Leaders Deliver Hope in Tough Times

 I Peter 3:15 … But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have ….

In my last leadership exhortation, we looked at the reality that leaders sometimes “gotta do what they gotta do” and stated the case for that.

The challenge with this new leadership definition framework is that it might lead the leader to think that he needs to go do what HE thinks needs to be done. I would suggest that there are many time where what one thinks he "has gotta” do really is not what he “must do”. In pondering that one, how in the world do we really know? Even though I have participated and led 6 groups through Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God, sub-titled “Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, maintaining the level of spiritual discipline that he teaches through the American daily pace of rapid decision making I find quite challenging, and consciously ponder if it is possible to make every decision within the framework of God's will. How, at the end of the day can you and I sit on the edge of our beds and find contentment with the efforts we put forth during the day, along with the dozens of decisions that were made, some which significantly impact the lives of those we lead?
 
How do we do that? Today's written message is about the significance of hope.

I sense the Holy Spirit is prompting me to highlight the fact that while we are to “be ready to give the reason for the hope we have” in Christ, we also need to deliver hope to those we lead. In the same way attenders will leave a church if they lose hope for themselves, leaders and employers will lose those they lead if there is no hope for the future. Maintaining hope in those you lead is really easy when things are going good. Try maintaining hope in those you lead when times are tougher. It is really hard … I know.

While it is hard it is not impossible. Many contemporary leaders references to our scripture verse are surrounded by the exhortation to share your faith. Taken out of context, one might think that the hope Peter is referring to is in reference to some amazing transformation of what already happened within the condition of the believer in Asia Minor, and therefore with you and I, the reader. However, the hope that it is referring to is a future hope, based on our future full and final redemption in Christ. Peter was exhorting them to keep that hope in the midst of the suffering they were enduring, not primarily because they had a great testimony of hope from what they previously were delivered from, … whether that be a restored health, a better financial outcome, or otherwise. Peter knew that he had to inspire their faith so that those he was leading could endure the pain and suffering of their circumstances.

So how do we as leaders lead those we lead through hard times and suffering? We do this by providing them hope.

This hope is not a guarantee of things you wish for, nor is it just crossing your fingers.

Paul stated in Romans 8:24b-25 "…., but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it".

Friends, providing a hope for things you cannot see can be incredibly hard. Sometimes what you are asking those you lead to hope for will be seemingly out of reach for them, and maybe even for you. However, remember that hope is the expectation of a positive outcome, not the guaranteed end of a particularly hard circumstance.

Some of you may now be thinking “Come on Ron, how am I going to put a positive spin to those I lead in the midst of what they and I are dealing with? I cannot stand before them inspiring them with a future prediction I find hard to believe. I do not want to later be found to be a liar.” Friends, this is where faith meets hope. While hope is the expectation of a positive future outcome, faith is the God given assurance that the outcome will come to pass. It is based not only on the belief of it actually coming to pass, but also strengthen by what God has done in the past in your life.

In summary, in determining what must be done, a good focal point in the midst of your fast paced decision making life would be to do what you must, but do it in a way that will raise or maintain hope in those you lead.

If you doubt that you are able to do this, consider what you must do for your faith to be strengthened. Then do what must be done with yourself and ask the Lord to increase your faith!

A Better Leadership Definition

Those of you that have followed The Christian Leader or have received any emails from me know that I believed that “Leadership is the art and science of inspiring others to reach their full potential in the pursuit of a common vision”. I aspired to that definition of Dr. James Bultman for over 10 years.

A little more than a month ago I was on a golf trip. During that trip some of us began to describe what we believed leadership really was. During the discussion, one of my business friends said “A good leader gets people to do what they want to do, a great leader gets people to do what they need to do.”

Ever since that conversation I have considered that statement to test it against what I believed.  Since I believe that the core of leadership in church is the same as business, I wanted to see if this past the test of the life of Jesus Christ, and also if it fit into my business and leadership experiences. Within my review, I do feel Jesus did inspire people to do what they “need to do”. I also acknowledge that many times in my leadership experience I focused more on helping inspire people to embrace a “common vision” than I did inspiring people to do what “needed to be done”. That got me thinking. While I would attribute to the Lord for what I would believe are my leadership successes, there are those times where I have not been able to do that to everyone that I have led. Thinking about it more, it might also have led to allowing some mediocrity when it should not have been allowed. I now acknowledge that there will always be some that never agree strongly enough in the vision to work as hard as they should or do the things they should do.

