The Christian Leader At Work
Dr. Kent M. Keith
Dr. Kent M. Keith is President Emeritus of Pacific Rim Christian University in Honolulu. He has been featured on the front page of The New York Times and in People magazine, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Family Circle. He was interviewed by Katie Couric on the NBC Today Show and by Dr. Schuller on The Hour of Power. He has appeared on dozens of TV shows and more than 100 radio programs in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Kenya. Dr. Keith has also given over 1,000 presentations, conference papers, workshops, and lay sermons in the United States and thirteen countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Dr. Keith is known internationally as the author of the Paradoxical Commandments, which he wrote and published in 1968 in a booklet for student leaders. His book, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments, became a national bestseller in the United States and was translated into 17 languages. It was followed by three more books on the Paradoxical Commandments: Do It Anyway: The Handbook for Finding Personal Meaning and Deep Happiness in a Crazy World; Jesus Did It Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians; and Have Faith Anyway: The Vision of Habakkuk for Our Times. Dr. Keith is also known internationally as a speaker and writer on servant leadership. His books include the national best-seller, The Case for Servant Leadership; as well as Servant Leadership in the Boardroom; Fulfilling the Public Trust; and The Christian Leader at Work: Serving by Leading. More than 200,000 copies of Dr. Keith’s books have been sold around the world.
Dr. Keith has been an attorney, state government official, high-tech park developer, president of a private university, graduate school lecturer, community organizer, and YMCA executive. From 2007 to 2012, he served as CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership in the United States, and from 2012 to 2015, he served as CEO of the Greenleaf Centre for Servant Leadership (Asia) based in Singapore. He earned a B.A. in Government from Harvard University, an M.A. in Philosophy and Politics from Oxford University, a Certificate in Japanese from Waseda University in Tokyo, a J.D. from the University of Hawaii, and an Ed. D. from the University of Southern California. He is a Rhodes Scholar.
Dr. Keith and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Keith, have three grown children. More information about the Keiths and their work can be found at www.carlsonkeith.com and www.kentmkeith.com.
Christian Books by Dr. Keith
The Paradoxical Commandments have been quoted around the world for decades. It all started when Kent Keith first articulated the ten timeless principles when he was a college student in the 1960s, and then put them into book form in the classic Anyway. His modern credo for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity became a sensation.
Now the author returns to present an important and inspiring new book illustrating the Paradoxical Commandments through Bible stories and verses. In Jesus Did It Anyway, Keith draws from the Old and New Testaments, the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, and personal experiences to demonstrate how the Paradoxical Commandments are grounded in Scripture and the Christian faith.
Each chapter offers inspiring stories that illuminate the Paradoxical Commandments by examining how Jesus and other biblical figures lived their faith—they faced tremendous adversity, but always knew they were divinely blessed. Keith reveals how answering Jesus’s call to live a paradoxical life can lead to the deepest personal meaning and spiritual fulfillment. Click here to purchase.
From Kent M. Keith, the author of the internationally acclaimed Paradoxical Commandments, comes a remarkable book about faith. In Have Faith Anyway, Keith explores the meaning of his eleventh commandment: The world is full of violence, injustice, starvation, disease, and environmental destruction. Have faith anyway. Like the other paradoxical commandments, this one focuses on the fundamental values we have in common as human beings. Click here to purchase.
This book is for Christian leaders, whether they are leaders in churches, businesses, non-profit organizations, the military, government agencies, schools, or hospitals. Beginning with the importance of faith, the commandment to love, and the call to serve, the book describes the service model of leadership, key practices of servant leaders, and organizational structures that are based on the teachings of Jesus and the guidance of Scripture. It addresses practical leadership issues such as motivation, leading organizational change, and how to be effective as a leader who is in the world, not of the world. The book is unusual in that it combines the wisdom of the Scriptures with empirical research and experience that supports Biblical teachings. The book includes a Study Guide for individual reflection or group discussion, plus a list of Biblical references, a bibliography, and notes. Click here to purchase.
In this series of lectures, Dr. Keith explores what it means to be a Christian servant leader. He takes the teachings of the Bible and connects them with daily reality, addressing practical questions that are important regardless of what kind of organization one is leading in the ministry or the marketplace. Along the way, he shares stories about servant leaders in action, illustrating their effectiveness in the real world. As Dr. Keith explains, Jesus has given us a way of leading that brings out our best and helps us to bring out the best in others. Click here to purchase.
After his wife died, Pastor Baird felt called to start a new life in his family's ancestral town in the Midwest. He renovates an abandoned church and leads church members in building a more caring community. But not everyone is happy that Pastor Baird has come to town. In addition to opposition from city council members, he receives anonymous threats, warning him to leave town. He decides to stay, knowing that his life is in danger. Click here to purchase.