Lessons Learned...So Far! (My Multi-Site Journey)

Now that I’ve posted a few blogs on my personal multi-site journey (see previous four posts entitled “Sovereignty and Sensitivity”), I want to summarize a few lessons I’ve learned. It’s important to mention these lessons have been learned “so far” because I’m on a journey. Of course, this means that I’m learning “as-I’m-going,” and it also means that “hind-sight-is-20/20” many times.

While I’ve already identified some of these lessons along the way in the “Sovereignty and Sensitivity” blog posts, I hope this summary list will be a convenient place to highlight some of them. So what are some lessons I’ve learned…so far?

• Trusting God involves action. I believe God showed us the second step of our journey after we were willing to take the first step of our journey.

• God provides for where He guides. Our fellowship witnessed God’s provision for both staffing and financial needs as we followed His leadership by faith.

• Obstacles are opportunities. There is a solution for every problem as long as God is factored into the equation.

• Growing pains definitely exist. Following God’s direction by faith is exciting, but it also involves a lot of painful stretching.

• Adjustments are necessary. Sometimes certain decisions or directions initially appear to be the right ones, but changes need to be made as God reveals a different path or approach.

• Security is required in transitions. By the word “security,” I’m referring more to leaders than to anyone else. In other words, some leaders put themselves under relentless pressure to make the right decision the first time and every time there is a decision to be made. They give themselves no margin for mistakes or growth by "virtue" of their mistakes. The problem with this is that it’s simply not reality. While leaders clearly want to make right decisions, they are human like everyone else, and they are learning as they walk along life's journey. Also, security in leadership is very important for another reason. When someone suggests an alternate view or an adjustment to a plan, an insecure leader gets defensive and resists some changes which naturally come with transitions. As you can see from the length of this “brief” explanation, I’ve been helped a lot by this lesson in my personal multi-site journey and spiritual growth in general.

Again, the above lessons only summarize and highlight some of the main ones I’ve learned so far. I’m still on the journey, and as the person who mentored me for years at the beginning of my Christian life used to say, “I’m learning and growing!”