A. J. Jacobs speaks at T.E.D.
Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically — following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.
Archive for August, 2010
By Joe Gomez from Wrecked Blog
First time authors like Anne Jackson are few and far in between. Her blog FlowerDust.net is one of the top-ranked blogs for Christian leadership. In a recent list of the top 60, she is #18, and one of only three women on the entire list. She has an amazing heart for God’s people and unity within his Church, both topics she regularly writes and blogs about, which makes the fact that her first book is about church burnout no surprise.
As unique as Anne may be, she is not alone in her journey. Her newly-released book Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic is both a refreshing confession and hard look at the struggles of ministry burnout, its symptoms, and the dangers it can bring into the church and in the lives of its leaders.
This book isn’t just for pastors. The symptoms of burnout affect everyone from the senior pastor to the worship team to the greeters at the door. If everyone should have a ministry, then everyone, in some way, can be affected by Mad Church Disease.
John Sweetman
Bobby Clinton (from Fuller Seminary) has done research that indicates that few Christian leaders finish well. I think he’s right. Sometimes Christian leaders fail morally and are disqualified from further leadership. Sometimes they get dreadfully damaged and can’t go on. But most of the time they just fade away or slack off or stop making an impact.
I am looking at some of the reasons why Christian leaders fade out. I hope that you will feel challenged and encouraged to pursue lifelong leadership growth.
Reason 3: They get distracted
It has been said that “good is the greatest enemy of the best.” In other words, we are distracted from doing what is most important by doing good things. This is certainly true of Christian leaders. Let me give some examples of good things that have caused Christian leaders to fade out.
1. Family. Now I believe that family is a very high priority for every leader. Many Christian leaders have neglected this important priority and their families have unfairly suffered. We have made a strong effort to redress this imbalance in our leadership training. You lead and serve first at home. But God’s warning question to Eli ring in my head, “Why do you honour your sons more than me?” (1 Sam. 2:29). I have seen many great young leaders get married and start families, and gradually family priorities and responsibilities squeeze out their call to Christian leadership. The young family season can be pretty demanding (for both parents), and some allowance needs to be made for this, but obeying God and following his call still remains paramount.
2. Career. I am not trying to separate your career from your Christian leadership. Many of us will mainly express our leadership for God through our career. But there comes a point for every leader where pursuing our career leads us away from serving God. It usually has something to do with salary or promotion or time demands. At these points, we need to make it clear that our priority is God, not our career or employer. I love the way that the biblical character Daniel was able to maintain God as his priority through a number of high-flying careers. There was no doubt who he served (see Dan. 1 and 6), and his impact as a godly leader was outstanding. Christian leaders can easily be distracted by their careers.
3. Interests. It’s important to have interests outside of work and ministry. I know I’m a nerd, but I enjoy crosswords and new technology. Some of you like sport or the outdoors or eating at good restaurants or travel or movies. Sometimes our interests become a distraction because we are so passionate about them. At other times, the problem is that they release us from the pressure of leadership so we rely and concentrate on them rather than God.
These, of course, are not the only distractions, but they will do to illustrate my point. Distractions usually creep in slowly, but they can turn our hearts and capture our energy and change our priorities. Somewhere every leader has to say with Paul, “Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal…” (Phil. 3:13-14).
John Sweetman
Bobby Clinton (from Fuller Seminary) has done research that indicates that few Christian leaders finish well. I think he’s right. Sometimes Christian leaders fail morally and are disqualified from further leadership. Sometimes they get dreadfully damaged and can’t go on. But most of the time they just fade away or slack off or stop making an impact.
I am looking at some of the reasons why Christian leaders fade out. I hope that you will feel challenged and encouraged to pursue lifelong leadership growth.
Reason 2: They are not teachable
Some leaders fade out because they don’t grow much – they won’t learn from anyone. Oh they might make adjustments on minor matters, but they won’t look for or accept input from those who will challenge them or call them to change. There are a number of reasons for this.
Some leaders are arrogant. They often have experienced early success and really think that they know best. Samson was a leader like that. Because he was greatly gifted by God and was successful, he really believed that his way was the only way; he thought that he knew best. His arrogance made him unteachable. He did not finish well!
Some leaders are desperately insecure. They feel bad about the possibility of being wrong, so they remove themselves from anyone who challenges their ideas or approach. They often gather around them those who will support everything they do and say. They need the constant affirmation. It’s nice, but unfortunately they never learn.
Some leaders are just lazy. They would rather just keep pursuing the familiar than make the effort to change and grow. This will work for a while, but in a changing society, the tried and true eventually becomes the stale and ineffective.
Other younger leaders are driven by postmodern values. They don’t really believe in absolute truth but see their own truth as equal to anyone else’s. So they think that they have no need to learn from anyone else because others will not see truth in the same light.
I see quite a few younger Christian leaders who are unteachable. Some are very capable and quite influential. But I know that they will not finish well. They can’t. Oh they might claim that they’re listening to God and not “man.” But really they’re ignoring God’s voice through others.
However, I see many other younger Christian leaders who are beautifully teachable. They are keen to learn and grow and willingly submit to others. They have strong opinions and won’t change these easily, but they genuinely want to learn and will seek out those who can help them identify their blind spots and challenge their values.
I just hope they don’t lose this openness. Teachabilty won’t guarantee that you finish well, but it’s a great start.
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