Effective leadership isn't just about taking charge. At its most profound level, it is all about transforming yourself into a Christ-filled leader to inspire and empower others to reach their full potential. In this episode, Dr. Tracey Jones chats with Dr. Reverend Bella Brown, the Pastor at St. Mark’s United Church of Christ in Hamstead, Maryland. Dr. Brown explains how her faith shaped her leadership, touching other people’s lives in the most meaningful ways. She shares her testimony of how God bestows His peace in times of trouble, highlighting the significance of leaders in fulfilling His vision. Dr. Brown also talks about her experiences learning from two great leaders of faith, "Mom Glow" and "Charlie Tremendous," shaping her into a better person and an effective leader.
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Dr. Rev Bella Brown - Leaders On Leadership
In this episode, I am so excited to introduce to you my dear sister, friend, cohort, and colleague, the Rev. Dr. Bella Brown. I want to tell you a little bit about Bella and where we connected. Dr. Reverend Bella Brown is the pastor at St. Mark’s United Church of Christ in Hamstead, Maryland. She's also the Vice President and the Board of Directors of Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi, and the Member of the Board of Directors for Emmaus Homes in St. Charles, Missouri. Bella, welcome.
Thank you. I’m glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
You're welcome. Bella and I just reconnected after many years. We've been casually connected, but we go way back to the '90s. Some of you may not have been born, but back in St. Charles with the 131st Fighter Wing, the Air National Guard back there, and then also, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency West in downtown St. Louis. We also worked together there.
I was with my dear sister and we were neighbors in Benton Park. I lived on Lemp Avenue and she lived one over. We have connected throughout our lives at many different times. She reached out to me to update us on a friend because I was going out to St. Louis and she informed me. Now, she's in Maryland, close to me in Pennsylvania. I look forward to being closer to my sister during this next season of life. Bella, thank you so much for being a guest on our show.
Thank you.
Let's get started. You knew Charlie “Tremendous.” You got to spend some of the last times on his earth with him. He passed in 2008, so we got to spend Thanksgiving the year prior to that. Tell us a little bit about your interaction with Mom Glow, as you called her, and Charlie “Tremendous.”
First of all, Tracy, thank you for having me but I think that you and your siblings are some of the most blessed people there are to have such parents as Charlie and Mom Glow. I call him Pop Charlie because he was that personable. I remember the first time that I met him how he makes you feel like he's known you all your life and he has such a great impact, especially where leadership was concerned for me.
He told me to never stop learning. I have one of these bracelets that reminds me of some of the things that he talked about. I remember he said that five years from now, you will be the same person except for the people you meet and the books you read. I remember just spending that quality time with him. Most of all, he and Mom Glow were people of faith. That was another layer of the endearment that both of them mean to me, especially Pop Charlie because he was such a great leader. He knew how to engage people in a way that made them feel very special all the time. He was very special.
I know they loved you and as I said, in that season where things were winding down, where they were immigrating to heaven, I'm so blessed that you were there and we got to share that time together. With that being said, one of the speeches that Pop “Tremendous” did was called The Price of Leadership. He did it decades ago and it's still one of our most popular speeches.
In it, he talked about the price of leadership and the things you're going to have to do to be a leader and not just a leader in name only. The first one is loneliness. We've all heard, “It’s lonely at the top.” Can you unpack what loneliness means for you as a leader? Maybe a season you went through and some words of wisdom and encouragement for our audience out there if they are in that season.
Leadership is a very rewarding position and I truly believe that God gives us certain gifts and talents. Not everyone could be a leader. They can hold leadership positions, but the character of a leader would entail such things as loneliness and building confidence in the decisions that you make for those that are around you. In one of the positions I have right now with everything that's going on within the nation and everything, I have to stay very prayerful.
Christ-Filled Leader: Not everyone could be a leader. A person can hold leadership positions, but that would entail loneliness and building confidence in making decisions for other people.
I'm very fortunate to be a woman of color in what we would call a predominantly Caucasian White church. I went in with the expectation that I was going to have to build up so much fortitude to know that I may have to sit and be lonely in a sense of not having people participate and be very forthcoming and very accepting of me. It was totally different. What I went in expecting to be a lonely situation for me ended up being such a very endearing situation.
As a leader, you have to prepare for those moments and realize that you have to have that God-given confidence. I call it Christ esteem versus self-esteem. That God-given confidence to know that you're there to love, care, develop, and help those that are around you. Loneliness is a very critical time that a leader has to prepare themselves for.
It reminds me of Charles' statement, “Expect the worst, but hope for the best.” It sounds like you're very pragmatic about going in that. I love that Christ esteem and I love it as a leader. You're a seasoned leader. You made this move to this position not that long ago and thank you for your transparency that even we, as seasoned Christ-filled leaders, every now and then, we get that assume the worst. What a blessing that you shared with us that loneliness is parred for the course. I'm so thankful that you shared that. The next aspect is weariness. We're filled with the spirit, but we're still flesh and blood in this plane of existence. Can you share with us how you combat weariness?
