Healthy Leaders | Issue 1
Suffering offers strength, risks are totally worth it, and words really do break your bones.
Welcome to Issue 1 of Healthy Leaders.
In this issue ‒ suffering offers strength, risks are totally worth it, and words really do break your bones. Let’s dive in.
Suffering Proves We Are Real
One of the major ways that God works in our lives is through suffering, but it won’t work anything good in us unless we respond rightly. Marshall Segal offers a helpful perspective, jumping off from Romans 5:3-4:
“Before suffering can strengthen our hope, we first need to put our deepest, strongest hope in God. Those who can rejoice in the hope-building experience of suffering can only do so because they have some hope to build upon. They already rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
That means the first step to suffering well is to die to all our confidence in self and learn to rely instead on God. If suffering turns you inward (as it tends to do), you’re likely to fall into downward spirals of despair, like so many do. If, however, suffering lifts your eyes to someone above and beyond this pain or problem, then it can become a staircase into greater courage and joy. The staircase may be arduous and harrowing, but it can carry you onto firmer ground and into fairer fields — if you are not your own hope in suffering. Suffering will not stoop to serve you if you will not bend your knee before God.”
If you’ve been a leader in any capacity for any length of time, you know that the opportunity to turn to God in the midst of suffering is not about if it happens, but when. May we be ready when the time comes.
Jumping to Conclusions About People
Of course, some of our suffering is due to some mistake of our own – and one of those mistakes is the assumption that we know it all. Admired Leadership takes aim at a particular problem – jumping to conclusions – that disrupts our ability to genuinely care for those we lead.
“Slowing down those who make hasty or faulty judgments about others is not easy. Because they rarely examine the track record of their assumption-making, those who jump to conclusions about people often remain convinced that they possess a unique clairvoyance that serves them well. This makes them want to jump even faster, trusting their first impression or reading the early signals they deem so essential.
Perhaps the only way to curtail the cognitive distortion of jumping to conclusions is to encourage jumpers to ask more questions before making split-second judgments about who people are or what they believe or think.”
Seems to make a pretty good case for humility, wisdom, and curiosity as key growth areas for leaders.
A Soft Tongue Will Break a Bone
Speaking of wisdom, A. W. Workman recalls a moment when the power of a fit word spoken wisely turned the tide.
“While other personalities were stronger or more charismatic, the room hushed every time Dave had something to say. There seemed to be several reasons for this. First, he didn’t speak up that often, so when he did, everyone was curious to hear what he was thinking. Second, he was the eldest of the elders present, having spent many years ministering to rural Kentucky churches, having experienced the death of his first wife, and living now with the heartbreak of adult children who were not believers. He had a wealth of experience gained through sorrow, earned on a long road of faithful service. And finally, when he did speak, the presence of spiritual wisdom in his words was unmistakable. Younger men like us who were mainly drawn to the words of the more dynamic leaders in the room watched and learned as those same dynamic men hung on every quiet thing that Dave had to say.”
This one also reminds me of Proverbs 10:19: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”
Is Christianizing the Culture the Biblical Mission of the Church?
Malcolm’s most recent article takes on Christianizing the culture.
“Those who promote ideas like the “Seven Mountains” often accuse the Church of not doing enough to impact the world around her. This accusation is sometimes warranted. Christians and churches that are doing nothing but lazily waiting for Jesus to come back should be exhorted to repent and awake from their slumber. However, a truly vibrant Church will not be passive at all but highly active in making disciples, building leaders, and planting and building churches that reach out aggressively to all around them.
And this is the main danger of errors like the “Seven Mountains”: they distract the Church from her true mission of preaching the Gospel and making disciples. They substitute political and social activism and trying to subdue and dominate the kingdoms of this world in place of the true disciple-making work of the Church.”
6 Questions about Finding a Mentor
J. Garrett Kell offers some biblical advice for those seeking to learn from mature leaders like Dave.
“Q: Am I a bother to a more mature believer if I ask them to disciple me?
A: To assume that a more mature believer doesn’t benefit from discipling others is a misunderstanding of what happens during discipling. God uses discipling to bless everyone involved. When Christians meet up, Jesus is always sanctifying everyone in the room.
Consider Paul’s words to the Romans: “I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Rom. 1:11–12). Paul desired to bless them with his spiritual gifts, but the same Paul who encountered Jesus personally (Acts 9; Gal. 1:12) and was even called into heaven (2 Cor. 12:2) also expected to be blessed by them.
As I recently reflected on my week, I discovered that God used both younger and struggling believers to bless me. As I watched them trying to trust Jesus, I was challenged to trust Jesus. As I shared the Word with them, I was served by the Word. As we worked through the consequences of their sin, I was freshly emboldened to fight my own sin. God is always sanctifying everyone at the same time. This is true for both the person being discipled and the one doing the discipling. You won’t be a bother to a more mature believer; you will be used by God to bless them.”
No matter what stage of life you’re in, there’s someone who has walked the path before you. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them.
Why Christians Should Take Risks
Darryl Dash offers a compelling argument for Christian risk-taking:
“…Playing it safe with our resources reveals a heart that doesn’t understand God. I’m fascinated with the parable of the talents, particularly with the servant who buried the money entrusted to him. “I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours,” that servant said (Matthew 25:25). The message of the parable is directed at the Pharisees who guarded God’s word so carefully that, as Michael Green writes, “they buried it where ordinary people could not get at it.” But the parable has a wider application, Green says. “It applies to all who are determined to retain the status quo and to avoid risk and change in their religion — to all who refuse to trade with the responsibilities the Master gives them.”
God expects us to do something with the resources he’s entrusted to us. Playing it safe isn’t an option. While we shouldn’t be reckless, we should invest what he’s entrusted to us, and investment always involves some risk.”
And if you find risk-taking difficult, we also have a design for that…
That’s all for this one, friends. If you found something encouraging in this letter, share it with a friend. If you’ve found something encouraging outside of this letter, send it our way. We love to share what our leaders love.
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris