On Leading Well

Year: 2008

  • Too Busy to Lead?

    A seminary professor of mine regularly warned us about the “barrenness of busyness.” Now that 2008 is nearly wrapped up, I’m wondering how much of the bad news was related to the busyness of leaders.

    Good leaders always seem to have one eye on the vision and another eye below the waterline. They pay attention to small dings, nicks and holes that could grow large enough to one day sink the ship. This doesn’t mean they are micromanaging – they’re not. They are aware.

    Think about the headlines you read in 2008. Think about all the different issues leaders are supposed to be aware of, concerned about, dealing with, informed of, executing plans toward, hiring or firing the right people to rectify, etc. Darfur, alternative energy, US politics, mortgage-backed securities, “happy holidays” vs “Merry Christmas,” Orlando school busing schedules, church polity, Tony Romo’s playoff record, neighborhood homeowners paint color palette, Caylee Anthony, Obama cabinet members backgrounds….

    Can anyone really be expected, as a leader, to have fully informed convictions on each of these AND take good care of the handful of core issues that are most relevant to their job, family and personal life? I don’t think so.

    The result? Shallowness, barrenness, posturing, blameshifting, and loss of opportunity for real progress in a few, very important areas.

    May 2009 bring us more focus, less barrenness, and increasing fruitfulness.

  • 7-Year Old Ben Gets It

    Two weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking to over 4,000 Texas A&M Aggies at the Go! Missions Conference in College Station. I’m still amazed that roughly 10% of the student population would brave rainy weather to worship with Charlie Hall and be invited to join God’s great plan for every tribe, tongue, people and nation. 60 missions organizations showed up to recruit volunteers for service, lending credibility to the claim that this public university set in the Brazos valley is among the world’s greatest missions sending bases.

    While in town I got to spend an entire day with two old friends. Brian Fisher pastors one of the partner churches who sponsored the missions conference. Guff and his family currently serve as missionaries in Greece, following a decade of doing life together with our family in East Asia.

    As we shared enchiladas and stories around the Fisher’s dinner table, Brian asked his son Ben to explain leadership to us. Ben’s a strapping young buck who just turned seven. Without the slightest hesitation, Ben replied:

    “Leadership is like a conductor who waves his arms and keeps time for the symphony orchestra. This is different than bossing. Bossing is when he tells every musician ‘do this, play that, do it this way.’”

    Note to Ben: Call me in ten or twelve years. I’ll have a job waiting for you.

  • Go Beyond! God’s Heart for All Nations from Genesis to Revelation


    During the Go! Missions Conference in College Station, Texas, I’ll walk through these twelve passages which progressively reveal God’s heart to bless the nations through the person of Jesus Christ.

    Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3

    May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us,

    that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Psalm 67:1-2

    And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Isaiah 49:5-6

    And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction…. These twelve Jesus sent out… Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5

    Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

    And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15

    And [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:46-47

    “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

    Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20:21

    But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

    The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

    After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands… Revelation 7:9

    All Scripture quotes from the English Standard Version