Body of Values 6: Courageous Leadership
Value number 6: Courageous Leadership
Thoughts from Headmaster, Rebekah Hagstrom
Liberty Classical Academy values courageous leadership as an essential element in the development of students. One of Liberty Classical’s founding verses states, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act, making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday” (Psalms 37: 5-6). In Proverbs we hear, “the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 29:1) God calls us to act boldly, to act in righteousness, to act as Christ calls us to, knowing it can be uncomfortable, contrary to the popular culture, and possibly subject us to attack. As we have seen throughout history, people acting boldly change the world for good.
Courageous Leaders
William Wilberforce, having become a Christian in 1785, acted boldly and righteously in pursuing the abolition of slavery in England. For the better portion of his life he exercised courageous leadership in pursuit of this righteous objective. He lived to see the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, three days before his death. While the Jews lived in exile in Persia, the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruin leaving it vulnerable to attack. Nehemiah found this situation intolerable and acted boldly to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in a hostile land with the permission King Artaxerxes. To counter a plot by Haman to kill millions of Jews, Esther, the Queen to King Ahasuerus of Persia, risked her life in revealing herself to be a Jew. Doing so enabled her to persuade the King to not carry out the killing of these Jews under his authority.
Christ was compassionate and loving, but truthful; servant hearted but bold; forgiving and full of grace, but unyielding in honoring God’s precepts. Christ was the ultimate leader who drew people to himself through his love, concern and ability to relate to them and speak truth into their lives. He was genuine. He was never hypocritical and always had the courage to call out those who were. Christ placed acting boldly for righteousness sake above his personal comfort. At Liberty we emphasize the leadership characteristics Christ demonstrated, while encouraging students to follow his example.
“Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
Bold as a Lion
Liberty provides students the opportunity to lead courageously throughout their education in preparation for their life ahead. Whether in a college classroom, a future Board room, and everything in between, we pray our students will speak up to boldly defend the truth; both Biblical truth and truth based in natural law. We pray they will speak out for what is right rather than cave-in to popular culture, secular memes, worldly group think, trends on social media, or collectivist mindsets often based purely on emotion. Like Christ, we pray they will courageously demonstrate love and concern for others without compromising Biblical principles. Liberty equips its graduates to persuade others to think independently on matters of public policy, economics, education, faith and culture with their powerful skills of logic, reason and public speaking.
Lastly we pray Liberty grads will have an overwhelming desire to move into places of influence for the very purpose of leading courageously. Liberty’s mascot is the Lion, symbolizing might, majesty, and boldness. Liberty Classical Academy takes seriously its mission to develop courageous leaders who will impact the culture for Christ.