Ep. 98 | What Servant Leadership Looks Like in Real Life

What if the most powerful leadership lesson is not taught from a stage, but shown in the way we serve people? In this encouraging episode of the History Makers Leadership Podcast, Shannon Jackson shares what she experienced during a recent leadership training journey in Abuja, Nigeria. Through stories of humility, cultural sensitivity, and deep care for others, this conversation reveals how servant leadership creates trust, opens hearts, and leaves a lasting impact. 

You will hear how a team of leaders chose relationship over status, sat with participants instead of separating themselves, and adjusted their approach to truly serve the women they came to equip. The episode also explores why servant leadership is rooted in character, why it must stay centered on God’s purpose, and how strong leaders can remain both humble and decisive. Shannon and the host reflect on the leadership triangle of spiritual, transformational, and servant leadership, showing how these values shape leaders who put people first while staying committed to mission. 

This episode is a meaningful reminder that people notice the difference when leaders genuinely care. Tune in to gain insights on leading with humility, conviction, and lasting impact.

Transcript

Setting The Stage

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Well, today we have a very special episode of the History Makers Leadership Podcast. It's it'll it's gonna be deeply encouraging to you as it is to all of us. We're not just talking about leadership theory today, but actually we're gonna discuss leadership that is lived out. Shannon is here with me, Shannon Jackson. She is um our director of advancement here at ILI, and she just came back from a trip to Nigeria where she and some others helped to lead a history maker's journey there. And she had a powerful experience. In fact, Shannon, um, I feel like we were sort of contaminated by your enthusiasm and your passion as you came back from this conference. And um, and that's why we want to talk it while you know, while it's fresh in your memory where you just came back. And um it was, and it was not only the quality of the training or the participants, but really the servant attitude of the facilitators, including the team that came with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

So tell us, Shannon, how was it? What tell us a little bit about the conference, about uh how it was and and uh what you experienced in Abuja, Nigeria.

Women Leaders And Strategic Invitations

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Sure. Well, thank you. I'm excited to share about it, as you know, because I've come back excited about what God did there. Uh the conference was specifically for women, and so the team uh was very strategic in who they invited. They invited some high capacity leaders who were already serving in leadership roles within their ministry, their organizations, um, and some specific Christian ministries that are very successful in Nigeria. And so the group of women there were already motivated, and the training was something that was essential and just something to add in addition to what they were already kind of working through professionally. And so this just added some structure, added some words to things like their vision, what they're passionate about. And so we added a framework to them to help them uh mobilize a lot quicker in what they were doing in Nigeria.

Faculty Makeup And Support

SPEAKER_02 2:15

And obviously, you were not a l only the only teacher. Who what was the faculty like? What was the the team that taught like?

Servant Attitude In Action

SPEAKER_04 2:23

So there was five women and two men, or excuse me, five women and three men. Uh the men were there because they lead in Nigeria, they were there to support. Um, I interpreted that there was a strong presence of some leadership within other churches as well that would show up just to show the support for the women to give them some encouragement throughout the participation and throughout the week. Um and so those guys led a couple of sessions that were really powerful things that they're very specific, kind of like a specialty, if you would, you know, if you could say when it comes to some of our curriculum, like one person led a very passionate session on digital evangelism. Um and then our team leader led the vision. And so it was great that he started with the vision. He started with a certain type of momentum and excitement that really carried the whole week.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

But uh, but as as I heard you say before, what really uh made an impact um on the on the on the ladies, on the women that were participating was really the attitude of the facilitators.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Tell me a little about a little bit of what was so special about the the the attitude and I would say of the men that were there, the leaders, the high-level leaders that were teaching and all that.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Uh they really came to serve. Um, and you could see that transcended every decision they made. Um their intention was the best way to serve this group of women, um, and they had no ulterior motives at all. I think most of them would have been fine just sitting there and not teaching. Uh, they only taught certain sessions because no one else had volunteered to teach those sessions. Um, but these guys were servant leaders, their wives were servant leaders, their wives served also on the team. Um, and just the way that they selflessly sacrifice an entire week uh to mobilize people and mobilize these women uh was really, really important.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

That's true. It takes a lot of work to put one of those together. And well, you mentioned servant leadership, and that's something that we teach. Um actually, it's pretty much it's at the center, at the core of what we teach, uh, particularly with the with regards to um visionary leadership. Right. And and you you and I know that servant leadership is a kind of a buzzword these days, you know. There's a lot of people studying it outside of the churching, actually. Um but of course we we teach that we have the best example of of servant leadership.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Right.

