Teaching and the Overflow of a Full Life

A much loved teacher and leader who had a significant influence on my life and calling, Dr Howard Hendricks, sadly passed away recently. He used to repeatedly say, “Great teachers (and great leaders) teach out of the overflow of a full life. You cannot impart what you do not possess”. Hendricks understood a key principle of leadership and realized that only those who lead out of the overflow and abundance of their lives will leave a lasting legacy in their generation. Effective leaders do not merely give half-heartedly, they inspire others because they themselves have been inspired and this can only come from the overflow of a full heart and life.

Great leaders ensure that their wells are never empty and never stagnant. This does not mean the absence of suffering, disappointment or hardship in the leadership journey, but more importantly the cultivation of character traits and attitudes that endure through every season of life. Sadly, our current generation's obsession with celebrity and fame rather than leadership and character means we are quickly forgetting what it means to cultivate a full heart and life that prepares us for a lifetime of effective leadership and not merely 15 minutes of fleeting fame.

Dr Hendricks life was a testament to this overflowing heart and life, and the intentional digging of a wellspring within his life, ensuring that through every season and every circumstance he had something to give and something to impart to his students. Hendricks was from a broken home (where his parents separated as soon as he was born), and was told by his Yr 5 teacher that he would “most likely end up in prison”. Rather than embracing this destructive pathway, his teacher in Yr 6 Miss Noe, opened his heart to a greater destiny when she introduced herself to him on the first day: “I’ve heard a lot about you… but I don’t believe a word of it”. These few simple, heartfelt words transformed a troubled young man and so powerfully influenced him that from that day on, he desired to be a teacher.

And what a teacher that young man became – for nearly 60 years, Hendricks taught over 10 000 students, wrote 23 books, was the much loved chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys and inspired countless lives to teach passionately “from the overflow of a full life”. He was known as one of the most influential and engaging teachers of his generation and his most famous book “Teaching to Change Lives” is given to all our teaching staff at Heights College. His firm conviction was that “if you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow” and his life over six decades of teaching and leading embodied this conviction. John Maxwell has succinctly stated that “leadership is influence”. In the life of Dr Howard Hendricks, it is clearly evident that his enduring legacy to teachers all over the world has been his influence in inspiring them to keep the wells of learning and living filled to overflowing – for out of the abundance (the overflow) of those types of hearts, comes the most influential teachers and leaders in every generation.

What an enduring legacy the "prof" has left on his generation - enter into your rest good and faithful servant...

525600 Minutes

There is a song from the Broadway production Rent which goes “Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year”. For Heights College senior class of 2011, with whom we will celebrate their graduation and final day of school next Term, these five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, seem to fly by at break neck speed. Their hopes, dreams and aspirations for 2011 have quickly been transferred to memories and legacies and choruses of “I’m glad I dids”, “I knew I coulds” and perhaps even some “I wish I hads”. The journey for these senior students are about to enter an exciting new phase and a new chapter awaits them all as they continue to paint their life-masterpieces and pen their epic biographies. We, the Heights College Community, will continue to cheer them on as they find their place in this world and their point of influence and impact where their identity and their purpose are forged together in fulfilling career pathways. We wish our class of 2011every success and pray that they will hold onto the promise that each and every one of them has a hope and a future that has been ordained and blessed by God.

It has also been with great excitement that a new class has now had the baton passed to them – the class of 2012 – and I look forward to seeing their leadership gift and abilities develop as they take their place as leaders of our college. The class of 2012 will have five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes (give or take a few minutes here and there) to contribute their own legacy, to carve out their own impact and influence upon our College next year, and assume the many and varied roles that each one of them will fulfil as an indispensible member of the senior leadership team of 2012. I am excited by the calibre of leaders who will make up the seniors of 2012 and am enthusiastic about the coming year and the potential for character, leadership and influence to be further developed in each of their lives as they achieve breakthrough in so many unique and specific ways.

The song mentioned earlier reminds us though, that in the midst of all the “measuring” and of all our “years” the one thing that matters most is suggested as How about love?

How about love?
How about love? Measure in love

May the upcoming Christmas season remind us all of the power and influence of love – true, unconditional and freely given love – that came into the world in the form of a baby, lived five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes each year as He grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and with man, and who ultimately showed a broken and dying world that love really is the only measure of a life and the only hope for a lost and hurting humanity. May you all have a blessed and love filled Christmas break where He really is the reason for not only the festive season but how we measure our lives both this year and every year into the future.