of My Fathers: A Family Memoir,” and it touched me deeply. When captured during the Vietnam War, he had a chance to be released because of the influence of his father, who was a decorated U.S. Navy Admiral. John McCain chose instead to remain a prisoner of war, rather than to abandon his fellow POWs who were being held by the Viet Cong. That decision nearly cost him his life as he was subjected to torture and deprivation for over five long years.
John McCain is an example of an important principle: great leaders are those who lead with moral authority. There is alignment between what they say and what they do; who they claim to be, and who they are. We may not always believe what they believe, but we never doubt that they believe what they believe.
And you know something? At the end of the day, that’s what the people around you want in you as a leader. That’s what your children want in you as a parent. That’s what we all want in our leaders.
For all of us, our actions speak louder than our words. The goal is for our actions and our words to be saying the same thing. And when they do, we have this incredible thing called moral authority. When leaders have that, as John McCain did, their influence in society, in culture, in business, in home, in church, or in government goes way beyond whatever authority comes with their title, or with the position they may hold. Great leaders lead with moral authority.
That is actually the central tenet of Christianity. Because God says, “I love you.” And we think, “Well, that’s easy to say.” But then God says, “And I love you enough to send my Son to die for you.” God did everything he could to back up his words, “I love you.” And that’s an extraordinary alignment. It’s called moral authority.
In the name of the One who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
Bruce Jones, Pastor and Co-Creator,
Imagine Church of the Carolinas
