Dr. Rebekah Ann Naylor, BA '64

Global health care consultant, Baptist Global Response;
Emeritus Southern Baptist missionary
Fort Worth, Texas

Naylor spent three decades at Bangalore Baptist Hospital in India, serving as a surgeon, chief of medical staff, administrator and medical superintendent, before returning to the U.S. to teach at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She joined Baptist Global Response in 2009 and remains involved with work in India.

"I believe God may entrust tasks to us that may include leadership. I also believe that God gifts us for that to which He calls us. So our relationship to God, our daily spiritual disciplines, our frequent conversations with Him, and our total submission to His direction are foundational to our function as leaders.

"Surely Jesus gives us a great model for leadership, including such things as His relationship with His Father, His vision clearly communicated to the disciples, His teaching and modeling, His coming to serve and not be served, and His constant hard work no matter how long the hours.

"So the leader should be a servant. He should be willing to do any job, no matter how menial. He should be able to effectively communicate the vision to those whom he is leading. He should emphasize team participation in achieving the vision and the goals and objectives. He should be a model in behavior and attitude and faith. He should clearly integrate his faith and the work he does. A key to being effective is that he prays and asks God to help him and give wisdom. He should trust God for competence even when the way seems hard."