One Servant Leader's Legacy - Many Will Follow

Upon learning of a friend's death, I will take pause to lift up in prayer the departed and surviving family members. Then, in the midst of my prayers, thoughts and emotions - memories emerge. I will take time to reflect and celebrate how this person's life has made a difference and the legacy their life will represent for generations to come.

In those moments, I ponder through a tsunami of thoughts and emotions that converge to create a state of mind which "overwhelms and satisfies my soul."* There are moments of sadness and grief that can overwhelm the senses for the loss of one's physical presence, yet in the same moment other thoughts transcend into a sense of satisfaction, awe and gratefulness for the blessings and life lessons learned which can be attributed to the recently departed.

Albert W. Seiter, Jr.

Al Seiter, husband to Lu Seiter, father, grandfather, great grandfather, friend, mentor to many and servant leader, recently passed away. Al and Lu are founding members of Bethany UMC in Austin, Texas. Countless lives have been impacted and will be for generations to come by Al and Lu's actions to establish a United Methodist Church in Northwest Austin 37 years ago.

Al and his band of brothers and sisters brought forth a place full of love, embraced by the Holy Spirit, to create a refuge from the daily grind of the world. For more than thirty-seven years individuals and families have found love, comfort and healing at Bethany. Cindy and I and our sons are one of those families.

Servant Leaders Grow Others

Al exemplifies the definition of servant leader by the numbers of people who have grown personally and spiritually, but Al's actions go a step further. Al and Lu attracted many other servant-minded followers and leaders. I blogged about one of those leaders, John Griffith, on Veterans Day 2012. John and Al were best friends and I am thankful for how they taught me what makes a successful church family retreat, so people experience God's love. It takes big hearts, many constantly moving hands and feet and lots of really good food. More importantly, over the years, I experienced these men living and leading this way in all aspects of their lives and activities.

Even before Bethany began worship services in a local school, a small group of individuals canvassed the neighborhoods to find out who were Methodists and would be interested in attending a new church. What is unique about this canvassing project is the information was collected on index cards and shared with other denominations, which led to the planting of five other churches in the growing Northwest Austin neighborhoods. To this day, Bethany's leadership continues to reach out to other church leaders in a sense of unity in the community. It's about the Kingdom, not individual denominations.

Bethany's foundation was infused with servant-mindedness, from the very beginning, and when the cornerstone of Christ was laid upon that foundation built by the founding members, a healthy and blessed spiritual community emerged. This community now continues to impact lives throughout the Austin community, Texas and the world.

Servant Leaders Band Together With Other Servant Leaders

While many churches will measure their impact based upon measuring the numbers of people who attend worship - it is in this sense of servant leadership that Bethany extends their metrics to include how those attending Bethany impact others in their homes, neighborhoods, workplace, schools, community and the world. The encouragement is to be servant-minded in all you do with all the people you can, in all the ways you can and in all the places you can. This way of living and serving is attributed to the legacy of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement.

Al and Lu and their band of brothers and sisters exemplified Wesley's legacy. Many recall their initial reactions to finding Bethany as it felt like home. It is a place of love, worship, learning, serving and leading - all you would want to be in your home. And today, it is apparent based upon the level of activity, changed lives and spiritual transformations at Bethany - the same sense of servant leadership has been infused into the DNA of Bethany.

Thank you Al, Lu, all founding members and all who have followed in the steps of Al's servant-minded leadership. For many generations to come, lives will continue to find love, comfort and refuge at Bethany, but more importantly they will Experience God's Love, Know Jesus Christ, And Grow In His Image.** In the midst of this experience, people will be inspired to servant-minded leadership and make a difference in ways only dreamed and envisioned by Bethany's Founders.

In remembrance of Al for being a mentor to me and modeling the better way,

~ Alan Goldsberry, Author and CEO of ZFactor Group Publishing

ZFactor blog explores and discusses a variety of techniques, tools and discoveries by successful people that will assist others to achieve greater personal and professional success. ZFactor is a proprietary coaching methodology based upon the premise that successful people think and act differently. The ZFactor methodology is proven to accelerate a person's ability to think and act differently.

* Lyrics from the song "One Thing Remains"

** Bethany's mission statement

Legacy "To Infinity and Beyond!"

You gotta love the attitude of Buzz Lightyear, an animated robot, obviously without any means of propulsion, yet believes he can fly "to infinity and beyond." This is one of my favorite quotes of which I have many favorite quotes. Sticking with the cartoon theme, I especially like the final cartoon strip of 'Calvin and Hobbes' when Calvin says, "It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy. Let's go exploring!" 

