One of my favorite things about the way Jesus did ministry is that it was hands on ministry lessons for you and I today.
As we continue our “Leadership Toolbox” series, I believe that the tool of “Opened Eyes” may be the most important tool of all.
Some tools don’t require teaching of how to be used. I was never taught how to use a hammer. I just picked it up and started hitting things. Some tools require a little training before put in use, and for the tool of “opened eyes”, we need to see what Jesus had to say about it.
John 9:1 (ESV) “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth…”
Leadership is something you are born into. Of course, I do believe that you can be trained into the things of leadership, but some people just have a gift to lead people, projects, teams, etc. Most of the time the leaders who were “volun-told” to be in ministry never had the chance to really be trained as a leader. They are a perfect candidate for Jesus to teach how leadership should be used.
John 9:6- 7 “Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).
I love this part. Jesus takes mud, the dirt, the very make up of the earth and spits in it to form a solution for sight. Leadership begins when a void becomes a vision. What is Jesus saying to us today? Eyes are opened when leaders get down to the dirty.
A misused tool can be a dangerous thing. When I first started out as a leader, I was so quick to fix the problem I overlooked what was causing the problem to begin with. Here are some things I did to “get dirty” in the mud of mission so I could see clearly the vision we are building.
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Sit & Study – My team knows, don’t freak out if I just walk into your office and sit there for hours. I’m watching, observing, studying the habits of what we do as team when things go wrong.
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Talk Truth – As one of our core behaviors, our meetings always say what’s on our mind, not just whats “on our heart”. If we don’t like it we challenge it with the understanding that we are here to make things better.
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Listen, Then Lead – I’m not at the desk everyday, in the field, with the public during operation, but my team is. They are your focus group of your future. What they tell me determines where we are going to go. It determines what changes we need to make. Shows me if they enjoy what they do and understand where we are going as a team. A leader that only hears their own voice doesn’t understand what leadership is all about.
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Walk It Out – Get out in the field after your great idea debuts. Do the process yourself to find out how simple or hard something really is. (Watch Undercover Boss to see this first hand.)
If you feel like you’re stuck in the mud, be encouraged, you’re halfway to a miracle. What came from Jesus’ mouth made mud an ingredient for a miracle. He sent the man to wash it out, it was an assignment. He knew that after the washing would come a new sight. Seeing things that had never been seen before, to do things that had never been done before.
