The Leadership Challenge
A couple months ago at some monthly church meetings, we watched a video of a guy who talked about leadership. He talked about some experiences turning around failing businesses and churches. It was really pretty interesting, but I’m just a goober accountant so I wouldn’t exactly take that as a ringing endorsement. Anyway, I got to thinking about leaders… good and bad. And I got to thinking, that while the quality of the leadership is pretty important, it doesn’t absolve us of our responsibilities.
I’ve got a friend, Dave, that I met through a hunting website. He lives in Georgia. I guess he would be a “cyber-friend” but that just sounds so dorky that I can’t bring myself to use that term. Anyway, he’s in construction and is pretty involved in his church. He’s been a good guy to me, sharing scripture and how it impacts his life, and generally trying to inspire me to be a better Christian man.
Late last October, Dave’s church organized a trip to Peru to build an addition onto an orphanage. This is an annual trip that the church has been doing for 10 years or so and Dave has been on every trip. It’s a two week long excursion and they really hustle the whole time they’re down there in the hopes that they can complete a project from start to finish. I received an email from Dave just before he left:
“I’m flying out for Peru on Sunday morning and will return the 19th of November. I sure would like it if you could keep my family in your prayers while I'm away and for myself for safety and that we get a lot done on this trip. We are adding an addition onto the orphanage. Thanks and God Bless. I'll get a lot of pictures.”
So I was a bit shocked to receive an email from him just a few days later:
“I’m back. The trip started out great, 4 teams 80 souls. My group leader was a tender foot and so was the team leader [Jody]. I was on the construction team and as I suspected I was given the job of running the workload. There was a lack of proper tools but I made do and work was under way. Everyone was happy. The young pastor in charge was a bit of a control freak and it was evident to all when he said to everyone to turn off your TV's in your rooms, no unplug them so not to be tempted.” One evening half my group had just returned from dinner and another team and the other half of my group was still out to dinner. I spoke to my team leader and asked him if we could go get ice cream at the great spot I have visited 4 times previously being down there and he said fine. As we were leaving the rest of the team was returning and I asked a few of them if they wanted to go also. Next thing I knew our group leader came and said, “Jody said no one can leave it's too late.” I took issue with that since it was only 9:30 and the night before we didn't get in till 11:00. I said a few things about his lack of understanding of leadership and he came storming down to me and got all bug-eyed and yelled out, "Your disrespecting me, and we can do 1 of 2 things - 1, we can send you home". I said, “Okay send me home.” So here I am. I am not under condemnation because I know God is in this. For what reason it is not apparent at this time. But after the team gets back on the 19th I will have a sit down with my pastor and discuss the issue. He is down there and was informed and related a message to me that he's not upset with me and that is a relief. My wife said, "Don't worry, you’re home and I love you." Boy was that a relief, I thought she was going to kill me. So for now another growing experience for the old Hawk. I'm hear to tell you that when you think that your right where God wants you, keep in touch with Him, you probably are. But, He always has changes for us, to make us more like Him. What do you think?”
I quickly read it, and thought, “This Jody guy sounds like a jerk.” I had to run, didn’t have time to give it a lot of thought, and forgot about it. Several days later I got another email from Dave.
“After talking with my group leader today I think it was poor of me to suggest that they send me home. He said that they didn't get much done and I'm very sorry for that since I was the one who had the experience to get the jobs done and direct those who needed help to do them. Gus my group leader said he didn't know I was gone till the next morning and was very shocked to see I was gone as was the rest of my team. Paul, I really blew it. My tantrum wasn’t about ice cream, it was about pride. It was about me feeling like people weren’t paying the proper respect to me. I have some apologies to make at a cook out with the teams next week.”
Another friend of mine, Kiko, is also in construction. I met him through my church 2 years ago or so but I didn’t really get to know him until he designed and built a patio cover for my house (did a great job, too). I wouldn’t have believed it if you told me a couple years ago when I first met him, but I now count him among my closest friends. This guy has a real servant’s heart and is always looking for ways to help others. I feel very fortunate to call him my friend.
