I was 20 years old when I signed up to be a camp counselor at a Lutheran Christian camp in northern Wisconsin. I had never been so tired and stretched beyond my limits. And I had never been so changed by a single summer. My kids are at Camp Wartburg in Waterloo, IL this week, so here's a shout out to those counselors and all who labor at a camp this summer. You gave up a college summer to serve kids. You sacrificed leisure, a job that pays more, or an all important internship for swim time with screaming kids and camp food. These are lessons I learned as a camp counselor:
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In December I had lunch with six college students. I wanted to hear what challenges they face and what hopes they have for the future. A common thread in each of their reflections was an intense burden to succeed. It’s no longer enough to have a diploma or even a high GPA. I’m sounding like an old man, but I feel like "things are harder for kids these days." I believe the Great Recession intensified an already hyper-competitive and status-seeking society. We are conditioned to strive after bigger and better. Positions of prestige. Jobs that are lucrative and well-compensated. Offices of honor. Places of admiration and influence. We live in a status-seeking society. Let’s say you rent a car. You get the full insurance for an extra $20 a day. They call it “the steering wheel” policy meaning you could return the car with only a steering wheel and you’d be covered. So you beat up on the rental. Slam the brakes. Do donuts in the parking lot. Spill soda and leave wrappers all over the interior. Because it’s not yours. It’s a rental. Let’s say you own a classic car. Unlike a rental, you are so protective and possessive of it, that you keep it tucked away in the garage. You never let anyone else drive it, or even touch it. The sun might fade the interior, so you only drive on overcast days. You never use or share what you have because you’re possessively protective. "The task of the leader is the ability to be out of control comfortably." The longer I lead, the more I see how chaotic leadership is. When you lead people - whether family, church, business, etc. - it is never swiftly managed. People are not simply numbers on a page, manipulated like an Excel document. Decisions are rarely cut and dry. Issues will always arise. There will always be a level of uncertainty. Life will never be fully settled. The "to do list" will never be entirely checked off.
Life contains enough chaos to keep us regularly uncomfortable. We must understand this lest we set the expectation that life is about exercising complete control over our circumstances. Life is out of control, and this is the ideal place for faith. Faith - a confidence that there is One in control, standing above and over all that seems uncontrollable. Daniel 2:20-23 When you play the game Twister, you can pull a muscle trying to put an appendage on every dot. Right hand yellow. Left foot blue. Left hand green. Right foot red. Being a Pleaser is like a game of Twister. You bend over backwards in the impossible task of making everyone happy.
If you search leadership books on Amazon, you will find some 57,000. The market for leadership books is saturated. A friend of mine named Jim Galvin published a book last year on leadership. Why another leadership book when there are 57,000? Jim’s book is a little different. His thesis is this: Good leaders need to be good followers. Every leader is a follower, and every leader has followers. Jim calls this “followership." Fundamentally, it's nothing new. It captures the essence of Christian discipleship. I was like a 5-year-old as I watched worms inch across wet pavement in the wake of a spring shower. I had never payed attention to worms this closely. I saw something phenomenal. The worm has three distinct portions to its body: the head, the middle, and the tail. Disclaimer: these are not textbook biology terms! As it scoots along, the head and the tail move forward together while the middle remains stationary. Then the middle catches up to the head. And it happens all over again. The head and the tail, then the middle, head and tail, middle . . .
In leadership, we recognize that there are early adopters to change. There are leaders to movements. It sometimes takes others a while to follow. Call them "the middle." And then there are those far behind at the caboose. They may bring up the rear, but at some point they follow. Regardless of how far they lag behind, the tail eventually moves only because the head continues to push forward. Consider this metaphor however you'd like, but I reflect in two ways: 1.) If you're leading something (or someone), don't be discouraged by slow or resistant change. A leadership book I once read stated, "It always looks like failure in the middle." If you're out front, it takes a while for those behind you to catch up. Sometimes they are completely stalled. Sometimes the wiggle forward is imperceptible. But the head must keep moving. Eventually the middle slides up and likewise the tail. 2.) Jesus is often referred to as the "head of the body." I think of how frustratingly slow we are to follow. The Bible reveals a follower-ship incapable of being "early adopters," maybe not adopters in any sense. These disciples were fearfully reluctant and shamefully dejected. But post-Easter, we see the Head of the Church high and lifted up. And by the Spirit's instigation, a body is raised up to follow its Head. We may lag at times, but we keep marching because the Head keeps leading. We crowded around a table at Katie's Pizzeria in Clayton for lunch on a hazy St. Louis afternoon. The four Regeneration presenters sat down to hash out the details of the upcoming summit in St. Louis October 7-8. The Professor, the Latin American Missionary, the Business Guy, and the Irish College Director. Add myself and the Youth Guy, and it was an odd conglomeration that got stares from the busy lunch crowd at Katie's. The Irish guy was peculiarly difficult and asked for water without ice . . . Europeans. With the theme of "Walls," the summit is a little over a week away. Dr. Andy Bartelt: "Everything flows from our ecclesiology. Who are we as church? We have to get past our institutional definitions." Jon Graf: "People only get busier and over committed. How will we carry out the mission with a people impoverished for time and money?" Robert Millar: "What do people perceive when Christians seem to be playing out a Jerry Springer episode?" Mark Kempff: "Statistics are coming out that last year there were more Hispanic babies born in the U.S. than white babies. Changing demographics are creating greater isolation and polarization. An example is 'white anxiety.' But the church must ask, 'Who is my neighbor?' The answer is, 'Who isn't?'" All in all, this table at Katie's was a riot. There was almost a fight. There were tears of laughter. A rousing rendition of "A Mighty Fortress." And then hugs to go around. Hope you can join this table of hoodlums October 7-8. It seems there are 3,458 books on Christian leadership. “Seven Principles.” “Lead Like Jesus.” “Twelve Steps.” I’m burned out on such literature. Here are a couple things I’ve come to conclude on leadership from a Christian vantage-point. For more reading, my favorite leadership book is an unexpected book called In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen.
Christian Leaders Serve: Christian leadership is distinctly humble in its posture. It is servant leadership. In the Kingdom of God, first is the servant and great is the slave (Matt. 20:20-28). The leader puts himself/herself under others. This is leading from “below.” The business world has a model of leadership with this title. Yet the goal of this servant leadership is still “success” or “revenue” or “outcomes.” Servant leadership finds its goal in the well-being of others. Christian Leaders are Strong: Servant Leadership is NOT weak leadership. Humility requires strength. A common perception is that the Christian leader is only nice, kind, and gets stepped on. But for the sake of others, the Christian leader is willing to assert a muscular persistence in pursuit of God’s will. Christian Leaders Take Responsibility: Leadership is largely about responsibility. 1.) Be faithful in what you are responsible for. 2.) Grow in your responsibility – for more people, for greater tasks. 3.) Leadership means taking responsibility for things that aren’t your fault (ie. Jesus on the cross). It will mean pain and trial. The greater the leader you are, the more responsibility you can handle. Many shun leadership because they don’t want the responsibility. Many shun responsibility and are poor leaders. Christian Leaders Learn and Earn: Leadership is both learned and earned. 1.) Learned from Mentors. Paul in I Cor. 11:1: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” 2.) Earned in Experience. Dallas Seminary Professor Howard Hendricks: “Between 80-90% of leadership development is on-the-job training.” “Taught by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience.” |
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