← City Light Church Las Vegas | Jabin Chavez
City Light Church Las Vegas | Jabin Chavez
Tension of Leadership | Jabin Chavez Leadership Podcast
00:35:01
Tension of Leadership | Jabin Chavez Leadership P…
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hey, friend, and welcome to the Jabyn Chavez Leadership Podcast, where we are just praying that every week we're getting a little bit better, just a little bit stronger, a little bit bigger on the inside so that our organization can continue to grow and thrive and excel in all that God has called us to do. Today we are going back in time. I'm taking you into the archives from one of my favorite leadership teachings that I did at a stage staff meeting a few years back. I think you're going to be totally blessed, administered to by this. I think it would be great for you who are senior pastors to maybe show this to your team, do it for a staff meeting, or just send it in an email and let your team gather around it. I think you're going to be really blessed by it and I'm really excited to show you this. Then next week, want to let you know, got an awesome podcast with Rich Wilkerson Jr. All the way from Miami. And then the week after, we're into some really fresh, really awesome new teachings that I'm going to be releasing. I love you so much. Enjoy this podcast and we'll see you soon. I want to talk about the tension, the tension of leadership and the tensions of leadership and just kind of try to process, I think, a few thoughts with you that will help you in your leadership journey. And as we lead this organization, lead these people and continue to do it. And so here's my thought on the tension of leadership. The tension of leadership is there's always tension. There's always tension. The goal of leadership is not to remove tensions. The journey of leadership is that there's always going to be a tension. There's always going to be this side of it that you have to make peace with. And what great leaders are doing is great leaders are constantly finding the tension and living in the tension and. And not getting frustrated by the tension. So an explanation of that would be a guitar. You don't tune a guitar once, right? You don't even tune it once a day. If you'll watch, even on Sunday, watch the musicians on Sunday and you will watch them after every song. Just a little tension. They don't tune it once and they get there on Sunday and the band sounds terrible and they go, oh, I tuned it. I don't know what happened. It was six months ago, but I tuned it. I don't know. I don't know. It's constant refinement, tuning, tension. And you don't get frustrated by that. You commit to that as a part of your journey. So great leaders are constantly finding the tension, living within the tension. Okay. With the tension. And there are. Andy Stanley said there's tensions to manage and problems to solve. Tensions to manage and problems to solve. I think a lot of times you will. I will. We will get frustrated with tensions because we're trying to solve them. Right. So I'm gonna solve, I'm gonna try to fix this forever. And you can't. Right? So you come back two weeks later, you go, this is still an issue. Yeah. Our piano at home, we're getting it tuned right now because it, I go, it's only six months old. Why do I already gotta have. Because that's what you do. Oh man. I thought, I thought they were encouraged. I thought we had a great meeting. I thought everything was good. Yeah, that was three weeks ago. We're not trying to solve something that has to be managed. We cannot solve things that have to be constantly. And we sent out the schedule, everything was green. Now people are declining. It's a. There's tensions. And so I don't get frustrated by that. I can't get. There's a part of it that like, man, the church worshiped so passionately last week and now this week they're a little. No, it's just attention, whatever it might be there. I'm not trying to solve things that can't be solved now. I think some things can be solved. That's not what I mean. But I'm saying in, in the life of a life giving organization organism, this, this thing that's all about people and constant volunteers and constant. Everything is like humanity, Humanity. There's this, there's going to be few problems that can be solved. It's going to be like 99 tensions that need to be managed and like 1% we can solve that. Boom. This is it. Because even the things that we can solve will get outdated. Right? And then we'll have to fix them again. So that, that's a whole other thing. But they're talking about right now all of the things right now that in our, in our lifetime we will see AI come in. And so much of what is people things right now are going to be obsolete because of AI. So you just think about that. There's just, just because it, it works today doesn't mean it'll work forever. And so we're tuning, just tuning. We're not frustrated, we're tuning. We're not frustrated, we're in tension. We're