“Servant leadership.”

This phrase refers to a Christ-like blending of humility and authority and has achieved near-buzzword status in the Church. But Rich and Robyn Wilkerson hope to contribute something fresh to the ongoing conversation about servant leadership in their book Inside Out (Salubris Resources). 

The Wilkersons have been married for more than 40 years, and the bulk of that time has been spent in full-time ministry. As co-pastors of Miami’s Trinity Church and founders of Peacemakers, a social services organization, they’ve committed to a generous, relational approach to leading. There is something contagious about it; their congregation sees 4,000 weekly attendees, and their children have gone on to pastor in Miami, Harlem, San Diego and Tacoma. 

As Rich and Robyn observed certain traits of servant leadership, they also saw that they applied beyond the pulpit and into the pew — to ministers as well as teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, nurses, students, volunteers. They articulated these principles for Inside Out in an effort to show people “how to meld leadership and servanthood into something powerful and significant.”

We spoke more with Rich and Robyn about the book and how its message impacts every sphere of life. Excerpts of that conversation are below.

Alyce Youngblood: When did you begin to feel this burden for the topic of leadership, to the point that you wrote this book Inside Out?

Rich: We had so many young leaders here in Miami, and we were teaching them what we felt was the healthy “DNA” that would pull people in one great direction for our mission, which is to win the lost, help the poor and teach the abundant life. In order to do that, we kind of had to get on the same page. Consequently, in 2010 we started having monthly DNA meetings for our servant leaders, who are volunteers. It was in those meetings that we started teaching our DNA components. So when you come to Miami to our team five years later, we're way down the road in that vision. It feels like everybody is on the same page. In this book, we teach 15 of our key DNA components. That's what makes us happen here at Trinity.

How can people see their own leadership potential, whether or not they are ever in an industry or role typically associated with leading?

Robyn: Leadership is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle for anyone who wants to succeed in relationships, whether that's marketplace relationships, church ministry relationships, family relationships, community relationships. Servant leadership is being willing to start every conversations with these questions: How can I serve your needs? How can I serve the team or the family or the business? How can I bring value to the undertaking of this enterprise? When a business leader or a medical professional or an academic person approaches their role as a calling and an opportunity to serve others, their world gets bigger and bigger and bigger, because everyone wants to be in relationship with the person who is invested in creating a success for them. It is the open door for a sales person or a business owner when they shift from saying "How can I get something from you?" Their whole world changes when they approach their business or their enterprise with the new idea, the Jesus idea: "How can I serve you and make your world better with the products we offer, with the services we offer? How can I take care of you?”

Rich: Let's say you're the general manager at a drugstore; don't you want employees who are resilient? Employees who are flexible? Don't you want some of your employees to take new hires in and mentor them? See, all of these components were made for the marketplace. We test them in the Church. Servant leadership opens doors out there that you just can't get open. It's just a better approach to living.

This book is not about how to build your church. This book is about how to build your life and the lives of others. It just works everywhere. These principles and these components, they become very attractive to other people.

“If you're a healthy individual, growing is a byproduct of living a flourishing life.” — Robyn Wilkerson

How have you two learned to co-lead and co-serve, in your marriage and your ministry?

Robyn: That's an enormous question. I think the best answer is that everyone is born with aptitude. We can be coached for performance, but aptitudes are God-given. In any partnership, marriage being the most intimate partnership on earth, when you honor the other person's aptitudes and you allow them to play to their strengths, it creates a stronger team. My husband sets the moral climate, he sets the bar. He's the leader. Our teams all look up to him for that. And I bring an aptitude for organization and management. But together, we've learned to kind of stay out of each other's lanes. He doesn't have to be part of everything I'm doing, I don't have to be part of everything he's doing, and I think that's the key.

Rich: I'm not a very good administrator. I have the big picture; I raise funds, and I preach, and I cast vision. As long as I'm doing those three things, I'm really good, but if I try to get into her world, it balls things up.

I think we’ve done something here that isn't very popular, coauthoring a book as husband and wife. It's just kind of different, but we knew that going in. It's been her career with the servant leadership that has helped me form what I felt God wanted me to form. She lives it, she teaches it, and there's usually a line at her door from employees and church members and people from outside wanting advice. She's a great coach.

In your lives, who stands out to you as a servant leader?

Rich: My dad. I could have just put “This is the life of John Wilkerson” [as the title].

Robyn: My dad, Fulton Buntain, and his brother, Mark Buntain. I’m named for my auntie, who was a missionary for 50 years in Africa. Rich's family is David Wilkerson’s family. They founded Teen Challenge, and what a picture of going to people with the story of Jesus.

This isn't really new stuff we're talking about. This is the life of Jesus.

Your book encourages people to start where they are, but servant leadership also requires learning and growing. What has that looked like for you?

Robyn: Both of us went to graduate school in recent years. Rich here got his master’s degree from Southeastern University. I went to Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. I guess we just decided we're going to live until we die, meaning that living entities that are healthy grow. If you're a healthy individual, growing is a byproduct of living a flourishing life. Growth is the only way that we can continue to experience the opportunities that God has planned for us. When we close our minds and say, "You know what, I've got this figured out" — or worse than that, "I've got those people figured out" — we actually are cutting ourselves off from the creative, God-destined opportunities. As God's children with a little essence of Him in each of us, when we are creating, we are very God-like because God is the creator of all.

I really believe that growth here on earth is our responsibility and it is our pathway to our next possibility when it comes to prosperous living. Sometimes people get nervous when you use words like “prosperous," but the way we define it is the Bible way: having all that I need, to do what God has called me to do.

You go to great lengths to refute any stereotypes of who qualifies as a leader. How is this message going to empower people who have been pushed to the side?

Robyn: In every part of our culture, there are people who are underestimated. I believe that a book like this equalizes the playing field. The Christian worldview is that every single person ever born, in the future and in the past, was God's unique idea, and they were incredibly valuable to God. No matter what the culture says about another person, as a servant leader, you offer to serve everyone because they are intrinsically worth it, because God created them. 

See, we get all mixed up. The worldly currency of communication is that if others think this person is honorable or worthy of respect, that makes them more valuable than somebody whom culture says is irrelevant. But the servant leader sees past that cultural misconception and sees that every human has value. They bring honor to every individual at every level.

Rich: Leadership is about taking responsibility for myself. If you look over the chapter titles — faithfulness, acceptance, loyalty, humility, integrity, compassion, encouragement, generosity, respect — all those are characteristics that the servant leader takes responsibility for and says, "In my world, in my environment, in my workplace, I bring loyalty. I bring humility.” In effect, the servant leader sets the agenda.

This article was originally printed in Vital and has been used with permission.