We’re on vacation for two weeks, the first half of which will be in Louisville where we will see much of our family.
We also got to visit our old church family at Clifton Baptist Church. It was a refreshing time for us. We saw–if only far too briefly–many of our old friends. The service was wonderful, Bruce Ware preached on Psalm 116 on the subject of Thanksgiving. The music, led by Chip Stam, was beautiful. It was good for me to see a fresh example of what I hope to see develop at Beaver Baptist Church.
It makes me think of how, on the one hand, it is good to have a vision for the church, ideally directed by Scripture. On the other hand, I want to be directed by the Holy Spirit, to avoid subtly substituting my idea of what this church should be for God’s intention for this church.
Yet, I mustn’t be afraid to lead. I could easily fail to move forward because of indecision. This quote from Thabiti Anyabwile helped me to see this truth:
And we cannot be afraid to lead. There may be 1,000 things we must be sensitive to, but we must resist the paralysis that comes from over-analyzing and tea leaf reading. Leadership is as much an act of faith as prayer. We must trust that God is at work in our leadership of the church, and that He will providentially rule in our prayerful efforts.
The moment I read that quote I saw that was an area in which I am weak. This past year is one in which I had to learn a lot about leadership–the hard way.
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Hi Les! I’m glad you had a good vacation. And I’m glad to see you’ve gotten back to your blog.
I really like the quote. I too have a tendency to over-analyze, and can easily become paralyzed and afraid to act. Sometimes I think the story of my live could be told: “If he ever got a thing done, it was done very well, but it rarely came to that. The end.” My wife has been perhaps the greatest help to me in that area.
I hope we get to hear more from Eutychus in the coming months.
Kevin
Hello Kevin!
Nice to see you have enough faith in Eutychus to keep checking in.
On Wednesday I fell and broke my ankle. Fortunately it did not require surgery since it was broken in two bones. One good thing is that I will be home in front of my PC a lot more; that should lead to more Eutychus posts. Also, it should be a lot easier to reach me for Saturday phone calls!
I think you and I are much alike in the problem of perfectionism. My wife also helps me keep going.
Talk to you soon,
Les