not, we're not mad at anybody. We're in tension. Okay, so let me. I want to talk about some tensions that you have to live with. The first one is change. The only constant in life is change. The only thing that doesn't change is change. All change feels like a criticism to the past. Every new hire can feel like a criticism to our last season. Can feel. And frankly, some of them are. But every little tweak is a criticism. If you last night went, I gotta eat a healthy dinner, by eating that healthy dinner, you are criticizing the dinner before. Right. Every time you get. Every time you go to the gym, you are criticizing past lifestyle choices. Every change feels like or can feel like a criticism to the past. Many changes are a criticism to the past. Hey, I know we've been doing this. Let's do this. What was wrong with this? It can feel. God's been great. I feel like it's been going really good. I know, but I think it can get a little. We're tweaking, we're tuning. And you have to live in the tension of that. That not everything is a personal criticism or a personal attack or a personal. You're after me. Nope. We're just in tension. So every change can feel like a criticism of the past or is a criticism of the past. From bad to good, from good to great, from great to best, from bad to good, from good to great, from great to best. And here's the most frustrating thing about what I just said. Over time, even the best is no longer the best. Right? You're like, wait a minute, I thought we dialed this in. This is the best. Well, it was then. There will be practices that are best for portable, that won't be best for the next building. We're constantly in that. So I'm not. Not everything is. We're not a critical people. But because we're a people of change, the change feels criticizing. So the best practice today may be dead by tomorrow. Matthew 5, you've heard it said, but now I say, does anyone know who said that? Any guesses who said that in Matthew 5? It's pretty easy. Yeah, here we go. You're afraid to go with that. Like the Holy Spirit Jesus said. Matthew 5, you've heard it said, but now I say, you've heard it said, don't murder. But I say, don't hate. You heard it said, don't commit adultery. I say, don't lust. You've had one thing that was good, but now I have a better thing. And that was hard for them to hear. Now think about that. It was hard for them to hear a better thing, hey, that was great. But I actually think there's a better. But this has been my thing, but I found my whole identity in this. And then. And then how does he end it? You can't put new wine into old wine skins. You have to put new wine in new wineskins because old wine skins are brittle and hard and have gotten used to that old wine. So now you put new wine in and it starts to ferment, it starts to move, and it starts to bubble, and it starts to do whatever wine does, and it will burst that. And so we have to be a new wineskin people. What does that mean? We're soft, pliable, flexible. Blessed are the flexible. They will not break. I don't know. It's not in the Bible, but it's very true. So I'm new wine. I'm a new wine man. So that if God wants to do something new, or if our church in general, we're going in a new thing, we're open to it because we're not committed to change for change sake. We're committed to flexibility because we know change is coming because it's inevitable. As much as you want to deny it, it's on the way. You'll go to a church that's trying to be modern, and then there'll be like one sax player on the stage, right? And they're singing like a brand new modern song. But there's this one dude with a Kenny G, you know, because they just can't change. I always say that if you want to see a dying church, it'll be. They're trying to do modern music and there's a conga player up there. They're not a gospel. It's not gospel. It's not. It's not. You know, it doesn't have soul. They're literally, you know, singing, I'll take you at your. And there's some dude in his 60s, and it's off. You can't even hear them. But they're too afraid to make the change. And if you don't think that trickles down, I promise you that is a picture of all this other stuff going on in the church. That's like, we can't. We can't touch because that's how. That's how Jason's always done that in kids can't touch that because that's how Fern's always done outreach. Nope. Change. Does that make sense? All right, number two, we're talking about the tensions. The next tension is work. There's A tension in work. And there is a hurdle every person has to cross when it comes to work ethic. When you deny work, you postpone blessing. So what did God say? I will bless the work of your hands. I will not bless your hands. I will bless the work of your hands. So what does God bless? He blesses work. So when I deny, when I try to get around, I postpone the very thing that God wants to bless me with. Work smarter, not harder. Sure, kind of. As long as I think, instead