One of my weaknesses in leadership is failing to give enough details. I am skilled at painting the big picture. I have tons of ideas. I can usually get people motivated, but often they have no idea what they are to do next. Knowing this about myself, I must constantly ask if people around me understand what I am trying to communicate. This doesn’t come natural for me, but it is something I have tried to practice in my leadership. (You’d have to ask someone on my team if I’m any good at it.)
The team at Seacoast is packed with sharp people and Mac Lake is one of their best. Mac and I have never met, unless the world of social media counts. If it does we’ve met frequently. I’ve enjoyed our emails, Twitter, blog and TokBox correspondence. Mac is a deliberate and strategic thinker. I don’t know anyone currently more passionate about developing leaders than Mac Lake.
I have tried to practice this principle in my marriage. Cheryl agrees with this principle also, but being the one better wired for dreaming, one year I gave Cheryl a set of large letters for her office that simply spelled the word DREAM. It serves as a reminder to her that we want to continue to dream together as a couple.
Moses was used of God to do incredible things for God’s glory, yet Moses, more than many leaders I know, questioned his own abilities. He lacked confidence and would have probably never volunteered for the job. His reasons might have been:
I believe dreams help us heal from negative emotions, stretch our imagination, and encourage us in the midst of difficult times. Sure dreams alone won’t solve the problems we face, but they may help point us towards a positive direction…and who knows…we may just head our life towards attaining some of them.
I think where I have landed, at least for now, is that bigger than the issue of evaluation, is the issue of continuance. The fact is that I really do believe growth is occurring in individual lives, not just in the total numbers of people. We are accomplishing our objective to “make growing disciples of Jesus Christ”. I still want to consider ways to validate that belief, and I have some ideas I’m working on there, but the key word for me now is sustainability. I want us to be able to continue doing what we’ve been doing.
I realize before that any line of thinking that involves evaluation in a spiritual context is controversial at best, but evaluating now will help us continue to grow and stay healthy and enhance the future growth that we experience. I personally believe that the church must be evaluating progress towards objectives, as any healthy organization should do.
Getting out of town always provides me with time to develop new thoughts. Often I get into such a routine at home, that I don’t stop to just reflect, ponder, think and dream. I have to be alone, totally removed from my normal comfort zone it seems to really slow down enough to reflect. Yesterday, between sessions, I went for a long run along the Lake Shore Drive. (This is my favorite city in which to run.) About half way through the run, as I was talking to God, it seemed He impressed on my heart that there are new challenges He wants me to consider.
If you serve on a well-organized team, then your role is vital to the success of the organization’s mission. If you do not pull your own weight, the entire team suffers because of it, and ultimately the entire organization suffers. Healthy teams are dependent on every member of the team.
Carlos Whitaker is one of the most creative and inspiring leaders in today’s church culture. Carlos also has one of the most read blogs among Christians. Carlos is an architect of visions and his current work is with the launch this Spring of Soul City Church in Chicago. (I wrote about Soul City’s Jarrett Stevens HERE.)
