Leaders are Readers

In this episode of the Lead On podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, discusses the significance of reading biographies for ministry leadership. He emphasizes that leaders should be readers, particularly of biographies, as they offer insights into how God can work through individuals to achieve remarkable outcomes. Biographies provide a slow, deliberate means of learning, allowing leaders to sharpen their minds and gain new perspectives. He encourages leaders to embrace the depth and inspiration found in biographies to enhance their leadership potential and broaden their understanding of God's providence.

Creators & Guests

Host

Jeff Iorg

President, SBC Executive Committee

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Jeff Iorg: 00:00

Welcome to the Lead On podcast. This is Jeff Ords, the president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, continuing our conversation about practical issues related to ministry leadership. Today, I wanna talk about leaders are readers, and I wanna specifically talk more narrowly about reading 1 particular genre. I wanna talk today on the podcast about the importance of reading biographies as a way to shape your leadership potential, discover new venues and new vistas of how God can work through your life, and to help shape your perspective on how God uses people in leadership to accomplish sometimes truly remarkable things. Now, when I started the podcast, I said leaders are readers, and I recognize that there are lots of other ways to input information these days.

Jeff Iorg: 00:58

Lots of video, you know, lots of websites, lots of information out there in visual form, but there is still something powerful about reading, about intaking information more slowly, more deliberately, and thinking through it as you're working through it. And, frankly, leaders are readers means that leaders take the time to sharpen their minds and shape their minds by reading great literature. Now over the years, I I've read all kinds of things, particularly, theology books, commentaries, books about Christian ministry and how to do it, and then branching out secular business books, secular books on leadership, all kinds of reading. But there's 1 particular kind of reading that has been really the most enjoyable for me over the last 2 decades, and in some ways, I would say the most impactful to me personally. And that is I really enjoy grow from, thrive while reading biographies.

Jeff Iorg: 02:10

And I wanna talk today on the podcast about why this has been so helpful to me and challenge you to think about reading in this way. And for some of you who really don't think about reading very often. You don't really like it. You don't really wanna do it. The last thing you wanna do is crack another textbook.

Jeff Iorg: 02:29

You finish school and you don't wanna do that anymore. Hey, listen. I resonate with all that. That's why I love reading biographies because biographies are stories. They're stories, and it doesn't take much reflection to see that they are stories of how God has been at work in, around, and through the lives of people to make a difference in his world.

Jeff Iorg: 02:52

And so if you've gotten tired of reading textbooks or, you don't wanna read any more theology or any more commentaries or any more how to ministry books for a while. Hey. Set all that stuff aside for a while and reengage by reading biographies. Now, let me give you just several reasons why this has been very important and very helpful to me over the years. First of all, reading biographies is fascinating because of the interesting discoveries about the lives of prominent and influential people.

Jeff Iorg: 03:27

But more than that, more than just reading for the curiosity factor, reading biographies shapes my perspective on God's providential ways of working with and working through people. These interesting discoveries about the lives of prominent influential people really for me become windows into seeing God's providential ways of working through people. Man, so many examples of this. Let me give you a couple. A few years ago, I read a biography of Harry Truman.

Jeff Iorg: 04:02

Now, Truman was the president of the United States. He, had that famous sign on his desk, the buck stops here. He was from Missouri, the show me state. He became president almost by default. He he was asked to be vice president under Roosevelt who passed away and turned the presidency over to him.

Jeff Iorg: 04:24

He he was considered by some a little bit of a lightweight. Sometimes others, found him a bit profane. He was a plain talking, guy that, really was in some ways surprising to be found in as the president. I enjoyed his biography, but as I got near the end, 1 particular thing just lodged in my mind and has become just a very significant takeaway from reading his story. Harry Truman got to the end of World War 2 and had to make the decision about dropping the atomic bomb.

