Leadership and Gardening
By Dan Reiland

My brother Lan is the one in the family with a green thumb. He and his wife Stacey live in Southern California, and their yard is a registered wildlife habitat. When he first told me, I thought, that's no big deal. We may not be registered, but my house is a wildlife habitat with teenagers of all shapes and sizes running loose. Seriously, it's quite an effort to be registered. He had to have certain plants, in certain places that provide very specific food or cover for defined wildlife species. Lan recently told me that when the basil in his garden goes to seed his yard fills with beautiful "lesser Goldfinches." Cool.

As for me, if you can plant it, I can kill it. Nonetheless, I do invest time and energy to a nice looking yard. Actually, I'm sort of an existential gardener. I've hired a landscaper, consequently, "I pay therefore I am."

When we talk Lan loves to talk gardening and I love to talk leadership. And believe it or not there is a connection. Below are four insights I believe will be helpful to you from a slightly creative angle.

·         You cannot make mechanical or synthetic what was meant to be natural, and obtain the same results.

There is something divinely creative about life producing life, and there is something patently synthetic about that which is man made. I'm not remotely qualified to use genetic engineering even for the sake of illustration. So let's stick to something less complicated, like tomatoes or apples. There is an undisputable difference between the taste, texture, and touch of a tomato you grow in your own garden and one that is grown (engineered) in a hot house. The difference between pesticides, super-fertilizers, and artificial lighting; and how you garden using natural methods is undeniable. My wife Patti buys organic apples. They don't look perfect, nor are they shiny (no wax coating to catch your attention), and, they are usually smaller than apples grown "professionally." But when you bite into one, they literally burst with flavor, and catch your taste buds by surprise.

The best leadership is natural, not synthetic. Many of us can spot a leader that lacks authenticity a mile away. For those that can't, they still sense something isn't quite as it should be.

Synthetic leadership is saying the right things to the right people at the right times, but never really connecting at a heart level with any of it. At a quick glance it still looks like an apple, but when you take a bite, it just doesn't taste the same.

Synthetic or mechanical leadership is based on a formula, and carries a certain degree of lifelessness. It may be executed by highly intelligent leaders, but it doesn't move people. It is more science than art, and it's based on position not influence.

Let's consider something we can all relate to - the difference between a sermon that carries an obvious blessing of God's favor and one that does not. The mechanical sermon may be homiletically sound, well crafted, and provide solid and helpful information. But no life change seems to take place. The God-anointed sermon, also well crafted, carries with it the power and presence of the Spirit of God. The difference? One was engineered solely by man, and the other was created by the Spirit of God, using a person to write and deliver the words. One can be quickly put together at anytime -- a joke, three points, and a poem. The other comes from life with God - intimate time with the Father. One can be done on Saturday night; the other simply can't be rushed.

Organic leadership is about being real. You must be honest with yourself, with God, and, with those you serve. Organic leadership is also about your leadership being connected to the vine. John 15:5 says: 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Churches can be built in the flesh, but churches that have eternal redeeming value must be built by the power of the Spirit. This happens only when we are connected to the true source. You can lead without God's help, but not well and not for long. Take the time you need to hear from God. Fight for the margin needed to remain in the vine.

·         Growth comes from intentional pruning.

When I prune our bushes I get out the clippers and start hacking way. My brother told me about something called "natural target pruning." This is where you carefully find the next point of growth on a branch, usually at a joint, and make the cut at that spot. When you merely hack at whatever sticks out the furthest, apparently this confuses the plant. This is not how nature handles pruning. When nature prunes, the whole branch or a complete section dies off, making way for new growth. When you cut a live branch in half you "confuse" the plant!

A wise church leader knows that pruning, though painful, is needed to grow a healthy church. We don't like to cut popular ministries, but in order to allocate limited resources more strategically and gain better results; we must lean out our ministry options. A more difficult example is cutting a staff member, or removing a volunteer from their ministry so the church as a whole can move forward.

There are less drastic forms of pruning that are also health and growth oriented. For example, let's look at pruning in the form of correction with a quality leader in your church. Any living thing allowed to grow any way it wants becomes unruly and unproductive. Ask any parent about allowing their kids to do anything they want. Leaders like plants (and kids) need shaping as they grow.

John Maxwell carefully pruned for years in order to shape me as a leader. There were moments that were not fun, but now I am grateful. I am considered a veteran leader today, but I don't think any leader ever arrives. I sure haven't. My partner and senior pastor at Crossroads, Kevin Myers, will on occasion, get out the sheers on one topic in particular. He tenaciously insists that I fight for the margin in my life to get "rest and recovery" time so I can give my best to my family and the church. Good pruning.

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:1-2

Enough said!

·         There are seasons of maturing for leaders than cannot be rushed.

Let me make a brief comment here in particular to young leaders. Many of you want to become "good" overnight. While I appreciate your zeal, there are some things in life that cannot be rushed. Not naturally.

When my brother plants tomatoes, they take a certain number of weeks to sprout, mature, and bear fruit. There is no amount of gardening that will make them grow faster. There are no cliff-notes, and there is no book or botanical conference to attend that speeds things up.

Young leader, I encourage you to work hard, work smart, and be patient. Stay steady and diligent. Pray much. Do the right things each day, and you will find that the journey is more central than the destination. How you get there matters. Kingdom work is never done, and will continue on after you are gone. Don't rush to the goal, be a good student and enjoy the journey.

·         Be aware of the potential to over-lead and under-lead.

We talk at times about the lack of leadership. But did you know that you can over-lead?

When it comes to gardening, the vast majority of amateurs over-water their plants and lawns. They water too often and too much, drowning plants and lawns. Others water too often with too little water, causing the root systems to become shallow and thus weakening the plants or lawn. The least common is watering too seldom and too little, because the results are dramatic and obvious - dead plants.

Though less obvious in the local church; over-leading can be just as lethal. We all know what a dead church looks like. If we did church autopsies it would read something like: "Slow degenerative disease from leadership starvation." This is not a new or unexplored topic.

Over-led is much more subjective, and far less discussed. Over-leading is characterized by leading too fast. This means moving and making too many large changes before your staff and congregation are ready. This is particularly common with high-powered and high-capacity leaders. If you are one you know. You are impatient. You want things to happen and happen now, but the harder you push, the worse it gets. Things begin to break down relationally and eventually you consider changing churches or even going to para-church ministry where you don't have to wait on the people.

Over-leading is characterized by leading too hard. This means that you don't give your people time to breathe. Perhaps you have just finished a building campaign, completed a summer drive for volunteers, or an intense evangelistic effort in your community. This one finds me guilty at times. I don't lead too fast, but at times I can lead too hard. This doesn't necessarily mean aggressive, though it can, but it is more about being relentless in passion to move the ball down the field. This is good thing, but not everyone is designed this way. Some people need to stop, celebrate, or even just "smell the roses" for a moment before climbing the next mountain.

You are a leader, you have vision, and you see the next level. Good. But remember, if you don't take the people with you, you aren't leading. You are more of a reconnaissance scout occasionally coming back with reports of the new territory. People are watching you but they aren't following you.

How do you know if you are over-leading? First, simply listen to your people, they will tell you. Not the whiney late-adopters, but your committed leaders. Second, and not so simple, seek God about your motives. If you are driving faster than God wants you to go, it may be more about you than about His plans for His Kingdom.

You may not be a gardener by choice, but if you are a good leader, you will naturally know some things about gardening. I pray that all the seeds you plant produce a tremendous harvest.

This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter 'The Pastor's Coach' available at www.INJOY.com.