Manipulative Expectations!

I came across this pictured book recently:

Leaders” – Learning Leadership from Some of Christianity’s Best. Harold Myra, ed.

There are some gems within worth sharing here, especially for those engaged in denominational leadership at every level. Here’s one piece of advice, looking back, that resonates particulary. Too late for me, hopefully not so for you emerging leaders reading this:

Richard Foster: “I went to a tiny church in Southern California that would rank as a marginal failure on the ecclesiastical scoreboards. I went in there and worked and planned and organized, determined to turn this church around. But things got worse. Anger seemed to permeate everyone: the conservatives were mad at the liberals, the liberals were mad at the radicals, and the radicals were mad at everyone else. I hated to go to pastors’ conferences because I didn’t have any success stories to tell. I was working myself to death, but it seemed to do no good. Then I spent three days with my spiritual director. Toward the end of that time he said, ‘Dick, you have to decide whether you are going to be a minister of this church or a minister of Christ.’ That was a turning point. Until then I had allowed other people’s – and my own – expectations to manipulate me.”

A Slightly Irregular thought: In my experience, most of our corps would “rank as marginal failures on the ecclesiastical scoreboard,” thus encompassing Divisions and Territories as well.

Good advice for leaders at every level.


Commissioner Joe Noland (SA)