The Goehner Group

Being oriented right is critical to right living…

At 48 years old, as a man, husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, ministry leader, consultant and friend of many I have been brought to my knees before God to simply answer the question:

Is my life oriented right? The basic issue is this - If I am headed off in slightly the wrong direction, it won’t take long until I am in the wrong place - even though I have started with good intentions, only slightly being wrong.

David Goodnight is a “friend of a lifetime” for me. He relayed the following to me: He and his family were skiing. After a break in the lodge, it was time to hit the slopes again. Daughter Laura, was trying to click into her bindings with her skis faced on a slight down hill with snow built up on her boots. Even with the good help of her older brother, it was not working. The snow was caked on her boots, no amount of banging with the ski poles would knock the snow off, making it impossible to click into her bindings. No amount of bracing from her brother kept her skis from wanting to move down hill without her. After some direction from Dad, Laura repositioned her skis, scraped off her boots and “clicked in” - now she was free to ski.

David commented to me “Laura wasn’t oriented right, even though she had everything she needed to ski; she was straining to ski because she wasn’t oriented right. That is the way it is in life, so many people have all the right things and are in the right place, but because they are not oriented right they bring unnecessary struggle onto themselves.”

There is enough of life behind me to see where this is true in my own life. In nearly every area of my life, at one time or another, I haven’t been oriented right, and as a result have introduced unnecessary struggle in my life. I have a deepened resolve not to see it repeat.

I have a strong desire to face the future on stronger footing, in deeper relationship, with greater knowledge, conviction and passion. Today, in the context of much uncertainty, is the right time to focus in on a deeper relationship with Christ.

I believe it is critical that followers of Christ reach for a deeper level of relationship that combines knowledge of God with acts of Christ like compassion bringing a greater expression of the Kingdom of God to this world.

I am in pursuit of the deepest level of relationship with God. I invite anybody who reads this to join me.

Ed McDowell

Webster has many definitions for the word confidence: full trust…believing in the reliability of another person; belief in one’s self and one’s power or ability; certitude…confidence in leaders; confidential communication.

Our country and the world community lack confidence…in the economy, our leaders and often in our own abilities. I believe we do not have a shortage of money-despite the economic downturn-but a lack of confidence. When people lose confidence in government, a business, a ministry or church the result is never positive and the solution is often long in coming. That’s why it’s important to put forth your vision and mission with the confidence that God is leading you, your staff and the board, as you seek to honor him. People will support vision when it is clearly communicated with confidence even in the worst of times.

The last definition of confidence above troubles me. It is confidential communication. In my nearly five decades of ministry experience, I continue to be disappointed in how poorly Christian leaders and ministry organizations handle confidential information. The essence of integrity is the ability to keep information confidential. A possible theme could be: “What is said here…stays here.” As the stewards of God’s grace we would be well advised to value and honor confidential information.

For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6.

I’ve been recently reviewing resumes of people who are seeking to become senior pastors of a large church. I’ve been struck with one theme. Those individuals who appear not to be qualified have not stayed in any of their recent leadership roles for more than 2-3 years. I fear this is becoming a pattern among some Christian leaders and it does not bode well for the future. In this particular case the current senior pastor, who is retiring, has served faithfully for 20 years. This ongoing steady ministry has resulted in an impact within the congregation and the community.

The same is true in parachurch ministries. Those who stay for a length of time make a difference in building an organization that is stable and will provide ministry impact into the next generation.

“Staying the course” is not always easy because you have to deal with people, and people can be frustrating. However, dealing with people is the central issue in leadership. It takes time, patience, creativity, and accepting criticism without getting cynical or ultra negative.

I often feel when leaders move quite frequently they are “leaving something” rather than “going to something.” One of the criteria I use in an executive search is: Is God leading someone to a new opportunity or are they fleeing something that quite possibly needs them to “stay the course.”

Obviously there’s not a hard and fast right answer but I am concerned that it has become easier to “cut and run” than to stay the task and work through the issues.

From time to time it’s good to ask yourself, am I truly staying the course and willing to grapple with the issues that will make a difference in this organization for years to come.