ML650DE Syllabus Dr. Sam Rima

Winter 2009 Office: 651.638.6893

Seminary A207

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Self-Leadership

Course Description:

This course will address the personal and spiritual development of the transformational leader. The student will practice the spiritual disciplines (prayer, meditation, Scripture reading, etc.) required for a life and ministry typified by spiritual power, godly wisdom and the ability to discern the movement of God's Spirit in one's life and leadership. This course will place an emphasis on self-understanding and an identification and appreciation of one's life-direction through the use of the spiritual disciplines, rigorous personal reflection and disciplined personal assessment. The student will identify and put into use a wide range of resources for continued study and reflection to enhance his or her development as a whole and holy person and effective spiritual leader.

Because soul care and self-leadership are interdisciplinary subjects, special attention will be given to integrating information from each of the three centers at Bethel Seminary: The Center for Transformational Leadership; The Center for Biblical and Theological Foundations; and The Center for Spiritual and Personal Formation.

Course Format:

This course will be conducted in a distributed learning format. The course material will be delivered through several forms of media, such as personal reading, threaded discussions through the Blackboard learning environment, and web-based workshops.

Learner Outcomes:

This course will enable the student to...

1. Identify the essential areas, especially the spiritual disciplines, related to the care of his or her spiritual life as a transformational leader.

2. Understand and more fully appreciate why self-leadership is essential to leading others.

3. Reflect deeply on the work of God in his or her life and respond appropriately to His leading by implementing a number of self-leadership strategies.

4. Reflect deeply on the work of God in his or her life and respond appropriately to His leading with respect to issues of life direction.

5. Begin developing a biblical theology of personal "life-stewardship" that will shape, inform and empower the life-long process of maintaining and enhancing his or her Kingdom contribution.

6. Sustain a life-long process of soul care and self-leadership typified by the regular use of spiritual disciplines, rigorous and healthy personal reflection, and increasing theological insight.

7. Understand the concept of 'The Dark Side of Leadership,' identify the shape the Dark Side has taken in his or her exercise of leadership, and develop the ability to integrate this concept with an understanding of self-leadership and soul care.

8. Develop a working knowledge of the available resources, which can be used over a lifetime to support and enhance the process of soul care and self-leadership.

Connections:

ML130 will build on previous coursework in the Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership program, especially ML101 - Ministry Foundations, and ML113 - Introduction to Transformational Leadership. ML130 will further address matters pertaining to the relational core of the 4-R Model discussed in ML113. Specifically, ML130 will focus on matters of the heart and the vital connection between the leader's spiritual health and his or her capacity for meeting the challenges of spiritual leadership. Additionally, this course will build on the material in ML101 to further discuss the process by which God shapes our life as spiritual leaders.

Required Reading:

The following textbooks and articles are required for all students in the course.

·  Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2004.

·  Fromm, Erich. To Have or To Be. New York: Continuum, 2005.

·  Howatch, Susan. Ultimate Prizes. Fontana Press, 1990.

·  McIntosh, Gary and Samuel D. Rima. Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998.

·  Rima, Samuel D. Leading from the Inside Out: The Art of Self-Leadership. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.

·  Shults, F. LeRon and Steven J. Sandage. Transforming Spirituality. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.

·  Film: Disney’s The Kid – DVD (can purchase from Disney.com)

·  Article 'Lessons From the Compost Pile' by Judy Cannato .[Can be found in the Document Section of BlackBoard]

Assignments: readings, threaded discussion and a personal case study

Reading Assignments

Please complete all assigned readings according to the Course Schedule. These readings have been carefully selected to help you process key issues related to soul care and self-leadership. All Workshop assignments are based on the assumption that the designated readings have been completed on time and read carefully.

