5 Principles I Learned From Disappointment

We had the deal of all deals presented to our church a few months ago. Because of the people involved I can’t share details, but it was one of those “too good to be true” scenarios. It came from nowhere and totally rocked my world for a few weeks. I personally had 80 to 100 hours invested. It was going to be huge for our church and community.

I love a dream and I’m not afraid to take a risk, but I had sought tons of wisdom, the staff was excited, and the potential for ministry would have been incredible. It seemed like a wise direction for the church and was days from becoming reality. The only thing left to do was sign the papers.

Almost as soon as the deal arrived, through no fault of our own, the deal fell through.

Thankfully, from my business and life experience, I have learned to deal with disappointment, but at first, this seemed like a huge loss.  Over the next few days I began to process what had happened and the energy I had “wasted”.

Here are 5 things I learned from the experience:

• The process taught me important leadership and negotiation skills.
• The brainstorming and prayer process as a church staff brought us closer together.
• We learned more about who we are as a church and what we value most.
• Those involved in the process outside our church gained new knowledge and respect for our church.
• The momentum that started within our staff about the possibilities will have lasting value as we transfer it to other avenues.

Ultimately, what I learned is that it wasn’t wasted energy after all. There were valuable lessons gained from what appeared to be a negative experience.  Those lessons will make me a better leader and pastor.

I wonder if perhaps other disappointments in life have similar principles to be learned…

What do you think?

For more thoughts on leadership, click HERE.