What Is Truly “Strong” Leadership?

 

 Demonstration Jan. 26, 2026 in Santo Domingo, picture by Aída Besançon Spencer

Bill and I were eager to reach the Dominican Republic (DR) this past January so that we could learn about its newspapers’ views of President Donald Trump taking captive Venezuela’s self-asserted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Both the Dominican Republic and the coast of Venezuela share a significant African-Caribbean and Taino heritage, thus, their people have been friends for many years. Every January we hear a Venezuelan celebration down the street near us in Santo Domingo, although its propaganda has been heavily communistic. January 26. 2026 was no different, with protests on behalf of Maduro and Flores. But we wondered, what will Dominicans think of Donald Trump’s action this January 2026?

The Dominican President Luis Abinader announced that the DR never recognized Maduro’s presidency since he and his party had been voted out yet they refused to leave.[1] The newspaper Diario Libre explained that the Venezuelans were hesitant to parade publicly, fearful of reprisal from the Chavistas (named after Hugo Chávez),[2] but privately some were jubilant and others were uncertain about their future in the light of Trump’s actions.[3] Certainly, as their loved ones were slowly released from political prisons, they were very happy.[4] Many of the Venezuelans in the Dominican Republic were pleased that the dictator Maduro was finally restrained. News articles listed the many terrorist and criminal activities of Maduro, such as, systematically using the Venezuelan airports, diplomacy, armed forces, and family structures to convert the country into a platform for delivery of cocaine to the United States. He is reported as promoting narco-terrorism, allied with armed groups and criminal organizations described as terrorists. Not only was there the drug trade, but also the undermining of national security, armed violence, and transnational threats.[5]  From having belonged to one of the richest Latin American nations,[6] Venezuelans have dropped to the lowest minimum salary for its workers in all of South America and the Caribbean, to the equivalent of .44 cents US per month![7] President Maduro controlled all the powers of the state and systematically repressed all political opposition. Venezuelans in the United States, for example, Adriano Espaillat, member of the United States Congress (House of Representatives and President of the Hispanic Caucus of Congress), were also celebrating the removal of Maduro and his wife, but they were fearful of the precedent President Trump had set: making a significant decision without the awareness and approval of Congress, even though it was largely Republican. Congressman Espaillat adds that the United States does not allow armed military conflict without constitutional control. He rejects categorically the idea that the United States can or should govern Venezuela. Rather, he explains. “The Venezuelan community should govern Venezuela. Our role should be to accompany, facilitate diplomatic solutions, strengthen the international multilateral pressure and enable a democratic transition led by the Venezuelans themselves.” (“El pueblo venezolano debe gobernar Venezuela. Nuestro rol debe ser el de acompañar, facilitar soluciones diplomáticas, fortalecer la presión internacional multilateral y apoyar una transición democrática liderada por los propios venezolanos”).[8] The questions implicit in this precedent are: What is to keep the United States from interfering in every smaller country in each one’s internal affairs? The Venezuelans already have had elections in the past and the 30-day re-elections are crucial. Also, why must the United States demand the Venezuelans only purchase US goods and the USA only purchase Venezuelan oil?[9] Can we remove a dictator in a dictatorial fashion? Or, must we model and enlist community with those we are attempting to free? One step forward by President Trump is his public affirmation of two women leaders, Delcy Rodriquez and Maria Corina Machado.[10] In these public statements, he sends a positive message for Venezuelan rule and supports the critical role of wise female leadership (like Judge and Prophet Deborah).

