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| Groundbreaking at Redeemer |
My friend Jim Hunter says that a leader is either "green and growing" or "ripe and rotting." University of Michigan professor Robert Quinn told us that organizations are either experiencing "deep change" or "slow death."
This implies that pastors, as leaders, should not be thinking that the "grass is greener on the other side." As leaders, they should be themselves green and growing, involved in deep ongoing transformational change, and grow grass and bring change into the churches they have been called to serve.
Growing a beautiful lawn takes time. The soil must be worked up. Seeds of the the Kingdom, the Real Jesus, and Real Church must be planted in the hearts of the people. All this must be watered and nurtured. And we must trust God. Seeds that are growing secretly are out of our control.
In the meantime, the pastor must focus on his or her own connectedness to God. This will keep them in ongoing renewal and transformation. When the pastor and the leaders (which, in the church, are everyone) are green and growing, and changing deep in their hearts, grass is growing around them.
This will give the pastor staying power.
Pastors - stay and grow where God has planted you. If you can't grow grass there, don't assume you can elsewhere.
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I'm now writing my book Leading the Presence-Driven Church.
My new book is Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.
johnpiippo@msn.com