Jeff Iorg: 05:06

He's the only American president to ever launch an atomic weapon in war. When he did that and he saw the incredible devastation that resulted, he made a very significant presidential decision. Harry Truman was the person who decided that unlike every other weapon in our arsenal, nuclear weapons would not be under the control of the military, but would instead be controlled by the president, by an elected civilian. Think about how significant that decision has been. When we've been at war, our generals have access to all of the weaponry, all of the technology, all of the capacity of our military in every way, except 1.

Jeff Iorg: 06:08

They do not have the authority to launch a nuclear attack. That resides only with the president, an elected civilian, if you will. That is because Harry Truman made it so. Now when he made that decision, I'm not sure everyone understood the long term import of it and how providentially God was working in that situation to make sure that nuclear weapons could not be unleashed as a part of any kind of normal or any kind of continuing military operation. When I read that part of the biography, I remember just putting the book down and thinking, lord, sometimes leaders make decisions.

Jeff Iorg: 07:07

They make strategic decisions, important decisions that don't have any precedent, but do have long range impact for good. Lord, help me to make those kind of decisions. Then another example, a number of years ago, I was invited to Nigeria to preach at the Nigerian Baptist Convention, which is a huge convention. There's about 8, 000, 000 Baptist in Nigeria. It's the 3rd largest Baptist convention in the world after the United States Southern Baptist Convention and the Brazilian Baptist Convention.

Jeff Iorg: 07:40

I arrived in Nigeria, stepped off the plane, and the executive director of the Nigerian Baptist greeted me with these words. Welcome to Nigeria. Thank you for sending TJ Bowen to our country. I was embarrassed. I did not know who TJ Bowen was, but I faked it and thanked him for being so kind.

Jeff Iorg: 08:03

And then a little while later, someone thanked me for Bowen University and for the influence of TJ Bowen, for which they named their Baptist University in their nation. Once again, I thought, who is this person? Well, as God would have it, soon after that, a professor friend of mine told me that he was finishing a dissertation on Thomas Jefferson Bowen. I got that dissertation and read the story and a missionary biography of an early Southern Baptist missionary, the first missionary to Nigeria, who pioneered our work there, launched the gospel into that nation, and then ultimately came home physically and emotionally and, mentally broken. Now DJ Bowen, Thomas Thomas Jefferson Bowen is not well known among Southern Baptist because when he came home, he degenerated into alcoholism, mental illness, lived as a homeless person for a number of years, and in fact, his medical records are still on file in the state of Georgia.

Jeff Iorg: 09:23

Some of the struggles he went through were really, really difficult. So much so that it became an embarrassment to Southern Baptist, and we stopped talking about him and, in essence, sort of wrote him out of our history. But my professor friend did a dissertation about him to show his early missionary impact. He did an interesting thing. He had a couple of physicians read all of the medical record that he could find on missionary Thomas Jefferson Bowen, and he asked them to do a forensic analysis of what might have happened to this man that caused him to degenerate so much when he came home in his behaviors, particularly self medicating through alcohol.

Jeff Iorg: 10:03

And these 2 physicians, independently of each other, came to the same conclusion that he had contracted some illness while in Africa that no doubt was affecting him physically in such a way that it was impacting his mental health and causing him to behave in ways that were out of character with who he really was. Today, he would be in treatment and in a care facility, not living on the streets and embarrassing us by his behaviors. When I read that story, I thought once again about God's providential work in ways. God worked through a man that is largely lost to history to launch a movement that has resulted in millions of people coming to faith in Jesus, 1 of the largest conventions of Baptists in the world being formed, a university being named for him, God worked providentially through this man. And even though his physical ailments resulted in a mental illness, which resulted in self medication and behaviors that many people in that era found reprehensible, and we might even still today find the same, I think today we'd be able to look a little deeper and see the real causes and have a little more patience and compassion for TJ Bowen.

