The Rooted Leader: Eric Geiger on Leading Like Nehemiah
What extra challenges do church leaders encounter?
Pastors certainly face extra pressure, and our work is never finished. When Paul detailed his own sufferings, including beatings and shipwrecks, he ended the long list with the overwhelming weight of daily concerns for the people he served. Rootedness is required to carry that weight without it crushing you.
How does your approach to leadership fruits differ from secular leadership advice?
The seven fruits aren’t unique to Nehemiah. From a Christian perspective, the main difference is the focus on the roots beneath each fruit’s surface. In our growth as followers of Jesus, connection to the Vine results in the fruit of the Spirit. And in leadership, we also must address the underlying roots.
To acquire vision, for example, Nehemiah didn’t get away for a retreat to brainstorm a statement. He was bombarded with a burden for Jerusalem’s broken walls and believed God would keep his promise to bring people back. The below-ground roots of burden and belief produced the fruit of visionary leadership in Nehemiah’s life.
When pastors fail morally, the world throws that in Christians’ faces. Amid such criticism, how can pastors maintain their character?
Trust and credibility certainly erode when ministry leaders’ lives don’t match their words. But pastors are responsible for their own credibility, not the credibility of the entire U.S. church.
When yet another negative headline appears, the best pastoral response is to mourn, pray for everyone involved, remember my own sinfulness, and be filled with resolve. I’m not above falling, but I can pledge to give myself fully to the One who can protect me from stumbling and make me stand.
Also making headlines is the number of pastors leaving ministry. To church leaders who are tempted to walk away, what’s your advice? What “fruit” should those leaders address first, and why?
I understand moments of contemplating leaving pastoral leadership and its burdens. Sometimes I’ll see a person holding an advertising sign on the corner and think, I want that job. I’ll bet he doesn’t take his work home with him.
Friends have walked away from the vocation for solid reasons, and I don’t think less of them. Some believed that they, as followers of Jesus, could make a bigger impact in the marketplace. For others, local church ministry was too much for their family, and leaving was a way to prioritize that ministry.
The fruit of resolve is pre-deciding that we won’t abandon our integrity, more than not abandoning a specific role. Yet I don’t want lots of pastors to leave full-time church work. Ministry leaders face seasons of planting and harvesting, so I advise, “Don’t quit on a bad day, and don’t quit in one day.” You’d likely regret walking away in the worst season or on the most difficult day, without lots of prayer and wise counsel.