Character At The Core

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Um and servant leadership is about character. One of the one of the characteristics, important things about servant leadership is that it is about character.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Um is there anything in the character of of the people that taught, like or or of your team, especially your team that came down with you, that kind of stands out to you?

From Teachers To Co‑Laborers

SPEAKER_04 5:19

Yeah. Uh for sure. I I think part of us going to serve is to always have in the front of our mind that we're serving the people that we're going to minister to. Uh, that is our role as staff or participants of a team that's going. And what I recognized was that the fact that we came with that mentality to serve, that uh enabled us to minister deeply. Um, it it helped the participants to welcome us. They saw us as the real deal, so to speak. They didn't think that we were coming in with some agenda or just to be there to teach and to tell them what we know. They really saw us as co-laborers in the gospel. Um, and that allowed us to have uh more powerful and impactful, even more relational ministry with the ladies there.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Well, you know, that's that is so important. One of the things that we've we've always emphasized in History Makers is that participants are not students and we're not teachers.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Um, we are because actually you would probably say the women that were leading there were at your level or maybe even higher level of leadership.

SPEAKER_04 6:30

Yeah, I always see them as higher, regardless.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Well, that is that is the that is a servant leadership attitude in and of itself. And uh, but but that climate, that atmosphere of uh we're we're here together. We are not uh this is not a teacher-student relationship. It is a it is a service that we are providing to them. Sure. Um because one of the things uh important for leadership is or servant leadership is is the investment in people. Servant leaders invest in people, right? Invest in their growth. Um and of course, you were those women were not on your staff, so you had no leadership over them in terms of positional leadership. Sure. So uh it was actually uh uh but but I'm trying to apply that to a situation like with your team um here in the office. That the way uh the investment that you make in your team, the that drive, that uh focus in investing on people for their growth um is really important for servant leaders, uh indeed.

Investing In People Over Position

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Yeah, I agree. Um yeah, and I think that one of the things about investing and you know, serving, for some people, I think that it's just a natural des deposition, disposition. It's not coming out right, but you know what I'm trying to say. Um I think they just naturally lean towards serving. Um it's just in their heart. But I do think it's something we should have in the forefront of our mind, especially when we're going to serve in any capacity, whether it's your job, your family, you're traveling overseas, like you're representing Christ and he came to serve. And in one of the most highest ways that we could display his character is to serve others and to consider them as better than ourselves. There's so many scriptures that encourage us to be that way. But I think one of the things we don't see in our servant leadership is the way that it impacts people because they see it. So if you go and you have an agenda or you think, you know, let's say you have a doctorate level education and you're going thinking that that is the best thing about you, that your education level and what you're gonna say and all the wisdom that you have that you're gonna give these people, um, really it's the way you serve them that stands out. And I think that is what I learned the most from Nigeria and the experience there was they were impacted because of our servant leadership. And that we would sit down with them, we would eat with them, we would hug them. Um, there's a culture there that the faculty of other types of events, I don't think this would happen at ILI, but there are uh experiences they shared with me that the faculty, when they come, they don't sit with the participants. They have their own separate meal, they have their own separate space to eat. And we didn't do that. We sat with them every meal, and that really surprised the participants.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Oh, Shannon, you have no idea. I have been to conferences like that where this the local organizers were not from our staff or from our team. And they would uh they would put us up in a special table and bring us special food. It was so uncomfortable because it is it is part of the culture. But it's but I when while you were talking about how natural these these these women that came with you were, it dawned on me that that it's not really natural.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

You're right.

Serving As Witness, Not Status

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Because our natural disposition is not to serve. Sure. Right? Our national disposition is to be served. And then, of course, you wrapped it up saying that you know they're displaying the character of Jesus. And and you know, um, I don't know exactly the timeline, but there's gonna be a f future episode of uh of our podcast where uh we're gonna be talking about intimacy with God. And I believe that the true Jesus model of servant leadership can only come from uh from that intimate relationship with Him and that desire to model Jesus. Right. The what we what I've been I've been taught recently uh by uh writers uh to call it apprenticeship, apprenticeship under Jesus. I think Dallas Willard put it um very uh beautifully that instead of the idea of disciple is kind of uh un unknown to us, but apprentice we are familiar with. And if you are an apprentice under Jesus, you may not be there yet, but when you lead, uh you will try to display the character of Jesus. And I think you hit the nail in the head with that one. Um that's because they were trying to emulate Jesus and it comes out.