As Christians we want to promote justice and subdue wrongdoing, but our preferred Christian model of leadership is not one that is dictatorial. Jesus did not favor dictatorial leadership at any level, as he said to brothers James and John, sons of Zebedee: “The ones being recognized as ruling over the Gentiles overpower (katakurieuō) them and their great ones exercise authority over (katechousiazō) them, but not thus among you….” Jesus’s “great” leadership was instead serving people, as Jesus did, when he came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:42-45). The key preposition to avoid is kata, “down” or “against.” We do not want to treat others as “below” us.[11]

The Apostle Paul also explained to the Corinthians that he did not lead like the overpowering “superapostles,” who showed their pseudo-strength by enslaving, consuming, taking advantage of, being haughty, and hitting others (2 Cor 11:20). These false apostles were deceitful, boasting in the labors of others, modeled after Satan, the illusory glorious but fallen angel (2 Cor 10:13-15; 11:3, 13-15). Rather, Paul modeled his and his coworkers’ leadership after the gentleness and humility of Christ (2 Cor 10:1). As Jesus was a ransom for many, Paul, out of love for those he served, suffered as well on behalf of his beloved believers and for Christ’s sake by enduring insults, hardships, and persecutions (2 Cor 11:23-28, 32-33; 12:10). He used his authority to build people up so that they would become pleasing to Christ (2 Cor 10:5, 8; 11:2; 12:19; 13:10). Paul and his coworker’s ministries were not done for financial gain, instead they were honest, fair, and prayerful (2 Cor 11:7-9; 12:13-18; 13:1, 7-8). The foundation of their service was love (2 Cor 11:11). It might appear to skeptics to be “weak” (2 Cor 10:1; 11:21, 29-30; 12:10; 13:9). But, as, Christ “was crucified in weakness, however, he lives out of the power of God; for also we ourselves are weak in him, but we will live with him out of the power of God for you” (2 Cor 13:4).

When I first finished college, I worked as a community organizer in Plainfield, New Jersey, helping Spanish-speaking people who needed assistance. They were limited because they did not know English sufficiently well and, being new to the United States, did not understand how to be well treated by others in the United States. The director of Community-Action Plainfield, Marcellus Smith, taught the staff how to help people by empowering them. Thus, we were to find them venues whereby they could become self-sufficient. What I learned helped me throughout my life and work because like Jesus and the Apostle Paul our goal was to build people up, not use people for our own financial gain, but rather serve them humbly and honestly and fairly. We did not try to rule over them but to rule with and for them and help them to learn to rule wisely.

In this era of perplexing actions and models, let us remember this basic principle: truly “strong” and “great” leadership is to work together with the people involved for a better future for them.

Aída

 

 

 

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[1] “La República Dominicana nunca reconoció la legitimidad democrática del régimen de Maduro…El drama venezolano no es de un líder caído en desgracia, sino el de un país exhausto, empobrecido y fragmentado tras más de dos décadas de chavismo.” Editorial: La posición dominicana,” Día Libre (6 de enero 2026): 11. In a survey, Diario Libre discovered that 86.36% of its readers favored the capture of Nicolás Maduro; while 13.63% did not (11).

[2] “Chavismo” began in 1999 (“el chavismo cumple 27 años,” Diario Libre (3 de febrero 2026): 4.

[3] Melvin Gómez, “Delcy Rodriquez asume en Venezuela, ordena estado de excepción y arrestos,” Diario Libre (6 de enero 2026): 3.

[4] “Venezuela libera ‘número importante’ de presos por razones políticas,” Diario Libre (9 de enero 2026): 13.

[5] “De Noriega a Maduro: cuando el poder termina ante un tribunal de EE. UU.,” Diario Libre (6 de enero 2026): 5.

[6] The current president Delcy Rodriquez affirmed that Venezuela has the greatest amount of oil reserves in the world and the greatest amount of reserves of gas in this hemisphere” (“Venezuela tiene condiciones de ser una potencia petrolera,” El Dia (26 de enero 2026): 14. In 2023, China was its greatest purchaser of crude oil (68%); the U.S. was second (23%), and Spain was third (4%).

[7] “Trabajadores dominicanos entre los diez del área con el mayor salario mínimo,” Diario Libre (21 de enero 2026): 4. Dominican Republic has the tenth highest minimum wage in Latin America and the Caribbean at approximately $476/month.

[8] Adriano Espallat, “Opinion: Apoyar a Venezuela respetando la constitución de Estados Unidos,” (6 de enero 2026): 4.

[9] “EE.UU. podría gobernar Venezuela y extraer su petróleo durante años,” Diario Libre (9 de enero 2026): 14.

