Becoming
the Leader
You Were Meant to Be
By Ron Marsh
Meet Dan, a 47 year old pastor at a
relatively contemporary church on the west coast. Dan has been the senior
leader for eight years and has watched a handful of people meeting in his home
grow to a formidable church of over 700. Leading a staff of three full-time
pastors and four part-time administrative staff, Dan has been instrumental in
the growth of hundreds of people. In the past two years however, Dan began to
sense an uneasiness about his role and began to see a change on the horizon.
During a recent all church vision casting event, as he stood before the church
painting a picture of the future, he found himself less than enthusiastic about
the vision he was casting and his role as the senior leader. Somehow in the
busy-ness of ministry and the challenges of a growing congregation Dan had
realized that what was required of him to lead at this stage of the church was
not the leader God had called him to be.
Dan wasn’t the only one recognizing that something needed to change. His
staff had begun to feel the effects of his internal struggle. Pastor Dan, who
had been so casual, caring, and relational had now become tense, distant, and
difficult to work with.
Clarifying the Call
It’s clear that Dan was faced with an
opportunity to grow. Just how he would embrace this opportunity would be up to
him. Before he made any decisions about his future, Dan set out on a journey to
clarify his own leadership call. Encouraged by a colleague, he hired a
leadership coach to help him through this process.
During a pivotal point in his
coaching, Dan was asked to reflect on the reasons he started pastoring this
small group of people in the first place. He then began recounting the early
days of the church. With great excitement he described starting from scratch in
his living room, working a full time job, meeting people at night in their
homes, and the various evangelistic efforts on the weekends used to draw others
into their little community. What was once fun, fulfilling, and challenging had
somehow become ordinary, lackluster, and burdensome.
Suddenly, Dan had an “ah-ha.” As he reflected on those early days,
he realized that God had called him to lead a brand new work, establishing a
body of believers where none had existed previously, and blaze a trail for
others to follow. He now had a point of clarity about the leader God had called
him to be. His coach asked him, “So Dan, who do you want to be?” Dan’s answer was, “I want to be the kind of leader who starts a new work, develops
that work into a thriving congregation, and then somehow passes the baton to
other competent leaders.”
Dan had now painted for himself a
compelling picture of the future. For the first time in a few years he had a
sense of intention and excitement as he tapped into his motivation. Where he
once saw only overwhelming circumstances, he now saw opportunity.
Getting in Touch with Reality
His next challenge was to define his
current reality. His coach asked another powerful question. “Dan, what kind of leader are you now?” Dan responded with, “One who doesn’t like what he’s doing. I’m just not suited to manage multiple staff members, it takes me
away from the congregation and I feel disconnected with what’s happening in the body. I guess I like starting new things, and
I’ve really struggled with this one
because I want to be sure I’m not just saying I’m unwilling to grow in my managing or leadership skills.”
Dan was now on a quest to accurately
and honestly assess his current reality. He gathered information from his
staff, elders, and congregation to evaluate his current leadership. The result
was a gap between the leader Dan had become (the reality) and the leader Dan
believed he was called to be (the ideal).
In the subsequent months, Dan worked
with his staff to develop a win-win plan in which he could continue pursuing
his leadership call as a church planter and what he calls a “ministry entrepreneur” and still be connected to his
founding church.
Every leader is faced with the
responsibility of developing their leadership skills. There is no short-cut to
the process of leadership development and becoming the leader you were called
to be. However, there are tools you can use to help catalyze the process. See
the attached worksheet to help you define your leadership call, your current
reality, and how you can bridge the gap between them.
Click here to download a simple assessment of
your leadership role you can use to begin the process Dan went through.
Ron Marsh is a certified life coach who helps others live in the center
of the purpose and passion. Meet Ron at www.PurposeFilledLife.com or www.CoachingPastors.com/Marsh.htmll.