I almost lost one of my best leaders. I never saw it coming; but once I realized what happened, I learned a valuable lesson in leadership.

I had hired a part-time staff person who was responsible for overseeing ministry to  teenage girls, and for the past two years she had been doing a fabulous job. The girls loved her, and she loved them. Moreover, she was fluent in Spanish (having been raised in South America as an MK), so she was incredibly valuable on our summer trips building homes in Mexico.

There was only one problem: She didn’t like building homes in Mexico. She was (and is) an incredibly relational person, and while she enjoyed being in a Spanish-speaking country, it was not in her sweet spot to spend 10-hour days in the sweltering heat mixing concrete and hammering nails. It certainly wasn’t because she couldn’t take it—she was a college athlete and never backed down from a challenge. However, this wasn’t a life-giving experience for her.

In the middle of the summer and unbeknownst to me, she was burned out, our most recent week in Mexico having played a key role in that burnout. As she looked ahead at another year of ministry, culminating in another visit to a place she wasn’t excited about returning to, she didn’t feel that she could do it again.
From my standpoint, I felt we needed to add an upper-level mission trip for the following summer, and it seemed to be a logical fit to ask her to lead it.
I gave her a call and laid it out for her: The trip would be all her own, and she could go anywhere she wanted—within reason.

My call came at just the right time, and it was precisely what she needed to hear. She returned to the ministry for not just one, but two more years and successfully led two trips to Ecuador, a place she had spent some of her formative years. Moreover, those Ecuador trips were incredibly fruitful in countless ways.

What was going on here? Why did my mission trip ideas wear her out while her own ideas ignited her passion?

Letting Many Visions Blossom
She was ready to run with her vision and was somewhat stifled by mine.

I’m totally convinced leaders should cast a single macro-vision for ministries. Youth workers should do the same for youth ministry, remembering always to connect their visions to the overall visions of their churches.

However, there always should be room for others’ micro-visions, as well. My leader, who was joyfully operating in the confines of my leadership, needed to be released to live out her passion in that context.

I recently heard about a software company that allowed its employees to work on whatever project they wanted for one day per quarter. When they were done, they’d share their results with the rest of the team.

The workers loved it. They weren’t motivated by money; they were empowered by the ability to pursue whatever they wanted. What the company found is the employees came up with all kinds of fixes to software glitches and new products that otherwise never would have been developed.

Why? They had the freedom to pursue their mini-visions in the context of the macro-vision of the organization.

Some of this comes down to a simple matter of a commitment not to micro-manage. Your worship team members need to know they have the ability to select the songs they’re passionate about (with input from you when needed). Your small group leaders need to know they can choose their curriculum if they desire. You communicate confidence in your leaders and encourage their spiritual growth when you give them that freedom.

Your team members need to get onboard the ship you’re steering, but once they’re there, they need to know they have some freedom to live onboard the ship according to how God has wired them.

We will see happier, more passionate leaders when we cast the vision, and then encourage them to dream their dreams in the context of that vision.