[10] “Trump contempla a Maria Corina en el futuro de Venezuela,” Diario Libre (21 de enero 2026), 12. Mexico also has a female president: Claudia Sheinbaum (“Mexico ayudará a Cuba con petróleo tras el corte venezolano,” Diario Libre (20 de enero 2026), 12. Violeta Chamarro is the first female democratically elected in Latin America (1990, Nicaragua); Laura Fernández Delgado is the second woman elected as president of Costa Rica (2026). Of course, Isabel Perón became “president” after her husband died in 1974 in Argentina. The Dominican Republic has a well-loved female vice-president, Raquel Peña. Other women have been presidents: Lidia Gueiler in Bolivia (1979), Mireya Moscoso in Panama (1999), Michelle Bachelet in Chile (2006, 2014), Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Argentina (2007), Laura Chinchilla in Costa Rica (2010), Dilma Rousseff in Brazil (2011), Xiomara Castro in Honduras (2022), and Dina Boluarte in Peru (2022). “Mujeres en la presidencia: avances, continuidades y retos que persisten,” Diario Libre (3 de febrero 2026): 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_presidents_in_Latin_America

[11] All translations from the Greek New Testament and from the Spanish are by the author. See further on Jesus’s style of leadership Aída Besançon Spencer in “Biblical Equity and the Meaning of Servant Leadership” in The Quest for Gender Equity in Leadership: Biblical Teachings on Gender Equity and Illustrations of Transformation in Africa, edited by Keumju Jewel Hyun and Diphus C. Chemorion, House of Prisca and Aquila Series (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2016), 109-122; Aída Besançon Spencer and William David Spencer, “An Overview of the New Testament Teachings on Christian Egalitarian Leadership,” in Christian Egalitarian Leadership: Empowering the Whole Church according to the Scriptures, House of Prisca and Aquila Series (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2020), 3-25; Aída Besançon Spencer, 2 Corinthians, The People’s Bible Commentary (Abindon, UK: The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2001).

What Does Myanmar Have in Common with Massachusetts?

 Lum Gyung, wife Daung Naw, son Chris Gyung Khaung, and daughter Keziah Gyung Naw before Adoniram Judson’s home, 145 Main St., Malden, MA

 Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and formerly referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989) is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has a population of about 55 million. About 6.2% claim to be Christian (United States Pew Research Center 2019). Myanmar is bordered by India and Bangladesh to the northwest, China to the northeast, Laos and Thailand to the east and southeast.[1] We were reminded last November when Lum Gyung from Myanmar came into the Boston campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in order to help Aida with  technical help for her New Testament Interpretation zoom class that Myanmar and Massachusetts are closely tied together today as they were in the past.

An important missionary to Myanmar was Adoniram Judson and his family. The founder of Gordon Divinity School was named after him at his birth, as Adoniram Judson Gordon. Adoniram Judson was born in 1788 (died in 1850) in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was born to Abigail Brown and Adoniram Judson Sr., a Congregational minister. Judson Jr. attended the Andover Theological Seminary. In 1808, Judson "made a solemn dedication of himself to God." During his final year at the school, Judson decided upon a missionary career.[2]  

In 1810, Judson joined a group of mission-minded students who called themselves "The Brethren." These students inspired the establishment of America's first organized missionary society. Eager to serve abroad, Judson became convinced that "Asia with its idolatrous myriads, was the most important field in the world for missionary effort." He, and three other students from the seminary, appeared before the Congregationalists' General Association to appeal for support. In 1810, the elders voted to form the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was appointed by them as a missionary to the East. Judson was also commissioned by the Congregational Church, and married Ann Hasseltine on February 5, 1812. He was ordained the next day at the Tabernacle Church in Salem, MA. In 1813, Judson and his wife, Ann, moved to Burma. He was 25 years old. Judson served as an American Particular Baptist missionary in Burma for almost 40 years. His mission work with Luther Rice led to the establishment of the American Baptist Churches USA.

