God is looking for good leaders more than He is ministers. There are many ministers and ministries. Good leaders are hard to find, though.
God is looking for problem solvers. Many will see the problem but few will get their hands dirty to solve it. If we are only looking for the success of our ministry without first and foremost becoming a good leader in it, we will miss God’s higher purpose. The church is full of people who rightfully see the problems but will do little to solve them. Solutions come through relating, sharing, praying, getting dirty in the spiritual poop, confronting, giving input, a willingness to also be wrong and learn, sacrificing time and resources, serving, vulnerability, transparency, plugging in, accessibility to others, and to know people and be known by them. This is leadership.
Where there are cows, there is poop in the stable. Good leaders must be willing to get their hands dirty with spiritual poop. If you simply want to prophesy to the poop and stay clean you are are missing the higher calling. If you run away from the poop without attempting to clean it up first, you are also missing God’s higher purpose.
Many will run away from the problem, but who will remain and solve it? This is the mark of a leader.
A minister can have a ministry and gauge his or her success through the ministry, but God is not satisfied with that.
It’s impossible to accurately judge a situation without entering into relationships and spend time with the people who created it. I have discovered that I can only adequately judge a situation when I have spent real time and involvement with the people who are in it.
It’s easy to prophesy to the problem from the outside without paying the price to get involved, get your hands dirty, and solve it. As a matter of fact, a prophecy from the outside without getting involved with those to whom you are prophesying it to, will always be “only partially correct.”
Some will complain about an individual, but very few will spend time to mentor and disciple that individual. This is the call of the hour.
There are others who will run from meeting to meeting or church to church looking for the greener grass, but few will change for the better what they have been called do in the first place. As my friend Dr. Lawton Smith would say, “We need less saluting and more shooting.”
As I grow older, I am convinced that healthy church growth will only occur with relationship minded people. I feel that people are tired of “churchiness” and are looking for relationships, reality, loving confrontation to their brokenness found in mentoring. I am tired of meetings just for meetings sake. I think that God is as well.
Jose and Mary Alvarez 