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Early on in my journey as a leader, I read the book Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni. Many of you may already be familiar with this short fable. And if you aren’t, you may be buying it on Amazon right now! Meetings are generally not fun. Most of us have sacrificed hours of our lives in meetings that we wish we could get back.
But I have a confession to make. I actually love meetings. Well, most of them. I am grateful for this book and others similar to it that have helped guide me on how to lead and participate in efficient and valuable meetings. Why do I love meetings? I’m not sure. I’m an introvert by nature. Put me in a closet with unlimited resources and a challenging project, and I will walk out 10 hours later fully charged and fully alive. But I am realizing that what is comfortable for me may not necessarily be what God has designed me to be. He died for me because of the love of the Father. And this same love now lives in me, just waiting to be activated. Not to simply love fulfilling tasks, but to love people through God’s amazing grace! This past week I’ve participated in dozens of meetings. Short, powerful prayer meetings with our entire staff. Strategic department meetings with a teaching team. One-on-one meetings with teachers and students. A Leadership meeting with our Principals and Directors. Meetings with coaches. A Finance Committee meeting. Several Chapel services. A Board meeting. And several sovereign appointments at the crosswalk. What do all of these meetings have in common? The opportunity to be like Christ. A popular T-shirt reads “God loves you, and I’m trying.” Our interactions with those in our respective communities give room for God to grow us more into His image, to reveal more of Him to others, and also to see Him working through others. When I consider the army of employees and volunteers who commit their time, energies, and passions to the Crosshill mission of discipleship training, and the Kingdom mission of the Great Commission, I am overwhelmed with gratefulness. And if you are ever stuck in a meeting led by me that could use some refinement, feel free to slide me a copy of Patrick Lencioni’s book. Only do it in love! Growing up on a rural farm, chores were assigned to us kids about the time we could begin to walk and talk. One of our chores was to keep our fields clear of rocks. They came in 3 sizes: tall (skipping rock size), grande (softball size), and venti (lift with your legs)! The larger rocks posed the greatest risk to farm equipment, livestock, and crops, and were attended to first. After that, the medium rocks. And then finally, the smallest rocks. The result was a field able to reach its assigned potential.
Jesus taught a similar message in Matthew 6. He encourages us to identify the logs in our eyes that prevent us from seeing clearly. Through true repentance (confession and behavior change), the logs can be removed. Much like the large rocks, these obvious sins carry the greatest risk to our relationship with God. Once removed, we can see clearly, and God can begin to use us in His community to help each other out with the specks (smaller rocks) that seem to continue to plague us and others. Unlike my solitary chore demands, Jesus is a co-laborer with us on this adventure. In fact, all the sins of the world have already been removed through His sacrifice. So he asks us to yoke ourselves to Him in this sanctifying process. He has made us right with God, and He desires us to act like it! Not so we can earn our salvation, but so we can tap into its marvelous benefits. After the dark, cold days of winter, a strange thing appeared back in our fields: ROCKS! The constant rain and freeze cycles had rooted up more rocks from the depths of the earth. My rock-picking chores were never-ending! And so in our walk with the Lord, the sins of this world at times will continue to plague us. But instead of despair, these imperfect reminders can cause us to rejoice with thankfulness in our eternal hope of a Savior that always takes care of us. As we parent our children through this journey as well, may we maximize the opportunity to share the goodness of the gospel in all things. And if you ever need some help with rock-picking, I know a guy! |
Adam Kronberger
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