eds. Mark Smith and David Wright here > Ethics_Whitesel_10.09.

RECONCILIATION & Billy Graham on his friendship/methods with Martin Luther King Jr.:

“Dr. King was a social reformer, we were personal friends and he understood my position completely – – That I was using one type of method to accomplish the same thing and he was using another type of method.” (Read the context and Dr. King’s comments below.)

WHEATON Archives Billy Graham on MLK 1.jpg

WHEATON Archives Billy Graham on MLK 2.jpgAccess the complete documents at http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bulletin/bu1402c.htm

DMIN & Wesley Seminary cohort in Transformational Leadership began their educational journey visiting #MLK birthplace, Ebenezer Baptist Church & Greater Traveler’s Rest Church where #MLK pastored.

Commentary by Prof. B: Below are two pictures from the first course I taught to our DMin in Transformational Leadership students. The course (LEAD 711: Foundations of Urban, Rural and Suburban Leadership) included visits to important #MLK historical sites as well as hearing from a diverse group of pastors.

DMin 2016 ATL Speakers from Poster copy

The first is a picture of our #WesleySem #DMIN #Leadership cohort visiting #MLK birthplace and hearing from @Ebenezer_ATL Church pastor #RaphaelWarnock.

While pictured below are our students @WesleySeminary #DMin in Transformational Leadership students when we began our program in 2016 by attending Greater Traveler’s Rest Church formerly pastored by #MartinLutherKingJr. Current pastor Rev. Dr. Dewey Smith (pictured) hosted a day of learning. @HOHATL #WesleySem

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#DMin DMin cohort Wesley Seminary LEAD 711 712 713 714 715 716

DISCRIMINATION & A Review of James Cone’s theological response to the dark history of lynchings

When He Died Upon the Tree: James Cone’s seminal book gives a theological response to the dark history of lynchings in America.

by Bruce Fields, Christianity Today, 8/16/17.

…The Cross and the Lynching Tree is the most significant theological perspective on lynching—which includes not just hanging, but also “burning, beating, dragging, and shooting—as well as torture, mutilation, and especially castration.” Based on impressive research, Cone argues that the lynching tree is a viable reality/symbol for reflection on the cross of Christ. According to Cone, understandings of the cross and lynching tree can mutually inform one another and explain how events of trauma and injustice can still inspire hope for the African American community.

Cone’s book begins by advocating for confronting white supremacy, which is evident even in the church. He claims that the cross placed alongside the lynching tree could “help us to see Jesus in America in a new light.” He first engages lynching in the United States from a historical perspective, which was used a means of reminding blacks “of their inferiority and powerlessness.” Cone then considers the “Christian realism” of Reinhold Niebuhr, seeing a potentially useful theological perspective. Cone applauds Niebuhr’s focus upon matters of “self-interest and power” in human relationships, but faults Niebuhr for not addressing lynching as an obvious example of sinful human abuse.

Cone moves on to discuss how Martin Luther King Jr. saw the cross and the resurrection of Christ as inspiration for his ministry, though ”it did not erase the pain of suffering or its challenge of faith.” Cone then explores the tension between Christian truth claims and the reality of the black experience as expressed in the black literary imagination and also the ministries of women like Ida B. Wells who, at the risk of their own lives, fought against lynching.

Cone concludes with a message of hope: “God took the evil of the cross and lynching tree and transformed them both into the triumphant beauty of the divine. If America has the courage to confront the great sin and ongoing legacy of white supremacy with repentance and reparation there is hope ‘beyond tragedy.’”

Read more at … http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/august-web-only/reflections-on-cross-and-lynching-tree.html