Culture, Proximity, And Shared Meals

SPEAKER_04 11:28

Right. Yeah, it's if you care about the people, that's gonna come out. And in one way to care for people is to serve them as Christ served the church. You know, he gave his life for for us. And so there's not really a place that we can go that would exceed what he's already done for us. And so if we're trying to reach a certain standard, um, there there's nothing we can give up and there's no, you know, comfort that we don't sacrifice that he hasn't already sacrificed, you know. Um, and when you're going overseas, it is tough because you're tired. Um, you you gotta learn the culture if you've never been before. Um, because it's one thing to read about it, but it's a completely different thing to be immersed in it. And and so you have those trials and the situations that you really have to have in your mind that you you're there to serve and not to be served, and because they want to serve you. And so there's that balance of allowing them to serve you and to be served, but in a humble way in which that you're also hoping that you're able to serve them in in such a way. And there are small ways to do that, like having dinner with them, um, caring about their culture. For instance, um one of the sessions that we offer is obstacles. It's a workshop and it's a prayer workshop where people are confessing some obstacles in their life and they're receiving prayer and encouragement. And I recognized teaching this session that um there was a certain uh away about the women there because of the culture. And I wasn't gonna be able to speak into that because um no matter what I said, I'm not who they are and I don't live in that. And so I asked someone else to come and teach for about 15 minutes about the the way the women are in that culture and the way they don't share personal stuff. They just keep it to themselves. They've it's been ingrained in them. And so even in that way, I knew the best way to serve them was actually to give up my time and not teach that session and to allow someone else step in and really speak into the culture because at the end of the day, we want their life to be transformed.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

And I we can stand up there and say all the things we want to say, but to serve them, and if that's the goal, to serve them and to lead them to a transformed life in Christ, then we have to really evaluate the best way to do that and make those sacrifices.

Apprenticing Under Jesus

SPEAKER_02 13:46

And that is an illustration of one of the characteristics of servant leadership, that it is other focused. It's it's centered, it's centered on Jesus and other focused. It really is important to uh it I think we cannot ever overemphasize the the this aspect of servant leadership, that the the focus is not me, the focus is not even the vision. It's hard. That's probably one of the most difficult aspects of servant leadership is to give up, like to give up 20 minutes of a of your talk is not really a big deal. But um to give up, I'm I'm I'm trying to pull um a lesson out of that for for a business or a church, but to pull to pull out from the idea that success is the goal, right to f to saying people are the goal. Sure. So what you did with your talk and what other what what people did with sitting on the tables with at the tables with them and and and and and treating them like equals had nothing to do with the teaching. Had nothing to do with the content of the conference. And yet that's what happened. The the success of the conference was the content was able to influence them because you were focused on something else.

Sacrifice, Culture, And Humble Service

SPEAKER_04 15:17

Yeah, you're right. And you know, one of the things um I want to be careful how I say it, because um, you know, obviously you watching here, you know that this is a leadership organization. We teach eight core values of leadership. And so um hear my heart, I'm not trying to toot the ILI horn here, but something that deeply impacted me, and I sh it was why we're talking about this here, because what someone said to me there deeply um influenced me and it will for probably ever. Uh, but they said that when ILI teams come in, they're different than everybody else. And it's because of servant leadership. And when we were talking about that, we had a long conversation about it. And at the end of the conversation, um, I said to them, and and we agreed that it's in our DNA that when we show up somewhere, we come to serve. And so I just think that over time, your organization, your church, your ministry, if you focus on servant leadership, at some point because of the leaders displaying that, it becomes part of the DNA. And so when people see you, they expect that. And so uh we stand out as an organization because of our servant leadership compared to other organizations that come in. And so I think that people who, you know, maybe you're watching this and you lead a ministry organization or team, if you start to pay attention and learn and grow in your servant leadership, not to be a standout organization, but truly for people, people are the goal, then you will start to recognize that you stand above other organizations simply because people are the goal and investing in people and wanting to see that life change in the same way that Christ modeled that. Um, so I think people are smart.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

They will they will notice it, right? They will perceive it immediately.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

And sometimes they don't. I think sometimes people are like, what makes them different? Because even in our conversation, that's what we ended the conversation with. But as we were having the conversation, we were even trying to figure out what makes the ILI leaders when they show up different. And that's where we we landed was that we come to serve, and it's obvious.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

And and you know, thanks to God, that's a testament to the quality of leaders that we have in Nigeria. Yeah. Uh, that are that are that at one point volunteered uh to serve at ILI.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Yeah.

