Leadership - Vision

Welcome/Series Introduction

Hey - welcome to Prairie Lakes. Thanks for joining us this weekend. We’ve got something pretty special for you.

We’re kicking off a new series this weekend that might raise a few eyebrows. Because here’s what it’s called:

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When Leadership Feels Like a Four-Letter Word

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Or, my preferred way of displaying it:

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When Leadership Feels Like %#?!&

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And if you’re taking notes at home, that’s spelled “%#?!&.”

Of course: we would never condone the use of those four-letter words around here at Prairie Lakes. No sir.

And: I’m sure none of us in the room or online has ever let one of those slip out of our mouths. Nuh-uh. All of us are squeaky clean here at PLC.

But man, oh man, if you have been in a leadership position during these last few years or if you’ve had to step into playing a leadership role, it’s felt like one of those 4-letter words at times—maybe even more times than not.

Tough season to be a leader.

Illustration: Stats

Let me give you some stats to back this up:

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CEO turnover in Fortune 500 companies 2022 is expected to rise as much as 30% over 2021.

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Starbucks, Gap, Pinterest, Under Armour, Southwest Airlines… all of them have seen this happen this year in their respective companies.

Now: the highest we saw in CEO turnover was actually in 2019 before the pandemic with all of the social upheaval with #MeToo and George Floyd and climate stances. It continued to rise in 2020 as the pandemic began. Leveled off in 2021 as companies pushed for more stability. But now, on the rise again in 2022.

The Society for Human Resource Management conducted a survey of over 1,000 C-Suite leaders this year. Here’s what they said:

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76% - “The pandemic negatively affected my well-being.”

40% - “I always or often feel overwhelmed.”

69% - “I’m considering quitting for a job that better supports my well-being.”

-From Deloitte via shrm.org

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No thanks. I’m out. Not worth it. That’s what happens when leadership feels like a 4-letter word most of the time.

Maybe no surprise to you—but there’s actually some similar data when it comes to pastors.

I’ve cited them before, but the Barna Group is a pretty big research firm that tracks a bunch of data and trends within American churches - and here’s some of their most recent data:

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When asked: “Have you given real, serious consideration to quitting being in full-time ministry within the last year?”

42% - “Yes”

In 2021, that number was 29%.

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Wanna know why? So did Barna. And when they asked pastors, here were their top 3 reasons for seriously considering quitting:

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When asked: “Have you given real, serious consideration to quitting being in full-time ministry within the last year?”

42% - “Yes” (up from 29% in 2021)

Why?

59% - The immense stress of the job

43% - I feel lonely and isolated

38% - Current political divisions

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And if you’re curious, the next 3 on their “I might quit” list were all tied at around 30%. 1 out of every 3 pastors who felt like quitting said it was because “I am unhappy with the effect this role has had on my family,” “I am not optimistic about the future of my church,” or “My vision for the church conflicts with the church’s direction.”

Turns out leadership can be a 4-letter word inside the church as well—and for a lot of pastors, that word is spelled D-O-N-E. Done.

Transition

Now: at this point you may be wondering how your pastor is doing and maybe wondering if there’s an underlying reason I’m sharing some of those statistics.

Well, let me reassure you:

All of them are perfectly happy. No need to even ask them; just take my word for it. Everything is great for every last single one of them.

And if they tell you any different, send me an email at [e-mail] and I’ll be sure to look into it. ;)

The point is this: leadership is hard sometimes—and in the past few years, it’s been especially hard.

Which is the whole point of this series.

Series Purpose

In one of the hardest seasons to be a leader, here’s what we want you to know:

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More than ever before, your leadership matters. Why?

The Principle of Scarcity:

Higher challenge + fewer leaders = your leadership matters more.

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And I need you to grab onto this one - especially if this the situation you’re in right now.

Lots of us right now have watched good people leave. And they’ve left for a variety of reasons: greener pastures, competitive labor market, downsizing, restructuring… whatever.

But you stayed.

And because you stayed...

You didn’t get rewarded. Because that’s not how it works, is it?

No. You got left holding the bag.

Maybe you’re not just doing your job, you’re doing parts of several other people’s jobs.

And you’re doing that not just because you’ve been told that you have to, but because you’re the leader—and that’s what leaders do.

But everyone has their limit. No one can sustain that forever. And as we’ve already seen from some the data, there’s a point at which you’re trading your well-being for a paycheck, or the stress of it all just isn’t worth it. And if that’s you, I get it. This isn’t some sort of guilt trip for you feeling that way.

But I do want to talk to those of you who have made the decision to stick it out.

Exegesis: John 6

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, under resourced, isolated, stressed, taken for granted, and/or like the world is against you...

The best leader ever to walk the face of the earth felt the exact same way at the height of his leadership influence.