First attempts by the Judsons to interest the natives of Rangoon with the Gospel of Jesus met with almost total indifference. Buddhist traditions and the Burmese worldview at that time led many to disregard the pleadings of Adoniram and his wife to believe in one living and all-powerful God. Nevertheless, the first believer was baptized in 1819, and there were 18 believers by 1822. The progress of Christianity would continue to be slow with much risk of endangerment and death in the Burmese Empire. George H. Hough in 1817 produced the first published materials in Burmese that were printed in Burma, which included 800 copies of Judson's translation of the Gospel of Matthew. By 1823, ten years after his arrival, Judson finished the first draft of his translation of the New Testament in Burmese. When Judson finished translating the entire Bible into Burmese, it was printed and published in 1835.

Judson compiled the first ever Burmese-English dictionary (missionary E. A. Steven completed the English-Burmese half). Every dictionary and grammar written in Burma in the last two centuries has been based on those originally created by Judson. Though the Bible has been translated numerous times into Burmese, Judson's translation remains the most popular version in Myanmar.

Each July, Baptist churches in Myanmar celebrate "Judson Day," commemorating his arrival as a missionary. Inside the campus of Yangon University is Judson Church, named in his honor, and in 1920 Judson College, also named in his honor, merged into Rangoon College, which has since been renamed Yangon University.[3] 

Judson was the first missionary to make contact with the Karen people in 1827, when he ransomed and freed a debt-slave. This act of social justice then led to spiritual renewal of an individual and then a nation. The freed slave, Saw Ko Tha Byu, was an illiterate, surly man who spoke almost no Burmese and was reputed to be not only a thief, but also a murderer who admitted killing at least 30 men.

In 1828, the former Karen bandit was sent south with a new missionary couple, George and Sarah Boardman, into the territory of the strongly animistic, non-Buddhist Karen. Ko Tha Byu was no sooner baptized, when he set off into the jungle alone to preach to his fellow tribe members. Astonishingly, he found them prepared for his preaching. Their ancient oracle traditions, handed down for centuries, contained some startling echoes of the Old Testament so that some scholars conjecture a linkage with Jewish communities (or possibly even Nestorians), before their migrations from western China into Burma.

The core of what they called their "Tradition of the Elders" was a belief in one true God, unchangeable, eternal, all-powerful, creator of heaven and earth, of man, and of woman formed from a rib taken from the man. They believed in humanity's temptation by a devil in a garden, and its fall, and that some day a Great Messiah would come to its rescue. They lived in expectation of a prophecy that white foreigners would bring them a sacred parchment roll.[4]

By 2006, Myanmar had the third largest number of Baptists[5] worldwide, behind the United States and India. The majority of adherents are Karen, Kachin and Chin. The Karen population has spread around the world, to Thailand, United States, Australia, Canada, and India. Among the total 3,371,100 in Myanmar, an estimated 50% of Karen are Christian.[6]

The tribe to which Lum Gyung belongs is the Lhaovo ethnic group from the northern part of Myanmar (the Kachin State). He and his parents are Christians. His grandparents were converted from worship of their great-great grandfather’s spirit (Nat), who had died from the attack of a wild animal. Lum attends the Lynn Myanmar Christian fellowship, one of three Myanmar community churches in Massachusetts (two others are in Lowell and Boston).

Lum came to study at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA in 2023 and completed his Masters in Christian Ministries in 2026. He explains that: “Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is one of the best seminaries in the US which provides the best education for diverse ministry fields not only domestically but also internationally. In our country’s context, the GCTS alumni from Myanmar are most effective and successful missionaries and pastors nationwide, which means the seminary offers outstanding training.”

In 2024-25, these community churches dedicated themselves to purchase the home of Judson’s birthplace in order to preserve the heritage of the first missionary and Bible translator to the Myanmar (Burmese) people.[7] Judson’s motto was “devoted for life” and his biblical foundation came from Matthew 28:18-20: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (KJV).

