Leaders engage service.

Indiana bred Joe Eades is a landscape architect who with his wife, Becky moved to Denver to pursue job opportunities. Fly-fishing is one of Joe's passions.
Joe: Fly-fishing is complicated but not difficult.

Is that how you would describe leadership: Complicated but not difficult?
Joe: Leadership is simple to describe. Execution is difficult. Leadership is tied up in service. When I was approached to be a leader of Discovery, I said, "I'm not qualified." They responded, "You're a servant. That qualifies you."

How did Discovery develop her vision of leadership?
Joe: Tom Morris led us in a study of the scriptures. We asked questions. What are the characteristics of the church leader? How do both men and women fit into this picture? The questions grew and we discovered we could run down many rabbit trails with this study. Our leadership structure is on our website.

So how is Discovery's leadership practice different?
Joe: Leadership is not a top down thing. Leaders look around and see the gifts of people around them. They give the tools people need to fulfill their gifts. You have to look at what you are doing through the eyes of people.

How would you describe a healthy church?
Joe: The word that comes to mind is "engaged." When I was 18-26 years old, I couldn't reconcile my faith with that behavior. I returned to church, but couldn't find a place. I felt guilty, unworthy. Reading C. S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters helped, particularly when the apprentice devil was taught that if he merely distracted Christians, he would succeed in destroying them. We get past destructive obstructions by engaging people and serving them. We are free to show the grace of God.

When did you become a Christ follower?
Joe: I was eight when I committed my life to Jesus. My heart was more pure than any time since. A 16 I discovered drugs and alcohol. AT 20 and was in a dorm room and prayed, " God, I'm on the wrong path and I don't know how to get on the right path." Soon after I stopped by a mall kiosk in tore off the phone number for people in crisis. Donna Flannagan talked to me. She said I needed to deal with my substance abuse and recommended that I go to an AA meeting. I went to a renegade meeting (atypical for AA), got sober and went back to college. I was more comfortable in an AA meeting than in a church. I started attending the 10th Presbyterian Church in heard the expository preaching of Dr. James Boyce. It finally sunk in. I'm loved and accepted by the grace of God in spite of who I am or what I've done.