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Yeah. I was in Austin roughly half day for a committee meeting here Episode in an era about three weeks or so ago. Toward the end of the meeting, Ted approached me and said, I have

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a proposition for you. How would you like to Or maybe he said something like what would it take ? Yeah. For me to get you to deliver the sermon at the chapel service for the regular Board

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of Trustees meeting. Actually, I was stunned. I said Ted I have never before in my life written a sermon, let alone delivered one. I started thinking about all of the absolutely wonderful sermons I've

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heard that many of you and former board members have delivered, standing right here, mostly from those of you who have been highly trained in the craft of composing and then delivering sermons. I thought to myself

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, man, those are some tough acts to follow that in mind. I said to Ted, I don't know, Ted I have to think about it . Then, shortly before that meeting was over,

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Ted came up to me and said, have you thought about it? And then really after the meeting was over, he said, have you thought about it yet? Yes. I said ted I've got

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to go cut your plane. But we can talk about it after I get back home in a day or two. In the meantime, when I returned home I said to my wife, can you believe

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that? Ted asked me to deliver the sermon for the next Board of trustees meeting. She said, oh I think that's a wonderful idea mm. You know, I said to her I was not exactly

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what I was expecting you to say because I had half made up my mind to tell Ted no. Anyway, she couldn't contain her enthusiasm for the idea saying, you'll do a great job. Moreover,

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she reminded me that I was the only one in my close family household who had neither written or delivered a sermon over the years. Now you can see where this is headed. I lead a week past

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perhaps it we're even closer to a week and a half without calling ted as providence would have it. My wife and I happened to be driving along one afternoon in the car, my cell phone ring and

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immediately went to my cars uh, speaker system. I said hello? Yeah, the voice on the other end said, hi walter is ted, how are you today? How's the weather down there in

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Orleans? What did you eat for breakfast this morning ? I'm kidding. Of course after some pleasantries. He said I have two things, none one. Now I have two things I want to talk to

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you about the, I guess every time I called you, I want something from you, I said fine. But you should know I'm in my car . My wife is in the car with me and

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you are on the speakerphone. Keep it clean. Mhm. He continued. Well, one thing has to do with your preaching the sermon. Of course . By that time my wife had beaten me down

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with her charm, convincing me how wonderful it would be for me to preach. I told ted I'd do it. But I might need some help in putting together a sermon. That was a hit.

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Just hit hit, hit, he said. And you all know Ted I just believe you would have something wonderful to say. Of course that remains to be seen here. Never once did he say I'll

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send you one of my old sermons from both 10 , maybe 12 years ago. Nobody here has heard them. Mhm. You know, take a look at them and see what you can do with.

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No, not the one did he send. In the meantime, I spent a lot of time exploring that great depository of knowledge where everything is guaranteed to be correct and effective the internet. I've read more

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than I ever wanted to about how to put a sermon together. I've read about the great crafters of sermons such as fred be Craddick's thomas, long david Buttrick, so forth and so on. I read

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so much my wife said to me and after a while, and particularly after it began to approach the beginning of last week, you know, you'd better stop reading and get to writing. Then of course

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, after I start writing and editing and rewriting and adding more, she said, you better stop writing and get to the point. Yeah, she was right, of course on both issues. Uh but

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as you can quickly discerned after you've heard this, I ignored all of the advice I read about putting sermons together, which reminds me a student asked. Does a good beginning and a good ending make a

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good sermon. The professor responded, If they're close enough together, A minister priest, a very short sermon, he explained. My dog got into my office and chewed up some of my notes at the

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close of the service. A visit to ask if you're a dog ever has pups. Please let my past to have one of them. Mhm. Let us free. Let the words of my mouth and

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the meditation of our heart be acceptable in thy sight . Arman. Okay, leadership, endless possibilities. Is a daring and perhaps risky topic that I've chosen to tackle this morning. But if it goes the

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way I've planned, it just might speak to the hearts of all assembled here. What if we truly have the ability to predict the future, ability to determine ahead of time in a rational matter, who

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will have the most important impact on our personal lives ? We had the ability to the cipher, whether it's the grand acts of leadership or the many small acts we encounter at every level in there. Every

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many manifestations that help us to become the persons we are or want to become. What would it take for us to understand and confess that the Lord is caring for us in spite of ourselves. Do we

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really comprehend in the moment the treasures we've been given by the experiences we are undergoing moreover, How do we find God in any or all of this? God speaks to us. Indeed both leads and carries

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us in many ways. I'm reminded of a short text I wish to share with you, which I find extremely inspirational. It's both titled The footprints Prayer and the footprints in the sand. Prayer. It's

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one which may never, you no doubt have heard many times. I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord and across the sky flash scenes from my life for each scene, I noticed two

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sets of footprints in the sand. one belonged to me and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I look back at the footprints in the sand. I

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noticed that many times the path of my life there was only one set of footprints. I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life. I questioned the Lord about it

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. Lord. You said that once I decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way. But I've noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life there's only one set of footprints

