Indecisive leaders, who need to please everyone, end up pleasing no one.

—Dan Rockwell, “5 Ways to Become a Healthy People-Pleaser”

Over time each of us develops certain traits in our personalities that are derived from our upbringing and experiences. These attributes determine how we act in the various situations we face. They also reveal how we feel about ourselves as leaders.

I’d like for us to look at three areas that influence why you and I do the things we do. These areas are 1 – Traits, 2 – Transition, & 3 – Transformation. Understanding them will help to correct any negative aspects of their impact on our lives today.

The task ahead is quite daunting. The fact that we are under a well- orchestrated attack from hell coupled with several hundred years of church tradition makes traveling the road ahead a scary proposition. It’s not for the faint of heart, but you probably wouldn’t be reading this post if you weren’t ready for massive change. You realize that solid leadership is a must going forward.

It would be much easier for you to repeat the same excuses that many denominational leaders and pastors use in order to maintain the status quo. However, I beg you to go against the tide of compromise. You are not that far from arriving there. It is possible that everything you have experienced in thinking you would be there by now has been preparing you to join a movement. Jesus is recruiting pastors and other leaders who will allow Him to work through them to bring about the greatest move of God the world has ever seen.

Jesus is recruiting pastors and other leaders who will allow Him to work through them to bring about the greatest move of God the world has ever seen.

Leading the church where it needs to go in the next few decades will exact a heavy price from you. You will be misunderstood, misrepresented, and maligned. Your integrity will be questioned, your abilities challenged, and your energy drained. There is certainly no guarantee of success. In fact, recent church history would suggest failure is imminent. So why even try?

When opposition knocks, I invite you to ask yourself, What’s at stake if I don’t try?

Jerry Bostick, flight dynamics officer for the Apollo 13 mission, was once asked, “Weren’t there times when everybody, or at least a few people, just panicked?” He answered, “No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them. We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution.” For the movie Apollo 13 years later, screenwriters Al Reinert and Bill Broyles tweaked Bostick’s words to “Failure is not an option” and gave them to Gene Kranz, flight director of Gemini and Apollo missions.

Failure is not an option! We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution.

What impact could we have on our world if we believed failure was not an option? I am just as inspired by the second sentence: “We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution.” I can say with great confidence that our heavenly Flight Instructor has a solution to every problem we will confront. We just need to study the Manual, do what it says, and never give up on finding the solution.

Doing what we’ve always done must be replaced with fresh thinking. We must develop a strategy to work together cross-generationally in order to change our nation. Pastor, someone is going to have to step up and lead this change. I believe God is calling you.

The season that we are currently facing requires leadership from those of us who believe that failure isn’t an option. Yes, there will be barriers, obstacles, and challenges that we encounter. However, I honestly believe that you and I are here today for such a time as this much like Queen Esther in the days of old. Together, we can raise up a generation of leaders that can have a lasting impact on our country and the world.

What are you doing that is working well? What is not going so well? Let’s connect and have a conversation about it. At 95Network, we are here to support and serve you in anyway we can. If you feel like you’re in a season where you’re stalled out and can see the way forward, then please reach out to me at [email protected]