The Green Bay Packers stared their 1994 pre-season camp with an up and coming quarterback by the name of Brett Favre. Trying out for a spot on the team was Kurt Warner, an undrafted free agent. Kurt was cut from the team and Brett continued to be the starting quarterback for the Packers until the 2007 season. Kurt went home to Iowa and got a job stocking groceries while working as a Graduate Assistant at Northern Iowa University, his alma mater.
Brett help to lead the Packers to a Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. Kurt was playing in the Arena Football League helping to lead the Iowa Barnstormers to back to back appearances in the Arena Bowl (the Arena League's Super Bowl). Then in 1998 Kurt Warner got his chance to play in the NFL when he signed with the St. Louis Rams.
These two small town boys living out their dreams to play professional football while at the same time being looked upon as leaders on their respective teams. Largely due to the position they played on the field they were expected to lead. Such is the case many times with leaders; they are thrust into leadership due to their position within an organization. Many of us do not think of ourselves as leaders yet we all are called to be leaders. No matter who you are you have been called to lead. It may not be as a NFL quarterback, but it might be as a Sunday School teacher, Chair of a ministry team, head of a homeowners association committee, PTA committee member, a member of your family, or the manager at your place of employment. The list is endless and as long as we are breathing we are leaders.
As we fast forward in the careers of Kurt and Brett we can glean from them some life lessons for leaders. The first lesson we can learn is that all leaders have an EGO. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges in Lead Like Jesus tell us that every leader has a "Heart EGO - Edging Got Out or Exalting God Only". We all have the choice to be servant leaders or self-serving leaders. Self serving leaders always put themselves ahead of everyone else, base their decision making on what benefits them, and is always me first. Servant leaders invest their time and energy in equipping others for leadership. In 1995 the Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers to be the heir apparent to Farve. Stories abound of how Farve resented Rodgers and did little if anything to help the young quarterback along. Warner, a Christian who is very open about his faith, was benched several times in lieu of younger more touted players, Mark Bulger (2 Pro Bowl selections), Eli Manning (Super Bowl winner), and Matt Leinart (1st round draft choice). Each time he was benched Warner helped the younger players, mentored them, and when given the chance Warner led his team both on the field (to the Super Bowl) and off. In the good times and in the bad Warner always gave God praise. On January 29, 2010 in a low key press conference with a Bible on the podium Kurt Warner retired from professional football.
"If there was one thing I've learned from reading this thing (the Bible) is that it's a bunch of stories about average people, where God came in and did something extraordinary with them," he said. "To me, that's exactly what he did with my life.
"I was an average, ordinary guy working in a grocery store, trying to make ends meet playing Arena Football, and then God entered into the equation, and he's done something pretty extraordinary over the last 12 years." (http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/2010/01/29/20100129kurt-warner-retires-cardinals.html)
In August 2010, reports circulated that the Minnesota Vikings sent three of its star players to Mississippi to talk Brett Favre into playing this season with the Vikings. It would be his second season with the Vikings and third overall since announcing his retirement in March 2008.
