[This article is part of the “spiritual leadership today” study/discussion going on this year. For all articles in the series, click the Spiritual Leadership tab at the top of the page. To have them delivered, subscribe to The Brook Letter]
A parable…
A man decided he’d like to go for a ride. As he pulled his smooth-running, cleanly polished car out of the garage, he pressed the accelerator and felt the texture of the road through the wheel in his hands, which he swung this way and then that, cutting along the winding road.
Another man decided he’d like to go for a ride. He led a horse out of the barn, and then mounted the powerful animal, the leather reins in his hands coaxing the horse’s head in the directions he wanted to go. But this horse, on this day, had ideas of his own.
Another man decided he’d like to go for a ride. He unstrapped the surfboard from the top of his car, headed down the beach, and paddled far out where the swells of the ocean undulated beneath him, increasing to surging waves with sharp crests that shot him across the ocean.
Sometimes leadership is like maneuvering a machine with pistons and gears and wheels. That’s organizational leadership. Sometimes leadership is like trying to keep a powerful stallion under control, though the beast is always more powerful than the rider. That’s community leadership–any kind of human community–which attempts to control the fits and starts of human nature. And sometimes leadership is like riding the waves of the great ocean driven by mighty winds. That’s spiritual leadership which is about being willing to be carried wherever the Spirit decides he will go.
We need the cars. We have to deal with beasts. But in the highest form of leadership we focus more on who is controlling us than whom we are trying to control. We submit to the authority, truth, and power of God in Christ. We choose to be taken for a ride–and leadership consists in inviting along as many others as we can.
“and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2)
I am in the process of rebuilding a ministry and have found your leadership studies exceptionally helpful. Today’s reminded me of the focus I should have. May God bless you for your wisdom and the willingness to share it with others. May you particularly experience God’s presence this Easter.
Very powerful image. May God protect his church from our tendency to try to operate like a Fortune 500, well-oiled organization. We’re surfers, not managers!
Thanks. Great pictures of what leadership is all about. Too many times we lump leadership into one big package. This was very helpful, as have been many of you articles. I needed that insight and encouragement.
It was a great article. It gave me some clarity about some things I was thinking concerning leadership. You said it much better than I could have. I will share this with my board and staff.
I am not looking to argue with you and I may have missed an earlier meditation that would clarify what you are saying. But, after thinking about what you wrote in today’s meditation, I think your analogy breaks down on several points.
First, it seems that organizations and community are both composed of people. When I was a manager in an organization, I could not run the organization like a machine. Your caparison to riding a horse was closer to reality and leading involved helping the people define objectives and then guiding them to meet those objectives. The example of servant leadership seems more appropriate and realistic that driving a car that responds mechanically to direction.
Second, community leadership seems to me to be the same. Third, I don’t know what you mean by spiritual leadership. Who are we leading? I am sure you don’t mean that we are leading God. When it come to spiritual issues we are not the leaders, but the followers. And if we are trying to help others become followers, maybe the best we can do is to set an example, educate and encourage. Please know that I am sharing my perspective in love and gratitude.
Thanks for writing, Bob. I’m glad you spoke up. If you were an organizational leader who saw it primarily as leading people, then you were a wise organizational leader. Some people lead like keeping a machine running when they focus on procedures, policies, and other mechanical features–which is a very stunted way of leading an organization. But it happens all the time, which is why there are so many unhappy workers out there who feel like they are just a number.
On your other question about servanthood and the meaning of spiritual leadership, I think you would be helped by going to the beginning of this series of articles (today was #12 in the “spiritual leadership today” series). Just click on the SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP tab toward the top of the home page and that will bring you to the 12 (the oldest one being down near the bottom). There first two or three articles sets the baseline for this year-long discussion.
No, in spiritual leadership we are not leading God. Just the opposite. As I was trying to suggest with the wave analogy, God is moving us, and we get to invite as many people as possible to join in. Analogies are imperfect, or course. So we can take them only as far as they can go.
I hope you write again.
When I am leading from the source, spiritual leadership, in an organizational or community setting, I am at my best. When I am driving the car, on a work project for example, where and how I want to take others, its seldom as great of a ride as allowing the winds and waves to steer me some along the way (while still moving toward organizational purpose and goals).
Hello Mel. Very well thought. I have had two experiences, of coarse the car and the many experiences of horse back riding. When I was stationed in Pearl Harbor back in the 70’s we had the opportunities on liberty of surfing and have to admit I could never get up on a board. It was tricky. I have never thought of that of having the waves and breakers take me wherever it would in which the Holy Spirit would take me. Thank you. Sincerely Bob Jackson Jr.