Navigation Is Now An Art

My brother used to call me Hondo when we would take road trips. Why? I'm not exactly sure why he chose that name, he's just funny that way. But I was "Hondo, the navigator" because I have a good sense of direction, and if I have a map I can get anywhere, (my skills are becoming increasingly useless in an age of GPS but I digress) so my job was always to answer the question, "Which way do we go?" Now the destination had already been chosen so my job was easy get us from point A to point B. If only it were so easy with the church.

If you want to get anywhere you first need to decide where it is you want to go and second you need to chart the best course to get you there. When it comes to leading a church this can get very complicated.

As the leader you may know where you want to go, but getting everyone to agree with that choice is a challenge, especially when you are dealing with a "churched" crowd. The "unchurched" are much quicker to follow, but the "churched" think that they know best where we should be going. Whether that is based on past experience or what their old church did, it varies, but the challenge remains. Charting the direction of a church ends up being like a family trying to decide where they want to eat. Everyone agrees that they are hunger, but what kind of food becomes the question. And after that is finally decided, where to get it becomes the question. What should be simple becomes complicated and emotionally charged.

In my particular case, I am dealing with a church with a lot of history, 35 years plus, and it has been colorful, which only makes my job harder. I am the sixth pastor in the last 35 years. Which makes it hard for the people to trust the leader's directional choices, because after all after he picks a destination, he will probably get out of the car. So I understand the struggle I face, but I don't have to like it. So there is a struggle for the wheel. As the leader I want to pick a destination and chart a course based on what I feel the Lord has burdened me with, but from the backseat comes a different set of directions.

Rich Warren says that you can teach your way out of any problem. John Maxwell says "P.L.A.N. A.H.E.A.D." So I guess I'll have to do a little of both.

So navigation is now an art, oh for the simple days of "Which way Hondo?"