The Burden Only Leaders Know

I'm still kind of detoxing from Catalyst last week. If you don't know what Catalyst is, it's an awesome Church Leadership conference, and I'm lucky enough to have it in my own back yard. I take a billion notes during the conference, and as kind of my own personal way to go back over some of those notes, I thought I'd take some time over the next week or so share some thoughts with you.

In one of his talks, Andy Stanley talked about a stark reality for leaders: The more successful you are, the less accessible you become. It is a hard reality for some people to take. The problem is that people want to be in a vibrant, thriving, growing church, bank, restaurant, school or business. But, the more it grows, the more the primary leader is going to have to draw back. Simply put, leaders HAVE to figure out a way to balance between these two truths:

• You can't shut it all out


• You can't take it all in

You've got to live somewhere in between. Every leader has to GET this. Every parent, every business owner, every coach and teacher, every boss, every ministry leader. You can't do it all, but you have to do some of it. The problem is picking what to do. How do you do it fair?

Stanley says that fairness ended in the Garden of Eden, and I'm inclined to agree. It won't always be fair. This is especially hard to swallow for Christians. We would all like to believe that our pastor can lead a dynamic ministry, plan out-of-this-world sermons and worship experiences and be available to all his/her members at the drop of a hat. And it simply can't happen. I tell my folks in our membership class that if I come see them in the hospital that they have either just had a baby, or it's really bad. Of course, if they're not pregnant, they really don't want me to be there, then! The truth is that it's not really true, but it's a signal I send to all our members to know that I simply can't be there all the time for everyone, and the models and systems I put in place now have to be ready to take on growth.

The nuance for leaders is to understand what situations need massaging. One student may need some extra attention to get the lesson learned. One player might need 30 minutes after practice a couple times a week to excel. One parishioner might need coffee everyone once in a while to discuss some things. One child might need a hug more often than another. It's the leaders job to pick those situations wisely because they can be crucial for the entire organization, and they keep leaders connected to the 'ground floor' of the organization, no matter how big they get.