THE TEXTURE OF LEADERSHIP FOR TOMORROW'S CHURCH - PART ONE

At the time of publication, the author, Ron Martoia, was the founding pastor of West Winds Community Church. "WWCC" is known for using word, digital art, sculptures, scent, and sketch. 

Martoia begins by addressing the changes occurring in our world and how the church must "morph" to stay relevant. I will highlight a few of his observations on today's and tomorrow's post.

READING THE CHANGES

(P.16) "A major responsibility of the leader is to know and read the cultural currents and then figure out, innovate, and create a way for the church to stay at a position of intersection with culture. The Old and New Testaments each have often quoted text that encourage this kind of cultural savvy and interface. 1st Chronicles 12:32 says "Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do." Here was a group who were sign-readers and cultural observers. They went the next step, however, they knew what they were to do, given the context they observed. This is 21C leadership."

BINOCULARS and MICROSCOPES

(P.96) "I confess this is my trouble. I usually have the binoculars out but rarely pull out the microscope and gaze on the intricacies and nuances around me. Hence my goal to reach the lake, not gaze at foliage. When was the last time you really looked at the different shades of green in your grass or browns in your desert? When was the last time you really tasted food? I know food is fuel, but God didn't give us an intravenous bag of nutrients to pump into our systems each day. He gave us mouths with taste buds and food with infinite flavor combinations. What does the seasonal air outside smell like these days?"

"So how do we make all this work in the life of a leader? How do we keep the binoculars in use and help our teams and family see the hoped-for outcome? At the same time, how do we enjoy the journey, community, and process of it all? Here are the nuts and bolts that have worked for me. You'll need to modify and tweak this to make it work for you. We want something that is simple and usable but sufficiently nuanced to account for seeing life as it really is. We want something that will move and morph as we go through various stages of maturity.....both spiritually and chronologically."

Though published 12 years ago, I do believe he makes church leadership observations that are helpful today. We will look at two more of Martoia's observations in tomorrow's post. 

I give the book a 3.9 out of 5.