Have You Had Your Leadership Bell Rung Lately?

This was the question Bill Hybels posed to hundreds of thousands of leaders around the world at this year’s Global Leadership Summit.

And I’d have to answer with a resounding YES!

Over the past few years I have attended the Summit in Durban, South Africa, and every year I am always blown away by the caliber of leaders and speakers from the businesses, education, government and social sectors that Willow Creek seem to be able to pull together. The content is always fresh, challenging, well-balanced, and inspiring to say the least!

Nothing recharges my personal leadership “batteries” like the Global Leadership Summit. 

Now I know there are some people out there who are skeptical of the summit and battle with idea of mixing corporate strategy and church work. To quote Brian LePort, “I tend to distrust the Church-as-Corporation model. While I am sure there is much that the church can learn from the world of business, it seems that our problem in North America is that many churches have adopted too much of that paradigm.”

And I get this fear to some degree.

But here’s the deal for me. When I see how Bill Hybels handled the extremely delicate situation of CEO Howard Schultz pulling out of the conference with such incredible grace and humility. When I hear a saint like Mama Maggie tell her story of personal sacrifice for the sake of the poor. When I listen to the passion and resolve of a women like Michelle Rhee, and the authentic and open way in which Jim Mellado asked her about her own faith journey, then something inside of me rejoices.

And my leadership bell starts ringing!

I am challenged to step it up. To use what God has given me. To be a humble learner. To take risks. To maximise my gift of leadership. To lead where I am!

The way that the Summit has handled over the years with such generosity and grace the contradictions and tensions that so often exist within our faith - between Christianity and our culture, between the Church and the corporate world – is something that resonates with me and inspires me.

And you know what the best part of the Summit is?

I can invite my non-Christian business friend whom I’ve been trying to get to church for years! And not only do I know he’ll learn a lot from the speakers, but I also know that he’ll hear something of the Gospel message, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll be touched by God!

Thank you Willow Creek for not being afraid to “poke the box” – to stretch our leadership boundaries and to challenge us all to develop our leadership gifts to their full redemptive potential!

Confessions of a Hypocrite

This is a guest post by Maurilio Amorim that really struck home for me…

 

Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s quite descriptive of my feelings. I’ve felt that way since my early professional days as a pastor. Those who work in ministry might be able to identify with the sentiment. After all, pastors and church staff, just by virtue of their positions, are holier and wiser than the rest of the congregation. Their struggles are beyond the mundane issues of the rest of the non-professional Christians deal with.  Therein lies my problem.

While I’m not  lowering the standards for those in ministry, I know the toll those expectations can take on those whose lives are supposed to be a living example of God’s promises, blessings and teachings.

Every single day.

All the time.

With a smile.

Life under the microscope of unrealistic expectations is painful. The days you question your career, your spouse, even your faith in God are often filled with appointments, counseling sessions, public prayers, faith-building social media posts. You bear and grin and hope your eyes don’t betray you and show the doubt and guilt you’re desperately trying to hide.

But somehow God has managed to use even my hypocrisy to his Glory. I can remember on several occasions feeling defeated because of how empty and non-inspiring I felt through a message, meeting or study, only to hear back how my words and actions had impacted someone. Really?!

So even though I still wrestle with issues I should have won the battle long ago, as any mature believer would have, I still share my faith, the things I know to be true, even if I find myself in the middle of doubt. Because ultimately I believe in a good God who loves me and cares for me and fills my empty offerings with His grace. I don’t understand it. I wouldn’t do it if I were Him. But I’m thankful He does it.

Have you ever felt like a hypocrite? How do you deal with it?

Rolling with the Punches

Working at a church I deal with a lot of different people.

Happy people. Sad people. Angry people. Grateful people. Confused people. Loving people. Not-so-loving people. Selfish people. Unselfish people. Complicated people. Uncomplicated people. And everyone in between.

But one thing remains constant. Every single one of those people have taken a few punches along the way.

In fact, I have not met a single human being over the age of 25 who has had a free ride. We may look around at other people and envy their lives – their seemingly uncomplicated and effortless lives, but scratch a little under the surface and the truth is that every single one of us have taken some hits and have the scars to prove it.

Of course some more than others – but it’s all relative. No matter how big or how small the challenge you face is compared to other people’s problems, it is very real for you all the same. I think whether or not we have trials is not the issue. It’s how we respond to those trials that makes all the difference.

We can become bitter or we can become better.

We can compare ourselves to others, choose to become victims and wallow in our own self-pity, or we can take ownership of our parts to play, and seek help from others around us. We can choose to blame and resent, or we can forgive those who have wronged us, and lean into the God who took the biggest hit of all so that we might not walk this alone.

My wife and I are expecting our first-born child in 6 weeks time, and of course everyone has their own piece of advice. Some tell us how hard it’s going to be and how our life is officially over. Other’s stress the incredible joy a new baby brings. The truth is that nothing – no advice or words of wisdom – could ever prepare us for what is about to happen.

And so we are left to take things as they come, trust God in everything, and then simply roll with the punches (may they be few!).

Starfish and Spiders

If you cut off a spider’s head, it dies.

But if you cut off a starfish’s leg, it grows a new one! And not only that, that leg can grow an entirely new starfish! Amazing!

