Yesterday’s staff seminar dealt with the leadership topics of competence and courage. David linked the two, leading to the new insight for many that a sense of competence that can help us to have courage and that competence is built over time with patient trying. I was encouraged by the lively discussion among the staff members and the clear sense that they were thinking actively through these issues. Some said that confidence is something you are born with, while another said, in my favorite quote, “your heart is made up of a certain percentage of cowardice and a certain percentage of courage – you can change those percentages through your action.”

A less expected result of the morning’s talk was the revelation of evidence confirming our suspicions of inappropriate staff/student sexual relationships. A staff member came forward with this information that had been withheld out of fear stating, ” I haven’t felt okay since our talk about fear and courage this morning.” David had quoted that courage is not the absence of fear but the action in spite of it. For this one staff member, that teaching helped them to step forward in a move that promotes safety and health not only for one or two girls entangled in unhealthily coercive relationships but for a whole school and community of girls who have never been spoken up for.

Now we face the hard work, today, of confronting at least one male staff member with the evidence we have. The hard work of speaking the truth in love. And we must do this while praying that we are not motivated merely by justice but also by the desire for their repentance and seeking after Him. My heart is not there yet, so pray for me to move past thoughts of castration and have a heart aimed towards their spiritual rehabilitation.