Bill Hybels - The Call to Lead: Following Jesus and Living Out Your Mission

The word of the L ORD came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Then the L ORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

Jeremiah 1:4 5, 9 10

Jeremiah received a tough calling from God: to speak Gods word to Gods people. The words God wanted Jeremiah to speak were words of warning to shake them up and wake them up. But nothing goes well for Jeremiah. No one likes what he has to say.

God tells him to keep speaking, so he does. He gets beaten and put on display for shame. And in Jeremiah 20, he tells God how he feels: You sweet talked me... and I bought it. This isnt what I had in mind. Jeremiah was torn between being faithful to his calling and his ache for success.

The call to lead is never easy. And it often requires us to prioritize faithfulness over success. We must learn to give up the ache to be successful in the eyes of the world and go with what God is calling us to do. Leaders of Gods people always sense this inherent tension to their calling: in their ministry, in their personal life, and in the pursuit of their God-given mission.

This collection of three essays by Bill Hybels, Dan Allender, and John Ortberg is based on talks that were given at Willow Creek Associations Global Leadership Summit. In the first, Bill Hybels discusses the challenges that leaders face when the laws of leadership dont align with the teachings of Christ. Modern business practice and scholarship have finely honed the laws of leadership, telling us that were supposed to leverage our time, choose a strong team, and avoid unnecessary controversy. But what happens when the accepted laws of leadership and the demands of discipleship the call to be faithful to Christ collide? Using stories from his own life and ministry, Bill Hybels shows how the laws of leadership sometimes crash headlong into the demands of discipleship, and how the decisions leaders make at that point will affect the destiny of those they lead.

In the second essay, Dan Allender suggests that we lead best by revealing our true character to those we lead. Though everyone agrees that character plays a critical role in leadership, we are also aware of the fact that the best leaders are not perfect people. Instead of hiding their weaknesses, good leaders learn to recognize them and allow them to be transformed into strengths. After all, how can we be renewed and restored without acknowledging the reality that we are marred? Paradoxically, it is in our brokenness that we have our greatest opportunity to reveal the heart of Gods goodness, and the greatest opportunity to strengthen our leadership.

In the third and final essay, John Ortberg talks about the importance of knowing and following the mission that God has given to us. A mission is the highest purpose to which God calls us, but every mission always has a shadow mission an unworthy substitute. If they are ever to overcome their shadow mission, leaders must learn to identify and name it. From the story of a young Hebrew girl named Esther come the lessons that allow leaders to not only defeat their shadow mission, but to fully live out the authentic mission to which God has called them.

Leadership is critical to church vitality, and good leadership depends on the level of commitment, the authenticity of character, and the clarity of mission that a leader possesses. Though following Gods call to lead is never easy, it is always worth the cost. Learn to wrestle with the tension and to answer the call to become the leader God has called you to be. The future of the church rests in the hands of leaders who are willing to faithfully answer that call.