A Paper of Principles and Ethics for College Professors

ETHICS_DRDAVIS1

Built Upon the Rock:

A Paper of Principles and Ethics for College Professors

(OUTLINE)

Deborah Davis

EDUC 740-D04: Leadership Principles and Ethics

Dr. Araceli G. Montoya

July 25, 2014

Abstract

“. . . a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (MT 7:24, KJV)

There are always options. Choices abound in a society as rich as ours. When under stress, when blown by the winds of trouble, when washed by the rains of societal norms, when under pressure, the foundation leads to the survival or devastation of the person upon whom the stress is applied. In the book of Matthew, we are reminded that a wise man builds his house upon a rock, and the foolish man builds his house upon the sand. The consequences are direct and transparent – survival or decimation. For those that believe “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer” (2SA 22:2, KJV) comes the assurance that “thou savest me from violence” (2SA 22:3, KJV). It is with feet firmly implanted on that rock that I can stand.

Built Upon the Rock

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer” (2SA 22:2, KJV)

Background

Raised in a classic middle class home in southern California, I gave little thought to the values and ethics I developed through my youth. With two cars, two children, and two pets, our two parent family was peaceful enough. We attended public school in a quiet neighborhood where we walked each day both ways. We went to the Presbyterian Church on Sundays where Mother played the organ and we sat in the very front pew so she could keep an eye on us.

My sister was a good girl who seldom was in trouble, consistently cleaned up after herself and kept herself occupied with organizing her room and studying hard for average grades. I was the one who skipped out on chores, read novels on the roof or under my bed, and mouthed off to my parents, breezing through classwork without ever studying the material.

Every summer we would pile in the car and head off on Route 66 – and later I-40 – and go to visit our grandparents in Tennessee and North Carolina. At Grammy’s house in Tennessee, we read the Bible morning and night, went to church twice a week, and prayed and prayed and prayed. To my childhood mind, such a pattern was a distraction from the fun of playing in the basement or the attic, or simply climbing the trees. By my teen years, I felt a yearning for the peace Grammy had, and started asking questions. I was thirteen when I accepted Christ and was baptized in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

My pattern of Bible study and prayer faltered when we returned to our SoCal lifestyle, and when Mother stopped playing the organ at church, we all stopped attending. Beach parties, marching band, and working the family business became higher priorities than church. As a young adult, I had ventured far from the Lord by the time I joined the Marine Corps. After I married and had three babies and my husband die within two years, I turned my back on God completely. I could not understand how the loving Father I had come to in my early teens could let such horror happen to me.

Years of debauchery later, I found myself in a cell in Ethiopia with no hope and no help in sight. In that six by six by six cube of concrete with its single light always on and a raised area in one corner for a bed and a hole in the opposite for a toilet, I hit the bottom of despair with the same force with which I was beaten by my captors. There, in that pit, I found Jesus waiting for me. Every Bible verse I had ever studies came back to my eidetic memory. Every hymn I had ever heard or sung came through my voice. Every sermon or study I could recite, and I did. Between consistent exercise and very little food, I prayed for the Lord to intervene in my captivity. When the Marines raided the facility looking for me, I was singing: “On Christ the solid rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.” The Corporal who opened my cell looked like an angel to me.

Through the years since, I have turned from the Father on occasion, and drifted away more often than I like to admit. Still, the Spirit resides in my heart, and I know that “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (PR 3:6, KJV).

Integrity

“Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee” (PS 25:21, KJV).

Integrity must be the foundation of all leadership, for without it, there is nothing. Blackaby and Blackaby (2001) instruct that “secular writers on leadership are insisting on integrity as an essential characteristic for modern leaders. This is nothing new for Christians” (p. 10). Defined as . . . . .

Wisdom

“Walk in Wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Col 4:5, KJV)

Wisdom is the result of education, experience, and evaluation. Moreso, wisdom is a gift from God, “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit” (1COR 12:8, KJV). As a leader, it is critical that careful words of wisdom be spoken. Defined as . . . .

Communication

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that wich is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (EPH 4:29, KJV)

“Communication is the lubricant that reduces friction,” we say in the Marines. An entire field is devoted to communication and it is emphasized in every leadership course as one of the necessary values of leadership. Matthew quotes Jesus saying, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” (MAT 5:37, KJV). In today’s society, there a communication affects related to communities. In an online social community, one would communicate less formally than in a business environment. On a construction site, one is more likely to hear vulgarities than in a church. Still, those lines have blurred in recent years, and communication has become a vile and vulgar tool of the devil. A leader needs to communicate with integrity and wisdom, and “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, I Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (PS 19:14). This is true not only in church, but in business, in education, even in the social media experience.

Communication is defined . . . . .

Justice

“. . . but the just shall live by his faith” (HAB 2:4, KJV)

“Justice is concerned with the individual’s relationship to others in the various communities in which he or she lives” (Rebore, 2014, p. 30). As water seeks a balancing point, so do relationships. Anyone who has ever taken a chemistry class remembers finding balance points between two vessels of water, and knows that capacity is not as important as gravity. Through the balance of personal relationships, “justice is made tangible” (ibid, p. 66). People will find and feel justice based on their own sense of value. If a leader treats people fairly and with equal respect, the balance will hold.

Justice is defined . . . .

Conclusion

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (PS 18:2, KJV)

Whatever I do, wherever I go, from the darkest pit of a cell in Ethiopia to the ecstasy of having a healthy child after 112 days of labor and hospitalization, I know my Lord is there. As I lean on Him, I can incorporate integrity, wisdom, communication, and justice into my daily life as a leader in education, in my homelife, and in society. Without Him, I can do nothing.

. . . . .

References

Blackaby, H. T., & Blackaby, R. (2001). Spiritual leadership: moving people on to God's agenda. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers.