Though it’s deeply gratifying to have been part of a ministry where God has allowed so many of our dreams to be fulfilled, as long as I am in a position of leadership, it will demand the same things leadership has always demanded.
What Leadership Requires
Here are the principles I believe are required in every season in order to lead a healthy and successful church or organization.
We need to be the right leader in each season of ministry—in both character and competence. This demands the hard work of remaining unchanging in character while continuing to grow and excel in the needed leadership competencies.
We need to continue to invest in developing the right leaders at every level of the organization and building the right kind of teams. This doesn’t get easier with time. In my experience, it gets harder.
We need to keep clarity on our identity (who we are) and God-given mission (what we’re called to do)—and we need to continue communicating both with clarity at every level of our church or organization, from the crowd to the core. We can’t ever get lazy here. Having done it well for years isn’t enough. We must be doing this well now.
We need to always be seeking to create fresh opportunities for new missional momentum. We can’t rely on yesterday’s creativity. We have to keep innovating.
We need to be faithful in our willingness to accept short-term losses for long-term gains. This does not get easier as we get older and more experienced.
We need to keep doing the hard work of ministry without losing the huge faith required. One without the other, while easier to maintain, leads to a failure of leadership.
As long as I am in a position of leadership, I need to give my whole self to doing the hard work of leading. Though how it looks and the specifics of what we’re doing may change with the times, the principles will always remain the same. When I’m no longer willing to do the work of leading, it’s time for me to retire from my position of leadership. I’m just glad I’m not there yet. I still find leading, as hard as it is, to be a whole lot of fun.