A Call to Stewardship

By De Juana “De J.” Lozada, candidate for Pflugerville City Council, Place 4.

Election seasons are filled with conversations about who should run for office. Oftentimes, longstanding community problems return to the forefront, and among the crowd we hear, “We need leadership,” or sometimes, “new” leadership.

This year has already shown us that this election season will be no different. Leadership matters, but an election is only a faint moment in our broader existence as a community.

Communities need people willing to step forward, make difficult decisions, educate themselves on the issues, and hold themselves accountable. But leadership alone is not enough.

A thriving community requires something greater than what is exercised only for a season. It requires stewardship, which is measured across generations.

Stewardship asks a different question: What has been entrusted to us, and in what condition will we leave it for those who come after us?

Every community inherits the decisions of those who came before. Some create opportunities that last for generations. Others leave challenges that may take years, even decades, to overcome. The choices we make today become the inheritance of those who will come long after we are gone.

Every generation is entrusted with the care of Pflugerville for only a little while. Our responsibility is not simply to lead it during our time, but to leave it better than we found it for those who will be here tomorrow.

As our city grows, so too will our opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities. The recent issues with our water system remind us that growth is not measured only by the neighborhoods we build or the businesses we attract. It is also measured by whether our infrastructure, planning, and public institutions are prepared to support that growth over the long term.

Leadership may see an ongoing issue as something to manage today. Stewardship requires us to think beyond the immediate moment and consider the cumulative consequences of every decision. It requires us to earn the public’s trust by caring not only for the Pflugerville we inherited, but also for the one our children and grandchildren will inherit from us.

Growth without planning is costly. Planning without listening is ineffective. Neither reflects good stewardship.

Healthy communities are not built because everyone agrees. They are built because people are willing to listen with curiosity, disagree with respect, and search for common ground without sacrificing the belief that every person possesses equal dignity. Conversations that begin by denying another person’s humanity can never produce lasting solutions.

There have been times throughout history when those who voted to deprive others of their voice, and even their humanity, eventually saw the error of their ways and changed.

This country has never been free from division, and neither is Pflugerville. Yet, we are a glorious example of what diversity in America looks like. We have welcomed those who sincerely seek a different path. Pflugervillians consistently demonstrate that personal growth is possible and that people can change.

But let us always remember that trust is not restored through words alone. It is earned through consistent actions over time.

Those who have borne the greatest burdens should never be expected to validate someone else’s transformation before it has been fully demonstrated.

History teaches us to be thoughtful about whom we entrust with public influence. We should be cautious about elevating those who have spent much of their public lives diminishing or silencing the voices of others.

Leadership is not a reward for changing one’s mind. It is a public trust, earned over time through service, humility, and respect for the dignity of every person. It should be entrusted to those who have demonstrated a willingness to listen, to serve, and to place the interests of the community above themselves, even when doing so comes at the expense of power or personal ambition.

Stewards do not seek power for its own sake. They understand that power is held in trust, exercised with humility, and ultimately surrendered. The measure of a leader is not how tightly they hold authority, but how faithfully they use it in service to others.

This is why my hope for Pflugerville is not simply that we will choose good leaders. It is that we will support those who commit to being faithful stewards of this remarkable community.

If we embrace that responsibility, we will leave behind more than new roads, thriving businesses, or well-managed resources. We will leave behind a city where every resident knows they matter, every voice has the opportunity to be heard, every child is prepared for a bright future, and every generation inherits a stronger Pflugerville than the one before.

That is the future I believe is possible.

And it begins with the decisions we make and the stewards we empower today.