Leadership: Learning the Army’s 3 M’s
One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned in leadership involves standing in a chow line with other officers waiting for our enlisted soldiers to get their food. The reason we stood in line rather than going ahead of our soldiers directly related to the 3 M’s of leadership taught to us in our officer basic courses. Our cadre taught us to lead with these three priorities: my mission, my men, myself.
If you think about it, these 3 M’s apply to leading as a Christ follower as well. Whatever your role in the Kingdom, applying the 3 M’s to your leadership will help you develop more Christ-like and Kingdom-focused leadership. How do these 3 M’s from the Army apply to church leadership?
My mission.
Lead with the accomplishment of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as your first priority. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second is to love our neighbor. The most loving thing we can do for our neighbor is to share the gospel with him/her. As Christian leaders, lead others by example to love God and make disciples. As soldiers of Christ, be willing to give up your lives for this two-pronged mission. Imagine what our churches would become if we had Christ followers living out this first priority of Kingdom leadership.
My men.
Our first priority of mission, leads to the second priority—people. In his letter to the church in Philippi, the apostle Paul encouraged the believers there to humble themselves before one another and to consider the interests of others superior to their own.(Philippians 2:3-4 ESV) Our love for others should lead us to minister to and make disciples of the people around us. We begin with our family members, then the members of our churches, and, finally, the people in our community, state, and around the world. We should look to their spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. They are directly related to our first priority and its accomplishment—the mission.
Myself.
In the above encouragement to the Philippians, Paul did not tell them to neglect their own needs, but to make them subservient to the needs of others. It is imperative that we care for ourselves spiritually by spending time daily in the Word of God and prayer. We need to care for ourselves physically so that we will have the health and energy to accomplish the first two M’s. We need to engage with our gospel communities in accountability and discipleship relationships, discipling others and being discipled. By taking care of ourselves in this way, we can take care of others.
I saw the positive impact that implementing the 3 M’s had upon my soldiers as I led them as a battalion chaplain. I am convinced that the application of these three leadership priorities within the church will help grow stronger leaders and stronger churches to the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom.
Tim McKnight is the founder and President of McKnight Ministries©, the nonprofit parent of Engage Every Generation. He is an Associate Professor of Missions and Youth Ministry and Director of the Great Commission Center at Anderson University. Tim is on the speaking team for Clayton King Ministries. Also, he is the lead pastor and planter of a new church plant, Mosaic Church of Anderson. Tim is the author of No Better Gospel (2017), Engaging Generation Z (Kregel 2021), and editor of Navigating Youth Ministry (B&H Academic 2022).
Tim started ministry in 1991 and has served churches in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina as a youth pastor, associate pastor, and lead pastor. He holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Bluefield College, and a M.Div. and Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His primary field of study for the Ph.D. was in evangelism, with additional studies in missions and church history. His dissertation was on The Theology and Methodology of Evangelism of George Whitefield.
He served as a US Army Chaplain in the Kentucky Army National Guard, deploying on Operation Noble Eagle (2001) and Operation Enduring Freedom (2002). He is a recipient of the Kentucky Army National Guard Distinguished Service Medal.
He is a husband to Angela, father to Micah, Noah, Karissa, and MaryAnna. The most important thing he would want you to know about himself is that he is a follower of Jesus Christ.
