Nuggets #11

An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
Chapter Six - The Cultural Architect
(Talking about a meeting with his elders. They wanted to discuss his leadership.)
You would think a discussion about my leadership would be a good memory.
Instead, I remember Rick, Enrique, and Robert revealing their disappointment with my leadership. Rick expected more from someone he perceived as having a gift of faith. Enrique had hoped my leadership would be stronger. Robert felt that something was restraining me from fully engaging in my role as a lead pastor. I was confronted for being a non-leader! I left devastated. How could this be happening to someone who had taught a doctoral class on leadership?
Seeking comfort, I later told Kim what had happened. We were driving down Beverly Boulevard on a Saturday morning, and all I wanted was for her to lie to me. But she didn't. She did, however, take the opportunity to show her disappointment in me. Apparently, I wasn't the leader that she thought she married. I was so angry that I stopped the car in the middle of the road. I sat there defending myself, all the while knowing the painful truth: I was afraid. I was hesitant. I was apprehensive and uncertain. It wasn't that I didn't know what to do; it was that I understood the consequences. Leadership comes with a price. I thought that I could hide behind a measure of success and never be found out. I was not leading; I was tinkering.

Churches become like their pastors. If you don't like what you see in your congregation, then you must be the first to change!

Often, what is described as church leadership is organizational leadership. Value is found in someone who can structure and manage a complex environment, rather than in someone who can create one that needs to be harnessed. The real contribution of the organizational leader is bringing stability and continuity. Mid-size congregations often evaluate spiritual leadership through this template. Success is measured by predictability and order. The danger is going beyond an order of worship to a worship of order!

In many ways the role of a pastor has become that of a spiritual manager. There is a critical distinction between managers who maintain organizations and leaders who create community by catalyzing movement. The former leader creates a corporation of people; the latter, a people with a cause.

Genuine leaders personify the values and vision of the people they lead. They do not simply espouse the vision of the movement; they embody it. What they focus on, whom they empower, and what is rewarded are central to the development of a cultural movement. Sometimes we look to great secular corporations that are led by extraordinary leaders for help. But all too often we ignore the components that make them worthy of emulation. We dissect their skills, disciplines, competencies, and habits in the hope that we can pick up that critical piece in the leadership puzzle. Yet for many of us, especially in vocational ministry, the real essence of leadership is so obvious that it is easily missed. True leadership is spiritual!

There's a lot of great stuff in this chapter. More tomorrow!!!!!