Jesus led a lot of people, but spent most of his time leading 12 guys for about 3 years.

One of those guys, John, who was pretty close to him, lived into old age. And in his old age, he writes what is basically a memoir about his time as a young man following Jesus around.

One of the memories he writes about was a time in which Jesus miraculously fed a huge crowd of people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. And if that wasn’t amazing enough, right after that Jesus literally walked on water.

As you can imagine, those kind of things made Jesus pretty popular. The circle of followers turned into crowds of wanna be followers and fans literally overnight.

As John continues to tell the story, this growing crowd tried to track Jesus wherever he went—but also act cool about it. Kinda like they were just “randomly” running into him.

And it was at this point that Jesus, instead of doing something to build on his popularity with the crowds, says a few things that really don’t go over well with them.

First thing he says is this:

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John 6:26 “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”

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So rather than just receive their adoration and do something to build on his own popularity, he instead calls them out for their mostly selfish motivation.

And then he says this:

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John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

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Which is kind of a weird thing to say in conversation.

Which is probably why those who listened to him say that responded like this:

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John 6:52 “Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

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Fair question, I think. Because it was kind of a weird thing for Jesus to say. You know, could you clarify for us, Jesus? Because cannibalism seems like a weird way to heaven.

And so Jesus clears up any and all confusion when he responds:

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John 6:53-54 “Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

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Huh.

Which, predictably, prompted this:

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John 6:60, 66 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

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Now, because we know the whole story, we know that what Jesus was talking about there was the death that he would die on the cross, and how God would use the death of his real flesh and the shedding of his real blood to pay for all of the sin of our flesh and blood, removing everything that stood in the way between us and God, bringing us real and everlasting life for those who believe.

But back then, there wasn’t that hindsight. And so in the span of just 1 chapter of John’s account (and a mere handful of hours in Jesus’ life), Jesus goes from being offered book deals on how to build a platform to looking around to see if he still had any followers.

The greatest leader to ever live lived through that season of leadership.

And so if that’s you, leader, this series is for you.

We want to not just empathize with and encourage you—but we also want to be helpful to you. So, every single weekend we’ll cover a different leadership topic that we think is pretty relevant for the season of leadership that a lot of us are in. Here’s what that’s gonna look like:

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Week 1: Vision

Week 2: Margin

Week 3: Leading People

Week 4: Leading Results

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So let’s get into it. Let’s talk about “vision.”

Vision Intro

You’ve probably heard the term “visionary leader” before. Some leaders are described as “visionary leaders.” Some leaders even build that into their title.

I don’t usually get along very well with those kinds of leaders. ;)

Because to me, when someone describes themself as a “visionary leader,” what I hear is someone who like to talk about a lot of big ideas, but probably doesn’t enjoy figuring out how to do said ideas—much less put their own hand to the plow and try to get the thing done.

These are the people that say things like...

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“I’m just the ‘big picture’ guy.”

“I don’t really get into the weeds.”

“That’s pretty tactical. Let’s keep it high-level.”

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Now, in all fairness, my brain kinda works on that level, too—and there certainly are conversations that need to be big picture and high-level (or at least start out that way).

But at some point someone has to actually figure out how to… oh, let’s say… do… something.

And so we can get a little cynical about this idea of “vision.”

But: I think it’s actually a pretty important leadership concept. So let’s demystify it and hopefully strip it of some of it’s baggage.

Here’s a little cheat sheet that I’ll use when I’m talking about this:

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Mission answers why: “Why do we exist?” Rallying cry.

Vision answers where: “Where are we going?” Clear picture of the future.

Strategy answers how: “How will we get there?” Steps from here to there.

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(Explain from PLC’s context.)

So if we use this definition of vision, we’ll understand that vision isn’t just some sort of big picture, pie-in-the-sky ideal of how it should be. That’s a wish, not a vision.

Vision is a clear and concrete picture of how it will be; of what we’re shooting for; of what it looks like if we’re successful.

Vision Lesson 1: Attracts and Repels

Believe it or not, we’ve already learned our first lesson about vision when we read from John 6—and that’s this:

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Good vision both attracts and repels.

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Good vision both attracts and repels.

That might not be intuitive to some. Because it seems like it would make more sense to say that “good” vision attracts; “bad” vision repels.

But it’s a both/and. Why?

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Good vision both attracts and repels.

Because a good vision is a clear vision.

And when the vision is clear enough for people to decide to chase after it or not, some will...

And some won’t.

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A vision that no one rejects isn’t a vision at all. Those are just truisms or sentimental sayings. Everybody might agree with them, but they don’t get anyone anywhere—probably because they aren’t clear enough to move anyone in a different direction.

But clear vision will. Clear vision helps people see, which will help them decide:

Do I want to go your way or not?

