When someone told me the theme for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Spring meeting was supervision, a flock of sheep was not the first thing
that came to mind.  I thought management, palm pilots, staff meetings and
Outlook 2000.
Last week about 150 InterVarsity lieutenants - mostly regional and area
directors from around the country - gathered in Madison, Wis., for three
days to look at the many sides of supervision.  
        Because I have joined InterVarsity to oversee the local logistics of a
huge student missions conference held on the UI campus this December 27-31,
I was invited to participate in the meetings.
        At the front of the conference room was a cross with a shepherd's staff
attached to one side.  It brought to bring to mind the idea of Jesus as the
good shepherd.
        Steve Hayner, president of InterVarsity, opened the meetings by speaking
to his senior shepherds from the 78th Psalm.  The text says that God took
King David from the pastures where he looked after his flocks and made him
king of Israel.  
        The New Catholic study Bible says David became "the shepherd of the people
of God.  David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with
skill." Looking out at his top leaders, most about 40 years old, Hayner
said InterVarsity leaders (shepherds) and followers (sheep) share a common
theological characteristic.  "We are all sinners."  I knew I was in good
company.
        "Management and supervision are not biblical words, but they are certainly
biblical ideas," Hayner said.  Noting how God chose David from tending
sheep to become king of Israel, Hayner said it's amazing how God chooses
and appoints shepherds.
        Especially amazing because some people are not very good supervisors.
Some are not leaders; some are even mean and abusive.  That includes
pastors and other church leaders.  Hayner said that's why shepherds must
focus on the condition of their own heart.  "I don't trust myself," Hayner
admitted.  "But God trusts us.  He entrusts us with people he loves."
        Good supervisors and loving shepherds never will be any better at managing
others than they are at managing themselves.  Hayner was clear about that,
saying "supervisors who are mature take responsibility for their own stuff."
        One conference leader spoke autobiographically, admitting that in recent
years she often let her campus ministry staff work too hard.  Speaking
about how much her own Asian parents required hard work, she said she grew
to like the results of her staff's compulsive work habits.  And she further
confessed that she expected long hours from young staff she had put into
leadership way too soon.  But when they did begin to mature, she often
would not let them change.  She said with tears that she now has mended her
ways.
        The difference between good supervisors and unhealthy ones is clear in
Hayner's mind.  The central ability of managers is the ability to express
love for those they supervise.  You can usually judge supervisors by the
tone of voice they use.  They would, for example, never humiliate people or
destroy a person's dignity in front of others.  Good supervisors are
servants who enjoy affirming health and not just managing weaknesses.  They
especially appreciate and honor the vast differences among the sheep.
        On the other hand, Hayner says unhealthy supervisors have characteristics
that are all too obvious.  They blame others; they polarize situations,
creating conflict; they reduce complexity to unhealthy simplicity; they
work at tasks rather than caring for people; and they set up power
struggles, thus politicizing situations.
        The leader who had spoken so frankly of her own mistakes said supervisors
must learn to make five statements that really are at the heart of being a
good manager: I love you.  (There's only one you.  You have wonderful
strengths.  Thanks for being on our team.)  I need you. (This is a team
effort. There are no lone rangers in this group.)  I trust you. (I am
empowering you to do work that is uniquely you.)  I don't know. (I'm on
this journey with you.  I recognize that I have so much to learn.)   I made
a mistake. (I blew it.  Please forgive me.)
        President Hayner concluded by reminding his InterVarsity leaders of the
struggle that the apostle Paul once had with the church at Galatia.  At one
point the apostle wrote that he would struggle with the Galatian Christians
"until Christ's nature is formed in you."

Don Follis is a University of Illinois campus minister.  His column appears
on Fridays.  Reprinted with permission from the Champaign-Urbana
News-Gazette, copyright 2000.