28 March, 2024

Great Leaders Are Broken

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by | 15 February, 2009 | 0 comments

By Glen Elliott

In January 2007, I became lead pastor at Pantano Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona. It was the culmination of a carefully planned three-year transition. Tim Coop, who had been senior pastor for about 15 years, was ready to pass the proverbial baton (see the CHRISTIAN STANDARD article “A Unique Transition,” January 27, 2008).

In preparation for the transition, my wife and I attended a rigorous leadership assessment and development event. It was an intense three days, preceded by 40 hours of preparation work that was just as intense. We filled out self-assessments, completed life and ministry history inventories, and participated in phone interviews. There was a 360-degree evaluation of me by those I reported to and those I supervised. The team that was to assess and lead us had a wealth of information from a variety of angles and sources.

 

“˜STORM TROOPER”

 

When we arrived at the bed and breakfast, the team jumped right in. It felt as if they had always known us. They quickly drilled down to some issues.

They gave me a label that was very helpful”””storm trooper.” I actually liked it! I”m a take-charge kind of guy, and I love challenges and risks. The mission is all important to me; I want to take the hill.

We all agreed that the label was accurate, but they added that the label was not complete. There was something missing, and that something hurt my ability to lead well.

What was the missing piece? My guides at this event started to give me some direction. One of them talked about what he called “leader”s disease.” He suggested that the dangerous disease of leaders is position, power, and blind self-confidence. He referred to Mark 8:31-33 when Peter rebukes Jesus for suggesting spiritual victory will come through suffering and death. Jesus, in turn, makes it clear that Peter does not have God”s interests, but man”s interests in mind.

 

BIBLICAL MODEL

That first day they asked me to write a cohesive and comprehensive model of leadership heavily dependent on biblical elements. I said, “Are you kidding?” I mentioned that every minute of our schedule was full.

They simply said, “You”re a get-it-done guy, so get it done!” Later we laughed because once the challenge was issued, they knew I would jump on it.

I spent hours that night, after everyone else went to bed, reflecting and searching the New Testament again about leadership. I began to notice some patterns I had somehow missed. It hit me hard. The part I was missing was the brokenness piece. I saw it over and over.

I saw it in Jesus. I saw it in Paul. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:3, “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.” And in 2 Corinthians 12:9 he said, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.” God”s powerful and effective leaders were broken folks.

I began to make a list of the words that New Testament leaders (particularly Paul) used in a leadership context. The list contained humbled, broken, nothing, weak, inadequate, foolish, lowly, not equal to task, suffering, persecution, hard work, and tears. This was not how I had lived out leadership. In fact, these words didn”t characterize any part of my life.

I want to control life. I”ve been hurt and wounded (some of us will do anything rather than admit that). Control is a way to deal with and protect ourselves from pain. We choose different means of control””self-medication, running over people, anger, and staying busy””a million ways. That control becomes our identity, but it doesn”t work. And our leadership is diminished.

 

RESISTING BROKENNESS

As I sat there in the dark of night at the bed and breakfast, I realized I had to confess that I had resisted being broken all my years. I liked being independent and self-sufficient. I was a storm trooper after all. I had resisted being broken by God. I was unwilling to admit that I”m weak at times. I hated even to go to the place of admitting when I was inadequate.

I compensated by being strong, impervious, competent. And that last one, competence””that was my firm foundation. No one would ever call me incompetent, which for me was the ultimate sign of weakness!

So the label “storm trooper” was accurate of the get-it-done leader God had created me to be. I”m addicted to results and in love with tasks. While I was admired, I didn”t allow others to love me. Ouch!

Some good friends over the years had tried to tell me that, but I didn”t get it. I probably even assumed God admired me””but had I really let him love me? I had left God out of the deepest parts of my heart where there is real pain and aloneness. That”s the way storm troopers are, you know.

That day I began a new journey that allows Jesus to lead me to weakness, brokenness, dependence, and inadequacy.

I”ve copied and kept this quote from Mike Yaconelli: “Those who wear bulletproof vests protecting themselves from failure, shipwreck, and heartbreak will never know what love is. The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.”

Maybe the greatest tragedy in life is not dying before we die. Without a broken heart we miss the real power of God that changes us and makes us really useful to advance his kingdom. It is only through a broken heart that God can and will reveal his character and power. That was missing in my life and leadership.

 

“˜WOUNDED STORM TROOPER”

The team at the bed and breakfast gave me a new title, “wounded storm trooper.” These days I”m more and more like a limping storm trooper. There are even times I”m a tearful storm trooper.

Broken leaders can understand the pain of others and connect in powerful ways. Limping leaders need others and create an environment for real collaboration. Broken leaders become fertile ground for true discipleship (learners) as God can shape and form them as pliable clay. Yet, they still lead, and with others, take the hill. And I”ve discovered that others really like following a wounded storm trooper.

I continue to learn that leaders are relational influencers. We influence not by taking the hill but by leading others to take the hill. And this happens through transparent, vulnerable relationships. Amazing collaboration can”t happen without authentic connections with the team. Leaders will never really empower and free others on the team to soar if they live in independence and strength alone.

Great leaders are broken. Yet, I”ve come to see over and over again that strong leaders, like me, fight brokenness. To be broken just feels like weakness, and thus failure, as a leader.

But broken and leader are not antithetical concepts in leadership. They are not only complementary, they are essential partners. Jesus needs wounded storm troopers to join him, the consummate wounded storm trooper, in bringing to earth the kingdom that is in Heaven.

Here is my astonishing conclusion: I must do what I cannot do with what I don”t have for the rest of my life. How? Trust in God and others. Identity, significance, position, recognition, competence, and success can actually block what God can do through me.

When I remain strong, ministry becomes as small as I am. When I am weak and broken, ministry can be as big as God is.


 

 

 

Glen Elliott serves as lead pastor with Pantano Christian Church, Tucson, Arizona. He and his wife of 29 years, Jolene, have two adult children in college. He is a graduate of Pacific Christian College (now Hope International University), has served as a missionary in Ukraine, and helped start missions in Kosovo and India. He continues on a journey of brokenness as he tries to follow Jesus the best he can. He enjoys living in the high desert of Arizona, water skiing, snow skiing, and is addicted to peanut M&M”s.

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