I am in the Pittsburgh airport heading out of town for the week. This past weekend I did some leadership training for church leaders after I returned from Dallas, something I really enjoy doing. I started out talking about purpose and had planned to move on to include some other material. We never got past purpose, however, as I got a lot of questions about purpose and how it relates to church work.
One of the questions really got me thinking while I spoke, so I thought I would include the question and my answer this week.
THE QUESTION
One man raised his hand and asked me, "What about the pain that you have to go through to achieve your purpose? How can you press through it?" My initial response was that purpose is the answer. When you find something that you love doing, that is so important to you that you can't ignore it or walk away from it, then you have a reason to press through or endure the pain.
It is said of Jesus, "For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2 NASU). Jesus had joy and that propelled to the cross and through the shame. That is why I am so adamant that joy is critical to your PurposeQuest. Without it, you don't have what you need to take you through the tough times that will surely come.
Do you have that kind of joy? Is there something that you are willing to suffer to achieve, paying whatever price is necessary? I hope you do. If not, I urge you to do whatever you have to do to find it.
MORE ANSWERS
But then we kept talking and I identified two other things that leaders need to deal with in addition to pain. The second is money and the third is fear. When you don't know where the money is coming from, you can limit your vision and dreams, reducing them to meet your current resource pool. Whenever that happens, you shrink back from the brink of success, living in your potential but never seeing it fulfilled.
If you are a regular reader, you know what I have had to say about fear. Recently I have come to see that it isn't fear of failure that often paralyzes you. It is the fear of criticism. I have realized in the last few years how many times I didn't do something that was in my heart to do because I was fearful of what someone would say about me.
I felt good about my leadership session and I hope the people left with those three things in their mind: pain and joy, money and fear. Maybe this would be a good week to see how you're doing with those three things. What could you do if you had joy, didn't worry about money at first, and overcame your fears? Those answers will go a long way toward you understanding and fulfilling your purpose. Have a great week!
Fear. That will do us all in. I have battled with the money thing all of my life. I've "put the cart before the horse" so to speak. Growing up in a fundamentalist church, somehow i "understood" things will "just work out" if you're in this mysterious thing called God's WILL. Hence, when there was The Pain, i gave in... thinking, oh this must NOT be "from God". This memo has helped me find more direction and Clearity on the Money and Fear issue, understanding that the "pain" even in the midst of the Joy, is necessary. Thanx JohnStanko !! Praying for all of those out there that struggle with these things as well.
Posted by: kenny champion | January 15, 2007 at 08:05 AM
Hey John,
I've been working on my vision by writing a new book called "jammin' with God / a Christian musician's perspective"
The first six chapters are up on my site: www.petecaputo.com
I hope you get a chance to check it out, so you can see how your ministry has helped me to push onward.
God Bless,
Pete Caputo
Posted by: Pete Caputo | January 15, 2007 at 09:08 AM