of saying things like, work smarter, not harder, think of what does it take to do this? At its best, let's do that. Like, whatever that is. I think load in, load out for all of our portable churches watching, we're portable right now. Let's do it as efficiently and as good as possible, while also not denying the fact that at the end of the day, you just have to push a cart. You got to take heavy things out and hang them up. And it's hard. Now, we can do it smart, but I don't care how smart you do load in, loadout. It's going to be hard. Now, we can make it harder on ourselves, but I think so. I'm not always thinking, all right, what's the hack? There isn't always a hack to hard work. Sometimes it's just hard work. I'm going to do it as good as I can. But I'm not trying to get around something that I can't get around. Because what you'll do is you'll end up back like the children of Israel, wandering around a mountain, circling the inevitable. So I think the tension of work is to see it as a blessing that I have to remind myself that this was always a part of God's mind. Whatever I complain about, I will despise. And whatever I despise, I'll lose. Whatever I complain about, I'll despise. Whatever I despise, I'll lose. So if I'm. If I'm complaining about work, and I mean that very generally, I don't mean this job. I mean just work, work. If I complain about it, I will despise it. If I despise it, I'll eventually lose it. So I'm constantly seeing the blessing of work. We were just talking to a guy before staff meeting, and he goes, I want to quit. Sometimes I just want to quit. And I go, I said, I resign at least twice a year. At least twice. I resigned. What was that? Three weeks ago? I think I told you in the kitchen, I resigned a My Pastor, she said, no. I said, okay, so I didn't quit. So Tommy Barnett said, be encouraged when you want to quit because that means you have something to quit. So if you're ever discouraged, if you're ever frustrated, if you ever want to quit, then you just get happy and you go, oh, cool, I actually have something to quit. Sweet. Keep it moving. Just like that. Hit you Funny. Lauren, you like that one? Yeah, it's just like, cool, I got something I can quit. I'm not going to quit. And then you keep it moving. So I see work as a blessing. I see work. I see work as God's gift to me, and I see work as something that God can bless. Next. Tension is fun. So the flip of that. Some of you have fun working. I don't. You gotta. You gotta have fun. Now, I like preaching, but the prep of it to me is still very hard work. The pressure. Now, a lot of that pressure is not God given. It's my own, but it's still a. That. It's still a battle, I guess. I've been preaching consistently for 15 years. Sermon prep is still hard. The pressure of it, the tension of it, the, oh, man, I want to do a good job of it. Is this clear? I mean, all that. It's still. It's still a weekly. The lowest. This is so weird, by the way, about life. My lowest emotional state of every week and my highest emotional state of every week are both centered around preaching. Isn't that weird? So my lowest is Friday because I'm just making sure I've got this whole thought. And I'm just depressed now. Not depressed like, just depressed like, I really want some ice cream. And I like, let's let Jay preach. I'm gonna go out of town because I'm just. I'm in that grind of trying to make it all happen. The height of my week is Sunday, and I got through the 8:45, and this is gonna be a great day. And God's moving, and I'm out in that courtyard, I'm shaking hands, I'm giving hugs, and it's like, God, oh, thank you, Jesus. So same thing, two different sides of the same thing. And I'm living in that. And I have to live in that tension of it because I'm well prepared and I know the word and I love God, and yet there's still the tension of it. So the. The. What I have to also have is the relief in my life. And that's where fun comes in. So what I would say is, you're going to find relief. You will find relief. Now. It will be healthy relief or unhealthy relief. So that's. That's what this fun thing is about, finding healthy ways to find relief from the. From the unavoidable tension that is life and leadership or just working a job or just being a parent or just being a spouse or just whatever it might be. I have to have relief. I should just be happy all the time. Maybe. But no, you actually need moments of relief. This is. And you see this in the Bible. You see these holy days, you see these holidays, you see celebrations based around eating and drinking. And not every night can be a party. You know what I mean? Amen. Not every night. Not every night can be cheeseburgers and beer. Not every night can be pizza and wine. Not every night can be. But. And that was the. That was what you saw in the holy days. There was these moments of feasting and wine and celebration. I'm not telling anyone to drink or not to drink. I'm just saying you