Jeff Iorg: 11:19

But once again, reading biography. Reading biography helped me to see God's providential ways of working with and through people that no matter the verdict of history on some of what they might have been or become, Nothing could eclipse the good they did and how God put in motion something through them that carried on through the generations down even till today. Another reason I like reading biographies is that reading biographies shows me how God uses flawed people. Now 1 of my mistakes as a younger leader was to dismiss other leaders who made mistakes and, frankly, fear my own disqualification if I made too many mistakes. But God has taught me through reading biographies that God uses flawed people to do amazing things.

Jeff Iorg: 12:18

Good biographies are warts and all stories about the good, the bad, and the ugly of a person's life. They aren't sanitized versions telling you only the good things. They're the real story of all aspects of a person's character, behavior, relationships. Listen. All leaders, all of us, are a mixed bag of strengths and weaknesses, of positives and negatives.

Jeff Iorg: 12:44

And yet, God uses us anyway to accomplish so much good. For example, reading again a presidential biography of Lyndon Johnson. You discover things about his character that are abhorrent, narcissistic, power crazed in some ways, Used the levers of power to manipulate people, and in fact, to humiliate people. Some of what he did was so personally offensive. I I don't even wanna talk about it on the podcast.

Jeff Iorg: 13:28

He he just did things that were cringe worthy in relationship to other people. And yet and yet, it was Johnson who pushed through and signed the civil rights act. Same thing with the Voter Act. Think about what happened in our country for good because of the civil rights act. That happened because a president did the right thing to make sure that the laws changed to start reshaping the way we related racially in this country.

Jeff Iorg: 14:12

Now it didn't fix all the problems? No. No. It didn't. But it certainly has made a profound positive impact.

Jeff Iorg: 14:21

So here's a person who on the 1 hand could be domineering and dominating and controlling and narcissistic and power crazy and could even humiliate people with what he did to them. But on the other hand, created legislation, pushed it through, and signed it that changed so much about how people relate to 1 another and really worked so much to elevate, and end racial issues in our country. I think about another recent biography just won the Pulitzer prize for biography and that's the new biography about Martin Luther King. There is no question that Martin Luther King, had a profound positive impact in our country. He led nonviolent, opposition to racism and racist racist practices.

Jeff Iorg: 15:16

I think about where we might be if we had had that same era led by someone who promoted violent overthrow or violent opposition to these issues, but no. King led nonviolent protest, accomplishing much good by doing them. But on the other side, as you read his biography, there is no question but that he was a flawed man. Morally flawed, flawed in his leadership in many occasions, flawed in his judgment. And yet when you read, you see both the flaws and the remarkable ways that God uses flawed people to accomplish good things in our world.

Jeff Iorg: 16:01

So there's no question, but that leaders are flawed, and biographies tell those stories, warts and all. But there's also that hope that comes through. That in the midst of all of the difficulty, the shortcomings, the failures, God is still able to do good things through so many people. Another thing that reading biographies has taught me is to be more resilient, just to toughen up. You know, I live a pretty easy life.

Jeff Iorg: 16:36

I I I've had my share of, you know, leadership challenges, and I've had some health difficulties along the way, but quite frankly, I live a pretty easy life. You know, I I live in a reasonably comfortable home. I've got nice air conditioning in my office. I draw a salary that has, enough money to make my life, comfortable. I I've got benefits that take care of my medical needs.

Jeff Iorg: 17:01

I I've got a pretty comfortable life. But when I read the stories of some leaders, and I see what they have experienced, The devastating setbacks they've had to endure from lost elections to failed businesses, to significant health crises, to the deaths of spouses or children. When I see what some leaders have lived through and when I read their biographies and discover all the kinds of trouble that they've had to to to get through, man, it makes me grateful. And it also teaches me to be more resilient, to just toughen up, stop whining and complaining about every little thing, and just recognize that God can see me through a lot more than I may have ever imagined and still use me for his good. 1 of my favorite stories about this, again, back to a president is, Franklin Roosevelt.

