From Weakness to Strength
8 Vulnerabilities That Can Bring Out the Best in Your Leadership
(David C Cook, 2017)
WHO: Scott Sauls, the senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Sauls is also a veteran church planter and homiletics professor, and author of two previous books, Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides and Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation and Fear.
HE SAYS: “Had I truly been open-handed toward God with all of my dreams and hopes and ambitions, had I truly believed that the writing of my story belonged to God and not to me, then thoughts of walking away from my dream job, though deeply disappointing, would not have wrecked me to the degree that it did.”
THE BIG IDEA: “The most impactful, life-giving and lasting leadership rests firmly on the shoulders of weakness,” Sauls says. “How often I have pleaded for the Lord to remove my thorns. … Although the thorns are painful, they are a gift of grace to grow me into the kind of leader that I could never become without them.”
THE PROGRESSION:
Christian leaders want to be more like Jesus, but sin gets in the way. Ambition, isolation, criticism and envy can either draw them closer to God or lead them to a downfall. Dealing with the letdown that can follow success, responding to a society that opposes Christianity and coming face-to-face with real suffering also can be crossroads of faith. Successful leaders learn to respond to these situations by drawing closer to God and turning weaknesses into strengths.