By Luke Hallowell
When I first met Jay Ballinger, what first impressed me was his ability to listen. Jay has the unique ability to make you feel heard—like he’s listening with his entire being. Jay participated in the Center for Sharing’s six week course in Servant Leadership during the past year, and I quickly learned that Jay is deeply committed to becoming the best Servant Leader he can be.
This wasn’t the first time Jay had heard about Servant Leadership. Jay is in the process of finishing a Master’s degree from Gonzaga University with an emphasis in Servant Leadership. He’s read extensively about the subject and many of those who know him well thought he would quickly continue towards a doctorate in SL. However, Jay had an idea—he shared that he wasn’t interested on focusing solely on the theory of SL, but that he has a deep desire to put SL principles into practice.
He shared a new idea they decided to put into practice at his company, a lubricant distribution company called Tyco Inc, after they completed the Servant Leadership course. As a team, they committed to the idea of a morning huddle—not just a hoo-rah type of meeting, but one where they have the opportunity to share about what’s going on outside of work and intentionally building community rather than just being content to be a collection of people who happen to work at the same place.
As a result of that meeting, several members of the team have shared personal things that are going on in their lives, and the rest of the team has worked together to support and pray for the member that is struggling. It reminds me of a bible passage in 1 Corinthians 12 that says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
In addition, this course has helped prompt Jay and others to form a group in the larger community of Moses Lake with a common focus of serving their community as leaders. He shows a deep commitment to the growth of people in his community. His desire to be more aware of the happenings in his community displays another important characteristic of a Servant Leader. We believe that the work Jay is doing in the Moses Lake community is creating lasting and positive change. If you’d like to be part of our next course in Servant Leadership, don’t hesitate to call us at 509.546.5999.