One of the things I look at in the ministry of Jesus Christ, I look to those times when he went off to himself. The disciples many times could not even find him. Leaders have to carve in that time. You know when you're being effective and you know when you're not being effective. In those stages, you know that it's time for you to go off to yourself, whether it's prayer or meditation. Take a couple of days off and do those fun things that you enjoy doing because it's very important that you carve out that time so that you can get revived and rejuvenated in your spirit as well as your body.
We are flesh and blood and we get wary on this journey. If you don't take care of yourself spiritually, physically, and mentally, you are not going to be an effective leader nor will you be as influential in helping others around you. That's one of the key traits that a leader has to do. Make sure that they are always developing, nurturing, and encouraging those that are around them.
How do you do that? I love you talking about carving out time and that you know when you're starting to slip or things are starting to drop, and even no amount of work. For somebody like you, that's in ministry, you probably are on call with people. You got Wednesday night services and definitely Sunday services and who knows what else. When do you place your time, typically for a lot of us, it's Sundays. Sundays are Sabbath days. When do you carve out time for yourself, Bella?
I was very fortunate in the sense to where I usually take my Sabbath on Fridays so therefore I take that day. That's my day to do something fun. Being able to reconnect with you now is inspirational and very encouraging to me. It gives me energy. I know that to feel the love and the support that you have given me during the years. I look forward to drawing from that love and that friendship.
One of the things I also do is when I'm traveling for board meetings, whether it's going down to New Orleans or Mississippi, I usually take maybe a day before and a day after to do something fun. I don't air it back. I try to make it like a mini-vacation. In the first week of May, I'm headed for New Orleans. Our board meeting is in Biloxi, Mississippi but I'll fly into New Orleans.
We’ll spend the day there, my husband and I, Rev. Rodney Winters. We'll have a fun day in New Orleans. We'll drive to Biloxi, which is about an hour and a half and we'll sit probably along the beach. Now, they have a big shrimp boil celebration that we're going to have. I'm looking forward to the fun things. Fortunately, we'll be there with the UCC CEO and President Rev. John Dorhauer. It gives me the time to draw from even his experience in leadership, which would help encourage my leadership as well.
Charles would always say you blend the work and the fun together. You said Sabbath is replenishment and I love that. For our audience out there, Sabbath doesn't mean you shut off and sit there and go monk, although if that's what you need to replenish you, but whatever feeds your soul because leaders pour out all the time. We must allow at least one day to be poured into whether that's here. This isn't work. This is a homecoming for us. It's whatever it is. Be it getting to a meeting early. I like that you said that. Allow space to replenish. Bring your spouse.
Loneliness, weariness, and abandonment. For those of us that love animals, we think about abandoning an animal or fear of abandonment. Charles would always say that he does more in a day to contribute to his failure than his success. Abandonment in the “Tremendous” world was abandoning what you like and want to think about in favor of what you ought and need to think about. It's this hyper-focus. Bella, you're on board. You're making transitions. You probably have a lot of people look at you and say, “I need your resources or your advocacy for this.” How do you stay tightly focused on your highest and best use of time?
One of the things, and being a woman of faith, I do pray. I like Charles' definition of abandonment because there are sacrifices that we do as a result of this. However, I believe just like he was, he was connected to a higher power. He was connected to his God and that was the source of power. I'm sure if he was here now, he'll tell you that he knows that he’d be there with him himself. That does help me. My faith is the foundation of everything that I do.
I know there are going to be sacrifices, but on the other end, I look around and I see the blessings that God has given me as a result of being in a position of leadership, and as a result of being able to influence people. I don't take that lightly. I consider it an honor and a privilege because I realize that not everybody gets a chance to be in positions where they can influence others and try to help and encourage them. I know that it's my job and at the same time, to be able to use constructive criticism that would help others.
Not everybody gets a chance to be in a position where they can influence others and try to help or encourage them.
It's not always a bed of roses. I tell people when I preach a sermon, “God never promised us a rose garden.” I used Tammy Wynette’s, “I beg your pardon. God never really promised us a rose garden.” There are going to be highs, lows, ins and outs. In the midst of it all, having that faith gives you that love, peace, and joy that comes from only your connection with God. It is such a joy to be able to connect with others and with others in that same realm of love, peace, and joy, and to know and respect all those that God had created. That has given you an opportunity to influence.
I love that you talked about abandonment and that God gives us our direction. If we're not supposed to spend time with this or give a word to somebody about this, rather than sit there and go, "I can't do all things for all people," you hit the nail on the head. God gives us peace. He'll take care of that. He knows everything so he already knows who's coming into that person's life in his providential timing and not our timing.
There are things we're abandoning and people say, “Shouldn't we be doing this or don't you feel like doing this or somebody's doing this? I don't even see that because God gives us that peace when you take the march and orders for him. It’s because he has already seen this to the end and knows your highest and best purpose. I love that you hit on that for leaders. Even though we're not getting everything that maybe the world thinks we should do, that doesn't even factor into the equation.
