leadership and change

Any leader that desires to change an organization, and change radically, is painting a big bull’s-eye on themselves. Be ready for accusations and criticism, and be strong enough to slaughter some sacred cows (those untouchable areas of the church, either programs or facility that can’t be changed, though keeping said areas are often either killing or at least prohibiting the church). George, Barna, in his book, The Second Coming of the Church, says this about plateaued churches:

Change: In essence, over the course of time, the drive for self-preservation overwhelms the desire for true growth.

He goes on to say,

“. . . unless intentional self-renewal is built into the development process, every organization will die.”

In becoming the pastor of the church, I was scared. I was scared that we would eventually be closing the doors, and who wants to be known as the “last pastor our church ever had.”

I like what was said by Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, quoted in Wordcraft, by Alex Frankel: “You can’t talk a culture into changing. You can’t just exhort people to be different. You’ve got to point to fundamental strategic changes you’re going to implement in a company and then drive the execution of that strategy. And it is in the execution of the strategy that the culture begins to change.” That is an accurate description of what a leader of change needs to do. And by the way, pray alot! As I said on a previous posting, prayer has to be the foundation of all that is done. But after prayer, I did what I believe the Holy Spirit was leading me to do, and often times I didn't give people much of a choice, much like the quote above.

I’ll talk a lot about change, it’s one of my favorite subjects, and desperately needed if a church is going to renew their commitment to make disciples of Jesus Christ.