Lead and Get Out of the Way, Part 2

I'm hardly a details person, but I am a planner. Big picture visionary stuff is kind of my thing. I can see the finished whole. I understand what it will take to get there. I can envision what elements are necessary for the accomplishment of the goals and who is needed to make them happen. Again the day to day tactical, not so much, but I take real pride in orchestrating the movement of the organization towards its preferred future. Or, perhaps, I should say, "TOOK real pride."

Why do I say that? Well, in what is a very unnerving turn of events, the finished whole now seems to be beyond my sight. I have no clear picture of the destination. In the absence of that vision, I find myself in an incredibly vulnerable leadership position. My greatest strengths have been stripped away. Previously, I found great security in being out in front. That is, after all, where a leader is supposed to be. However, now I increasingly find myself leading from the middle. How can that be? Ah, that IS the question, isn't it?

It is, as if, the whole church is being swept up in some change, pulled (or led) in some direction, wholly removed from the leadership of any one person. Do not misunderstand this to mean that the church is without direction. Not at all. The longer we are caught up in this, the clearer the direction becomes, the more definitively intelligent and wise it proves to be.

What can I compare this to? I've sat here for a good 45 minutes thinking about that and here is the best I can come up with. It is as if you are looking at a painting by Monet, but at the start the painting is a mere few centimeters from your eyes. What you see are colors, dots of color, without any apparent pattern or purpose. You cannot see the big picture. The entirety of the canvass is beyond your field of vision. However, ever so slow the painting is being pulled back, giving you perspective. Dots of color begin to gather into patterns. Order emerges from chaos. You begin to become aware of the whole. You cannot complete it, but you know without a shadow of a doubt that it is there and that when you do see it, it will be beautiful, a masterpiece. Slowly you gain perspective. Your eyes, your mind decipher the pattern as it's revealed.

What that means for me is that I cannot lead from the front. I must lead from the middle. Leading from the front is defined by orchestration. Leading from the middle is defined by interpretation. Consider the conductor of an orchestra. This leadership is dependent on knowing what piece that is to be played. Only then can the conductor lead the pieces of the whole in creating a desired outcome- in this case beautiful music. This is leading from the front. Leading from the middle requires an entirely different skill set. Leading from the middle is about listening to the music as opposed to leading it. It's indentifying the melody amidst the sound. It involves processing and contextualizing the big picture as it is revealed in ever growing but minute proportions. Then the leader's role becomes revelation, helping the church to see and to embrace the masterpiece that God is making of it.

Well, as I have said, these are certainly not finished thoughts. They are thoughts in process, as I increasingly understand that all things are. I have no doubt that I will change my mind, contradict myself, and come back around to where I've started more than a few times as I think my way through this. But, slowly, I know, order will emerge from the chaos. Let me know what you think, because you are, no doubt, a part of this big picture.

Lead and Get Out of the Way

After 19 years of ministry, I’m learning that leading a ministry is not about being in control. On an intellectual level or, perhaps, even more relevantly, on a spiritual level, I knew this. Ultimately, leading the church is about following Christ. You are never in control. God is. But, recently, I have found there to be a much deeper, more profound set of principles at work. It is something so new to me, so transforming, that I am having difficulty even processing it.

That’s why I’ve decided to blog about it. I want to invite you into the conversation. I want to invite you into this world of messy leadership. So, let’s take a stab at opening up this topic.

I would have to say that I became aware on some level of an organic shift in our ministry at “10:35” a little more than 18months ago. We had made some significant changes before that, but the difference is that those changes were orchestrated. They were planned. We had begun to move away from a “church of attraction” model to a “missional church” model. However, in the wake of this shift, some things became increasingly clear for the future of our ministry.

Particularly, for me, it meant making some decisions to surrender my desire to control. That’s where I’ll pick things up next week.
Read the rest of the series here:

• Lead and Get Out of the Way, Part 2 
• Lead and Get Out of the Way: The Following Leader 
  

Does "success" have an age limit?

I think most of us have heard of the concept of a "biological clock". It has an actual scientific meaning, but by and large it is understood as that window of opportunity for a woman to have a child. If a woman says her biological clock is "ticking", she typically means that she believes the window is closing on any chance of having a child.

There is another "clock" that seems to induce worry, frustration, and resignation in many people. The clock I speak of is the clock of success. The "clock of success" is the phrase I am using for that self-defined window of opportunity to reach some desired level of achievement with one's life. So many men and women I speak with feel the pressure of this clock. College students struggle with the decision of "what to do with my life", as if their life will be defined by this one decision. Many boomers, now in their 50's and 60's, have resigned themselves to a lingering sense of being unfulfilled. Young or old, we seem to constantly ask ourselves if that window has not closed on us. We wonder if we have not squandered what opportunity we may have had. We are vexed by the question, "Is it too late for me?"

One reason we feel this way is our society's infatuation with those who experience the meteoric rise to fame and fortune. Michael Dell and Bill Gates made millions by the time they were 25. Michael Phelps, at the age of 23, stands uncontested as the greatest Olympian of all time. Miley Cyrus, love her or hate her, has built a marketing empire at the age of 15. So, is it too late for me, is it too late for you, to succeed in your life?

Let me reassure you. It is not. In way of spurring you on, let me introduce you to a few people. First, there is Ray Kroc. Ray, at age 52, was a milk shake machine salesman until he entered an establishment owned by two brothers and pitched an idea to franchise the concept. The brothers would get one-half of one percent of the gross profit. Kroc got the rights to open the franchises. The name of those brothers? McDonald. The rest is history.

If you are a fan of crime fiction and detective stories, you know the name of Detective Philip Marlowe. But, did you know that the man who created this character, Raymond Chandler, never published anything until he was 45 and didn't publish his first book until he was 51.

Or consider the story of Grandma Moses. She had to give up embroidery in her 70's because of arthritis in her hands. So, she picked up a paint brush and a piece of wood and took up painting. Her work was eventually exhibited throughout the world. In 1949, at the age of 89, President Harry S. Truman presented her with the Women's National Press Club trophy award for outstanding accomplishment in art. In 2006, one of her paintings entitled Sugaring Off (circa 1943) sold for 1.2 million dollars.

Of course, an important piece in all of this is how we define "success." The success of our life should not be measured by the very temporary criteria of fame or fortune. Success is a divine thing that is measured by whether one has achieved the purpose for which they were created. Of course, we could worry just as much over such a goal for life. But there is good news! God seems to have no desire to close this window of opportunity. In fact, God seems to delight in taking no notice of age when raising people up to the success of fulfilling their lives purpose. At times, they are young. At other times, they are old. Quite old. There is Anna, in Luke 2, who was at least 84 years of age before she was able to give witness to the messiah Jesus Christ. Few people realize Moses was somewhere around 80 years of age when God called him to lead His people out of Egypt. Let's just take one other example: Abraham.

Abraham entered into a covenant promise with God early in his life. There were several covenant promises that God made with Abraham, but the result of those promises was one central promise that Abraham's life would result in the blessing of all the families of the earth. Throughout Abraham's life, on six different occasions, God renewed these promises with Abraham. Ultimately, Abraham was 100 years of age before he saw the last of those promises fulfilled by God in the birth of his son Isaac. Sarah, his wife, was about 90. Clearly, God's window does not close on bringing fulfillment and, thus, success to our lives. Come to think of it, that biological clock doesn't mean too much to God, either!