Here’s a thought.

You will be most tempted to quit moments before the critical breakthrough

I don’t know whether this is true…but, personally and more broadly, I believe it’s often true.

Think about it:

Tenure. The average tenure in of lead pastors is 3-5 years.  For a student pastor, it’s 12-24 months.  What if we’re quitting before anything significant happens?  While I’ve served in two congregations, I’ve essentially served the same community for 15 years.  I still feel like our best days are ahead of us.  How can you really get to know people in 3 years, or 3 months?  How can you build trust?  How can you generate a movement?  (I know Jesus did, but he prepared for 30 years first.  And none of the rest of us are Jesus, actually).

Projects.  I’m a bit ADD, but I think I’m tempted to quit before the best idea emerges.  I can settle too early.  Or I can abandon ideas as unfruitful before I really mine their potential.  My best expression of a series or message often happens after I’ve written and rewritten the text and find myself verbally explaining what I mean to our service programming team and suddenly discover that I said it better out loud than I did in hours of writing about it.  If I didn’t walk it into the final meeting, it may never have reached it’s best expression.

Directions. When I’m not sure where I’m going (or am convinced the GPS is wrong), I am often tempted to turn around exactly one block before we reach our intended destination.  This is so true I think I must be telepathic, or telepathetic.

Biblically.  Just face it.  If you were Noah, Joseph, Daniel, Paul or any other biblical character, you would have concluded God had abandoned you long before your greatest moments arrived.  Who wants to build an ark for years, stay in prison, get fed to lions or wait in exile 14 years after conversion?  Exactly.  Most of us would have bailed on God long before any of that was over.

I want be there for the break through.  How about you?

Last week we set off a healthy discussion about the differences between the leadership culture in Canada and the US.  If you missed it, you need to read the comments.  Fascinating.

The key difference I see is that in the US, leaders sit around a table trying to think of twenty one ways to make an idea happen.  In Canada, I find leaders often sit around the table trying to come up with twenty one reasons it can’t or won’t happen.

So how do you change that culture?

Here are five things that I believe can help create a make-it-happen culture:

• Decide. Too many leaders have ample conversations but never make decisions.  Ask yourself this question every time you’re in a meeting:  what will be different when we walk out of this room?  If you can’t answer that question, you just wasted everyone’s time.   The same is true, by the way, on Sundays.

• Stop trying to please people. Trying to please too many people will mean nobody is happy in the end, especially you as a leader.  I realize everyone knows this.  Just very few lead this way.

• Realize people will be offended.  If a decision requires leadership, it is going to offend someone.   Just choose who you are going to offend.  Jesus did.  He offended the Pharisees while he welcomed outsiders.  We don’t go out of our way to offend people, but real leadership is controversial.  Sometimes decisions to include outsiders will offend insiders no matter how hard you try.  Get comfortable with that.

• Follow Up. Too many great decisions die through lack of execution and follow up.  Creating clear channels of accountability is often the difference between the life and death of a dream.

• Don’t Be Afraid. Sometimes I think fear keeps us from realizing dreams.  But when it comes to a mission that even the gates of hell can’t prevail against, what have we to fear?  Go for it.

What are you learning?  What’s helping you make it happen?  What’s stopping you?