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. I don't understand why. In times when I needed you most you would leave me. The Lord reply. My child, I would never leave you alone during your times of trial and suffering. When

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you see only one set of footprints, it was then I carried you and telling this story. I'm reminded of a portion of some 23 and I'm sometimes aware that were taught to read this in a certain

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context. But since I'm re preaching today, I can read it in the context. I'd like okay . Mhm. Mhm. The Lord is my shepherd . I shall not want. He makes me lie

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down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. It goes on to say I will fear no evil for you are with me and I really like the new international versions

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, commentary or message as it says, which reads God my shepherd. I don't need a thing. You had better be down in lush meadows. You find me quiet, choose to drink from true to

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your word. You let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Even even when the way goes through dark valleys, I'm not afraid when you walk at my side, that reminds us

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that we need the assurance of God's ever presence and guidance. Both, both as we put our trust in others to lead. And even as we step out to become leaders ourselves, A leader is someone

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who helps show us the directions we want to go and who helps us to go in those directions. All of us in our own lives have had people who played that role for us. Parents, teachers

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, friends, a spouse, Children leaders give us a sense not only of who they are but of who we are. And it's important to realize that leaders can be found in all walks of life and

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at all levels indulge me to tell a bit of a personal story for it may have a modicum of witness there in uh, for all of us growing up in Selma Alabama, I remember community to mean

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a powerful sense of mutual aid and communal solidarity that grew out of a strong black family tradition in my community. I saw leadership efforts of the helping traditions , the extended family, social class corporation. That

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is to say whether it was a person of vast means or limited means. We all lived and intermingled in the same neighborhoods. Those were the days before housing integration. We had male and female equality,

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pro social behavior, racial and religious consciousness. I saw survival and advancement from generation to generation through various social civic, other organizations including and most including the church. Additionally, during my growing up in Selma

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, it was a period in which we saw the height of the civil rights movement that took place in this country. Selma was at the epicenter. Most of you don't know this about me, maybe none

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of you. I found myself involved in many, many aspects of that movement. So much so that some 30 years later in 1992 when my wife and I were living in metro phoenix area of Tempe Arizona

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, I was honored by the city of phoenix with an I have a dream award for courage and commitment to civil rights. And as as many of us in my RV Hudson High School class of 1960 for

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we're reminded as we gathered for our 50th high school reunion in selma this past summer that while the national media at the time focused on the civil rights stars of the day, it was our class that led

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the way with marches and bark cots, sit ins , acts of civil disobedience that really propel that mighty movement into our national consciousness. Many people gave and served for that. Several of my siblings were detained

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and jailed during, during those times. Among the many aspects involved in, I along with a select few of my other musicians, friends at the time often had the opportunity to play the piano or organ

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for congregational singing at the mass meetings, rallies that were held at various churches around the city. I'm sure I must have known every standard made up or otherwise freedom song in vogue at the time. But

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more importantly, I had an opportunity to meet and greet practically all the civil rights leaders involved in the selma portion of the movement you've either read or heard about over the years, including the reverend dr martin

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Luther King, Jr. I met the song and the unsung heroes emerging there from. I was involved in and exposed to a lot. I had opportunities to exercise leadership, acts of my own. Through

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it all, I learned courage, patience, tolerance , forgiveness, toughness, discernment, character, wisdom . The list goes on and the funny thing, these were things I probably could not even articulate very

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well as I experienced them during the time while in my mid to late teens, with years of maturity and the blessing, the blessing to be able to look back and reflect upon my life. I can

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see the impact. I share these thoughts because I had no idea what I was being prepared for at the time. But I dare say all of these things served me well. As I've been either thrust

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into are able to command leadership post formal and informal over the past 40 plus years, thinking about my life, that portion of my life, I've been inspired truly by a couple of texts in particular.

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I bear witness in the text, the first Peter 52 The shepherds of God's flock. The believers who are under your care, serve as their leaders. Don't serve them because you have to instead do it

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because you want to. That's what God wants you to do. Don't do it because you want to get more and more money, do it because you really want to serve. and from Luke 1248,

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for unto whom much is given of him shall much be required and to whom men have committed much of him. They will ask the more. When I look at my life in that light, I am

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buoyed, I'm humbled, perhaps chasing and yes reassured by a few lines from the poem by Helen Steiner Rice called many things when she writes people everywhere in life, from every walk in station, from every

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town and city and every state and nation have given me so, so many things intangible and deer, I couldn't begin to count them all, even make them clear. I only know, I only know

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I owe so much to people everywhere. That's the story of my life. I could not have made it without God, first of all, nor without so many people directed by God's grace to cross my

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path, leading, guiding and sometimes unbeknownst to me , people who were providing both great and many small acts of kindness and goodness on my behalf, I do pray that by the grace of God, I

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can do the same for many of us. Let me tell you a quick story about a person whose life journey is more compelling than mine. In fact , mind pales by comparison, mary McLeod, Bethune