About the same time that Dave’s trip took place, our church organized a trip to a south-of-the-border school for deaf children. The school has various construction projects underway in various states of completion. The plan was for a team of folks to go down there for a few days, make some progress on the projects, minister to the kids, and come on back. When it was first announced to the church, it was said that you didn’t have to be a pro to go along, just have some homeowner skills and the desire to work. On that, several people showed interest. Sam, the guy who organized the trip, became more selective, though, and decided that he only wanted folks who were pros. Some people who would have made a real contribution were barred from going. Even Kiko was grilled a bit about his skills. He’s not a guy who offends easily and simply explained his qualifications and didn’t give it a second thought. Anyway, the group departed on a Friday morning and returned the following Sunday. When I talked to Kiko I was excited to hear how things went. Kiko told me how great it was to go down there and serve the people. How the children love to laugh. How the people who work are more blessed than the people who receive the gift. He said that he’d like to return again soon. He said that the folks who run the place are very gracious and are always thankful when folks can stop in for a couple days to do some work for them, whether they are skilled or not. Kiko said that we could form our own team of friends and go on our own (not as a church sponsored crew). This sounded really cool but it also struck me funny. I asked him, “ Did something happen that made you regret going?” And he said, “No, it was all really nice.” I wasn’t entirely convinced, though, and kept digging. “So what was the least enjoyable part of the trip?” He was hesitant but finally offered, “Well, a couple of the group leaders wanted to do some things a certain way but those ways are wrong. Like the tiling in the shower, they didn’t want to use the proper moisture barriers and that would have just caused problems in the future. So I worked on what they told me to do and when I got to the showers I just used the proper materials. It wasn’t a big deal though.” The following Sunday the church played a video of the team to the congregation and gave a report of what they had done on their trip. Everybody was smiling and talking about what a rewarding trip it was, how they accomplished so much, and how they really enjoyed serving the Lord.
So there it is. Do you see it? One guy responded with pride, the other guy just let it roll off his back. Look at the difference. In Dave’s situation, the devil just had a banner day, his plan worked perfectly. In Kiko’s situation, he remembered who he was really doing this work for and gutted it out. Look, anyone can pat themselves on the back for following the direction of a patient, understanding leader. A leader who always gets your opinion before making an important decision. A leader that always pumps you up and tells you you’re a valuable member of the team. But back in real life, God calls us to accept THE CHALLENGE. The challenge of bad food, bad weather, bad leaders, bad tools, bad timing, and bad advice. So bad leadership is often part and parcel with the work. Christ is among those who serve, and we don't all get to serve good masters at times. Sometimes Christ asks us to serve rather unpleasant folk. Patience... it takes a long time to learn. You learn patience with fools by having to work with them as you struggle to accomplish important things that are dear to your heart. You learn patience not when things go right, but when things go wrong. You show what you are really made of when you don’t get your way. You show what you are made of when you have to struggle to find the reasons to keep working. I can only know how important a goal is to you by the fight brought out of you. “It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog,” that really matters. We don’t really like to talk about this, but here’s the reality… Jesus sent His men into the world to be dragged before evil men, to be beat up, to be robbed, to be shipwrecked, to be hungry, to be lost in the wilds, to be without money or food, family or friends, to be stoned to death, to be hung upside down until dead. As I sit here in my ivory tower looking out over the Pacific Ocean, I’m fortunate that I don’t have to worry about those things. I live in a country where I can go to church anytime I want without fear that a bunch of government thugs will mow me down with AR-15’s. I don’t go hungry (which is quite apparent at the sight of me). I have a wonderful family and a network of friends. So I have to find the meaning in it for my own situation. At the end of December a good friend of mine, who also happened to be an associate pastor at my church, decided to move back to his old stomping grounds. There were many reasons for the move, but included in those reasons was some differences he had with our church’s leadership. From what he told me, I believe he was treated poorly with respect to some things. After he left I found myself wanting to blow off some commitments I’ve made to my church (read: the Lord). I struggle to remember that my allegiance to my friend is admirable, but I’m really doing this thing for the Lord. I’m blessed that I have a friend named Kiko to demonstrate that for me.
