God Sightings

photo by Rev. Cathy Stanley-Erickson

If we would only open our eyes...
If we would simply unclog our ears...
Imagine where we would see and hear God as we journey through our supposedly mundane and ordinary daily lives.

Leadership

Is it possible that a good leader and a good Christian leader are two seperate and distinct things...and even incompatible?

Often times in the church, we talk about the need for "good leaders" to rise up and assume positions of leadership within the congregation. We have our nominating committees search for "good natural leaders" but, is that what the church really needs? Does a CEO of a Fortune 500 company automatically mean that they would be a good church leader? Does a self-employed business owner automatically mean that they would be a good church leader? Does it take a knowledge of finances? Does it take HR skills and experience? Must they have a professional degree?

What makes a good church leader?

More than ever, I am convicted that a good church leader is one who is passionate about being a disciple of Christ. A good church leader is active in their own spiritual growth, and cares about the lives and faith of others. A good church leader not only prays "forgive us..., as we forgive..." each day/week, but means it, and lives it out. A good church leader prays. Faithfully and often. A good church leader trusts and believes that God has great things in store, and responds to challenges accordingly. A good church leader is more interested in God's vision than in the budget. A good church leader is more interested in people than in process, yet recognizes the importance of process too. A good church leader listens more than speaks. And too often, we miss the good church leaders in our midst.

Every church needs good leaders to step up into positions of leadership. We just need to better understand what makes a leader "good".

Change

The great FDR, in his first inaugural address to our nation, spoke the famous words "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." These were powerful words for a country in crisis, and helped to instill the resiliency and self-pride so desperately needed by his fellow citizens.

For most of us, the only thing we really fear is change. As a matter of fact, we spend most of our life attempting to eliminate as much change as we can. We develop routines. We discover the best route to work and the best place for lunch. We establish traditions. We go to the same place for vacations and do the same things each time. We adopt habits. We wear a certain brand of clothes for how they fit. We seek the comfortable and familiar. We decorate the house just so, and leave it that way for 20+ years, only to find when it is time to sell, that it is drastically outdated. We try to settle in and get everything "just right". Change frightens us, so we work to eliminate it, or at best, to confront it in very small doses. And yet no matter how hard we try, change comes. Inevitably.

I'm mindful of my grandfather (who passed away earlier this year at the age of 97) and the vast change that he experienced over his lifetime. He went from a childhood home with no electricity, phone or TV, to being one of the first to ever fly a plane (bi-plane) off of a navy aircraft carrier (a wooden deck), to watching on a TV as a fellow pilot took steps onto the moon's surface, to downloading videos and pictures of great-grandchildren via the internet. That is a lot of change for one lifetime. Grandpa liked to call it "progress".

This past week the Senior Pastor that I work with here at church announced his resignation, in order to accept a call to a Senior Pastor position in MN. This is not only a wonderful opportunity for him, but is an exciting reminder of how God continually works in our lives, if we allow him to. I'm thrilled for him. But it brings a great deal of change and transition to this congregation, and to me personally. Change and transition that instinctively creates fear.

Change has the ability to paralyze us. Progress has the ability to help us. My church now enters into a period of transition that I will no longer call "change". It is a period of transition that I will now call "progress" as God reveals his ongoing plans for us. I have nothing to fear.

And who knows what lies ahead during this period of progress...maybe we'll exchange our bi-plane for a rocket ship.