While thinking about the above for weeks, I then found myself in a church service at a small church I love. The leadership of this church had just spent months pouring over where they were going for the future and had just completed the design of a new mission and vision statement. I wanted to hear the pastor preach on this so I attended one of the services to hear for myself.  The mission statement was nicely written and the pastor gave a good message about it. However, near the end of the message it was clear that the mission statement did not say it all. I remember him pausing and saying something to the effect of  "I believe in our mission but really do know one more thing, .... that at the end of the day ... we need to do what we must". It was a call to do what God says must be done, no matter what the vision said. When he said that, I believed it to be theologically true, true in my own spiritual experiences with God, consistent with my review of my friend's statement, and true as to what I need to do as a business leader. I now believe that it is even more true for a leader at some point be able to say "I gotta do, what I gotta do". I also beleive we need to be able to inspire others to do "what gotta be done".

In light of all of the above, and with two months of study, I now move forward with a newer revised definition of leadership. It now reads, "Leadership is the art and science of inspiring other to reach their full potential in the pursuit of doing what must be done".

I will have more to say about the application of this new definition. So today I must ask you three things.

1. What has God called and/or gifted you to do?
2. Who has He given you to help you do it?
3. What must you do next to get it done?

If you know the answers to these questions ... then go do it .. because you must.

Dr. John Strubhar - A Leadership Motive Check Up

Today's Guest Writer

Dr. John R. Strubhar is the Senior Pastor of Maywood Evangelical Free Church of Rockford, Illinois.

Periodically, it is good to do a “motive check-up” as a servant leader. In 1 Thessalonians 2:3 Paul explains: “For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.” Paul’s leadership motives are neither fraudulent nor deceptive. To the contrary, his leadership is stamped with integrity! King David’s leadership in Israel is marked equally the same. Asaph, reflecting on David’s leadership records in Psalm 78:72 “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands, he led them.”

Servant leaders of integrity refuse the art of double speaking. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. They put personal and vested interests behind them. Dwight Eisenhower, one of America’s greatest presidents put it this way, “To be a leader, a man must have followers, and to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence, the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionable integrity...If a man’s associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find the he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teaching and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.”

Integrity means telling the truth all the time and not altering the truth for personal manipulation or advantage. It means that we do not change our stories when communicating with people face to face as opposed to when we are speaking about them in the presence of others. It means we “shoot straight” at all times and encourage others to hold us accountable to the “blind spots” which may exist in our own personal lives. Integrity is a life lived by principle, not personal expediency. It is a life totally open before God!

Instead of resorting to deceptive motives, authentic servant-leaders have one agenda...the approval of God (1 Thessalonians 2:4). They are driven by an overwhelming desire to please Him! Not only do authentic servant-leaders seek to avoid “deception,” they also avoid “flattery.” Again the apostle Paul models this transparently... “You know we never used flattery...” (1 Thessalonians 2:5). The late John Stott, quoting Milligan says that “flattery” is a word which describes “the torturous methods by which one man seeks to gain influence over another, generally for selfish ends.”

Chuck Swindoll in his excellent book Leadership sums it up well: “There is a fine and very definite line tween being a leader who gets along well with people and being one who must please people. Few characteristics reveal one's insecurity more than this. And talk about losing respect! Not only do others fail to respect the people pleaser, he doesn’t even respect himself. By fence-sitting, by hedging with the truth and attempting to keep peace at any price (an absolute impossibility), the leader forfeits the right to lead and becomes, as a consequence, a follower who still tries to call himself a leader.”

