Who's In Charge?

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Leadership doesn't equal certainty. True leadership sees the inevitable ambiguities of ministry yet has the spiritual sensitivity and resolve to advance through them.
— Ben Patterson

When she said, "Now, Pastor, nobody wants you to succeed at this church more than I do," I inwardly groaned. I knew what was coming.

After a year as pastor, I had felt deeply that the church must focus on building leadership for the coming years. So at the previous board meeting I had asked, "I want to find ten men who'll meet with me for a year to study and pray, on the premise that they would go and disciple other men in the church. I want your endorsement for making this my main focus of ministry, with a goal of discipling fifty men over the next five years." They approved what came to be called "Project Mustard Seed."

But now they were having second thoughts. One Sunday morning a board member pulled me aside.

"I think Project Mustard Seed is a great idea," she began, "but maybe if you waited two or three years, the timing would be better. Right now, since you're new, you really need to spend time visiting all the groups in the church and making them feel supported."

I didn't believe that would be a good use of my time. I felt the time for getting to know the congregation had passed; now it was time to develop leaders for the future. But that's when I began to wonder, How much of Project Mustard Seed is what Ben Patterson wants, and how much really comes from God?

Even during a family vacation that year to England, the trip of a lifetime, the inner debate never stopped. Two or three times a day, whenever a quiet moment came, that Sunday morning conversation would bubble to the surface. Then I would agonize, again and again, about whether I had ...

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