Lessons learned from JFK

I have mentioned this before, but one of my favorite Presidents ever, one with whom I am most fascinated with, is JFK. There are many reasons for this.  His charm and his charisma, the fact that he was groomed to be President, that he had to deal with the Bay of Pigs incident and the Cuban missile crisis and of course his death and the conspiracy theories surrounding it stand out.  Then, of course, the history of his family both before and after him.  They were our version of the Royal family.  I really am completely fascinated with him and can never get enough of him and his story.

With this week being the 50th anniversary of his death (today being the actual anniversary), I have been on information overload of JFK stuff.  I love hearing from people that were there.  I love seeing the video of before and after (I hate watching when he gets shot).  I love asking my parents to tell me again where they were and what they were doing when they heard…they remember vividly still.

As I look back at JFK’s life, there are so many things that stand out.  As I reflected, there were quite a few life and ministry lessons I learned from his life.  Some of them are below:

• He was groomed to be President.  His father was preparing John’s brother Joseph Jr. to become President when his plane was shot down and he died in WWII.  From that moment on John’s dad began to groom John for a run at the Presidency.  Lesson learned: I should be grooming others to be leaders.  Whether it is in ministry or in life, there are people I know who can be a leader of some sort.  Who am I grooming to be a leader?  Who are you?
• “And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”  Kennedy famously said this during his inauguration in 1961.  Lesson Learned: From a church worker/volunteer experience, I feel that I need to have this attitude.  I shouldn’t expect the church to do this or that.  I need to ask the church, “where can I help” or “what can I do for you”.  Christ called us to serve and help.  Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  I need to take this model and emulate it.  And, as a I search for volunteers, I need to challenge them to seek how they can serve most effectively.
• John had some great advisors whom he trusted and could lean on.  One of those was his brother Bobby.  Whatever the situation was (and remember there were some big ones…Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis to name two), he turned to his trusted advisors for help.  Lesson Learned: I need to have trusted advisors as well.  Some people who I can turn to no matter what the situation is and I will know that they will help me process it out.
• Temptation is hard to resist.  John was a noted womanizer but what made it worse was he became one of the most powerful person in the world.  With that power, comes temptation and JFK couldn’t resist the company of other women.  Even thought his Presidency didn’t fall because of his womanizing, there was a dark cloud over it and it is always a footnote when people talk about him. Lesson Learned: Temptation, which can lead to sin, can wreck your ministry forever.  It doesn’t matter how successful your ministry is, giving into temptation can wreck your ministry and take you out of the game completely.  It can stop the great impact you can have in the lives of others and it can ruin your legacy.

The conspiracy theories are always interesting to me but it are the things like the lessons I have learned from his life that keeps me fascinated with the life of John F. Kennedy. I really wish he would have lived longer because I would have loved to see how his life played out based on the choices he made.

So, what do you think? Based on these lessons (and maybe even some lessons learned I haven’t listed), what have you learned and how can you apply it to your life and/or ministry?  Take a minute to share your thoughts below.