What does First B Jackson teach about servant leadership?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on servant leadership starts with a single scene: Jesus, on the night before his death, getting up from the table and washing his disciples' feet. That act is treated not as a sentimental gesture but as the clearest possible picture of how leadership works in God's kingdom. Brad put it plainly when teaching from Mark 9, calling it the upside-down kingdom, where anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all. The disciples were expecting a conquering messiah who would hand out positions of power. What they got instead was their Lord on his knees with a towel, washing feet that belonged to people who would soon abandon him.
The teaching keeps returning to the idea that this kind of service flows from a settled identity, not from effort or title. Mahindra Singh, drawing from thirty-two years of street-level ministry in KwaZulu-Natal, pressed the congregation on what their own bucket and towel might be, and his wife's line stayed with him: you are not just a teacher, you are a child of God who is a teacher. The title belongs to the service, not the other way around. Eric, speaking from John 13, made the same point from a different angle: because Jesus knew exactly who he was and where he was going, he was free to strip off his outer garment and take the lowest role without any loss of dignity. That security is what makes genuine service possible.
Pastor Ray, teaching the same passage on a Monday night, noted that Jesus models this before he asks it of us, and then goes further by giving us the desire and the power to carry it out. He pointed to John 13:17, where Jesus says that knowing these things and doing them is what brings blessing. Knowing alone is not enough. Pastor Ryan made the same pairing when walking through Holy Week, observing that if you knew you had one day left, Jesus washed feet. The leaders and teachers at First B Jackson have come back to that image again and again because they see it as the irreducible answer to what Christian leadership actually looks like.
Taught from John 13:1-5, 12-17 · Mark 9:30-38 · Mark 10:32-45 · Philippians 2:6-11 · John 13:17
The passage taught · Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- August 10, 2025 Love Is Our Superpower Missionary Mahindra from Durban, South Africa shares how John 13 calls every believer to servant-hearted love, the kind that transforms communities one ordinary moment at a time.
- August 10, 2025 Sunday, August 10, 2025 - 9am Contemporary Service, Guest Speaker Mahendra Singh Mahindra Singh of Crossroads Ministries shares from John 13 how Jesus washing his disciples' feet reveals what genuine, servant-hearted ministry looks like in ordinary daily life.
- March 10, 2024 Surely Not I, Lord A Wyoming pastor walks through Holy Week, tracing the betrayal of Jesus across Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and asking what his followers have purposed in their own hearts.
- May 2, 2022 To Follow Jesus Is to Serve Others In Mark 10, Pastor Felix walks through Jesus predicting His death and redefining greatness: true followers serve others, just as Jesus gave His life for many.
- March 14, 2022 The Very Last and the Servant of All Brad teaches Mark 9:30-38 at First Baptist Jackson, showing how Jesus calls his followers to serve the least and live by the upside-down economics of God's kingdom.
- November 23, 2021 To Love Is to Serve Jesus washes his disciples' feet and shows that real love looks like humble service. A study of John 13:1-20 from a Monday night gathering at First Baptist Jackson.
- February 17, 2013 John 13, Morning Praise John 13 shows Jesus washing His disciples' feet. See what His humility, sacrifice, and servant love mean for how we live and treat the people around us.
Mentioned along the way
- June 21, 2026 Hills and Valleys: Walking Out the Faith Pastor Van closes Ephesians and opens Philippians, tracing grace, peace, and the call to humble, joyful service through Paul's final greetings and opening words.
- April 5, 2026 It Is Finished: Walking Through Holy Week A Holy Week walk through scripture and art, tracing Christ's final days from Palm Sunday to resurrection, and the finished work that makes salvation possible.
- August 10, 2025 How Low You Stoop A South African minister shares what 32 years of grassroots ministry taught him about servant leadership, love as a daily practice, and John 13.
- June 27, 2022 The King Who Came to Serve Jesus confronts religious leaders in Mark 12, teaching that true faith means loving God wholeheartedly, not performing for others, and that resurrection life is real.
- April 21, 2019 It Is Finished Tracing the story of Holy Week through Scripture and art, the pastor follows Jesus from the triumphal entry to the empty tomb and the finished work of the cross.