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The Leader's Journey

Newsletter: Reflecting on the past

published10 months ago
3 min read

Hi y’all!

Last week we finished the podcast series with Dr. Robert Creech, where Jim and Trisha have been discussing the book the three of them wrote together, The Leader's Journey.

Here are the links to the whole series:

If you haven't read their book yet, we highly recommend you check it out and if you have, would you please rate and review it on Amazon?

Introducing Mac McCarthy

We are very excited to announce the addition of a new team member, Mac McCarthy. Mac has been in Christian ministry for over 15 years. As a pastor, practitioner, and coach, he is passionate about equipping leaders by integrating missional theology, spiritual formation, family systems, and adaptive leadership to navigate congregational change. You can check out his full bio here.​

Reflecting on the past is an important part of the growth process

In the next episode of The Leader's Journey Podcast, Trisha and Jim are reflecting on the past two years, what they've learned, how things have changed, and what they can see differently now from a different vantage point.

When I asked Trisha why they chose this topic for this episode, she said, "Because in 2020, the world changed, and that experience changed us—all of us. In mid-March, when we recorded the first of these podcasts, we didn't know what we didn't know, but we knew that we all needed to be bringing our best thinking to the challenges in front of us."

Part of that process for Trisha was to go back and review some of the podcasts and blog posts they shared during the early stages of the pandemic.

"As I listened to these podcasts again, I was stunned by how close we came to describing what was going to be required of leaders in the coming months; we had no idea it would be years! But I'm really pleased about how we were able to ask good questions and reflect our best guess about what leaders needed to be thinking about—I think we came really close."

We wanted to encourage you to review a few of those resources and reflect on the leadership challenges you've faced in the last two years to learn from them and take that learning into the future. Here is one blog post and three podcasts we shared between March and May 2020:

Three things to reflect on

Trisha shared three things, in particular, she hopes people will reflect on as they read and listen to the resources above:

“First, I want you to listen to get in touch with your own experience—your feelings and decisions as a leader. Can you remember what it was like when we were just beginning to figure out what was going on? How did you feel before you knew what you know now? We've all been moving so fast that many of us haven't really gone back to the beginning and revisited the story as it was happening. Reflecting on the past is an important part of the growth process.”
“Second, I hope you'll listen for how we described the challenges we faced in 2020 and how close we came to describing what you actually experienced. Have things unfolded the way you expected? What has been unexpected? Can you look closely at the decisions you and your organization made and get curious about them—not just what you decided but how you went about it? You faced unprecedented leadership challenges—what did you learn?”
“Third, I hope you'll think about how to take your learning into the future. I strongly believe that God doesn't cause our suffering but that God also doesn't waste it. Every leader I know learned so much during the last two years ... and probably has trouble articulating it. Now, as the nature of the pandemic is changing, how are you different? How is your congregation different? What do you understand now that you didn't before? What stories do you have to tell? How has that shaped you into the leader you are today?”

After reviewing the resources above, we invite you to listen to the podcast episode coming out next week and we want to hear from you. What do you notice when you reflect on your role as a leader over the past two years?

Thanks for reading!

– Tim

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