Adapting Teaching For Local Culture

SPEAKER_02 17:37

But I I I think we need to touch on something here, Shannon, that is very important about servant leadership, which is um servant leadership leadership has a purpose. There is a mission, there is a job to be done, there is a task to accomplish. Right. Uh, don't get me wrong. Um, you know, we we we talk about serving and serving and and and focusing on people, and it may seem like um we don't care about the mission. Well, um one of the uh largest companies uh in in the United States and in the world that uses uh the model of servant leadership is the American uh fast food chain called Chick-fil-A. Um and uh they make billions of dollars every year from selling chicken sandwiches, milkshakes, you know, food, delicious food that I all that I often eat. Part of that money comes from from us. So there is a purpose. So a church that practices servant leadership still wants to grow, right? Still wants to make an impact.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

I ally I I ally servant leadership. We practice servant leadership, but we need to equip leaders and we need to accelerate the spread of the gospel. So there is a mission, there is a purpose. Uh but what we state that the difference in the purpose of servant leadership from a Jesus model is that it's not my purpose, it's not our purpose, but it's God's purpose.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

So that is that is uh an aspect of it. Um do you do you have any idea how or or or any memories of how that played out uh during the during the training there with the women?

People Before Programs

SPEAKER_04 19:32

Yes, I would say, you know, in all that the team, the indigenous team there that leads the training, you could see that everything they did was motivated on what was God's purpose for sending those ladies there and always coming back to that. What is the purpose? Uh what is God's vision for you? Uh, how does he want you to mobilize in your own, you know, sphere of influences? And they always came back to that. Even in such they know um, they know that we're gonna go back to our very busy lives. We've all missed a week of work. And so when you go back, it's you've missed a week of work, you've got to get caught up, plus do the work you have for the week. And so the experience you have can quickly, you know, fade away. And so they even served those women in such a way that they took a copy of of their plans to mobilize and what they felt God was calling them to do so that they can check back in with them in a couple weeks or months. So I saw that as it's another sacrifice they're making with their time. Um, but they deeply cared and wanted to serve these ladies. They didn't want them to come in three months and realize, oh, I didn't do it. Like, you know, so a way for them to serve them was to remind them and keep them motivated.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Sure. Meaning that the that actually the the the the conference, the the course, the history makers journey ended, but um not the training. And not them serving them.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

And and not the service to it wasn't just a five-day, I'm gonna serve you, you know, all the work that goes prior to, but then also that they have a follow-up process afterwards um in order to serve them and God's mission for their life. Like they don't want them to not accomplish what God put on their heart during those five days. They don't want it to return void, so to speak, you know. Um one thing, you know, can that we do, we have that leadership triangle, which is the spiritual leadership, transformational, and then servant leadership. Um and I know you are a big part of writing that. And I know I've shared a lot about my experience, but I wonder if there's been something in your life that really stood out and how you know, you know, critical it is in that triangle to be a servant leader.

Servant Leadership As DNA

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Well, in the to me, the triangle itself became my own framework for leadership. It's um it's not mine, it's uh it came out of uh uh of of uh uh one of our initial original leaders from way back in the early 2000s. He has uh he has since retired. Um Dr. Um John. Lim, or sorry, Dr. Isaac Lim. Um he is he was a successful pastor in Singapore, uh leader of his denomination, and um his wife is an accomplished writer, teacher, and they they now in retirement work together. But he came up with this idea that leadership is a triangle and that it it has the servant the spiritual leadership is one of the sides, servant leadership is the other, and transformational leadership is the other side. And honestly, um, you know, uh uh it has become my framework for leadership. It has become the leader I seek to be. I seek to be a spiritual leader that is called by God. I seek to be a transformational leader that's always trying to change for the better.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

And other people.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Change other people. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

To help them experience.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

But actually, the transformation leadership is is such that the leader is an agent of change.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

He is the one, he or she is the person who um uh brings change, proclamates, proclamates change, and uh and and servant. Um I've learned so much from great servant leaders, yeah. Um, including ones in the company that uh that I mentioned, but also uh in churches in our own organization that uh you can't serve enough. And when you have a true servant leadership attitude, people value that.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Yeah, they really do. And something that's key in that leadership triangle, I'll let you answer this, but what's at the center?

