Leadership Development LEAD 0510
Assignment 1: Reflective Leadership Essay
Student: Kwan Chan Professor: Peter Dickens
Student #: 808088174 Due date: Oct 14th, 2008
Mailbox: 348
Leadership has been an ever-changing concept for me. The people that I have encountered while serving in ministry have greatly influenced my definition of leadership. I have seen my paradigm on leadership evolve as a result of their influence in my life. In this paper, I will discuss three revelations that have shaped the way I approach the idea of leadership.
In high school, my friend Mike started a community outreach ministry, and put me in charge of the ministry to the homeless in downtown Toronto. I was responsible for organizing and leading sandwich runs, and he was in charge of the youth conference that was held at the end of the school year. At that stage of my leadership career, I was very task-oriented. I completed everything that was assigned to me, and oftentimes went beyond what was asked of me. I created teams that made the care-packages and bought the materials. I led the sandwich runs, organized the debriefing sessions, and gave basic guidelines on how to evangelize. The ministry was successful on many levels; we had hundreds of youth participate in our monthly programs, we handed out thousands of care-packages, and we also had many opportunities to share the gospel.
Mike’s approach to leadership was different from mine, as he put a heavier emphasis on building relationships. On top of organizing the youth conference, he invested heavily in me, and encouraged my development as a leader. His success was twofold; the conference resulted in many students coming to Christ, and his positive influence on me raised the quality of my ministry. His leadership also had a more lasting impact than mine; conferences and sandwich runs are momentary...