Rosalynn Carter’s Funeral, Giving Tuesday & Lead With Integrity

The funeral of First Lady Rosalynn Carter is scheduled for Wednesday in her home church in Plains, Georgia.

Rosalynn and husband, Jimmy – the 39 th U.S. President – were married for 77 years when she dies last week at age 96.

Ethics &; Religious Liberty Commission President Brent Leatherwood reflected on her wide-ranging contributions to her family and humanitarian causes.

“Rosalynn Carter used her years to make a difference. Whether as a humanitarian leader, advisor to the President, advocate for mental health support, or faithful wife of 77 years, she was a model of service,” Leatherwood said.

The Carters were known to be outspoken about their faith and dedicated to humanitarian work such as Habitat for Humanity.
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#GivingTuesday is a refreshing change of pace at the start of the Christmas shopping season, which is often filled with buying gifts, and typically kicks off the year-end giving season. For more than ten years, like-minded individuals have joined together on this unique day to give to causes important to them.

With this year’s focus on rising costs due to inflation, #GivingTuesday is an opportunity to give toward something that matters and to those whose struggle may be more significant than our own.

One place you might consider giving is Mission:Dignity the ministry of the Guidestone to widows of pastors. Guidestone says, “100% of every donation goes to improve the lives of retired SBC ministers, workers and their widows in financial need.”
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Good News for Today is sponsored by The Voice of the Martyrs

Good News for Today is made possible through our friends at The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfill His Great Commission — no matter the cost. Find out more and sign up for their free monthly magazine at vom.org/goodnews.
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Indiana pastor Stephen Viars offers four tips on how to lead with integrity:

Principle 1: Establish a Relationship with the Greatest Leader

Paul describes a relationship with Jesus Christ that is real, intimate, and life-changing.

Whether you have been a Christian for years or have just received Christ, you are personally related to the greatest leader of all time. Jesus’s disciples called him “Master” (Lk 8:24), “Teacher” (Mk 4:38), and “Lord” (Mt 14:28). Hebrews 2:10 says that to bring “many sons and daughters to glory,” Jesus was made “the pioneer of their salvation.” He is our Leader.

Jesus’s words were filled with grace and power. His actions were characterized by compassion and authority. People from a variety of ethnic and economic conditions followed Jesus. Soon after he left this earth, the promised Holy Spirit was poured out on his followers, who experienced the power of God to change them and equip them (Jn 14:16–18), with the net effect that Jesus’s followers were accused of turning the world “upside down” (Ac 17:6). Being in relationship with Jesus means that you are in Christ (Eph 1:4) and he is in you (Col 1:27). So you have the same Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline that filled him. You can humbly go to him acknowledging your utter inability to lead others in your own strength. But you can proclaim with Paul, “I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me” (Php 4:13).

Principle 2: View Yourself and Others through the Lens of God’s Grace

Christ-centered leaders understand their relationship with God is all about grace (Eph 2:8–10). Followers of Jesus have been introduced by faith “into this grace in which we stand” (Rm 5:2). Your leadership potential is not simply the sum of everything you have done in the past. You are now standing knee-deep in the grace of God. God views you as his dearly loved child, and he will give you daily grace for whatever troubles and challenges you will face. We can rejoice that God chooses not to view us in light of our past failures, mistakes, and sins (Ps 103:12). That also helps godly leaders respond well to the failures and shortcomings of those they are trying to lead.

God’s grace enables with “gifts” that differ “according to the grace given to us” (Rm 12:6), directs us to serve sacrificially (2Co 8:9), and sustains us in our weakness so that his power should reside in us (2Co 12:9). Followers of Christ stand before God clothed in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Therefore we can choose to respond to those we are called upon to lead in a way that is similar to the way he chooses to lead us. It’s all about grace.

Principle 3: Seek to Glorify God

Our key passage in Romans 5 goes on to say that “we boast in the hope of the glory of God” (v. 2). Our desire is not to draw attention to ourselves but instead to live so that those we lead would see Jesus in us. To glorify God is to show others who he is. Seeing how we lead should help people better understand what he is like (Mt 5:16; 1Co 10:31).

Principle 4: Embrace Leadership Challenges

Paul ends this paragraph in Romans by explaining that we can even “boast in our afflictions” (Rm 5:3). Problems are always just around the corner. But you don’t have to run from challenges—you can embrace them. Here are some reasons you don’t have to fear leadership struggles.

You can read the full piece and learn more about our daily emails at Baptist Press.com.