Authentic servant-leaders will never be able to please all of the people all of the time. Paul found this to be true in his interaction with the Thessalonians, “We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 2:6) When our leadership is aimed at people pleasing, we lose our decisiveness in responding to issues. We become a slave to people rather than bond-servants of Christ. I remember during my first pastorate being jolted by Paul’s statement in Galatians 1:10 after a skirmish with people who were never satisfied with anything any pastor or church leader ever did and discovering that no matter what was said or done, it never seemingly got through, the Holy Spirit gently reminded me of Paul’s words, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Someone put it this way: “I don’t know the secret of success, but I do know the secret of failure: trying to please everybody.” Swindoll is again right on... “No successful leader maintains the respect of others without making decisions that will prove unpopular to some.” Flattery in leadership leads to a dead end. So also does double-speaking and people pleasing. By God’s grace, lets strive to be authentic servant-leaders driven by absolute integrity, unbiased transparency and welcomed accountability!

Leaders, Know When to Hold Your Tongue

Proverbs 17: A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

Zechariah 8:16  These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts;...

I am sure we can all remember the times when we have led or attended meetings, and after further review, felt we should or should not have said something in that meeting. Maybe something we said hit a nerve with someone, or maybe a key point we should have uttered might have helped. After the further review of what we might feel as failures, I suggest that the underlying cause of both of these kinds of "failures" are created by fear, ... the fear that if we do say something it might lead to more stress, or if we do not speak some truth the road that is being traveled will be very bumpy. Most of us are just not sure, if we release it to speak,  what our tongue will actually do. Is the tongue's default good or evil?



The tongue is a hard limb to tame. It wants to go it own way. James 3:8 says, "but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison".  Sounds like the default is evil. Yet James points out that this restless limb of ours is the same limb whereby we profess and praise our Savior. I wonder why the creator of the universe would accept the believer's testimony spoken from such a source of restless evil?

If no one can tame the tongue, then maybe we should all keep our mouth shut all the time? ... Never say a challenging word to one another? Hm... that is not what our second scripture verse says, does it?  On the contrary, this verse emphasizes the need not only to speak but to remain accurate with the truth, as if you are in court all the time. Have you ever embellished the truth to make a point? Have you ever stretched the truth in retaliation for what someone else said against you? Friends, in those cases we need to hold back or just hold our tongue.

What about another problem with speaking truth. How about repeating the truth too many times? Many years ago I was ministering with a colleague that I respect immensely when we got into a debate about a budget matter. Since I felt he was a weaker in financial matters I continued to debate him until he became exhausted with me and said. "OK Ron, you don' t have to hammer it home". Interestingly, even though that was over 10 years ago, I never forgot those words he said to me. I know in reality my debate that I enjoy so much can become overbearing for some and I need to be more sensitive to others. I also know that there is a fine line between the spoken truth that could overlap into others sensing judgement instead of truth. Let us bath the truth with sensitivity.

Friends, the most important principle of the tongue is restraint ... but only to a point. Just because, as our scripture states, you may look wise in the eyes of men for keeping silent, a more complete examination of the text might also reveal that silence does not always reveal the wise man, ... the text says he will only appear to be wise ... when he was really a fool for not speaking up.

We must speak the truth when we must. However, let us be very careful.

Don't be silent, just know when to hold your tongue.

 

Can All Leaders Sing?

I Corinthians 13:1b  ... but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If you have spent any time studying leadership it won't take you long to hear the expression, "Everyone is a leader".  Those who have spoken these words have noble intentions. They want to be an inspiration to people, especially if they are teaching a leadership class. By saying everyone is a leader, they hope to inspire people to be open to use a hidden talent, or underdeveloped gift. They want to help people position themselves for a discovery, and they hope that by telling them they are a leader, they can convince them to learn.

However noble, let us look at where these claims come from. I have heard this expression more in ministry circles than any other arena. Looking even closer, these are the churches who have had a growth curve that has put pressure on the current leaders, or are churches that have not grown. Those with growth curves see that there is so much to accomplish, know the growth curve cannot be sustained with the current leadership, and deep within their hearts are pleading for more people to step up to the plate and lead. Those without growth curves search for a reason for the lack of growth and sometimes come to the conclusion that more leaders are needed. In both situations, those with the responsibility of developing leaders know that they will get the excuse from people that "I am not a leader".  I would suggest to you that out of this fear, the false doctrine of "everyone is a leader" is embraced. It is easy to say, and creates an initial hope in people that is actually kind of fun for them to experience.

