Pondering Plurality
Last night, the elders of Grace met.
I've always been challenged and encouraged by the character and integrity of the men.
I'm moved and blessed by their commitment to Christ and their love for His Church.
I"ve grown deeper in my appreciation for them after taking the DISC profile. God has assembled a group of men here with various gifts, backgrounds and passions. I appreciated not only the way God has uniquely equipped each of them, but also their graciousness in working with me (as I am "gifted" in such a foreign way to most of them).
However, last night, I learned to embrace it. Every meeting we gather for is filled with roughly 7,437 different things to discuss. We came together with many things to consider, but with just a couple I knew were most urgent. As we began meeting, I knew these two items would consume most of our time. I came to the meeting, not only with information to share, but a "game plan" for action.
As we discussed the items, the men had a different perspective on our action. I must confess that at first I began to listen because I simply thought of their perspectives as beneficial. I assumed each of their thoughts could be answered by my game plan. I continued to listen as their thoughts did not coincide with my assumptions. I ended up acknowledging that the men were comfortable with a different course of action and this would be a good chance for me to learn some humility and submit.
Little did I realize how true that was.
As I showered this morning I realized how right and godly their perspective was. I began to see the problem areas of my personal perspective and started to realize the mistake my action would have been. Not only was I humbled to see how inappropriate my "game plan" would have been, I was humbled when I realized my attitude about plurality last night was lacking. I do not submit to the plurality of the group to "keep peace." I do not submit to the plurality because you want to save argument for the biggies. I submit to the plurality of the elders because each of those men individual possesses God-honoring wisdom and corporately carry a wisdom I individually could not carry alone.
I'm honored to count them as brothers and fellow undersheperds. Whether you know them or not, please take a moment to pray for Keith, Dan, Jason, Brian, Jack, Bill and Daniel. Pray that God would continue to grant them wisdom (James 1:5) and that He would hold them above reproach. God has been very gracious to our Body to give us such men.
I've always been challenged and encouraged by the character and integrity of the men.
I'm moved and blessed by their commitment to Christ and their love for His Church.
I"ve grown deeper in my appreciation for them after taking the DISC profile. God has assembled a group of men here with various gifts, backgrounds and passions. I appreciated not only the way God has uniquely equipped each of them, but also their graciousness in working with me (as I am "gifted" in such a foreign way to most of them).
However, last night, I learned to embrace it. Every meeting we gather for is filled with roughly 7,437 different things to discuss. We came together with many things to consider, but with just a couple I knew were most urgent. As we began meeting, I knew these two items would consume most of our time. I came to the meeting, not only with information to share, but a "game plan" for action.
As we discussed the items, the men had a different perspective on our action. I must confess that at first I began to listen because I simply thought of their perspectives as beneficial. I assumed each of their thoughts could be answered by my game plan. I continued to listen as their thoughts did not coincide with my assumptions. I ended up acknowledging that the men were comfortable with a different course of action and this would be a good chance for me to learn some humility and submit.
Little did I realize how true that was.
As I showered this morning I realized how right and godly their perspective was. I began to see the problem areas of my personal perspective and started to realize the mistake my action would have been. Not only was I humbled to see how inappropriate my "game plan" would have been, I was humbled when I realized my attitude about plurality last night was lacking. I do not submit to the plurality of the group to "keep peace." I do not submit to the plurality because you want to save argument for the biggies. I submit to the plurality of the elders because each of those men individual possesses God-honoring wisdom and corporately carry a wisdom I individually could not carry alone.
I'm honored to count them as brothers and fellow undersheperds. Whether you know them or not, please take a moment to pray for Keith, Dan, Jason, Brian, Jack, Bill and Daniel. Pray that God would continue to grant them wisdom (James 1:5) and that He would hold them above reproach. God has been very gracious to our Body to give us such men.
posted by danny2 @ 3:09 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:39 AM,
Anonymous said…
Danny,
I've had a LOT of learning these past couple of years, but especially recently, with the DISC. Since I've not read your blog lately, I did not see that one till today. Recently one of our top directors, a successful African-American multi- million $ one, shared how she learned to become balanced, not only for success, but primarily to appeal to and help all women in their successes as we ARE a PEOPLE business. After many years of working at becoming balanced, you would never guess that she is a high I.
Jesus was well balanced and as we strive to be like Him, we will be all types but our roots will always be D (which I would have guessed) for you and High C with some S and a dash of D for me. You know all those articles I cut out and give you guys?....C!!! I am a want-to-know'er. Also, wouldn't you say Charity is an S mostly? I believe God puts D's and S's together for learning that balance. Ron Jackson is an off the chart D and Gail is an S.
Have a great day!
M-i-L
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