We saw this from that part of Jesus’ story in John 6. Tons of people opted out. No thanks.

But take a look at this verse—right after the one where John said that many of Jesus’ followers left:

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John 6:67-69 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

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Good vision is clear vision. And clear vision will both attract and repel.

And you have to let it do just that. Because here’s what we know from Jesus’ life:

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Change movements are built not on the backs of massive crowds, but in the hearts of a faithful few.

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People left Jesus in droves that day—but here we are, 2,000 years later, talking about him because Peter and few of his buddies saw that vision and pursued it.

Don’t get discouraged, leader, when you watch people opt out. Focus on the people who have stayed. Make the vision clear. You can build a lot on that, and on them.

Vision Lesson 2: Absence = Make it up

Alright. Next lesson on vision.

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In the absence of vision, people will make up their own.

We’re made to chase.

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I do a good bit of coaching—not like sports team coaching, but 1-on-1 coaching. Some are principals or administrators; some are pastors; some are just people I’ve met through Prairie Lakes or by word of mouth.

But they’re all leaders. They all lead people.

And this one usually hits them like a ton of bricks—because it sheds so much light on a problem that previously felt so confusing or slippery.

Why aren’t your people moving in the direction that you want them to go?

Well, a lot of times it’s because you haven’t provided a clear enough vision for them to demand clear steps to realize.

And so what do they do?

They make up their own—and shoot for that.

I was meeting with a friend the other day who said that his wife works for a boss who meets with her 1-on-1—get this—

Once per year.

Know why they meet once per year?

To do her performance review.

Now, maybe you hear that story and think, “Well, that’s what it’s like now in a remote working environment.”

Nope. Not remote. Different building, same city.

Once per year—to do her performance review.

So in the absence of a clear vision or picture of what the future should look like, what do you think she’s going to do? Make one up! Gotta shoot for something!

And oh, how frustrating it must be for her—for her!—when she gets to her performance review every year and learn in real time which parts of her vision matched up with her boss’—and which didn’t.

Take a look at this verse from Proverbs:

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Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” (NIV)

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That’s how it reads in the NIV translation of the Bible. Here’s how it reads in the King James version:

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Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” (NIV)

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (KJV)

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People are designed to chase after vision. We need it like we need our next breath.

You wanna watch good people go? Make sure they aren’t ever quite sure what they’re shooting for or what the preferred future looks like.

Then, wait for them to define it for themselves.

Then, tell them they defined it incorrectly and chastise them for it.

You’ll have a lot of new positions to fill in very short order.

Vision Lesson 3: Demands Clear Steps

Here’s the final lesson on vision:

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Clear vision will cause people to demand clear steps.

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If people aren’t asking you “how,” then you can be sure that you’re not being as clear as you need to be.

Let me show you how this looked in Jesus’ life.

We looked at an earlier part of John’s account of Jesus’ life in John 6 (the cannibalism story—remember?). But later in his account, Jesus tells a small but loyal group of followers some more troubling news.

In John 13, Jesus says “I’m going somewhere that you can’t go.”

Peter says, “Where is that?”

Jesus says, “Let me qualify that for you, Peter. You can’t come now—but you will later.”

Peter says, “Why later? I’ll lay down my life for you now if that’s what it takes.”

And Jesus says, “See, that’s the thing you’ll do later. But for now, you’ll deny ever knowing me. Not once, but three times.”

What a great leadership tactic. Sowing seeds of alarm throughout his leadership team.

So then we get to John 14 and Jesus says this:

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John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.””

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That sounds a little better, Jesus. That’s a vision I can get behind. You’re going to God’s house. You’re making reservations for us. That sounds great. Clear.

But then he says, “And you know the way there.”

It’s like he’s described this awesome AirBnB in vivid detail and gets you all excited about it. The pictures look amazing. But then he doesn’t give you the address.

But clear vision will cause people to demand clear steps.

Which is what Thomas, another one of his followers, does:

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John 14:5 “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

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I love guys like Thomas. Thomas is the guy around the table who is the only one willing to look stupid but asks the question that everyone else is asking but no one has the courage or humility to ask.

“Um… you lost me. Talk to me like a dummy Jesus. I don’t know where or how to get there.”

And Jesus responds so graciously and clearly:

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“I am the way” (John 14:6)

“Believe me” (John 14:11)

“Keep my commands” (John 14:15)

“Love one another” (John 13:34-35)

“I’ll send my Spirit to help you” (John 14:16-17)

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And there are your steps.

The vision is live with God in his house forever. That’s the future. Clear.

But that clarity demanded clear steps. How will we get there, Jesus?

Through you (and your death on the cross). Believe in you. Do what you say. Love each other. And you’ll help us along the way.

Clear vision demands clear steps.