However, I believe it is quite damaging to the organization. Preaching that everyone is a leader is like another saying that "everyone is a singer".  Anyone who has hearing would agree that everyone is NOT a singer. We all have been near a person who thought they could sing, ... but were just making noise, annoying as a clanging cymbal. I feel sorry for some worship leaders who have to finally tell someone that wants to sing a solo they cannot.

That leads us to the nuances of the statement. In the same way everyone (with a voice) can sing, everyone does lead at some point. We all lead in the same way we "all teach". We all teach by living life, sometimes teaching people how to do things, and sometimes teaching people what NOT to do. We ALL teach, but we are NOT all teachers. Most can sing but we are not all singers, and we do lead but are NOT ALL LEADERS! As in our scripture verse above, we can begin with a basic legitimate instrument, and if improperly used, make only annoying noise. In the same way, people who are forced or convinced they can lead, but have no talent or giftedness can really make you cringe when you hear of some of the things they do.

In the introduction of my leadership seminars I try to inspire people by telling them that it is my hope they discover one of two things. I hope they discover how to be a better leader, ... if they are a true leader, OR I hope they discover that they are not a leader, to relieve them of the guilt of not leading. I then tell those who will discover they are not leaders that the seminar will not be a waste of their time. On the contrary, they will help their church or organization by not getting involved in leadership while learning how to pray and encourage those who should be. They will know better how to help a leader, or shepherd a leader, or teach a leader, ... and yes, even how to follow a leader ... depending on their own gifts.

In closing, please help the people you lead by setting many of them free from false expectations. Go back to the drawing board in your leadership development program, and focus on identifying and helping those who God is really calling to lead.

Because after all, ... all leaders can't sing.

Great Ideas & Reminders - Are They Your Epiphany?

Ecclesiastes 1: 16-17a  I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,

Epiphany - "a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something" (dictionary.com)

Recently I woke up with a rather important thought about a work experience. I had not thought about it the during the previous day or evening. The subject had become a bit more prevalent but not to the point of daily reflection.

It felt like it could have been an epiphany.  I am sure many of you have had some of these moments. These moments when you feel like you now know something that was delivered to you through a momentary illumination of reality. You feel it may not have been totally apart from your mental capacity, but not within it just yet. It came in advance of you reaching it. I believe these could be "next level" blessings of the wisdom God gives.

Real epiphanies are truth and understandings. Truth is Christ. Like my apparent epiphany, it is real easy to dismiss God as the spiritual author of these special events. Of course there is also the danger of thinking a crazy idea of your own is from God too. The first filter that I use is I ask myself a question. "How much was I thinking of this subject, and how important did I think it was at the time? If those two measurements are fairly low, then I ask myself "is there a particular personal gain that makes the reality super sweet for me?".  If that is low too it is a good sign, if it is not, that does not mean it is a bad idea, ... it just means to proceed with caution. When you are comfortable with the filters, then please join me in acknowledging the fact that we did receive them ... they are being delivered to us, from Jesus Christ, through the role of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that when one becomes a Christian, every future aspect of their natural talent and/or human wisdom becomes an experience with God. It seems to me that the whole book of Ecclesiastes is an account of the delivery of an epiphany to Solomon! As much as he tried Solomon just could not separate what he may have felt his natural wisdom could attain and the wisdom God gave him. When he tried to separate it he always realized that it became "a chasing after the wind". This was such an immense epiphany Solomon writings became 12 chapters long.

Epiphanies  are not always dramatic illuminations, they also can be dramatic reminders. I had one of those lately too. About a month ago I had a scheduled debate with a former pastor who, through his own declaration, had become an agnostic. With the acquisition of a M-Div, and over 8 years of pastoral ministry, this man somehow has succumbed to the devil's efforts (he does not believe in the devil either) and now denies the deity of Christ or that there is any deity.

This person (let's call him John) is a very intelligent person and has several other degrees in psychology. As you might imagine, the potential of this person's intelligence in the community of Christian theologians is something that the devil is very aware of. Right now it is not clear whether the devil is succeeding in damaging the faith this man already has or whether or not he is repelling a faith that he never had. Either way, the devil has won many battles. Please pray for my next "debate" with him in June.

