Adventures in Leadership

last night i was reading a book on church leadership.  i do that often.  i’m a church leader.  i’ve actually been reading a lot lately.  this morning i got up and read some more…

there’s a common theme in most of the church leadership books and journals i have read over the course of my life.  it goes something like this:

god has anointed you the leader.  follow the vision god has given you.  god brought you to this church and planted inside of you the dream he wants you to lead people to follow.  it’s god’s vision.  in you.  the leader.

people may disagree with your vision.  people may not like your decisions.  some people will get mad.  others will leave.  many will talk behind your back.  some will try to undermine your vision and circumvent your plan.  don’t let those people get you down.  don’t let them hinder you.  stay the course.

all great leaders had to face opposition.  be faithful to your vision.  god gave it to you.  don’t get bogged down by the people who don’t agree with you.  move on.  they will, too.  eventually.  you are not in the people-pleasing business.  god did not call you to make people happy.  he called you to lead.  people are simply sheep without a shepherd…in need of a strong leader to take them where god wants them to be.

if they don’t like your leadership…your vision…your decisions…your style…your theology…well, they can leave and find another church.  that’s not your business.  following god’s leading in your life as a leader is your business.

although i see some truth in this, most of it really, really bothers me.  there’s an arrogance…a theological superiority…that is simply dangerous.  i know that god communicated clearly to the prophets of israel and to the apostles of the first century.  he spoke boldly and audibly to those he called to the demanding roles of leadership in the jewish nation and the early church…and it has been recorded accurately in scripture.

but are we to assume that that every preacher, every church leader, every new church planter, every ministry executive, every president…has the same “hotline” to god?  that every pastor has visionary carte blanche to pray, interpret god’s voice, and then follow that vision…and then run roughshod over people who don’t buy into the vision?  this is uncomfortably heartless to me.

that just seems inconsistent with the character and “leadership” style of jesus.  from a purely corporate perspective,  jesus just wouldn’t have been much of a leader.  he cared too much about people.

now, don’t get me wrong on this.  leaders have to make decisions.  sometimes we choose to do things (hopefully, in collaboration, dialogue, and relationship with others) that people will disagree with.  there are tough things that leaders need to do…and we must do them.  and sometimes people get hurt and discouraged and frustrated in the process.

it’s a very complicated issue.  no easy answers.

this morning, i’m incredibly grateful to serve with a team of people at north point who recognize that difficult decisions need to be made…agonize deeply when those decisions hurt people…and would never dream of letting me get on some power trip because god gave me a vision and i’m the leader and the people just need to follow.

you’d love to be a fly on the wall if i tried to do that!

Axioms…from my perspective

i’ve decided to dedicate thursdays to giving some of my personal life axioms…truth that, from my perspective, is self-evident. sometimes practical. sometimes philosophical. sometimes whimsical. but truth, no less.

“be the same kind of person, no matter who you’re with or what you’re doing.”

this axiom is very particular to the uniqueness of a minister’s home, but i think the principle applies just about everywhere.

i made the decision when our boys were very young that i would work as hard as i possibly could to be the same guy…whether i was at the office, preaching up in front, out on the ball field, hanging around a bunch of teenagers, or watching tv at home.

i wanted my boys to see that i was just as real and just as sincere and just as normal at home, as i was in front of others.  i didn’t create a “preacher” voice (if you don’t know what that is, you haven’t been in the church long enough.)

i disdained the whole “preacher” dress code.  some of you think that i don’t where a suit or a coat and tie or a robe with a collar…because it makes me uncomfortable or because i simply haven’t grown up to be a real adult yet.  truth is, it was a premeditated decision on my part to help my boys keep from getting an over-inflated or unbiblical view of what it meant to grow up as sons of a minister.  too much baggage.  too big a shadow.  too big of a fish bowl.  i didn’t want to add to it.

on that note, i never expected them to be “preacher’s kids”, either.  if i wanted them to grow up normal, then i needed to be normal. and by normal, i mean real.  regular.  simple.  consistent.  predictably ordinary in the sense that god doesn’t love me (or us) any more than anyone else, because of what i do.

i don’t deserve a special parking space or my name on the marquee or a seat at the front.  i don’t need people to change their language or stop smoking around me or clean the house when i come over.  i’m not going to do that for you…why would i expect you to do it for me.  (by the way, i don’t smoke.  not because i can’t, mind you, but because it reminds me of coffee and coffee makes me want to puke…)

i know i’ve said this before, but i don’t mind being introduced as your pastor, as long as after that, you just call me mike.  because my name defines who i am.  my title doesn’t.  i’m just mike.  i want to be just mike everywhere i go and whatever i do.  i don’t want to be a different mike depending on the situation i find myself in.  just mike.

it’s simple.  i can remember it.  i’m seldom confused (at least about that). people know what they’re going to get.

it’s kind of special being predictably ordinary in real, normal kind of way…don’t you think?

