Getting the Ball Rolling
Early in my career, I was blessed to work with a transition team.
When they arrived, it was clear that a change was in the making, but we didn't know that the new head of IT and his staff would be temporary. Within two years, they would be replaced by the team that would lead us from then on.
He must increase, but I must decrease. - John 3:30
Today we remember John the Baptist, the transitional preacher and baptizer who prepared the way for the new leadership.
One thing I learned in business is that there are different strengths in leadership. The ones who are great at getting things started, may not excel at keeping them going.
John's ministry was the equivalent of a start-up. He got the ball rolling by doing the hard work of social media, getting the word out and calling the people to action.
But John knew that his job was transitional. He would not be the one, he told his followers. Someone will come after him to lead them to glory.
I have come to appreciate transitional roles, and it is a good thing because time and again throughout my career, I have found myself in transitions of a variety of types, from corporate takeovers to unemployment.
At times, I was saved from dismissal because of some seemingly minor ability or accomplishment that caught the eye of the new bosses or was needed in the conversion from company A to B.
Like John, though, I knew that once I completed the project, once the transition was done, I would be diminished in importance in their eyes and in mine.
Usually, we never hear about these transition leaders. We may not even know who started some of our most successful companies. Someone else may have come along who got all the credit because he or she made it what it is today.
We know about John from the Gospels and from the Acts of the Apostles. His ministry is also recorded by the historian, Josephus, who described his work and his death at the hands of Herod Agrippa.
So, in the course of history, John's popularity has not decreased as he predicted. In fact, he is a role model for Christians everywhere, especially for those in ministry who realize their work is not about them.
Having been born on the date that is set aside to commemorate John, I have always held a special place in my heart for this lone wilderness preacher, and I guess it has influenced my own ministry.
Getting the ball rolling is something that not only intrigues me, but it inspires me to be creative, experimental and free to try what may seem hopelessly impossible.
Why not?
More to come...