In the book you stay away from formulas. You’re not telling people how to engineer a comeback or figure things out on their own.
I like to go back to Moses at the burning bush. He gets this incredible calling from God. He immediately looked in the mirror and said, “You’ve got the wrong guy.” And God doesn’t say, “No, Moses, you’re incredible. You can do this.” He didn’t give him a self-help tutorial. Instead God said, “I’ll be with you.” In other words God is saying, “This isn’t going to be a story of your adequacy. This is going to be a story of my sufficiency.” That’s what people need to hear.
Relate that principle to ministry. Often church leaders see their success in ministry as a referendum on their self-worth or competency. How can they overcome that tendency?
We all have the tendency to take on the weight of the world. Often it comes from a good place. We want to see people come to God and fulfill their potential. But that can subtly morph into a belief that I’ve got to figure all this out on my own. Leading a family of faith is the hardest job in America. Some people might say being the president is hardest. But I think the president should try leading a local church for a while. He’ll probably be happy to get back to being the president after that. It’s a daunting task for anyone. It’s the highest calling and the most challenging opportunity.
I have to remember to be still and know, in this moment fully, that he is God. That is the most freeing, life-giving leadership lesson, period. “Be still and know that I am God.” We need to offload the pressure of being God back onto God. I’m going to offload the fact I’m worrying about this family, that people are upset about some decision. I’m going to offload the fact that the whole church may go up in smoke. I can’t control that. I’m going to be on my knees listening to God and obeying him. But I’m not going to be out there, trying to be God. That’s not my job.
Check out Giglio’s interview on the Church Leaders podcast.