Pastoral Wisdom from Ray Ortlund
A Proverb for Steady Leadership
Ray Ortlund writes:
Dad used to say about pastoral leadership, “One step ahead of your people, and you’re a leader. Two steps ahead, and you’re a visionary. Three steps ahead, and you’re a martyr!” So the way of wisdom is deliberately to stay only one step, or maybe two, out ahead. After all, God is patient. You can be patient too. Just be graciously unstoppable.
I often find myself unwisely going to far ahead my church, my fellow pastors, my staff, my wife, and my kids. This is a memorable corrective. I need to have a divine sense of where we should be going and a self-awareness as to whether I am one, two, or three steps ahead of those I get to serve.