“pastor mike, pastor mike…” – seven

this past week while i was in colorado, i had the privilege of addressing a whole group of youth pastors on what stood out to me in the first seven chapters of the gospel of john.  even though it was a large chunk of scripture, there was one section that didn’t just stand out to me…it screamed!

in thinking about john the baptist, check out these excerpts:

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.  1:6-8

Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.  He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ. “ They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”  He said, “I am not.”  ”Are you the Prophet?”  He answered, “No… in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the desert, `Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”  1:19-23

Now some Pharisees who had been sent  questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ”I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.  He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”  1:24-27

To this John replied…He must become greater; I must become less.  3:30

john the baptist is the model for anyone who seeks to be a servant in kingdom.  it is never about us.  it is never about our reputation.  it is never about about the one speaks on behalf of jesus.  it is about jesus.

 

it’s his church.  it’s his rep.  it’s his agenda.

 

the pedestal that pastors perch on perilous.  some pastors believe they belong there.  some believe they have earned it.  some believe god has put them there.  some conclude that they are the holy men of god.  some believe they are to lead from the pedestal.  some feel that they can only be effective overseers if they are up in front.

 

other pastors are placed on the pedestal…by people who have an unbiblical and unhealthy expectation for what a pastor is supposed to be and do.  pastors are not to be honored any more than any other servant in the church.  pastors are not to be revered…only god himself is to be held in “awe”.  pastors are not to be lifted up…jesus said, “if i am lifted up, i will draw all people to me.”

 

my counsel to this assembly of youth pastors was to crawl of the pedestal…quickly…intentionally…before they fall off or someone shoots them!

 

pastors are good people who are called to serve…called to be a voice in the wilderness.  pastors are not worthy to tie the laces of the sandals of jesus.  pastors are leaders.  pastors are to lead the way in becoming less, so that jesus can become greater.

 

that’s it.

“It’s time to get back with the program” – pastor mike

it’s definitely time to get back in this dialogue.  if you are reading this, wake up the slackers you hang with and tell them to start reading again.  this is important.  make sure you go back and read all the “pastor” posts.  we’ve got to keep digging on this subject.

one of the champions of the modern protestant movement was martin luther.  probably the biggest name and the one with the most profound impact.  he was a german monk who led the protest against the catholic church over issues such as: the authority of the bible, the authority of the papacy, salvation by grace, and the role of indulgences.  but before we fully embrace him as our hero who led us from the captivity of the roman catholic domination, we need to look carefully at some of what he said…

luther wrote (in an excerpt from the book “The Ministry in Historical Perspectives”, pp. 114-115):

“God speaks through the preacher . . . A Christian preacher is a minister of God who is set apart, yea, he is an angel of God, a very bishop sent by God, a savior of many people, a king and prince in the Kingdom of Christ . . . There is nothing more precious or nobler in the earth and in this life than a true, faithful parson or preacher.”

looks to me like the priesthood (not of believers!) is very much alive and well in the heart of this great leader of the reformation.

so exactly what is he reforming?

“pastor mike, pastor mike…” – two

ok.  so back to the pastor issue…

i want to state this from the very beginning:  i love what i do.  being a pastor in a church is an honor that is higher than i ever dreamed of achieving and one that i will never come close to deserving.  to spend my days…all of my days…every day…serving the church, the people who are the body of christ…there is no greater gift i could be given.

no matter what else i say in the following days, remember it!

with that said, i want to spend some time considering the role of the pastor.  before we can do that, though, we need to go back in history.  in the life and times of god’s people, the jews, they had “holy men”.  they were the priests.  special men from the tribe of levi.  they were the intermediaries between people and god.  they led worship and taught from the scripture.  they wore special clothing that signified their calling and specialness.  they, alone, were allowed to touch the holy things and go in holy places.  they were indispensable because they interceded.  without them, forgiveness was impossible.  they were undeniable spiritual leaders and the people of god were totally dependent on them for spiritual things…by god’s design.

then jesus came.  there was a new priest in town.  a high priest who, by one other-worldly blow to death and all it stood for, declared the old priestly system useless and installed a new and perfect one in it’s place.  the new high priest came and made the final sacrifice on behalf of god’s people…death on the cross.

think about it.  there is no longer a need for priests.  this is our starting point.