Tag Archives: cornerstone church

day 2715: Overseer

“…He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money

In our corporate culture the “overseer” of the business could be the Board of Directors, the CEO/Founder and/or the Senior Team.  Whomever it might be, the role of the overseer is not only important for the vision and direction of the company but also the responsibility of establishing and owning the culture. I can’t overemphasize the word “owning” as too many times the “overseers” of the company think that by creating a set of values and posting them on the wall, that they have done their job and that the culture becomes the responsibility of everyone.  In some ways they are right in  that everyone needs to adopt and internalize the values of the organization but as the company grows and morphs with the addition and subtraction of people, etc. that the culture must be tended to with close attention and caring. Imagine establishing a set of values for a family.  Then hanging them on the refrigerator door and then just go about raising the family without any more attention to the values than them just being visibly hanging on the fridge door.  As the kids grow and life changes, we all know that the revisiting of those family values will need to be reinforced almost daily. So, why would we ever think that our people within our companies don’t need the same, if not more attention?

This past Sunday night I was honored to be the first participant of our church’s (CornerstoneSF) new series, “Tightrope Talks”.  We explored some of the tension between our faith and our work. As I reflect on that session and the many conversations afterwards, I was reminded that God’s Word is not only great for telling us what to do, but also what not to do. I Timothy 3:2-3 is a pretty clear direction on what we as Christian Leaders (overseers if you will) are to guard against if we are to be respected and credible with those who are looking at us and wondering, “Is this faith in Jesus thing real, or just a put on?”.  There will always be those who stumble and falter, myself included, but if we start from a place of responsibility and understanding of being an “overseer” we will be better equipped to avoid the mistakes of others.

Reference:  1 Timothy 3:2-3 (New Living Translation)