Barnabas File

We cannot motivate others.     We can provide an environment in which people can become motivated, but real motivation comes from within.     In the same way, a leader cannot make people into innovators.  If this is true, then what is the role of the leader in innovation?  How much can a leader do to foster innovation among others?   Alec Horniman is the Killgallon Ohio Art Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, teaching in the areas of ethics, strategy and leadership.  He suggests three actions that a leader can do to foster innovation.  First, invite people to join the process of innovation.  The innovative leader invites others along on the journey. He or she is not only a role model but a resource, sharing experiences and opportunities.  An innovative leader invites others to be part of the process and to learn together.  An innovative leader does...

Although the author rarely uses the term, The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age is a useful resource for assisting a mainline church to become more missional. The book incorporates the key ideas of missional theology but also provides insights about what a congregation must do to provide innovative and effective ministry in a complex, fluid culture. The writer is Dwight J. Zscheile, an Episcopal priest who teaches at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He draws on his personal experiences in a local congregation as well as concepts such as trinitarian theology, adaptive leadership, design thinking, and organizational development to provide a path for the local church to respond to the leadership of the Spirit in the 21st century. A key point is his description of the apostles’ ministry in the book of Acts: “The apostles don’t typically understand what kind of witness God wants to bring forth until they are in the midst of it; it is...

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is.     A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” --Wayne Gretzky At the recent Global Leadership Summit, pastor Craig Groeschel addressed the idea of anticipatory leadership. He said, “Good leaders react. Great leaders anticipate.”  This reflects the Wayne Gretzky quote above.  As leaders, we may be where the action is now, but the action may not be there for long. In our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous culture, what works today may not work tomorrow and the church often plays catch-up and misses opportunities.  There is a time for doing due diligence and allowing the process to work, but our present context requires us to exercise creativity and imagination, becoming early innovators in ministry. Groeschel suggested that there are three D's of anticipatory leadership: Develop, Discern, and Disrupt. Here is my take on each. First, develop....

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business.  For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates.  He has already left the church and resigned from the board of t...

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church.   On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter.  Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year.  He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability ...

Having coached for almost ten years now, I have assumed that one thing that makes me attractive as a coach is my easy-going attitude.     For the most part, I come across as non-judgmental and supportive.    Some have termed it “Southern graciousness.” At some point in a coaching relationship, however, I may find it necessary to set this persona aside if I am to effectively coach my client.  I was reminded of this last year when I attended a coach training event in California.  We were asked to identify skills we needed to work on to be better coaches.  I chose three:  challenging, intruding, and taking charge. Now all of these run counter to my normal way of doing things, but our trainers pointed out that sometimes a coach should stretch and step outside of his or her comfort zone to serve the client more effectively. Clients do not need a coach who is a “yes” person but one who will make them dig deeper and dis...

With all of the new science fiction series on the various forms of television, I have found one that is both family-friendly and entertaining. The Lost in Space concept has appeared in three incarnations.  The original was a series that ran on network television from 1965 to 1968.  My son and I watched it in reruns, but it was basically a children’s show with one-dimensional characters.  The idea was resurrected for a 1998 motion picture that was dark and depressing and not well received.  The latest version on Netflix is a good family series that reflects our times and challenges. The Robinson family is part of an expedition to settle the Alpha Centauri star system, fleeing an Earth in decline.  Maureen Robinson (an excellent Molly Parker) is an aeronautical engineer and mission commander.  John (a scruffy Toby Stephens), her husband, is a former Navy SEAL and biological father to two of their three children. ...

Our Bible study lesson on Sunday came from Exodus 1 and 2.    The text presents the status of the Hebrews under a Pharaoh “to whom Joseph meant nothing” (Exodus 1:8, NIV), the attempts to marginalize the descendants of Jacob, and the birth and growth into manhood of Moses, the one who would lead God’s people out of bondage. A key insight was provided by James Semple, the writer of the teacher commentary.  Semple points out that all the heroes in this story are women. The Hebrew midwives,  Shiphrah and Puah, who are instructed to kill all the male children participate in an act of civil disobedience by ignoring the order.  When questioned, they simply reply,  “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” (1:19). When Pharaoh commands the Hebrews to cast their male children into the Nile, Moses’ mother Jochebed complies but she does so by placing the child in basket that will...

When I was in Mississippi several years ago, I heard the story of the driver who was pulled over by the Highway Patrol officer going south on Interstate 55 at 80 miles per hour. The officer asked, “Where are you going?” “To Memphis,” the man replied.     “You’re headed south.     This won’t get you to Memphis.”    “I know,” the driver said, “but I’m making such good time.” I was reminded of this story when I read Seth Godin’s post about being on the wrong bus.  Yes, it was not easy to get on the bus, you are comfortable, and it’s getting dark outside, but you are still on the wrong bus.  You have made a mistake and you need to correct it. Godin writes, “ If you really want to get where you set out to go, you're going to have to get off the wrong bus.” The moral of these stories is that if you are heading in the wrong direction--in your professional life or with your church or organization, you need to admit it and change...