Despite our torrid culture today, servant
leaders still work to make our lives better.
It’s a respite amidst the yammering bloggers,
tweeters, and talking heads when local media like this take the opportunity to tell
us about their many acts of kindness, charity, and courage.
We should also pause and reflect
upon what motivates these generous spirits. The best sources for that remain
the Bible and the pulpit. Pastors implore us to serve and to learn from Matthew
10:43-45, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and
whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Then, there are leadership
organizations dedicated to servant-leadership. “A servant-leader focuses
primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which
they belong,” teaches the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership. “The
servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people
develop and perform as highly as possible.”
Such a leader was Dr. William F. “Bill”
Scaggs who passed away two weeks ago at age 84.
Most Mississippi community college
leaders knew Dr. Scaggs, because he taught, mentored, and worked with them. Over
35 years he built Meridian Community College from a 13th grade at
Meridian High School into a highly successful college. He passed on his
experiences and servant-leadership ways by teaching for years in the Community
College Leadership doctoral program at Mississippi State University, providing a
quiet voice of wisdom many presidents relied upon, and personally counseling
and nurturing upcoming college leaders.
In Meridian, Dr. Scaggs was appreciated
not only for his successes as college president but also for his work as community
leader, innovator, mentor, and teacher. I doubt anyone knows how many initiatives
he helped start and successfully develop because he never sought the spotlight.
I worked closely with him for over 35 years and cannot tell you. He saw his servant's
mission as one of developing program ownership and leadership in others.
His was also the wise and deliberate
voice calmly mentoring local officials, legislators, educators, philanthropists,
civic leaders, and agency heads.
He and wife Sally were mainstays in the Episcopal
Church of the Mediator and the Diocese of Mississippi.
Dr. Scaggs retired from MCC in 1998. He remained active over the next 20 years in various leadership roles, much of that
as president, board member, and program coordinator at The Montgomery Institute
in Meridian. Through this affiliation he influenced hundreds of community,
school, college, and workforce leaders across East Mississippi and West Alabama
and co-founded an after-school program for young people most dear to his heart,
the Meridian Freedom Project.
The above description does little
justice to a life filled with sterling accomplishments. But, what made Bill
Scaggs truly extraordinary was not what he did but how he did it, with a spirit
of love, kindness, forbearance, gentleness, self-control, goodness, peace, joy,
and faithfulness. That was the Bill Scaggs I knew, respected, and loved, a brilliant
but humble servant exemplifying the “fruit of the Sprit” (Galatians 5:19-23).
We need more like him.
Crawford is a syndicated
columnist from Jackson.
7 comments:
In todays power and money driven society, good luck with this.
R.I.P. Nice testamentary.
We also need more musicians like Boz Scaggs.
Part of being a good leader is knowing when to fire the yammering bloggers, tweeters, and talking heads who work for you.
I hate to be the one to tell you this, 7:06, but when you get to work this morning, you'll find a cardboard box on your desk.
I just spit some of my cereal out 7:02pm. Well played sir. Well played.
@ 2:32 AM, this is 7:06.
Nope. I don't work for anyone.
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