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The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller

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The late Jack Miller was a man wonderfully used by God to help the American church rediscover the impact of the Gospel of Grace. The ripples of his ministry continue to have impact today. This book, lovingly compiled and edited by Jack's daughter Barbara Miller Juliani, contains many of Jack Miller's letters to all kinds of people- ministers, elders, counselors, and just ordinary Christians. His focus is always Christ and His grace. His message is always clear, humble and loving, and yet very convicting and powerful. These letters were for me, models of applying the Gospel to a lot of situations. Be warned, these letters will stretch you and expose your own self-righteousness and self-protective patterns.

The book is divided into sections by theme: Motivation for Serving: The Glory of God; The Basics of Serving: Faith, Humility, and Prayer; Perservering in Serving; and Encouragment. I found myself frequently underlining paragraphs in these letters and have already emailed some quotes to some friends for their encouragement. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ministry, growing in their faith, or just how the Gospel is for Christians and non-Christians alike!

Jack Miller was a pastor on the verge of burnout. In 1970, while pastoring a small church in Pennsylvania and teaching practical theology at Westminster Seminary, he became so discouraged that he resigned from both his church and the seminary. He had failed.

Gradually he came to realize what was wrong. He realized he had been motivated by his own personal glory and the approval of those he was serving. "He said that when he repented of his pride, fear of people, and love of their approval," his daughter writes, "his joy in ministry returned, and he took back his resignations from the church and seminary."

Miller came to a turning point. "He had been relying on the wrong person to do ministry - himself." He began to give up all dependence on himself, and began to learn the basics of doing Christian ministry in Christ's strength. The result was greater freedom and power in his life and ministry.

Over the years, Miller wrote letters to help mentor others and share what he had learned. These letters have been collected in this book, The Heart of a Servant Leader. The letters cover topics such as our motivation for serving, repentance as a way of life, facing unfair criticism, and staying long enough in one place to be humbled.

This book has echoes of Tim Keller, or maybe Tim Keller has echoes of Jack Miller. It's about as close as most of us will get to being mentored by either one of them. There are few books that are as valuable as this one for pastors to read.

I'm almost through this book and it has been amazing. I have read many Christian books but this would be in my "top 5" of all time. Jack Miller shows exceptional wisdom and I feel I have been discipled by him as I've read. This is a book you will want to read and reread frequently. Best book on Leadership I can think of at the moment... maybe Transforming Leadership by Leighton Ford is a close second but is a different style of book. THis is a compendium of letters. It's a very personal view of this Godly leader named Jack Miller.

This collection of letters by Jack Miller speaks to the heart of the issues that ministers of the gospel face. Miller addresses so many of the challenges I have faced. He writes seemingly from the divine perspective of the gospel for each topic he addresses in the letters.

What I found so stimulating was the fact that he is not writing about success, leadership, relationships, personal fulfillment, etc, based on the world's definitions but writes based on the gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a refreshing and also exhorting view compared to the leadership books that are devoted to church growth and personal success. I think a poignant quote from the book is a definition of effective leadership by Miller. He writes,

"Leadership effectiveness includes 1. the grace to express love to others in a public manner, 2. willingness and determination to shepherd by being a servant. 3. courage to act in humility to disciple others in the face of resistance. 4. ability to command respect by maturity of life so that others feel they are being led in a Christ-like direction."

This definition is indicative of his tone and message throughout. He continually emphasizes the importance of always praying, repentance, humility, death to self, love for others and trusting God. I think this is a book for our time and for Christians who are serious about God's will and kingdom coming.

Miller also writes from a place of humility and confession of sins and acknowledgement of his own weaknesses. This gives him an edgy ability and willingness to be frank at times and also confrontational as a mentor and counselor in some of his letters. He is not afraid to let people know to take the plank out of their eye and to die to self. He also writes as someone who has suffered and come through in terms of conflicts, trials and sicknesses.

I read this book as a sort of daily devotional reading a few letters a day. I think this is not a book you would just try to speed through but one you want to take your time with due to its format of being a collection of letters.

Jack Miller learned what it takes to be a servant in God's Kingdom. Serving in church ministry (media ministry director) I have come across situations that aren't always easy to manage. One time when I had to "confront a brother in love" I picked up the book and found a letter Mr. Miller wrote to a pastor dealing with the same situation! His answer was so helpful and comforting. God has used this book several times to exhort and challenge me to become more conformed to the image of Christ.

Sometimes everyone needs to read a book... not just leaders. There is much to learn from these great letters and heart behind these correspondences. I have not read it 2x and I still find myself thinking... I have so far to go. This is a good reminder that 1)we all need encouragement. 2) the power of touching others through correspondence well. 3)it can be done despite what we think.

I was taking a class in Bible Counseling at Westminster Seminary and this was one of the required texts. It is very good, insightful information about how to walk with somebody in the Faith.The author has a very particular method to approach things and sometimes it seems that he does not provide all the answers but you must remember that counseling is practical. However, this book is an excellent resource that definitely will enhance you library on Bible Counseling.

The Heart of a Servant Leader, by C. John Miller

Three years ago, I was introduced to the life and ministry of C. John Miller by a Pastor that I really admire. This pastor gave me a copy of the book "A Faith Worth Sharing," which was written during the last year of Miller's life. I was quite simply blown away by the magnitude of the faith of this man as he shared about countless people that he led to the Lord. It was a humbling experience as I examined my own grasp and love of the Gospel, but it was also very encouraging. "A Faith Worth Sharing" was probably the best book on evangelism that I had ever read.

Because of all of this, I was very excited to get a copy of "The Heart of a Servant Leader," which is a collection of pastoral letters written over a span of about 15 years. I couldn't wait for the book to arrive, and after reading it, I can truly say that I gained much out of it.

The positives are simple. C. John Miller lived an extraordinary life. In each letter, the reader gets a clear glimpse of his heart for the Lord, and his humility. He writes letters in a way that I could only dream of. My letters need more grace, but every one of his letters seems to reflect a heart that has been filled with the love of God. Also, it would be hard to find a book out there that goes into such intimate settings from a pastoral perspective. The book is highly pastoral, and one that should be seen as a model for all pastors. It would be a good gift to get for your pastor if you're looking for something.

With that being said, I have a couple of negatives to mention as well. First of all, I found the book to be fairly dull. The heart is there, but since the content of the book is just a bunch of letters, the reader will often find himself reading some similar things over and over again. To be frank, I was pretty excited to finish the book so that I could move on to something else. Secondly, I wish I hadn't read this, but the person who compiled the letters wrote a brief introduction and mentioned that C. John Miller wrote these letters with the hope and intention that they would get read by many other people. Even though, Miller was a very humble man who I admire deeply, I couldn't get away from a nagging feeling that he was writing his letters with a larger audience in mind. I know my own heart, and I may be falsely projecting it onto Miller's heart here, but my behaviors change when I realize that I am doing something for a much larger audience than I originally intend. I try to be more impressive no matter how hard I fight against it. I'm not saying that Miller did the same thing, but it is indeed a possibility.

Overall though, it was a good book and I would definitely recommend it for anybody who is in a form of Christian leadership. The book has an appropriate title, because with integrity, C. John Miller lived his life as a servant leader who honored God. And now he is at peace.