It’s been about six months since the Leadership Journal article that Greg and I wrote was published. If you haven’t read it yet, you might want to read it and then check out these follow-up posts to it.

Anti-Megachurch?
New Sign Coming

One of the things the article did was let a bunch of people in on what’s going on at Garnett. I’ve had a number of people ask how things are going.  Up until the article was published, I was hesitant to talk about Garnett stuff on this blog because it was so painful. Now that the conversation has gone public I’m going to try to keep you updated on our progress.

One of the things I want to do is try to keep telling the story in as honest a way as possible.  Too often, the only transition stories that get told are the ones that are told in hindsight after the corner has been turned. Stories told in hindsight tend to be more tidy than those told in real time. There is a risk in doing this I suppose, and I may not be able to pull it off without causing unnecessary anxiety for my Garnett readers.  If that’s the case,then I may not be able to follow through with my intentions. There may be a reason why transition stories are usually told after the fact and I’m about to find out why.

The Event Center has been up and running in a formal kind of way since the first of the year. A number of new events have been scheduled and a number community groups are using the facility on a regular basis. It’s been cool to see partnerships form with schools and service organizations. The synergy generated by these partnerships is beginning to build and I predict that major surprises (the good kind) are in store for us. I expect us to have opportunities to participate in a some big events or initiatives that are going to make a huge impact in our neighborhood. What kind of opportunities?  I have no idea and I could be wrong.  I guess it’s just a hunch.

From the church side, we’re still getting used to the idea that we no longer meet in a church building, but that instead we meet in an Event Center.  The transition has gone much better than I had anticipated and the church seems to be supportive of the move we’ve made.  I’m not sure other people from other churches understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, but I’ll save some of those stories for later.

There are many keys to being an effective leader.  Just ask John Maxwell.

One that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is one that I don’t hear talked about much at leadership conferences.

In order to be an effective leader you have to be able to tolerate pain.  Your own pain as well as the pain of others. Sometimes others will inflict pain upon you. You must absorb and carry it forward in order to lead. Sometimes you will be called upon to inflict pain on others for their own good or for the good of the organization you lead. If you don’t think leaders inflict pain, then go make a decision and see if anyone yelps. Sometimes you will inflict pain upon yourself when you inflict pain on others because you care so much about those whom you are leading.

Without a doubt, one of the hardest things to do as a leader is to watch people we love squirm with emotional pain because of a position we’ve taken. Most of us end up caving sooner or later and we sheepishly reverse our position or change our direction in order to dull the pain and keep the peace.

The reason most churches within my sphere of awareness are struggling to move forward in any kind of discernible way is because their leadership is spending all their time and energy trying to avoid pain.  They think the absence of pain is a sign of good leadership.  Making sure no one gets hurt may be a win for a bank robber (Put your hands in the air and do what you’re told and no one gets hurt), but it’s a terrible way of judging how well we’re doing as leaders.

All pain avoidance does is delay the inevitable, which is . . .pain.

Leaders who try to avoid pain will someday will be confronted with the worst pain of all, the awareness that the end result of their perpetual pain avoidance is the collapse of the organization they were supposed to be leading.

Are you called to lead?  If so, and if you’re not ready to experience and tolerate some pain, then please say no to the call.  Whatever organization you’re being called to lead will be better off without you in leadership. If you’re ready to deal with some pain, then step up and buckle in, because it’s gonna hurt.