Mission Still Matters

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Oh, God is at the center, God and his word. It is, it is, it's all focused in God, and that's that's so beautiful. I think I I I honestly believe the Holy Spirit inspired um Dr. Lim, um, our good friend, um Isaac or Dr. Lim, to to create that, to just draw that and say and and offer that as a gift to ILI because this is something that is unique, ILI. I don't I haven't seen it anywhere. And so anyway, that is um that is a uh a uh very important part of our training, and that has become, I guess for us, a very important part of our own leadership.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

It can be hard though to stay motivated when you're serving, because I think I I'm a naturally quiet person. I'm not like boisterous and I'm not trying to be the life of the party in the room. I have people in my life who are that way. That's awesome. I love those people. I need them in my life. But so someone like me who has more of a quiet the word again, I can't keep remembering to say deposition, deposition, whatever. Um, you know, we can struggle to think we're being walked all over at times because servant leaders generally try to take the low road. We're not uh we're not, you know, we're just serving at the bottom of the top totem pole and we don't care. It's it's just a in our DNA to like Jesus washing the feet. He took the the form of a slave. That's what a slave in the home would do to wash their feet. And so, you know, it can be difficult to keep the right motivation there and to not let some of those thoughts of, you know, you're not being seen, which we're not doing it for that reason, but the enemy uses that as temptation.

Purpose Rooted In God’s Vision

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Well, that's true. But the but actually, Shannon, um you we do we do take that humble approach. But I my good friend uh Dr. Anselmo Moral, who contributed part of the the teaching, he he loves to say that um servant leadership is not being a doormat. Uh there are moments when you have to assert yourself. And you do. I mean, I've seen your leadership. Yeah. Um, what you do as the leader for North America, what you do as uh the the leader in the United States, and um in our in our defencement department. So I think it's important for us to highlight that though that's the attitude of the servant leader, um, humility, uh it is actually there are moments when a servant leader has to assert themselves. Correct. And and like Matthew Ayuba, the guy who um who led this this training, I'm pretty sure he asserted himself, he did, made decisions and imposed decisions. And so that is um that is part of servant leadership. Yeah, the difference is the focus on others. What motivates, what motivates the leader is not ego, it's not profits, it's not success per se, yeah, but it actually is uh the benefit of others.

Follow‑Up For Real Impact

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Yeah, that reminds me of a story I read this week in the Bible where the disciples were shooing the kids away. They didn't want them to come to Jesus, but then Jesus takes the kids, puts them on his lap, and prays over them and blesses them. And when I read that, it reminded me that there are times as a leader that you are going to be required to do the right thing in front of people for the people that you're serving. Jesus was serving those children in a way to let the adults know you've done something wrong. Don't prevent the children from coming to me and welcome them on his lap and bless them.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

You know, and he did it very gracefully and very humbly. But there are times as leaders that the best way to serve is to publicly correct some behavior that isn't isn't in line with God.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Here's another confusion that could be made is to confuse servant leadership with people pleasing. Uh Jesus did not please people.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

He pleased some, usually the neediest, the lowest. Uh, but he had he had no problem offending uh, you know, Pharisees and Sadducees and the doctors of the law. But also, but calling out, you know, the the the prejudice in his own disciples and his own followers. Yeah. So yeah, that's a that's a good insight from from the ministry of Jesus that you know when you focus on the benefit of people, the right people, you will not always be uh praised for that.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

So that's another aspect that we need to uh to focus on.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

Yeah, yeah. And you know, servant leadership is something that we catch. You see it in other people, and it's something that you want to copy and portray as you watch it lift out.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

It's more taught by example than it is by lessons or teaching or something.

The Leadership Triangle

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Yeah, you can always you can read any book you want, but until you get to get in there and get your hands dirty and and overcome some of the things that you have to overcome in order to put people first.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Yeah, you and your ladies from the US learned servant leadership from watching the Nigerian team put together that training.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

Absolutely, and we saw the impact that it makes.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

So, Shannon, in closing, what we see here, what we hear from you, and that whole Nigeria experience is a demonstration of how important um his servant leadership is. And of course, it is the focus, it is one of the focuses of uh of ILI, as we told, as we said before, and we talked so much about I I don't I think we've talked about our training more than in any other episode, but it it's because it illustrates how how important servant leadership is for all. It really does.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

So if you are interested in becoming a servant leader, you can find out more about ILI by visiting our website, ILITeam.org. Check us out, and um, if this is for you, I hope that you will have the opportunity to attend one of our events, participate with us, and learn more about servant leadership together with us. Thanks for participating. Thank you, Shannon, for uh being a part of this. Um we hope to see you in the next episode.