Jeff Iorg: 18:07

You know, Roosevelt was born into a wealthy family and a family of prestige and influence. He was the golden child. He had it all going for him. And then, of course, he was stricken with, polio and lost his mobility. He was president of the United States through 1 of the most challenging and difficult times, World War 2, and he led our nation from a wheelchair.

Jeff Iorg: 18:34

Think about that. Think about the difficulties that he endured in a time before ADA compliance made it possible for a person in a wheelchair or who was on crutches to get around even easily. Think about the physical difficulty of not being able to have the mobility needed to do the fast paced life of a president. I don't wanna go inappropriate here, but think about having to be cared for physically. Not being able to do certain things or go certain places or take care of even your own personal hygiene needs, because you just can't move and get around and have the mobility that you need.

Jeff Iorg: 19:21

And yet, he's president of the United States through what may have been, since the civil war at least, our darkest time, when we were attacked in Pearl Harbor, then fought wars on 2 fronts. Think about that. Think about the toll that took on him personally, daily having to manage and struggle with all the decisions that are made by a wartime president. When I read the Roosevelt biographies and I see the personal trauma that came to him by the loss of his health and his mobility. And then I see what he was able to accomplish.

Jeff Iorg: 20:03

Not just being president hiding out in the White House, but making secret trips around the world to meet with Stalin and Churchill and others. Doing everything that was required of him, while dealing with the significant liability that he had of his illness and all the limitations it placed on him. And it just makes me wanna be more resilient, a little tougher. So why in less and just get on with it more? And to recognize that whatever limitations I'm dealing with, whatever health or personal or relational challenges I'm managing, don't come even close to what I read in a person's life like Roosevelt and others who had the same similar kinds of losses I've already described.

Jeff Iorg: 20:54

Man, reading biographies has just made me tougher, made me more resilient, made me more able to deal with the difficulties that come my way. Reading biographies has also lengthened my expectation of the time it takes for dreams and ideas and goals to come to fruition. I am an impatient person. In fact, my impatience is legendary. Anyone who knows me well will testify.

Jeff Iorg: 21:22

We have a little joke in our family. When I refer to myself in the 3rd person, I say, the Jeff don't wait. I do not like to wait. Impatience, that's a character quality that I've battled all my life. Reading biographies has helped me though.

Jeff Iorg: 21:39

Reading biographies has helped me to lay out an entire life and see the progression of a person over 10, 20, 40, 50, 60 years and how it takes a long time sometimes for the fullness of a life to be expressed. Now, I don't recommend this story because it's got some things in it that are that are pretty difficult, but Phil Knight founded Nike out of the trunk of his car. And some of his business practices are not those that need to be copied by Christian business leaders, but nevertheless, reading his story, his biography, helped me to see the arc of what it really takes to do something significant in our world. Nike was not an overnight success. It was a long slow struggle of building a company, of sacrificing, of finding ways to do things that no 1 had ever done before and in ways no 1 had ever imagined them before, and overcoming obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, and yet persevering to become a multibillion dollar giant that shapes the world today.

Jeff Iorg: 22:59

Biographies will lengthen your expectations of the time it takes to really accomplish something. They'll help you to see that people have lived 10, 20, 30, 50 years with a dream, with an ideal, with a goal to finally see it coming to fruition. Well, biographies help me in so many ways. Just a couple more. Reading biographies also helps me to tone down some of the conflict in my life and understand people can really get along.

Jeff Iorg: 23:31

Did you know that George Whitfield and John Wesley disagreed on almost everything theologically, but were best friends? I read their biographies and compared what they said about each other. They had a warm, loving relationship. A warm personal relationship. They were both passionately committed to Jesus and to the gospel and to getting the gospel to as many people as possible.

Jeff Iorg: 23:56

1 of course would call himself a Calvinist, the other 1 would call himself an Arminian. These men saw the world differently and saw theological truth differently, and yet they found enough common ground to be good friends in the midst of their differences. I want to be like that. I want to be like that. Few years ago, I read the biography of Martin Lloyd Jones, the famous pastor in London, and he had some strong conviction against what he called means.

