Learning to lead again

Who has heard the saying "Jack of all trades master of none"? For a long time, I always said this about myself until recently. What I realized was that the more I said this the more it became an excuse to not master any one ability. And, as many of you know we never stop learning but not for learning sake but to master something for a greater purpose. Nayeli and I continue to challenge each other in this area, for example, we are learning to play the drums and piano. But it is not only in physical abilities but in the way we think, speak, make decisions, lead, and so much more. This brings me to today's subject, leadership.

Leadership seems to always find me and say "Guess what, it's up to you to take the wheel today or this situation or whatever it is". Not because I have a type A personality but because I believe God has called me to be a leader like He has for all who decide to follow Him. (each in his or her way of course) Since I was a child I have always felt this pull to be a leader and always found myself in places of leadership. Young in my career I was put into positions that I shouldn’t have been but there I was. Over the years I learned how to lead and to lead better in every situation but I still held strong to the idea of “Jack of all trades master of none”. I was limiting God in my life and I don’t think I ever reached the potential I had. Living in Mexico as a Missionary has placed me in a leadership position all the time and I have to learn how to lead all over again but now with the mindset of I am going to master this with God. Taking on the role of learning to master the idea or to the best of my abilities and using it to honor God and teach others to do the same. But this is not all or anything unusual, right? As our ministry grows and our responsibilities grow with it, we have had to lead more and more but not as I thought we would and specifically how I would. I am used to seeing areas that need help and without asking jumping in to help or seeing situations that lack leadership and taking the reigns knowing the other leaders are okay with it. But here in Mexico I cannot do that. Why? Because then people see me as their savior, the American will take care of it they think and they get comfortable allowing me to do the work or delegate and then they stop being responsible or never take on the responsibility if they didn’t have it. I had been doing this for some time without even knowing it. It is the difference in cultures and the bad habits of Americans starting ministries doing all the work and having short-term teams come and do work that the locals should be doing. So now I am learning to lead all over again, to not create a situation I have just explained. 

One of the biggest responsibilities of leadership is to teach others how to lead. Something I have been learning for years and thanks to my mentors, parents, schooling and now our seminary I have been able to do it with some success. I thought I was doing that here in Mexico but I assumed things about their culture that weren’t true and now I am learning to lead and teach leadership all over again. It is really hard because a lot of people are not self-starters or motivated to lead, since it is just not taught well here. I have become a leader in the shadows, trying to lead but pushing the leaders around me to step up. It is this weird mix of being the example and then stepping back and encouraging others to lead. It is an internal struggle because I want to do things but I have to hold back and motivate others to do it and then join them. This may not sound like anything out of the ordinary but you have to remember that things are much slower here and nobody wants to offend anyone or have conflict so it is not only how you lead, speak and motivate but your tone of voice and non-verbal communication too. These are only a few barriers that I am up against. What frustrates me most is seeing how much potential most of them have but they can’t see it and convincing them is almost impossible. A lot of them are more prepared to be leaders than they think and some of them even lead well but don’t believe in themselves. It really is a whole other world here and trying to navigate it is difficult. Remember that I may not be in one place forever or maybe not even in Mexico so teaching others to take on responsibilities, lead and teach others is super important or we will lose it. The church doesn’t grow unless the people inside of them do.

Throughout this process of learning to lead differently, I have learned to become even more dependent on God, which has been a blessing! I am being humbled over and over again, which really I enjoy because I get to experience God even more and in ways I haven’t before. I can’t express how I feel to be able to grow with others on this journey, hard or not it is the most rewarding thing on this earth.