Spire Conference - Preconference - Weedership - Levi Lusko, speaker
Proverbs 24:30–34 (ESV):
30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, 31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. 32 Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
Leading is weeding. That’s the major thought Levi Lusko expressed in his talk. Once I got passed his painted on skinny jeans and the fact that he almost used the word of curse made popular by South Park I was able to take a few notes. The following thoughts are based on those.
Weeds are easy but wheat is hard. It is a simple thing to let problems fester. The problems in your ministry are weeds. They grow fast, multiply, wreak havoc on your intended crop, are an inevitable byproduct of ministry work, and are always ready to make a comeback. All these points I have witnessed in my few years preaching. I wonder if I am sufficiently aggressive in addressing problems as they arise. I’m probably not. The severity of the issue ought to dictate the level of aggressiveness in addressing issues, right? That’s the way I’m currently playing it.
We don’t weed because it’s hard, we already did it once, someone else should take care of it, we just don’t have the time, we don’t want to get on our knees. There are always excuses not to do the thing that is necessary but uncomfortable in ministry. My experience in Clinical Pastoral Education taught me that the thing that seems the hardest is probably the think you need to do most, so that might be the best indicator of which task to take on first.
When others attempt to pull weeds from your life do they get poked? It really depends on who is doing the pulling. This is where the speaker got a little personal and tried to get us to apply the message to ourselves. Honestly, I have a few people I trust and will listen to carefully while others I may dismiss in whole or in part. It’s very situationally driven for me.
A few other thoughts I found interesting were recognizing the times when you need to imitate and the times you need to innovate, paying attention to and avoiding a cruise control mentality, and asking what areas of my leadership I am not paying attention to. In answer to the last question I am probably not being sufficiently intentional in developing the other leaders that currently work with me in the church.
It seemed like Levi had just been flown in so I want to give him as much slack as possible especially since he didn’t have any at all in his pants.
Martin