Dare Great Things

Being afraid is a normal response in front of things that are threatening to us.  The problem is not that we have fear – the question is whether or not we’ll allow that fear to become a catalyst for something greater, for courage, or whether we will allow fear to paralyze us.  When Christ formed his apostles he taught them to stare down there fears and he did this by facing everything before them.  Christ led his leaders through the valleys that they would have to face themselves and he does so for us today as well. 

It's lonely at the top.  How many times have we made that statement about our own situation as a leader or had other people remind us about that truth?  It almost makes us ask the question about whether Jesus ever felt lonely and it begs the question as to how he prepared his apostles for the solitude that would be a part of their life as a leader of the church.  When we look back at hos Christ prepared the apostles, he showed them what to do with loneliness.  He taught them to transform it into the seabed of communion.    

There are many philosophies about leadership out there and some of them hold that failure is not an option.  Many leaders in fact are afraid of making mistakes.  However, when Jesus Christ formed his disciples to be apostles to the nations, to be bold proclaimers of his word, he welcomed their mistakes.  The gospels famously recount many of the mistakes the apostles made while they were with Christ.  What lesson does this teach us for our own lives?  What is God trying to teach us by our mistakes?  This is part six of our ten part series on how Christ made his leaders bold.

Anyone who has achieved any level of success in their life knows that much of their success is a result of hard work.  And yet at the same time hard work is hard to do.  Many people don’t see the importance of hard work in forming the character of a leader and yet when Christ formed his twelve apostles he shared the labors of evangelization with them.  And he invited his apostles to embrace labor as a part of their life.  How did this help form his apostles to be the bold leaders they would need to be and what role does hard work play in our life as leaders today. 

It goes without saying that our culture today is facing a crisis of truth.  Ideas and customs we once held dear are being questioned and our young people seem to be bereft of sure guides for what life is all about.  But was it that much different at the time of Christ?  And how did Jesus respond to the difficulty of the people of his day to embrace truth?  When Jesus formed his twelve apostles he formed them as apostles of truth and sent them to teach the nations in his name.  What impact does that have for us as leaders today? 

Following the way of the Lord obviously is the right thing to do.  It’s a good thing and should make us happy.  Why then is it so often marked by difficulty?  Why wouldn’t God make our path an easy one?  If we go to the New Testament we see that actually it never was easy and when our Lord was forming his disciples to be bold proclaimers of his Word he formed them through challenge and difficulty.  Learning how he did it with them then can make us better leaders now. 

When it comes to making leaders nobody does it better than God himself.  Studying what scripture tells us about how Jesus himself trained leaders is the ultimate pattern for how we can advance in leadership today.  In this ten part series I want to study the elements that are essential to this leadership formation.  Prominent amongst those many features is the fact that Jesus formed his apostles to live in a community.  A veritable band of brothers.  This was no accident but has great fruits for them and for us today. 

When it comes to learning how to lead no one can teach us better than Christ.  And for Christians who are trying to lead their world Christ is the ultimate and best reference point.  So how did he do it?  When he had his disciples to form in order to make them the leaders that he wanted them to be – how did he approach it?  In this first of a ten part series we try to answer those questions.  And let Jesus speak and form us as leaders today.  Christian leadership is the way of every disciple – then and now.

A leader could have the best strategy in the world but if he’s unable to make a choice on how to implement it his strategy will be meaningless.  And yet is precisely here that many of us struggle.  Making a choice seems irrevocable and sometimes choosing one way in preference to another seems like closing the door on perfectly good opportunities.  But then again not choosing is also a choice and it’s a choice that won’t bring us to where we need to go.  How does our faith in God help us with this dilemma?   How does it help us to be leaders who decide?

In the Gospel our Lord tells us to be as cunning as serpents and as simple as doves.  What does it mean to be cunning as a serpent and how could our Lord possibly want us to be cunning?  Anyone involved in leadership knows that leaders need to be strategic.  They need to think ahead of the curve and find a plan for achieving the great things that they set out to do.  Could this be what Christ meant?  How do Christians live and thinks strategically at the service of their love?

The ability to cast an effective vision is much more than coming up with great ideas.  Ideas require planning in order to be effective and planning requires choice and focus.  But as we all know our choice and focus can sometimes be wrong.  That’s because strategy itself depends upon our awareness.  Being alert, being aware, and being attentive is the secret for making great plans.  Let’s take a look at how this dovetails with our faith to help us lead everywhere in our lives. 

One of the most important aspects to any leadership is your ability to have ideas.  Casting a vision and showing where we want to go is essential to have anyone follow us.  But what is the difference between having ideas and having good ideas?  What makes a potential idea or a future vision something that is captivating and true?  Our Christian faith helps us here – God will help us to be temperate, to not be afraid to prioritize, and to be open to the great things he wants to do through us.

The easiest way to get lost in doing anything is to not know what you are trying to do to begin with.  Anytime we’re called to lead a project of any kind, our leadership begins with vision.  But what if we can’t find a vision?  Is there something deeper at the root of being able to cast a vision going forward?  There is – we call it the power to dream.  Dream is the power within a leader to reach forward to something which you do not yet possess and its roots lay in healing our ability to desire things. 

All great leaders dare to dream but what do you do when the dreams have gone dry?  Where does our power to come up with great ideas or great initiatives come from?  In the Christian view of leadership, it comes from deep within our hearts made in the image and likeness of God.  Which is why the redeeming power of Christ to heal us and our sense of ourselves is the key to unlocking our desire to dare great things for Christ.  Journey with us as we explore self-acceptance and its power to change our lives. 

There are a plethora of books and articles written about leadership today.  But most of them focus on leadership as if it were an individual enterprise – almost like something the leader does in a vacuum.  In fact, however, leadership requires leading others which means our relationship with others and ability to get them to join our cause is at the heart of what we’re doing.  Does our faith in Christ give us an advantage here?  How does a Christian leader form a team and motivate them to give the very best of themselves. 

The key that determines the success of every great endeavor is whether or not we actually do it.  Planning, scheming, dreaming, all of these things are fine but in the final analysis only doing a deed will get the deed done.  But getting things done is hard.  Things can arise that we did not plan energy can wane situations can change.  It’s a good thing that God is on our side and leading out of a place of faith helps you to bend and not break. 

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  The same could be said about the road to failure.  The difference between success and failure is often the ability to try.  But this is exactly what is difficult for many of us.  We can have the greatest intentions and the most noble aspirations but passing into action seems to be on of the hardest things to do.  Does faith offer us any remedy?  Does grace give us any advantage in taking the plunge of leadership? 

All of us want to be influential in our lives.  We want to be successful parents, great business leaders, powerful leaders in our community and we know that all of our influence flows from our actions and all of our actions flow from our intentions and desires.  But intentions are not good enough.  Great leaders know how to build on good intentions and make effective plans to really hit the mark.  Our Catholic faith shows us this in many ways and our faith can provide a priceless tool as we fight for vision.

It seems self evident to say that all leadership begins with vision but that begs the question, “where does vision begin?” For many people finding a vision is a very difficult thing to do.  In the face of so many problems and challenges how can we come up with good solutions.  The truth be told God has a lot to do with healing our ability to dream.  His grace in us repairs the fundamental structure of leadership by allowing us to recapture our ability to cast a vision.

Leadership has many definitions but all of them have one thing in common:  people have to follow.  Regardless of how good your idea is or how passionate you are about it, if you can’t bring other people along with you, you will not be able to lead successfully.  But effectively sharing your vision and your passion is more than just a natural talent.  It’s a skill that can be studied and harnessed.  And what is more, it is an especial gift that Christ gives to the world through his Christian leaders.