I am pretty much a leadership conference/leadership book/leadership blog junkie.
I try to go to some type of leadership training event at least every other month.
I follow about 10 leadership blogs daily.
I attempt to read one leadership book per week.
And after all that, I still feel hungry for more.

Not because there’s a shortage of material on leadership.
But because the books and talks and blogs usually don’t tell the whole story.
There is always a back story of struggle behind every front page story of success.
There is usually an ugly underbelly of disappointment on the flipside of the sunny side of leadership accomplishments.
There are footnotes of failure beneath every happy ending.

So here’s a 3 part series on what they (the books and keynote speakers) don’t tell you.
The stuff that rarely make it past the editor, because it doesn’t sell books.
The bone chilling (and sometimes liberating) truth about some of the challenges of leading a thriving ministry.
I hope it’s helpful.

Here’s #1:

Then never comes

When we started Elevation, I remember thinking:
“If we could ever get 200 people coming… man, then we’d be a real church… we’d be past this small and awkward stage, and we’d have some stability.”
Very quickly, 200 people were coming.
Then it was:
“Boy, if 500 people were coming, then we’d be rocking. Then we’d have some serious momentum, and then we could make a big impact in this community.”
500 people showed up for the first time one Sunday 6 months into our ministry.
Then it was 1000.
1000 came.
Then it was 2000.
2000 came… .
Now it’s 5000. Then we’ll have arrived.

When you play the if/then game, you always lose.
Because then never comes.

“If we just had our own building, then people would take us seriously.”
Then you build the building, and next thing you know, you’re longing for the good old days, back when you were raw, and mobile, and scrappy, and unencumbered by a mortgage payment.

“If we could just take in $100,000 above and beyond our tithes and offerings this quarter, then we’d have some breathing room.”
So a donor kicks in an extra $100,000 unexpectedly from the sale of a property, and then you hire 3 new staff members and upgrade the children’s ministry sound and lighting.
So much for breathing room.

If you want to lead a growing ministry (or business, or family, or personal life), get used to the journey, because the destination is a mirage.
As soon as you arrive, it’s time to pack up the tent and follow the cloud to the next then.
There’s always another mountain to climb, another conflict to solve, and another uncertainty to navigate.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t set goals and commit to some benchmarks/long range objectives. We do it all the time.
Just making sure that in all of your 5 year plans you figure out a way to find satisfaction in the process, not just the results.
The process is usually the point, anyway.

The temptation is to bow down and worship at the idol called then.
Don’t do it.
Don’t worship the God of the good old days either.
Worship Jesus with full throttle intensity right now.
Celebrate the uniqueness of today’s accomplishments.

Then move on to what’s next with a grateful heart…