For about as long as I can remember (or at least since my arrival in Happy Valley) Dan Nold has been telling me that it’s important to pay attention to the people God brings around you (me). Those words of wisdom flow out of the Experiencing God study that continues to rock my world. One of the ways to determine what God is doing is to pay attention, to notice the changes in the setting you’re in. Who is God bringing to the team? What are our assets? (Your brains, Fezzik’s strength, my steel.)
When God is about to do something, he reveals it to his people, inviting them to join him where he is already at work.
Over the years I have what I’d have to call a mixed bag when it comes to leadership and team development. There have been great teams and teams that struggled. I don’t want to take credit for success that isn’t mine, and I certainly can’t shrug off responsibility for missing the mark at times. But this whole midtown leadership piece has been kicking my proverbial tail for a while.
I’ve been so busy working in the ministry that I haven’t been able to work on the ministry.
When I look back over my journals, one of the consistent prayer themes involves finding the right people and placing them in the right roles. I’ve been persistent in asking God for good teammates over the years. But I think that I may have stumbled onto a breakthrough in the past few months.
In order to allow people to step into their roles on the team I have to get out of the way.
I got caught in the trap of thinking that if “it” was going to get done and done correctly I had to be the one to do “it.” That’s a lie from the pit of hell. But I believed it. I would have told you that I didn’t believe it, but my life and actions told a different story. I was stuck in maintenance mode, keeping the plates spinning, overly busy but not productive. There’s no life, no vitality there. Lots of activity, but little fruit.
Something broke loose a couple of months ago. Same prayers. Same asking God for right people in the right roles. But all of a sudden I find myself surrounded by some people who have been around for a long time, others who are so new they’re still shiny! They’re stepping into leadership roles, asking for responsibility, creating and systematizing, praying and asking God: “What do YOU want to do here?”
What changed? I think the big thing is me. My attitude changed. I altered my role, taking a different path toward leading people. I stopped doing some of the things I feel pretty good at, allowing others to step into some of those roles. I started doing some things which need to be done by me. I met with a few key people to talk about the changes, asking them to step up, to step into a new leadership role…and they agreed!
The story isn’t completely written. I don’t have a finished product in mind. But I believe that God has surrounded me with a bunch of people who are an answer to prayer. I probably owe others an apology; my slowness and inability to extricate myself from some of those roles earlier meant they were frustrated and likely moved on…I’m sorry. I believe that God is positioning us to be useful to him, to experience him in ways that we have only dreamed about.
And I am ready…
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