I’ve been reading a very interesting book recently called “The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organisations”. It talks about how traditional top-down organisations are like spiders – take out the leader, and you take out the organisation. However, it seems it is becoming more and more difficult in our post-modern world to lead from the top down.

Enter the starfish.

In the same way that the starfish is able to regenerate itself from a single amputated leg, decentralized organizations like Wikipedia, Skype, eBay, even al-Queda, which are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, are changing the face of business and the world, and it’s changing the way I look at leadership.

In a decentralised organisation intelligence isn’t centralised, but rather spread out throughout the system. This means that every member of the team becomes a carrier of that knowledge. If you put people into an open system, they will immediately begin to contribute. Put them in a closed system and they will be inhibited from contributing.

Decentralisation also allows for quick mutations and adaptations to meet new challenges. And when a decentralised organisation is attacked, it becomes even more decentralised – instead of breaking down, it is activated! It is why the US Army (with the most resources and intelligence in the world) cannot destroy Al-Queda. Or why music labels are still loosing the battle against online music.

It’s a spider fighting a starfish.

The question for me then is, what kind of an organisation (or organism) is the Church? Is it a spider or a starfish?

We know that the Church historically has always done better when persecuted. It has a way of decentralising, going underground, regenerating itself and multiplying. But I also have seen first-hand that strong visionary leadership within the local church equals a strong, healthy body. Perhaps we are a hybrid of the two?

What do you think? Is the Church a spider or a starfish or both?

When Churches Hurt Part 2

My last guest post by Maurilio Amorim  spoke about the Church at its worst. And I received this comment from a reader:

Hey Tom. I don’t get your last blog and thought you may be able to explain it to me. It seems like you are inviting people to share their bad experiences with the church, and for them to share where they have seen church at its worst. I feel a little stupid asking this, but is the reason for inviting stories like this to bring healing to people?

I think this is a great question, and this was my response…

Well, without trying to sound defensive, I think ultimately this guest post is in fact about bringing healing to the readers.

Personally, I am always aware of how Grace Family Church attracts people who have been previously “hurt” by churches and are often so overwhelmed and encouraged by the love and acceptance they feel when they walk through Grace’s doors.

I think as the “big C” Church we need to acknowledge the wounds and the mistakes we have made in the past, and also acknowledge our own tendencies as humans to get hung up on trivial issues and miss the point. To pretend like the church hasn’t hurt people is ultimately unhealthy and just untrue. That’s what happened in apartheid. I believe part of people’s healing is acknowledging the “hits” they have taken, and then helping them to move forward and beyond.

I believe the last paragraph he writes sums it up well when he says:

“The one thing I can do is to keep my own heart in check and to save that righteous indignation for the things that really matter”

For me this is the redemptive side to the story – that yes, church is messy and filled with messy people, but I can decide today to stop pointing fingers, acknowledge my own propensity for sin and deception, and keep my own heart in check.

I truly believe that the local church, when it is working right, is the hope of the world. And I believe that if the Church is willing to stand up and admit it’s own weaknesses, it will bring great glory to God.

But perhaps I have missed something by reposting Maurillio’s blog. My heart was certainly not to create a “moaning session” for people, or to deface God’s chosen vessel to bring redemption to this world. Hope that makes sense.

When Churches Hurt

This is a guest blog post by one of my favourite bloggers, Maurilio Amorim. Maurilio is the CEO of The A Group, a media, technology and branding firm in the states. You can check out his blog at www.maurilioamorim.com.

“I’m in a different stage of my life right now,” said the young man across the counter as I asked him if he went to church. “I don’t like what organized religion has become,” he continued. I hear a variation of that reasoning quite often. But as I probed and asked about his church background, I was not expecting his answer.

As he told me his story, he mentioned growing up in a church I know well in another city. Years ago, it was one of the most dynamic evangelical churches in that metropolitan area. It grew to mega church status and one day the fighting began. First it was over church governance, and then over musical styles, and then over whatever else people could find polarizing.  it grew ugly until the inevitable split. It was a mess. No one won. No one. Some have claimed victory, however. But the greatest loss to me was the disillusionment of young men and women who watched their parents, grandparents, mentors, heroes of the faith engage in a selfish, unforgiving, ugly battle over mere preferences.

I know the story well. There was no just cause there. No one was fighting heresy or a scandalous financial or moral cover up. They fought hard over preferences, the trivial. It broke my heart to heart to hear that this 26 year old who grew up in what once was a great church now is questioning his entire belief foundation. I don’t blame him. I have been around enough church fights that I can see how someone would be willing to walk away and never come back. I even considered doing it myself.

I’m sure there are many victims of ugly church splits wondering outside any faith community because those who should have known better, the supposedly spiritually mature, failed them miserably. I don’t have a solution for this problem. The human condition is never going to get better. Righteous indignation will rise up when someone decides to mess with the color of the church carpet, and people will need to be mobilized to stop the travesty from happening.

The one thing I can do is to keep my own heart in check and to save that righteous indignation for the things that really matter such as those facing a Christ-less eternity, human trafficking, hunger, child abuse. I pray for a proper perspective on what’s important and what’s trivial, and if I ever confuse them, may God take me home before I cause people like my young friend to wonder from their faith.

Have you seen the Church at its worst? How has that impacted your life?