Judson dedicated his whole life for the people of Burma to see the Light, despite much hardship, heartbreak, suffering, losses, and great challenges. Judson was prepared by God and by his Christian family and friends in Malden, thus the house is a symbol of faith, dedication, sacrifice, love, and obeying God’s command to go to all nations to baptize and teach. As Jesus was with his early disciples in Jerusalem and throughout the ancient world and with Judson in Burma, so too he is present today with the Burmese descendants of those early converts to Christianity.

Aida with Lum Gyung

 

 

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[1] “Myanmar,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar.

[2] “Adoniram Judson,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoniram_Judson.

[3] Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoniram_Judson. See also Rosalie Hall Hunt, Bless God and Take Courage: The Judson History and Legacy (Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 2005).

[4] See Don Richardson, Eternity in Their Hearts, 3^rd ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2006), ch. 2.

[5]  The Karen Baptist Convention in 2025 notes that it has 337,682 baptized members, https://kbcm1913.org/.; About Us.

[6] There are many different Karen peoples in Myanmar. The two largest are the Sgaw Karen (2.1 million total pop.) and the Eastern Pwo Karen (1.2 million). Together, the World Christian Database reports they are 51% Christian. If you add in the other Karen peoples, the percentage drops closer to 30%. Gina A. Zurlo, ed. World Christian Database (Brill, accessed December 2025). “Karen people,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_people.

[7] “Ribbon-Cutting Celebrates Opening of Adoniram Judson Heritage Center,” City of Malden News, Posted on August 13, 2025, https://www.cityofmalden.org/m/newsflash/home/detail/1090; Leon H Abdalian, “Preserving History and Protecting Heritage,” https://www.judsonheritage.org/restoration.

The Atomic Madonna and the Prince of Peace: A Christmas Message

 

At this frantic and special advent season, meditating on art may help us pause and contemplate the birth and message of Jesus Christ. Painter Harriet Lorence Nesbitt, in this piece, The Atomic Madonna, depicts Mary praying with the peace that passes all understanding in the presence of the calm baby Jesus, despite a detonated atomic mushroom cloud festooning above a set of buildings behind her.[1] The artist is indicating why we need so desperately the peace she draws from the Prince of Peace.

Worthy to note is the cartoonish quality of this painting, which is the way she presents all her subjects, a distinguishing element about her pictures that makes them identifiable. They are reminiscent of political cartoons. This makes sense, since she did serve the Murry Hill News with the column “Politics and Such.” One reason why her work stays in vogue, full of political opinions and artfully presented, is that the rise of the graphic novel earned profound respect in 1992, when Maus, a “graphic memoir” of the Holocaust, told through the vehicle of a paneled art cat-and-mouse tale, won the Pulitzer Prize’s “Special award in letters,” as well as the American Book Award. On December 16, 2013, Harriet was honored by the Southern California Motion Picture Council with its Golden Halo award “for artistic excellence,” for a painting that “visually illustrates the conviction that drawing on God’s grace in a natural disaster creates a mutually supportive human community,” a value that the Southern California Motion Picture Council has championed “unwaveringly since 1936: to produce art that is civic minded, educational, cultural and family oriented” through “the twin media of film and visual art,” striving “to make a difference in this world.”[2]

Harriet, too, had begun “drawing on God’s grace” to combat disasters both personal and communal. For her, by this time, Jesus had become more than simply the Christmas baby in the obscure manger; he and his mother were now personal. Our friend and fellow author and editor Jeanne DeFazio explains, “My favorite times with Harriet were going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art [in New York]. She knew every painting. Bellini’s Madonna and Child inspired her to create The Atomic Madonna. It is a self-portrait of Harriet and her son Larry. The contrast of the prince of peace and his mother with the nuclear mushroom cloud in the background depicts her concern for the danger of nuclear war and annihilation.”[3] When she modeled herself on Mary and the baby Jesus on her son, Larry had already died.