Two hours into a four hour meeting with him I felt a dramatic reminder from God. I was enjoying immensely the "debate". It actually was the deepest conversation of my life and I was enjoying it, hoping that at some point I could influence him with a logic that would "win" and thus help his "human wisdom" move back toward Christ. However, two hours into the discussions God delivered to me a dramatic reminder, and that reminder was ... "you cannot influence him apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, not only working in John, but also working in you and any godly wisdom that comes out of your mouth".  As John was speaking and explaining a certain point, I prayed earnestly with eyes wide open that Holy Spirit would completely take me over along with what comes out of my mouth. I remember that was a point of relief as I finished the next two hours of discussions.

Whether or not you woke up one day with a important thought so intense you wondered why, or whether your sensed you experienced a remarkable reminder, let us all thank the deliverer of all phases of wisdom.

Let's fight the temptation to claim them for ourselves.

Reassurance of a Call

2 Peter 1 3-10  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. .........

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive ........

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, ........

Making your Calling and Election Sure.

Many Bible translations have the same heading ... "Making Your Calling and Election Sure". When you first read this, one might think that this was referring to significant church leaders or just pastors.  However, the call here is that everyone is called to His glory, goodness and godliness. Many other passages talk of how we can do that through exercising our spiritually gifts. This passage speaks of something that should precede our gifts. It speaks of glorifying Him through our goodness.

The call that I have in glorifying God is to shepherd, coach, encourage and challenge Christian leaders in what ever role they find themselves. Although we as Christians will never shed our sinful nature until we enter our heavenly home, God calls us to be set apart from the world. This actually means that our behavior should be set apart from worldly behavior. People need to see a difference when they encounter us. We need to feel a difference when we encounter each other. Not being set apart from the world's behavior destroys the reputation of Christ. Let me give you an example.

The company I own provides disaster services. Early in the 1990's I had an estimator named Sherry. She was an outstanding salesperson, energetic and effective. She grew up in a family that went to church but had move away from any connection with church or God. She saw what my life in Christ looked like and worked for me during my own major transformation toward Christ. We had many talks and one day I took her to lunch and shared the gospel in more detail using the very popular bridge illustration. On that day she told me she was not just not ready. Sherry liked to party.

Several months later we received a call from a prominent church in our area. The church is led by a pastor who is seen occasionally on TV today. They had a fire at the church and needed us. I sent Sherry to this fire damage to represent us. Hours later she came back, poked her head into my office and said. "Ron, if that is what Christianity is like, I want no part of it". Without waiting for my reply she walked away and went back to work. I sat there somewhat stunned.

After I gave her time to "cool off", she explained how badly she was treated. She told me of the arrogance of the people she met and the poor treatment she received. A few years later the pastor of this church had an emergency water damage in his own house and never paid his bill. Months later, my attorney told me that this pastor has many unpaid bills with many contractors, and those that know him well will not do business with him or this church. This pastor and this church may have a very public fancy ministry, but behind the scenes is behaving in a way that destroys the reputation of Christ. It grieved me then how it set back the development of Sherry, and who knows how many others.

We all need to balance the "call or vision" with the call to "goodness". Friends, I have been reassured of my election and call. Many of you have helped with that. My first and foremost call is for "his own glory and excellence". My secondary call is to glorify Him through business ventures and effective leadership development. When applicable, I must exhort those whose behavior has not been set apart from unbelievers. I (we) must balance our boldness with goodness. Jesus got aggressive with many people including church leaders. However Jesus is remembered more for his kindness than His aggressiveness. I wonder how he would have addressed the church that was arrogant toward Sherry. Leaders will never be salt and light if they continue to lead in darkness. 

Goodness should never be overshadowed by the vision. I would question the validity of your vision if where you are going overshadows the person in need in front of you. If that were the case, Jesus would have only preached the doom to come and never would have healed the sick or warned of the demise of those who would hurt little children.

We need to be bold with each other. Helping leaders by "admonishment with goodness" on the surface seems impossible. But it is not impossible. If it my call, it is not impossible.

So what is your call? Whatever it is remember this  ...... goodness first.

P.S,  Sherry continued to work for me for about a total of 10 years but later remarried the second husband she previously divorced and moved to be with him in Florida. Years later she called me to tell me that she had finally accepted Christ and was reading the Bible I gave her for Christmas every day. What joy I had that day on the phone with her!