would. You would see these big celebrations. You would also see seasons of fasting. You would see seasons of reaping and seasons of sowing. My point is I have to have whatever that celebration is in my life. So we have Sabbath hobbies and passions. Sabbath hobbies and passions. You have to have a Sabbath. You have to have hobbies and you have to have passions. Sometimes they meet, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they get together, sometimes they don't. I would. I would say that I am. Yesterday for me was a Sabbath and a passion and a hobby all came together because I got to golf on my day off. Let's go. That's a good. And then. And then I cooked, which is a passion or a hobby. What is that? I think it depends on how good you are at it. So golf is a hobby. Cooking is a passion because I'm good at cooking and bad at golf. So that makes sense. So, like, slept till eight, got to sleep in late, hung with Goldie Shan, came to the office. And then I went and golfed. And then I came home and then I cooked and I got. And I just had a day of nothing like this. Nothing like, you know, church. It was all family and hobby and passion. You have to. And what you're trying to do on your Sabbath is you're trying to do something that engages a hobby or a passion. So what energizes me and am I. And how often can I realistically do that? What energizes me and how often can I realistically do that. That's the question you're trying to find. And I'm trying to live in the tension of that. I'm not a. Second Timothy 3 a lover of pleasure. I'm not a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God. I'm not constantly looking for relief, but I know that I need relief, and I need to find it in healthy ways or I'll find it in unhealthy ways. Ways. Whether that's a substance or sexual morality or. Or some form of depression that keeps me isolated or just getting lost in social media or entertainment, whatever it might be. I must have relief. So don't beat yourself. You're a human, right? You're not a spirit floating around. You're a human. Your body and your soul needs relief. That's not the question. The question is, how do you find it and how do you do it in a healthy way? So. And it could be everything from going on a walk to going to the gym to playing golf to cooking, baking cookies, to, you know, on and on and on. But writing a song, whatever it might be. It might be creative, it might not be creative, but you have to find ways to do that. So I think for me, the reason golf is so good for me is because every. Everything I do in work is around creativity. So golf is not creative. Right. Golf is just. It's the next shot, and I cannot be thinking about that shot and writing a song or that shot and a chord or that song and a sermon. So it just. It gets me in that. So I just think you have to. You have to figure out what these are, and you got to do it more often, and you got to live in the tension of that. Number four, social interaction. The tension of social interaction is. Being connected to groups having real friendships. I'll try to break that down, but let me give you the tension one more time. The tension is that I am both connected to groups and have real friendships. Now, this is a tension I'm currently in, because here's what I'll say about myself. I have awesome friendships, but I'm not connected to groups. You know what I'm saying? Don't say amen, anybody. Like, that's right. So, like, I don't hang out. I don't go out at night as the sun is going down. I'm going home. I don't leave the house. I really don't. We were talking about it. I was talking about it yesterday with some guys that I golfed with. I go. I don't. I don't hang at night. I don't leave the house at night. Now, is that me being 40? Is that me wanting time with Goldie? Is that me just being. I don't know. My point is I'm giving you attention in my own life, and I don't. The problem is I don't even feel a burden to connect because I'm so deeply rooted in my friendships that make sense. So, no offense, I just never think about, like, oh, we should all go out to dinner. Because I go home and make a few phone calls and connect with my buddies and talk to some pastor, and I feel deeply rooted, accountable, covered, encouraged, strengthened by my friendships. The tension, though, is like, man, I'd like more time with pastor. So I don't. Does that make sense? Maybe if I didn't have any friends in the friends in the sense of these lifelong friends that I've had, it might actually make me more social within the church. So my tension is I have to make sure not only do I have these great friendships, but. But that I'm also connecting to the life of the church. Some of you, maybe, or you're watching or whatever, you might actually feel you've got the social side down. It's like, okay, I'm in a group and I'm serving, and I'm here and I'm there and I'm doing. But I don't have two or three, like, ride or dies. And so my encouragement is, you need