In an article in the Leading Today section of the March / April 2011 issue of Preaching Magazine, Ron Walter wrote an article entitled It’s Performance that Counts. In the article Walter talks about Mickey Mantle. He discusses how Mantle had all the talent that he needed to get to the big leagues. At the age of 19 during spring training Mantle performed so well that the media started calling him the next Babe Ruth, and declared him a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. Mantle started to walk with a bit of a swagger, then a postcard came from his dad that said “Mickey now that you made the headlines, why not settle down and make the team. Strut less, and focus more.” Walter asserts in his article that leaders must spend less time swaggering and more time performing. He states that true ministry is in performance.
I understand Walter’s point about not having too much swagger. Some Christian leaders have let their swagger outpace their performance. Performance is important, It is how one is measured but it is not what counts most. A leaders commitment to God, and their willingness to listen to God is what is most important. Everybody is not going to be a Mickey Mantle. Some people may just be the unknown coach that coaches a Mantle. They love the Lord and are obedient to their call. We may never see them and we may never recognize their performance, but they are leaders still the same.
I get where you are going with this Franklin, and I applaud your commitment to defining success properly. I appreciate your desire to remain rooted in the traditional, and proper, understanding of where our leadership and success comes from, namely our deep and abiding connection to the Lord and His Kingdom.
ReplyDeleteLet’s press the issue a bit further however. To what extent can I be deeply connected and committed to the Lord and yet be “unsuccessful” in my performance? Obviously we need to really, really, carefully unpack what success truly is. But if we are defining success as accomplishing that which is most important, which you label as commitment to God, then how will this effect performance? If I am deeply committed to God, how will my preaching, teaching, care, counseling, modeling, and leading reflect this success? In other words, how will my ministry reflect my commitment to the Lord?
I don’t think any of us would refute the reality that these two things are deeply connected. Ministry, or performance, is all about commitment to the Lord. And thus, performance in ministry is ultimately what we are after. We therefore see our commitment to the Lord not as a separate entity in relationship to performance, but an integral part thereof.