Threaded Discussions

In weeks one and three, the student will engage in four discussion forums through the Blackboard learning environment as noted in the Course Schedule. Each threaded discussion will begin with a question posted by the instructor. The student is to make two postings for each threaded discussion. The first posting will respond to the question as posed by the instructor; the second posting will respond to one of your classmates' responses to the question, or his or her response to the response of another classmate. Therefore the student is to make a minimum of four postings, at least two in week one and at least two in week three.

Threaded discussion #1

Based on your readings from week one, address the following set of questions. Please post at least a 25-word response to the question, and respond at least once to a classmate.

1. Why is spiritual leadership so difficult? Be specific. What do you personally find difficult about it? Is spiritual leadership more difficult than "regular" leadership? Why or why not? What does the Bible have to say about the challenges of spiritual leadership? Do you think that the exercise of public leadership, whether in a secular or spiritual context, has changed during the last 20 years? How? What might the reasons be for the changes you suggest? 2. In what ways have you personally experienced the crucible of leadership surfacing the shadow or hidden side of your personality as a leader? How have you dealt with those issues that leadership pressures and stress have brought to the surface of your life?

Threaded Discussion # 2

Based on your readings from weeks two and three, address the following set of questions. Please post a 25-word response and respond at least once to a classmate.

1. Why is understanding the "Dark Side of Leadership" vital to the effective exercise of self-leadership? 2. How does one go about integrating their understanding of the 'Dark Side' with the practice of personal soul care and self-leadership? 3. What does the Bible have to say about the importance of personal soul care? 4. What are the possible outcomes in a leader's life should he or she neglect such challenging soul work? Be specific and thoughtful as you write a paragraph in response to each question.

Threaded Discussion #3

Based on your reading of Ultimate Prizes interact with the following questions:

1.  What shape would you say Neville’s Dark Side had taken?

2.  What do you believe were the greatest contributing factors to the development of his dark side?

3.  How did it manifest itself in his life and ministry?

4.  How do you think he might have dealt with it more effectively?

5.  What practices of self-leadership might he have more effectively employed to guard against his dark side?

Threaded Discussion #4

After having watched the film, please share your thoughts concerning the questions listed in the film watching instructions.

Personal Action Plan

The only graded assignment in this course is the Personal Action Plan, which will be accomplished in ten parts and completed week by week throughout the quarter. This assignment asks the student to integrate each week's readings, along with the threaded discussions, into a series of personal reflections on his or her use of evaluative and developmental strategies in the area of soul care and self-leadership. The intended outcomes of this assignment are as follows. (1) Increased clarity and confidence with respect to God's direction for your life, and the implications of His direction on matters of soul care and self-leadership. (2) Increased clarity and intentionality with respect to doing "your part" in the process of soul care and self-leadership. And, (3) increased dependence on God to do "His part" in your development as a transformational servant.

These workshop assignments are a running personal action plan study, meaning that the early assignments contribute to later assignments, and the first nine assignments culminate in the tenth and last assignment, the Personal Action Plan. In this last assignment the student will be asked to make amendments and upgrades to the previous nine assignments with a view toward a final product that reflects the full, cumulative measure of the student's reflections and insight gained over the quarter.

Because of the sequential, cumulative and thus time sensitive nature of these assignments, each assignment MUST be submitted on time, as per the Course Schedule. Accordingly, the grade will be lowered one point for each day the assignment is late.

The Workshop assignments are as follows (see Course Documents for an interactive form that will serve as the format for completing each of these assignments).

Chapter 2 Workshop: Value Identification and Articulation: an evaluation and articulation of the student's core values in light of one's personal history, biblical identity and God-given capacities (10 points).

Chapter 3 Workshop: Connecting with Your Calling: an evaluation of the student's personal sense of Calling (Vocation) and the identification of the best calling (Avocation) that would serve as the most effective platform from which to live out their Calling (Vocation); (10 points).

Chapter 4 Workshop: Life Goals: an evaluation of the specific content of the student's Calling in terms of life goals, both long term and short term (5 points).