both and not one or the other. You need both. And I say that as someone who does not have both. All right, so. So who am I. Who am I friendly with and who are my friends? And don't confuse that. Who am I friendly with and who are my friends? And I have to live in the tension of that and not get them confused. The tension of social gatherings and real friendship, and I gotta live in. And I gotta live in both. Well, I don't need to be in a small group because I've got two or three homies. I know who my friends are. Nope, but you need both. I don't need to go to dinner because I just want to be home with my wife and daughter and watch trolls for the 7,000th time. But I need both, right? So that's that. I knew I was going to go get a coffee this morning, so I just grabbed J.R. i said, let's go get a coffee. Because I'm just. I know that I need both for my own sake and your sake and everyone's sake. And I'm living in the tension of social interaction, and all of us have to do that. Lastly is the tension of consistency, and I'll be done. The tension of consistency is this. We never change, or I'm always bored. So. What I mean is that I think most churches and leaders fall into one of those tensions. I never change. I am like the Lord. I change not. Hallelujah. This is how we're always going to do churches, how we're always going to do ministry. This is how we're always going to do youth. This is how we're always going to do business. Always going to do. Always going to do bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. We do not change. There's weakness in that. There's also weakness in I'm bored. And let's just change things to change things just because we're bored. So there's a balance, which is when I feel like we are at our best practice, I'm patient. And when I feel like what we're doing is no longer best practice, I'm willing to change. But the. But the, the middle ground of that is the consistency to go. I'm not. I'm not refusing change because I hate change, but I'm also not trying to make change because I'm actually just bored. I said something at one of the services, and I only think I said it at one service, but I really want to unpack this thought. I got to figure out how to do it better. But back in Philippians forward said, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer. So I'm making my decisions either from anxiety or prayer. I'm making my decisions from fear or peace. I'm making my decisions from impatience or patience. I'm making my decisions from either my flesh or my spirit. Be anxious for nothing. Everything in prayer. Which one am I making my decisions by? So I think that's the tension we're talking about. So being very consistent and yet I'm open to whatever needs to happen. But I'm also not just making decisions out of boredom or anxiety or I need something new or I need something fresh. No. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer. And so I'm just. I'm kind of living in that thing of. I'm not. I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to shake things up just to shake things up. But I'm open to whatever God wants to do. And in the midst of that, we're going to be so consistent and so committed to whatever is best right now, and we're never going to change it because we're bored. We're going to change it when we find the better expression. And I think that's the tension of consistency, the tension of learning to love the mundane of life. I'm not trying to recreate it, I'm not trying to, I'm not going to Instagram to decide what the pace of my life should be. Right. Like, but man, they always seem like they're doing this and this and this and. No, no, no, I'm just, I'm, I'm in a flow and I love the flow of my life and it's consistent and it's. And you know, Paul talks about that when he says we ought to live a peaceful and quiet life. There's something about that and I, you know, as I get older, obviously that it's more and more attractive to me, but there is just something to that. Like I'm not chasing the next whatever. I'm just, I like the consistency of my life and I like what it's building and, and I think that that is, but it's attention. It's attention. I don't, I don't know if you ever fully grow out of it, but I think it's something we fight for and strive for and keep tuning that, that tension of, of consistency and not trying to make new things happen just because. So those are some tensions we want to live with. None of those are problems that we solve. And I think again, depending upon your personality, you will fall on kind of either side of one of those tensions and I'll just end with this. Every, every one of us, our greatest strength is our greatest weakness. So what makes you brilliant is what makes you dangerous. What makes you genius is what will trip you up. And so I'm just always aware of that so that then I can live in the healthiest expression of my God given assignment. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.