Using Crisis to Lead

The article to click on is "Don't Waste a Crisis." We find ourselves constantly trying to avoid any type of conflict or crisis in our lives and ministries. However, this article points out how suffering can bring about spiritual growth. The author, John Ortberg, states, "Crises, while unwanted, are windows of opportunity for the cure of souls." The article goes on to share how we as ministers can use situations of crisis to helo others change their lives. He says the only way a crisis can bring growth is by dealing with it appropriately. As leaders we need to learn what that appropriate way is. If we do not act on a crisis in the right way then the growth stops when the crisis stops. When we act in the right way then the growth continues Ortberg writes here about spending time with the person in crisis and giving them the time and guidance that is needed for them to work through their distress. We are to be there to listen and guide, instead of to teach. A time of crisis is a time for a person to see things in his or her own life that need changing. Ortberg says that if we do not get these things changed during the crisis that the opportunity is gone, and we revert back to our old ways. I disagree with this because I have experienced the ability to change after the crisis was over by remembering what was happening during that time and using that memory to help continue the change.