Founder Reflections on Ownership

By Dr. Brian Simmons

My son and I are working together to found Lakeside Christian Academy (LCA) in Lexington, SC. I have studied and read a lot about leadership through the years, and I believe the most biblical leadership theory is steward leadership. I have read very little about leadership during the founder era.

“The earth’s the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him” (Psalm 24:1). Foundational to steward leadership is the truth that God the Creator owns all He has created (which is everything!) and we are His stewards. We are not owners!

God entrusts to His stewards time, treasure, talent and relationships. We seek His purposes for these good gifts then we lead by moving others onto His agenda. The problem is that it is SO easy as the founder of an organization to slip into an ownership mentality.

Jared and I have discussed the desire of the evil one to use LCA to put a wedge between us. Even though we are father and son, we do not agree about every detail of LCA! When we do disagree, we have committed to disagree without being disagreeable as we talk things through!

A founder with an ownership mentality hangs onto the reins of power with the mistaken belief that he knows best and always will. So, a founder with an ownership mentality hangs on, manipulates behind the scenes and sometimes controls others through displays of coercion and raw power. This is wrong.

I know of a school that was led by its founder for 35 years with two friends who served with him as board members this entire time. They were the “A” board, and the functional board of directors was the “B” board. And, for 35 years on the “A” board the founder had 5 votes, the second in command had 3 and the third had one. This dysfunctional leadership structure resulted in burning opportunities for the future on the altar of the past.

Another example of this in the Christian school world is the pastor of a church who starts a Christian school then stifles its growth by propagating a power structure where he and the church elders trump the head of school and school board members relegating them to some kind of “advisory” status., gifts are really given to the church instead of the school because there is only one 501c3 and the church tightly holds onto ownership of all facilities. This results in disputes over how money is spent, who owns what and who calls the shots. As the school grows, the % of students from the “owner” church declines over time and students from scores of area churches attend the school yet the reins of power are held tightly by an “owner” pastor who thinks he knows best. This stifles the growth and effectiveness of the school. This is the opposite of steward leadership because “owner” pastors like this put self-interest over service. My son and I recognize that before we have hired our first teacher or enrolled our first student, we are in a unique season as founders. We have no CFO, as an example, so the board treasurer fulfills this function for now. But, once school begins in the Fall of 2026, Jared has agreed to be a board member with one vote like every other board member, and I will lead day-to-day operations as the head of school. We will do our best to be steward leaders putting service to God and others over self-interest.