I’m continuing to read through Dan Allender’s latest book, Leading With a Limp, and am finding a lot of insight and encouragement. I want to share a couple quotes and then make a comment or two. These come from chapter 4 - “It’s Failing That Matters!” Allender talks about a season in building the Mars Hill Graduate School where his failings came into the public view, front and center. Then, he says this:
Prior to this season, I had been aware of some of my deficiencies, but I had never considered that the overwhelming majority of God’s hand-picked leaders in the Bible were themselves riddled with faults and failure. I can hardly name a leader in the Bible who didn’t fail radically enough to warrant being removed from leadership: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Mary, Paul, and Peter. It seems God loves to use troubled, odd, unpredictable people to not only lead others but also to make the gospel known.
Leading With a Limp, p. 53.
We often feel like we need to have everything wrapped up and put together to be an effective leader and used of God - but clearly, God has proven that He has always used broken down, needy sinners to do His best work. Every leader God has ever used has failed. Even in the midst of leading! But, the Godly leader - the one who God has truly chosen to do His will - will embrace his weaknesses and failings through Christ, and continue on.
When I think about all the mistakes I’ve made over the years and all of the dark things that even still float through my mind at the most inopportune times, I often wonder how God could choose me to lead anything! On top of that, I’m just flat out unqualified to walk into some of the leadership challenges that I face daily. I’m far more often weak than I am strong. But that’s why I’m glad we can tap into Christ’s strength, which is perfect. Allender goes on to say this:
This is one of Paul’s central statements of inversion. Don’t miss this: leadership that mimics Jesus will not be normal. It will be neither expected nor, in most cases, preferred. It will be disruptive and anomalous, and it will demand one’s body and soul, fortune, reputation, and all the other small gods that keep our lives safe and satisfied.
Here is God’s leadership model: He chooses fools to live foolishly in order to reveal the economy of heaven, which reverses and inverts the wisdom of this world. He calls us to brokenness, not performance; to relationships, not commotion; to grace, not success. It is not wonder that this kind of leadership is neither spoken of nor admired in our business schools or even our seminaries.
Leading With a Limp, p. 55.
So… He calls us to brokenness, relationships, grace… not performance, commotion, success… He’s right. This is certainly a different kind of leadership model than I’ve studied in school or read in other books. This is a real paradigm shift that requires a lot of thought, prayer, intentionality, and yes… grace. I will need a lot of grace to live and lead like this. But why should this be so hard for us to grasp? Paul certainly embraced and even boasted in his weaknesses. He is a great model for us to follow. He eliminates “the leader’s serving with even a hint of self-righteousness.” Most leaders fear they will one day be discovered, known, exposed, humliated… Let’s get beyond that. OK. It starts with me. I’ll see how it goes and report back.
