The Tension of Leadership

I often say in my seminars that I have two leadership rules every leader must believe with everything they have.

1. It is NOT about you. This is the key to remembering the truth that this is all about what God is up to. It is God’s work that changes lives, changes hearts and makes our ministries fruitful. A leader must learn to relax and believe this in order to hang in there through the tough seasons of life. It is really not about you.

2. It’s about you. This competing reality is also 100% true—YOU MATTER. Leadership matters. God can do anything, but often He simply chooses to use us in the process—and therefore, we are part of the equation. We can do this poorly, miss opportunities and fail to do our leadership with any degree of effectiveness. It is about you.

I really believe both of these things. The second one is why we do leadership training, coaching and consulting. My life passion is to “educate, equip and encourage leaders in youth and family ministry.” That’s why Youth Leadership exists—because we think leaders matter. But, I never want to fall prey to believing that we carry it all. That is simply not true. But, the tension is the leader’s dilemma.

Let me give you a real-time, practical example. Right now, Youth Leadership is facing a significant financial deficit—the largest since I have been here. We are seeing great energy in our programs, in our evaluations and among our staff. It has been a great year in many respects, yet we are struggling in the financial area. A foundation that had been supporting us for the past three years ended that support last year. Even though we knew it was coming, it has impacted our finances because we haven’t found a source to replace that $35,000. We are struggling.

So, what do we do? What do I do? If I believe only rule #1—we will just trust and pray and continue on our way until May 31st comes. It sounds spiritual, and that is a good thing. If I start to rely only on rule #2—my effort—then, I will work harder, spend more time fundraising, meet with key donors and panic for the next 3 months!!

I am going to try the mix of the two. I am calling friends of Youth Leadership to participate in a “30 Days of Prayer” for YL—to insure that faithful people are praying for wisdom, discernment as we look at a variety of exciting possibilities, and fruit to come from grant proposals we have submitted, etc. Prayer acknowledges the reality that this is NOT about us. I have to admit this need to myself, and friends of YL. (By the way, Paul seemed to be very comfortable asking others to pray for him—but it is often hard for Christian leaders to do the same.)

While these people are praying, we will work on action steps, decisions and meetings. We will work hard while asking God to surprise us. Contradictory? Showing lack of faith? I don’t think so—but it is a valid question. Every leader has to wrestle with this tension. For the next 30 days, it will not be a nice theory for me, it will be my lifestyle. A few words come to mind: STOP. GO. BELIEVE. ACT. LISTEN. SPEAK. TRUST. DO.

Together, let’s live in the tension of trusting God and living out our lives as His children. Let's STOP and pray...then let's GO and act. Anyone else struggle with this tension?