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Phil Hodges said if he had a list of things to do before dying, meeting the Pope would have been on it. The co-founder of Lead Like Jesus and co-author with Ken Blanchard of "The Servant Leader" received an invitation to meet with the Pope last year after a group of Catholic clergy read his book and wanted to know more about training their members in leadership.

"Jesus took 12 rather unlikely people and started a movement that is still impacting the history of the world," said Hodges. "From the standpoint of effective leadership, there's none better."

Hodges said that principle is strong enough to unite not only secular and Christian business leaders, but Protestants and Catholics. According to Phyllis Hendry, president of Lead Like Jesus, the unity came through a desire for serving.

This story and all the great free content on Church Central is supported by: Lead Like Jesus Celebration A movement co-founded by Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager co-author), exists to inspire and equip leaders to lead like Jesus.

"One of the Pope's titles is The Servant to the Servants of God," she said. "For all of us to be a servant to each other is really the model that Jesus has given us.

"Meeting the people I met from the Catholic church — gracious, godly people who worship Jesus like I do — was an amazing experience," Hendry said.

"We have different doctrines across Protestant lines as well, not just Catholic lines. And we can really get excited about those things. But we're talking about Jesus and the way he influenced people and the way he led.”

Breaking barriers

Leaders at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, in Washington D.C., are working with Lead Like Jesus to customize material to train Catholic laity in 2005. The principles of the leadership program focus on internal change that leads to application. The Leadership Encounter is an eight-week group study that begins with the heart (motivation and character of leadership), head (vision), hands (behaviors and habits), and how to stay focused as a servant leader.

Lead Like Jesus is intent on instigating a transformational experience in the lives of people who study what Hendry said is not a leadership program but a movement.

While the Center for Faithwalk Leadership has trained leaders in multiple denominations, Hendry said before working with the John Paul II Center they hadn't considered the Catholic audience for their leadership training. “They came to us,” she said. “And that was God.”

But servant leadership and leading like Jesus is about breaking barriers apart, not only between Christian traditions but between church and practical living. Lead Like Jesus is intent on reaching business leaders, church leaders and laity, and whole communities.

“This is about the aspect of leadership in all relationships. The same message applies,” said Hodges. “We have an unlimited market.”