I’ve got a friend, Dave, that I met through a hunting website. He lives in Georgia. I guess he would be a “cyber-friend” but that just sounds so dorky that I can’t bring myself to use that term. Anyway, he’s in construction and is pretty involved in his church. He’s been a good guy to me, sharing scripture and how it impacts his life, and generally trying to inspire me to be a better Christian man.
Late last October, Dave’s church organized a trip to Peru to build an addition onto an orphanage. This is an annual trip that the church has been doing for 10 years or so and Dave has been on every trip. It’s a two week long excursion and they really hustle the whole time they’re down there in the hopes that they can complete a project from start to finish. I received an email from Dave just before he left:
“I’m flying out for Peru on Sunday morning and will return the 19th of November. I sure would like it if you could keep my family in your prayers while I'm away and for myself for safety and that we get a lot done on this trip. We are adding an addition onto the orphanage. Thanks and God Bless. I'll get a lot of pictures.”
So I was a bit shocked to receive an email from him just a few days later:
“I’m back. The trip started out great, 4 teams 80 souls. My group leader was a tender foot and so was the team leader [Jody]. I was on the construction team and as I suspected I was given the job of running the workload. There was a lack of proper tools but I made do and work was under way. Everyone was happy. The young pastor in charge was a bit of a control freak and it was evident to all when he said to everyone to turn off your TV's in your rooms, no unplug them so not to be tempted.” One evening half my group had just returned from dinner and another team and the other half of my group was still out to dinner. I spoke to my team leader and asked him if we could go get ice cream at the great spot I have visited 4 times previously being down there and he said fine. As we were leaving the rest of the team was returning and I asked a few of them if they wanted to go also. Next thing I knew our group leader came and said, “Jody said no one can leave it's too late.” I took issue with that since it was only 9:30 and the night before we didn't get in till 11:00. I said a few things about his lack of understanding of leadership and he came storming down to me and got all bug-eyed and yelled out, "Your disrespecting me, and we can do 1 of 2 things - 1, we can send you home". I said, “Okay send me home.” So here I am. I am not under condemnation because I know God is in this. For what reason it is not apparent at this time. But after the team gets back on the 19th I will have a sit down with my pastor and discuss the issue. He is down there and was informed and related a message to me that he's not upset with me and that is a relief. My wife said, "Don't worry, you’re home and I love you." Boy was that a relief, I thought she was going to kill me. So for now another growing experience for the old Hawk. I'm hear to tell you that when you think that your right where God wants you, keep in touch with Him, you probably are. But, He always has changes for us, to make us more like Him. What do you think?”
I quickly read it, and thought, “This Jody guy sounds like a jerk.” I had to run, didn’t have time to give it a lot of thought, and forgot about it. Several days later I got another email from Dave.
“After talking with my group leader today I think it was poor of me to suggest that they send me home. He said that they didn't get much done and I'm very sorry for that since I was the one who had the experience to get the jobs done and direct those who needed help to do them. Gus my group leader said he didn't know I was gone till the next morning and was very shocked to see I was gone as was the rest of my team. Paul, I really blew it. My tantrum wasn’t about ice cream, it was about pride. It was about me feeling like people weren’t paying the proper respect to me. I have some apologies to make at a cook out with the teams next week.”
Another friend of mine, Kiko, is also in construction. I met him through my church 2 years ago or so but I didn’t really get to know him until he designed and built a patio cover for my house (did a great job, too). I wouldn’t have believed it if you told me a couple years ago when I first met him, but I now count him among my closest friends. This guy has a real servant’s heart and is always looking for ways to help others. I feel very fortunate to call him my friend.
