Leaders Love the Front Seat, Not the Back Window
Nothing compares to the moment a hearty laugh with a church team immediately shifts into a deeply poignant moment of congregational insight.
For one team, this happened in the midst of a common exercise on the front end of Auxano’s Vision Framing process. A connecting exercise that begins with a simple, yet insightful question… If our church was a car, what make and model would we be?
Of course, the only appropriate follow-up question, if the answer has not already been revealed, is “Why?”
In this instance, the Pastor began to describe an older model Station Wagon. The team then developed the rest of this polariod-era picture, complete with plastic decal “wood” paneling, a black-cloud emitting diesel engine, and stick to your bare summer legs vinyl seat covers. For every leader in the room of appropriate age, the third row back seat evoked knowing smiles of michevious childhoods. Who didn’t love that rear-facing view as a kid?
As the laughter waned, the Pastor then went on with his “Why” explanation.
“Many of our leaders would rather be more focused on where we have been. And if we were honest, many really enjoy harassing others who moving faster than us down the road ahead… There are days when I feel like very few of us are facing the same direction looking forward.”
It is not scriptural, but still accurate to say that “where there is no vision, the people cherish.”
- They cherish the past, because they do not have a clear picture of the future.
- They cherish where we have been, without a vision of where God leads ahead.
- They cherish the comfort of the known, without hope that transcends the unknown.
- They cherish the tools and resources provided to accomplish our calling, rather than the actual calling.
The magnetic attraction of a living and active vision of the future, much more than just a one-liner vision statement, becomes instantaneously clear.
Calling leaders to face forward through the windshield toward the horizons of God’s preferred future, is not easy. Getting a fast-moving team to slow-down and think long feels impossible.
After all, looking backward from the third row was pretty fun… but leaders look forward.
Let us help you look forward – connect with an Auxano Navigator today.
Tags: Bryan Rose, Leaders face forward, leaders, preferred future
