Three famous leaders’ birthdays are celebrated in February. Two are previous American Presidents, the third a Christian Saint and faint inspiration behind the romantic flowers and chocolates dispersed on Valentine’s Day. The cultural festivities and traditions surrounding this legend have overshadowed Saint Valentine, much as the Christmas Santa Claus does to Saint Nicholas. But his story is still there, still a key link in the history of Christianity, a voice still crying out to those lost in Christian leadership.

According to the New Testament, when one opens their heart to Jesus, all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). This includes leadership. Leadership becomes something it wasn’t before; it has a new attitude, face, heart, and goal. In faith, leaders aren’t really leaders anymore. They are followers, followers of Jesus. If not followers, then Christian leadership is impossible for them.

Saint Valentine provides the lesson in resurrected leadership. He was a priest in early Christianity and was known for visiting jailed Christians. Over time, his visiting blackballed him and lead to his own incarceration. He would thereafter be martyred, taken from his cell and killed because of his faith in Jesus, put out of the world because his leadership didn’t make sense to the Roman Empire. The point of Saint Valentine is the point of Christian leadership: Christian leadership isn’t a matter of sensibility but rather of sacrificial love for God and others. Saint Valentine was following Jesus, and in so doing, was leading others in the same direction. Here is the question we all ask ourselves to determine if we are Christian leaders or not: Do others follow Jesus more closely because they saw us doing it?

Supposedly, Saint Valentine converted his jailor to Christianity. The Saint’s leadership came not from a place of power, but of weakness and humility. He was a prisoner, the jailer a free man, and yet as a prisoner he helped those on the other side think about the meaning of true freedom and life. We really can’t help people know Jesus if we are full of ourselves and would rather them follow our rules and line up with our ideas instead of simply loving them. We have been given two commands to live and lead by which are, to love God and love others. That’s it. Those commands are the road, roadmap, and destination for Christian leadership. We lead in love and keep doing so when people are listening and when they aren’t. The results are not for us to determine; the amount of conversions we can’t control. Love, we can do. And love is how we are to lead.

Since love is an act, it can be carried out in a number of ways. I think of Mother Theresa and Saint Francis befriending lepers, missionaries going to those parts of the world that have yet to hear the Gospel, parents making sacrifices so that children can grow up in an opportunistic environment, a good friend who recently turned down a more lucrative job offer because he knew God wanted Him to stay and continue to minister where he was, and my wife always asking me what she can do to help me get my projects done. Leadership, true leadership, is never in a place of power, but assists, cares, listens, puts other people’s interests before one’s own, and through it all guides people to God.

The legacy of Saint Francis lives on in the month of February and beyond. But then again, Valentine, being the leader that he was, doesn’t want much thought given to him. He lived in order to point us to someone else, and that someone is Jesus. What do we know of Jesus? Is what we know enough? Do we have more to learn? I think we all have more to learn, more to think and pray about. If Jesus is who He says He is and we are who Jesus says we are, we most certainly need to keep thinking and praying about leadership and everything else.

Copyright 2007 by  Sean K. Mitchell

Sean K. Mitchell is a fundraising consultant and a creative writer. He is also the author of The Financial Pilgrimage, a book that helps Christians embrace a fresh approach to financial decisions and Christian living. For more information on the book or to contact Sean, visit www.seankmitchell.com.