Chapter 5 Workshop: Motivations and Personal Constitution: an evaluation of the student's motivational factors that inhibit or enhance the pursuit of life goals (5 points) and compilation of Personal Constitution.

Chapter 6 Workshop: Spiritual Self-leadership an evaluation and articulation of the student's understanding of personal soul care and the disciplines in which the student plans to regularly engage in the practice of personal soul care. (5 points).

Chapter 7 Workshop: Physical Self-leadership: an evaluation and articulation of the student's understanding of personal resource management and the disciplines in which the student plans to regularly engage in the practice of physical self-leadership. (5 points).

Chapter 8 Workshop: Emotional Self-leadership: an evaluation and articulation of the student's understanding of emotional self-leadership and the various thought patterns that impact moods and how those moods can negatively impact their values and exercise of leadership. (5 points).

Chapter 9 Workshop: Intellectual Self-leadership and Self-leadership Plan: an evaluation and articulation of the student's understanding of intellectual self-leadership and the disciplines in which the student plans to regularly engage in the practice of intellectual self-leadership (5 points) and compilation of Self-leadership Plan.

Workshop: Dark Side Strategies and Overcoming Dark Side Plan: an evaluation of the student's personal 'Dark Side' issues to include: The shape(s) their Dark Side has taken; the developmental factors that have contributed to the dark side issues they face; Strategies and plan for overcoming these tendencies in the on-going exercise of their personal leadership (10 points).

Final Personal Action Plan: this assignment asks the student to compile into a single, comprehensive document a Personal Constitution (Rima, 119-124, Workshops for chapters 2-5); a Self-leadership Plan (Rima, pp. 221-226, Workshops for chapters 6-9), and a Overcoming the Dark Side Plan (Dark Side Workshop) utilizing the templates provided in the Course Documents. These three components will be preceded by a 5 page introduction in which the student will state his or her present understanding as it pertains to a theology of self-leadership, his or her part in the process as well as God's part in the process. The introduction should include pertinent biblical references in support of a theology of self-leadership. These three components will be followed by a 5 page Conclusion summarizing why self-leadership is vital to the effective practice of transformational leadership as well as the role it plays in the personal formation of others and what, if any, are the major obstacles that will be faced in actually living-out their Personal Constitution, Self-leadership Plan and Overcoming the Dark Side Plan. The conclusion should end with a brief statement of what specifically will be done in an effort to achieve the afore mentioned plans. (50 points).

Grading Categories: Grading categories are as follows

* Values Identification: 5 points

* Connecting with Your Calling: 5 points

* Life Goals: 5 points

* Motivation Factors: 5 points

* Spiritual Self-leadership: 5 points

* Physical Self-leadership: 5 points

* Emotional Self-leadership: 5 points

* Intellectual Self-leadership: 5 points

* Personal Action Plan: 50 points

* Blackboard discussions 10 points

Grading Philosophy and Point Scale

A total of 100 points is possible. Each assignment/grading category reflects both the percentage of the class grade, as well as the number of points possible for the assignment/category. A final grade of "A" (95-100) is reflective of an extremely high demonstrated quality level for graduate studies with reference to the areas of (a) Threaded discussions, and (b) accomplishment of the course assignments according to the stated criteria (see Grading Criteria). A final grade of "B" (85-87) is reflective of an average demonstrated quality level for graduate studies for these categories. A final grade of "C" (75-77) is reflective of a below average demonstrated quality level for graduate studies for these categories.

The student's course grade will be the total of all assignments, based on the scale below:

Grading Criteria

Admittedly, the assignment of grades can be a highly subjective process for the instructor and consequently, a frustrating experience for the student. I offer these "objective" criteria to guide you in your work, as well as to communicate my standards for assigning grades.

1. Quality of Communication: This is a graduate course. As such, my assignment of a grade to your work will in part reflect appropriately high standards for communication clarity. While there are no specific format requirements apart from the use of the downloadable PDF documents, please observe the following.