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is a person who exemplified building communities and dreams. She's my hair in an african american woman who turned dreams into reality and provided leadership at all levels. Miss Mithun was acclaimed one of the 50 greatest women

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in America and one of the most powerful black leaders that America has produced. She felt that improvement could come only through education and she said as your goal , the education of every child, no matter how

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poor or deprived she had learned early to depend only upon her own resourcefulness, courage, faith, determination , perseverance, and upon the divine guidance of God . She turned that ugly, swampy, overgrown dumping

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ground into what is known as Bethune Cookman College. It's not just a college, it's an experience, a spiritual experience, never to be forgotten. Her road to success began in the cotton fields of south

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Carolina, Where she was picking more than£200 daily before she was 10 years old. Her interest in reading began when she saw an abc book on the table of a white family and education was never out

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of mary's mind. She dreamed that her black hands picking cotton would someday hold books, and her eyes seeking out every bell of cotton leaves would read the with deep understanding books, including the bible. In

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1866, when Mary was 11, she heard that a mission school out beyond the railroad tracks for coloured Children was being started. Mary was determined that she was going to get an education and learn everything about

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everything. One night after dinner and after all had knelt in the living room for the evening prayer. The matter was discussed with the one who could make the final decision. God. The prayer that night

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was longer than usual. Sam MacLeod. The father asked special guidance in making this important decision before rising from his kneeling position. The answer was clear in his mind. Mary would go to school to learn

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to read. She would then read that blessed bible in Maysville that nobody black in Maysville could read. This was the turning point in her life. We all know her history of founding of school for Children

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who are financially never able to attend a place like Fisk or Howard or Atlanta University or receive training at Hampton or Tuskegee. And more important, her school would offer the courses given by both types of schools

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. The classical studies offered at Fisk in Atlanta and the vocational and industrial courses given at Hampton and Tuskegee . Her last will and testament, published in Ebony magazine in 1955, reads in part and only in

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parts. I leave you, Love Love Bills. I leave you. Hope I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you a thirst for education. Knowledge is the prime need

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of the hour. I leave you respect for the uses of power. Power, intelligently directed can lead to more freedom, unwisely directed. It can be a dreadful destructive force. I leave you Faith.

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Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow man . I leave you, finally, a responsibility to

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our young people. The world around us really belongs to youth. For youth will take over its future management. Our Children must never lose their zil for building a better world. They must not be discouraged

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from aspiring towards greatness, for they are the leaders of tomorrow. Faith, courage, brotherhood, dignity , ambition, responsibility. These are needed today as never before. She goes on to say if I

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have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living, of living and serving as I face tomorrow, I'm content for I think I have spent my life well I pray now that my

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philosophy may be helpful to those who share my vision of a world of peace, progress, brotherhood and love. I shared these thoughts about mary McLeod with you because I believe that people can be leaders according

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to the bible her life exemplifies as much. Here is a woman who came from an extraordinarily ambles set of circumstances who grew up in a household where neither her mother nor father could read, but whose resourcefulness

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, courage, faith, determination, perseverance, and dependence upon the divine guidance, guidance of God led her to do great things. She was a great servant of the people, as luke tells us.

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But you are not to be like that. Instead , the greatest among you should be like the youngest and the one who rules Like the one who serves she led in righteousness, not in wrongdoing as the

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psalm tells us. Lead me. Oh Lord! Lead me, O Lord! In your righteousness, because of my enemies, make straight your way before me. John Makinson the second in his book.

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Always, we began The Benedictine way of Living, provides a contemporary interpretation of the rule of Saint Benedict , which is a set of directions for monastic life . He writes about good works. If you want

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to live a life that only you can live too good for others, and when you have done good , you will have life abundantly. A life without good works is a shadow. Life. A life

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centered on itself is an empty life, seek to do good for others, and you will find fulfillment , forget yourself and you will discover what you are seeking. But if we do good works, we

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should not do so in hope of reward, not in the desire for betterment. Nor can we be proud or self righteous. On account of our good words, we must credit the good we do to

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the hidden foundation of good and be grateful. Be grateful to serve as this medium. Friends. We are all leaders at some level, few of us , few of us are leaders of the grand deals

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kind. We are all leaders of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, although we are not entitled positions such as President or Dean whenever we make decisions about or act in any capacity to do good works on behalf of

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the seminary, we are exercising leadership at some level . In response to the set of questions you heard at the beginning of this discourse, I don't believe we have to craft unrealistic or contrived answers. Scripture

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has provided quite a road map in far greater examples and details than I have outlined these brief moments. Trust and the guidance and the divine guidance of God ask that you be granted Grace of the ordinary.

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What a phrase, Grace of the ordinary, ordinary in the sense that if not the big acts, your many small acts of service, caring helping will have meaningful impacts on all with whom you encounter and

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in so doing through leadership, your leadership, each of you. There can be endless possibilities to do good works in the name of the Father, the Sun and the Holy Spirit. Hey man. Mhm