About the same time that Dave’s trip took place, our church organized a trip to a south-of-the-border school for deaf children. The school has various construction projects underway in various states of completion. The plan was for a team of folks to go down there for a few days, make some progress on the projects, minister to the kids, and come on back. When it was first announced to the church, it was said that you didn’t have to be a pro to go along, just have some homeowner skills and the desire to work. On that, several people showed interest. Sam, the guy who organized the trip, became more selective, though, and decided that he only wanted folks who were pros. Some people who would have made a real contribution were barred from going. Even Kiko was grilled a bit about his skills. He’s not a guy who offends easily and simply explained his qualifications and didn’t give it a second thought. Anyway, the group departed on a Friday morning and returned the following Sunday. When I talked to Kiko I was excited to hear how things went. Kiko told me how great it was to go down there and serve the people. How the children love to laugh. How the people who work are more blessed than the people who receive the gift. He said that he’d like to return again soon. He said that the folks who run the place are very gracious and are always thankful when folks can stop in for a couple days to do some work for them, whether they are skilled or not. Kiko said that we could form our own team of friends and go on our own (not as a church sponsored crew). This sounded really cool but it also struck me funny. I asked him, “ Did something happen that made you regret going?” And he said, “No, it was all really nice.” I wasn’t entirely convinced, though, and kept digging. “So what was the least enjoyable part of the trip?” He was hesitant but finally offered, “Well, a couple of the group leaders wanted to do some things a certain way but those ways are wrong. Like the tiling in the shower, they didn’t want to use the proper moisture barriers and that would have just caused problems in the future. So I worked on what they told me to do and when I got to the showers I just used the proper materials. It wasn’t a big deal though.” The following Sunday the church played a video of the team to the congregation and gave a report of what they had done on their trip. Everybody was smiling and talking about what a rewarding trip it was, how they accomplished so much, and how they really enjoyed serving the Lord.
So there it is. Do you see it? One guy responded with pride, the other guy just let it roll off his back. Look at the difference. In Dave’s situation, the devil just had a banner day, his plan worked perfectly. In Kiko’s situation, he remembered who he was really doing this work for and gutted it out. Look, anyone can pat themselves on the back for following the direction of a patient, understanding leader. A leader who always gets your opinion before making an important decision. A leader that always pumps you up and tells you you’re a valuable member of the team. But back in real life, God calls us to accept THE CHALLENGE. The challenge of bad food, bad weather, bad leaders, bad tools, bad timing, and bad advice. So bad leadership is often part and parcel with the work. Christ is among those who serve, and we don't all get to serve good masters at times. Sometimes Christ asks us to serve rather unpleasant folk. Patience... it takes a long time to learn. You learn patience with fools by having to work with them as you struggle to accomplish important things that are dear to your heart. You learn patience not when things go right, but when things go wrong. You show what you are really made of when you don’t get your way. You show what you are made of when you have to struggle to find the reasons to keep working. I can only know how important a goal is to you by the fight brought out of you. “It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog,” that really matters. We don’t really like to talk about this, but here’s the reality… Jesus sent His men into the world to be dragged before evil men, to be beat up, to be robbed, to be shipwrecked, to be hungry, to be lost in the wilds, to be without money or food, family or friends, to be stoned to death, to be hung upside down until dead. As I sit here in my ivory tower looking out over the Pacific Ocean, I’m fortunate that I don’t have to worry about those things. I live in a country where I can go to church anytime I want without fear that a bunch of government thugs will mow me down with AR-15’s. I don’t go hungry (which is quite apparent at the sight of me). I have a wonderful family and a network of friends. So I have to find the meaning in it for my own situation. At the end of December a good friend of mine, who also happened to be an associate pastor at my church, decided to move back to his old stomping grounds. There were many reasons for the move, but included in those reasons was some differences he had with our church’s leadership. From what he told me, I believe he was treated poorly with respect to some things. After he left I found myself wanting to blow off some commitments I’ve made to my church (read: the Lord). I struggle to remember that my allegiance to my friend is admirable, but I’m really doing this thing for the Lord. I’m blessed that I have a friend named Kiko to demonstrate that for me.
posted by willhuntforfood at 5:15 PM
2 Comments:
Wow, man. I've read a lot of high-minded drivel on these blog things, and learned nothing from them. This was straight-forward, humble, and it hit me right between the eyes. Thanks brother.
Thanks, brother. I can't compete with you academians so I try to keep my drivel low-minded (like me). You're a good man, Charlie Brown.
Post a Comment
<< Home