Jeff Iorg: 24:30

Meaning that he did not believe in any practical ways of communicating the gospel in any way that would smack of manipulation or of any kind of practicalities that would, in any way, mar the or infringe upon the the work of the spirit in bringing a person to conversion. Then then Billy Graham came to London. And Martin Lloyd Jones met with Graham and actually attended only 1 night of a crusade, I believe the book, said, if I remember it correctly. And he did not agree with, Graham's approach. He found some of it to be too much, bordering up on being manipulative or, cajoling or in some way using means in an inappropriate way to try to convince people to persuade them to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jeff Iorg: 25:23

But while he had profound personal reservations about what he encountered based on his theological convictions, he never publicly attacked Graham. Never publicly attacked him. I find in that, again, something that really encouraged me. When I read that part of the biography, I thought, you know, that's interesting to me. I I have people that I disagree with, but I don't need to attack them.

Jeff Iorg: 25:51

My convictions may be different, but that doesn't make them absolutely right. Maybe I need to hold on to some of my convictions with some deference and gentleness rather than just attacking everyone who doesn't agree with me. Reading biography, especially these religious biographies I just mentioned, has helped me to understand how to get along better with people that, I don't necessarily agree with or don't line up with me on every particular theological perspective or theological conviction. It's helped me to understand how to be more patient with people, and to try to find common ground around the gospel with as many people as I can. Well, lastly, I may have whetted your appetite for biography, so you might wonder, well, where do you get started?

Jeff Iorg: 26:37

Well, I'd suggest that you pick a kind of biography that you most wanna read and get started there. For me, I read 3 things. I read biographies of American presidents, and then I read, biographies of prominent religious leaders, and I read then biographies of prominent business or corporate leaders. And I kind of read them in that order. I I mostly read biographies of American presidents.

Jeff Iorg: 27:03

That's a really been a hobby of mine for a long time now. And then I read religious leaders, and then occasionally I read corporate leaders as well. Now which biographies do you choose? Well, start this way. Just Google the Pulitzer prize winning biographies, and just start looking at the biographies that have won the Pulitzer Prizes and just start there, and then look for other award winning biographies and read those.

Jeff Iorg: 27:27

That's a good place to start. And then if there hasn't been a Pulitzer prize winning biography, like what I do is I'll pick an American president that I've not read their biography, and I'll just Google, best biography of that president. And I'll just look at several different options and then read some different, reviews or different recommendations and then choose 1 that I think is sort of the standard or the best on that particular person. So that's how you can choose biographies. That's the kind of biographies I like to read.

Jeff Iorg: 27:57

Now you may have a little different perspective. You may say, well, I like to read, biographies of people that were well known in the arts. No problem. Or you might say, well, I prefer military biography. No problem.

Jeff Iorg: 28:08

Your areas of interest will likely produce people who have biographical work done about them that will give you motivation to read in those fields, as well as, that are most interesting to you and the biographies from people that are in those fields. Well, as I started out today on the podcast, I said, leaders are readers. And for me, that is included theology and Bible and practical books about ministry and all other kinds of textbook type reading. But the thing I've most enjoyed now for the last couple of decades has been reading biographies. For me, they do all the things I mentioned on the podcast today, and they become very motivational to me as I shape my life as a leader and try to become more the leader God wants me to be.

Jeff Iorg: 28:58

Yes. Those other kinds of books, textbooks, theology books, commentaries, how to books on ministry, business books that have application in what we do. Yes. All that's helpful and yes, I've read in all those venues or all those genres. But the thing I keep coming back to 3, 4, 5 times a year is picking up a really good biography and spending some days just reading through it, thinking about the life that I'm encountering, and letting God speak to me about it, and shape me for leadership along those ways.

Jeff Iorg: 29:30

Reading biographies, it's enjoyable, it's motivational, it'll help you as you lead on.