The last thing Charles talked about is loneliness, weariness, abandonment, and vision. His definition of vision was seeing what needs to be done, but also doing it. There was this very practical, pragmatic, action-oriented step to it. Can you define what vision looks like for you and how you cast it? How do you look out to the future, and how do you lay out your next goals and steps?
This one is pretty much easier for me because being a pastor, God has already given a vision for the church and whatever I can do to build up love, spirit, and peace, and to direct individuals to Jesus Christ. I am walking in the vision which God has for his church. One of my profound prayers is for God to tear down the walls and the visions that separate your children so that we may come together in love. It’s because the scripture says, “By this, all people should know that we're his disciples by the love we have one for another.”
I always ask God to allow the church as a whole, not only St. Mark’s United Church of Christ but as a whole, the universal church to grow numerically and spiritually because that was one of the commandments. The last commandment that Jesus gave to the disciple was to go into all the worlds and make them disciples. Therefore, that vision is always ongoing.
When you talk about the details of the vision itself, that's where much of prayer is. That's where you ask God to encamp people around you that will confirm that vision for you. I don't do leadership decisions in a vacuum, but I look towards the people that God has gifted to be around me to help, support and be able to walk in that vision, staying focused on what God has called us to do. That's to make disciples and do whatever is necessary to make sure that we stay focused on that vision.
Never do leadership decisions in a vacuum. Look towards the people that God has gifted to be around you to help so. This way, you can support them in the way you are called to do.
I love that you tied vision to the organizational mission because a lot of times it's like, “What do I want to do?” It's like, “If you're already in an entity, there should be a value congruence.” I hope you didn't say yes to this job if you're not all in. I love that you talked about what our ultimate one is. The greatest commandment in the world is to love one another. I love that you talked about going back to that and also, that you will surround yourself with vision.
Leadership is a shared enterprise, and decision-making is not to be done in a vacuum. Even if you get the call, you share it with those closest, your inner circle, your Peter, James, and John for confirmation prayer because none of us are meant to do this alone, especially vision. If you're the only one hearing the calling, you might want to let that sit for a while and get some wise counsel.
I remember I was at an installation and they talked about how Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands when the children of Israel were in battle. You need those Aarons and Hurs to support you as you focus on what God has called you to do. Even in sometimes getting tired, God will send you those people to help uplift your hands and keep that support that you need to make sure that the things of God and the battles go well.
Bella, thank you for unpacking these four topics with us and we've covered quite a few things. I know our audience got a lot out of it. I know I did too. Is there anything else as far as all things leadership that you would like to share with our audience?
Yes, and I go back to what Pop Charlie told me, “Tremendous” Jones. He said to never stop learning. I have this bracelet that says, “Never stop learning.” I think as leaders, we cannot ever stop learning. Look around and see the gifts that God has put in the people that surround you, and ask God for the wisdom to not only learn from them but hopefully, that whatever gifts God has given you, you were enhancing and inspiring them more to seek purpose in leadership.
One of the things I truly believe is that leadership is shown through example, not only what Jesus did, but what Pop Charlie did. He didn't just talk the talk, but he walk the walk. We have to be genuine and we have to be sincere in this position of leadership because it is a position that influences and can change people's lives by the way that we treat them and the way that they feel that we care about them. Therefore, it's definitely not to be taken lightly.
Christ-Filled Leader: Leaders have to be genuine and sincere. They are influencing and changing people's lives. Therefore, it's definitely not to be taken lightly.
Thank you so much. Bella, you talked about the church, St. Mark’s United Church of Christ. What's the best way for people to connect with you?
They can connect with me. I have an email. It’s Bella9253@gmail.com. I would love to entertain any questions or comments that anyone may have. Also for prayer, I'll even pray for you.
God bless you, sister. I can't wait. You have a big event coming up in April, correct?
On April 23rd, I will be installed as a settled pastor for St. Mark's United Church of Christ on 1616 Cape Horn Road in Hampstead, Maryland. That ZIP is 21074. It's going to be going on April 23rd. I'm looking forward to that.
I can't wait to see you in person and give you a big hug and be there on this life milestone. Bella, thank you again for this. To our audience out there, if you liked what you learned, please reach out to Bella. Please hit the like button. Hit the subscribe button, and if you do us the honor of reviewing, we would be so thankful. Please share this with the other leaders out there that are paying the price of leadership. I know you are, and I am so thankful for you and for being a part of our Tremendous tribe. Thank you, Bella. I love you.
Thank you. God bless you.
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About Dr. Rev Bella Brown
Dr. Rev Bella Brown is the Pastor at St. Mark’s United Church of Christ in Hampstead, Maryland. She also serves as the Vice President Board of Directors of Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi, and as a member of the Board of Directors for Emmaus House in St. Charles, Missouri.