These type of quotes inspire people who seek to live life large and leave a meaningful legacy. I believe these quotes clearly demonstrate how an authentic servant-leader remains focused on the here-and-now with an internal drive to make a difference. Their day-to-day actions to meet people where they are, believe in the magic and mystery of life and love; and serve them in all the ways they can, as long as they can - yet, the infinity of their impact on the lives and situations of others happens long after their deaths. Now that is a meaningful legacy.

My wife, Cindy, and I took a weekend trip with her parents to the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas. It was the perfect Chamber of Commerce weather for strolling along the River Walk, people watching, a little shopping and fine dining. 

As we strolled along we came upon the local Salvation Army band performing at the Arneson Theater along with a men's choir from Houston. This is a unique theater where the audience sits in an amphitheater on one side of the river with the stage on the other side. The band and choir were performing the classic Christian gospel songs and the crowd was toe tapping, hand clapping and children dancing. 

As I scanned the crowd, the love for people and the joy of service exuded from each member of the Salvation Army, as they expressed their love of Christ through their actions, as opposed to words.  As I observed each uniformed member, I envisioned I was watching the Founders of the Salvation Army in action. The lives of William and Catherine Booth are the epitome of servant-leaders captured by an inspiring moment and putting their faith to work to serve others.

Almost 150 years from the founding of the Salvation Army, it is clear how the simple, God inspired lives of the Booths have achieved "to infinity and beyond." I am struck by the magnitude of how one couple's faith-in-action has changed lives and communities, time and again through the lives of millions. Now, that is what makes this planet a truly magical world. People choosing to love and serve others. This is just another experience that confirms my perspective that I've witnessed infinity once again - and this time on the River Walk. Makes me pause and be really curious about what is beyond.

Live the magic of life,

~ Alan Goldsberry, Author and CEO of ZFactor Group Publishing

Veterans' Day: A Legacy of Service and Honor

A military cap and Bible were placed on the altar of my church, on Veteran's Day 2012. An honorable gesture to all the men and women who have served in the military of the United States of America. 

It was then noted the cap and Bible were from John Griffith, a long time member of Bethany United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. It was a way to honor the many years of John's service for organizing the Veterans' Day procession at Bethany. 

I'm in the midst of writing this series of blogs about building a legacy and was struck by the simplicity in expressing the legacy of a man who was living vibrantly into his eighties. Sadly, earlier this year, he was struck down by a car that veered off a street and onto the running trail John was on. He left a wonderful family of children, grandchildren and friends.

The rest of this story continues to live itself out each and every day because of John's family and the impact he made on so many others, like myself. John's legacy stands clear and present by how he lived his life day in and day out. He lived a life of service to others, starting with his family and country, growing into serving his church, schools, community and at work.

John is one of the men who I revere and consider a mentor. Bethany is blessed with many men like John. Men who show the way by how consistently they have lived their lives, how they have expressed their love for others by serving in all the ways they can and as often as they can. Of course there are many women who do the same and more. But, it was John's cap and Bible on the altar.

One of my first experiences with John, he was teaching me how to do the behind the scenes activities at our church's annual family retreat and lead others to help. At the time, I'm in my late forties and while I knew how to do all these things, there was clearly something about John that was different. I knew there was much more for me to learn.

Thus, the significance of John's cap and Bible, for me. The cap a clear expression of his servant-leader's heart and the Bible expressing John's belief in the Word to be the hands and feet of Christ. I can now see just how clearly John demonstrated this all to me in his actions and words as we made coffee, at 5:00 AM, for the approaching hundred or more adults waking up at family camp. John was a man willing to do the small things and was highly capable at leading the big stuff.

John organized Bethany to be a drop-off location for clothing to aid the families of New Orleans after Katrina. This drop-off location was the best organized in the city and became a primary hub for clothing from Austin to New Orleans. I called John late one evening because I had received a call from someone who knew me and wanted to find out the logistics to donate. After John heard the situation, he exclaims, "tell me where they are and I'll drive over right now to pick it up." It was 9:00 PM. At the time, John was in his seventies and tireless. 

I am blessed to know many men like John and each of them has modeled "The Way" for me and to many others I know. I pray the cap and Bible on the altar today, stirred the souls of others to understand the significance of a simple cap and Bible to express the living legacy of one man and the difference he made. Then, in that understanding, may you also feel the stir in your soul to seek and understand the significance of Christ when he knelt to wash the feet of his brothers.

What two items would speak volumes for how you lived, served and loved throughout your life? 

Thank you, John for showing me how to live out my legacy each day. Who knows when we will suddenly run out of time.

John William Griffith

~ Alan Goldsberry, Author and CEO of ZFactor Group Publishing