His mother, identifying with Mary’s pain in the loss of her son, was now focusing her own hope for the restoration of our world gone awry on Jesus the Christ (that is,  “messiah,” God’s Anointed One), risen from the dead, the promise of grace, embodying the hope of reconciling humanity to the redeeming God, as Jesus (whose name means “salvation”) was given as God’s gift to redeem humanity (John 3:16), leading and inspiring us all to do works of mercy and reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). God had graced earth with the incarnate Jesus, the greatest of all reformers, whose selfless sacrifice on behalf of humanity struck at the mushrooming symbol of the evil which is itself the root of human misery and suffering. In Harriet Nesbitt’s time, the atomic bond was what struck all hearts with terror as the ultimate image of evil.

The Atomic Madonna was her response. The divine tranquility of the ultimate gift of God, the eternal Savior, incarnated as a human, brought the peace of heaven to humanity.

This divine solution united both Harriet and the Southern California Motion Picture Council in their agreement that disaster demands human response, drawing on God’s grace for empowerment by modeling on Christ’s example to do what we can to help alleviate suffering around us, as God chooses to work through our good acts, employing fellow humans to reconcile this fallen world to God’s grace.

Had Harriet Nesbitt painted her vision-driven works in the late nineteenth century, she might have been called a realist, as opposed to a naturalist. For, in the Atomic Madonna, she is telling her viewers that overpowering nature or warmongers who seek to rule and destroy humanity is the calling of humans who want to live. The message in Harriot’s paintings and in the tribute to them, Jeanne’s book Keeping the Dream Alive, is that all those who love the good and want to live significant lives in its behalf is not to give in to evil, but to oppose those who wreak devastation and combat their threats not by doing more violence but by protecting civilization, through  promoting the positive and moral use of science, using political positions to free and advance oppressed people, musicians sponsoring harmony, and all human leaders accepting the task to bring about positive change by addressing challenging events that would disrupt such forward progress in each of their spheres, and accordingly receive well-earned honor for their triumphs.

In her vision, the task of the leaders she celebrates in her art is to tame natural forces and bring negative influences under control, in order to promote a good government for the population that desires and trusts positive, not negative, leaders. Thus, her work seeks to encourage leaders to combat and conquer all threatening chaos to restore order, an order that takes into account a wide variety of recipients and provides a freer form for all earth’s inhabitants than merely making cartographic map lines to demarcate turf and territory, such as fascism grants, as represented in her ever-present settings of urban scenes, for the city is where people gather for community, interconnection, and safe living.

So strong was this vision and her identification with the efficacy of God’s grace that she created a microcosmic parallel to the macrocosmic sacrifice of Jesus by infusing a corresponding redemptive dimension into the death of her younger son. To do this she stepped from the realm of art, fulfilling her identification with Mary in the Atomic Madonna, by becoming herself what she had admired in others, an active reformer.

She created her own organization, founding Mothers for more Halfway Houses, explaining to her Linked-in audience, “I am an advocate for the mentally ill, an artist as well as a political columnist.” She could not have expressed her vision more clearly by word or action. She had, in effect, become one of her own subjects, what she admired most in those heroes she painted. She was now herself a leader in bringing positive order to the threatened lives of others in the real world as an agent of reconciliation of the great Reconciler to this fallen world.

In this light, her lasting message in The Atomic Madonna is that, no matter how great the power that evil can muster, an even greater eternal power is the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), centered in the gift of God in Jesus Christ, Immanuel: God-Among-Us (the child prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, identified as Jesus in Matthew’s gospel 1:23). This baby, having come to his human mother Mary through the Holy Spirit, was nurtured by Mary in our world gone awry. He would grow as a human, who was also God to nurture all who would join his mission to spread that nurturing in spiritual as well as physical dimensions to others. And, thereby, he would fulfill his holy task of bringing to all who would follow him our heavenly Father’s healing and eternal peace.

Bill

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[1] This blog post has been adapted from my afterword in Jeanne C. DeFazio, Keeping the Dream Alive: A Reflection on the Art of Harriot Lorence Nesbitt (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications of Wipf and Stock, 2019). See also Harriot’s portrayals of leaders and Jeanne DeFazio’s comments on each painting.

[2] DeFazio, Keeping the Dream Alive, 27.

[3] Jeanne DeFazio, Keeping the Dream Alive, 21, referring to an interview by email, April 30, 2019.