Walking in the Land of Uncertainty

"I'm not really sure."

I've lived with that sentence in my brain for the past year, as we transitioned Buckhead Church from leased space to a permanent facility. As our May 6, 2007 grand opening date inched closer and closer, the questions increased.

"How is our parking plan going to work?" Or better yet, "Is our parking plan going to work?" "Should we prepare for growth or react to growth?" "How many services should we offer?" "What will our financial situation be in the months ahead?"

The questions were nonstop. And, to make matters worse, everyone who asked those questions seemed to think that I, as the leader, had all the answers. Deep down, I knew I didn't. Sure, I had a hunch about most questions, but I felt like I needed to give them more. Isn't that what great leaders do? Great leaders are supposed to have all the answers and calm the masses with their brilliant insights. This wasn't the case with me. I didn't have all the answers. Far from it. And not having the answers translated into a nagging feeling of being an inadequate leader.

Don't get me wrong. We weren't experiencing "paralysis by analysis." We were doing our due diligence and working hard to make the transition as successful as possible. Nevertheless, it seemed like my job as the leader was to predict the future in order to calm the fears of the present. (It's why time travel seemed like my only option. I kept thinking, Where's Michael J. Fox and a DeLorean when you need them?)

I found myself in the middle of the Land of Uncertainty. It's a frequent location for all leaders. If you haven't been there yet, your time will come. And when it does, here are some tips to remember.

Embrace the Uncertainty

I had to become comfortable with the reality of my situation. There was no way I was going to bat .1000. The one thing that was certain was that I would make a mistake or a wrong call.

This took the pressure off.

Embrace the uncertainty. Make the best decision you possibly can. And then respond to what happens. I actually found this to be kind of exhilarating.

I also realized that there's a word for "complete and total certainty" in the life of an organization. It's called stagnation. If you know exactly what's going to happen in your church or organization in the months and years ahead, you are walking in the Land of Stagnant Growth. As unsettling as it can be, I'll choose uncertainty over stagnation any day. The Land of Uncertainty is fertile ground in which to grow your leadership gift. The Land of Stagnation just smells bad.

Make Decisions Slowly

This probably runs counter to every conference speaker you've ever heard, especially in the fast-paced world in which we live. And yet, hasty decisions are usually based on limited information. What I discovered was that the longer I could delay a decision, the more information I would have at my disposal. And the more information I had, the better decision I would make.

For example, one of the most difficult decisions we had to make involved our service times. If you don't work at a church, this probably doesn't seem like a complicated matter. If you're on a church staff, you know this is very complicated because of volunteer needs, financial issues, and attempting to decipher the most popular service times. At our previous location, we offered four services: 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. With considerably more seating at the new location, the question was how many services we should offer and when. We held meeting after meeting and heard opinion after opinion, and I was still stumped. The pressure kept building. "We've got to know something soon, Jeff," my patient staff would remind me. Finally, I got a piece of data from a survey we did that sealed the decision for me. It's proven to be the right decision, so far. (To see where we landed, I'll let you check out our website.)

My point is that I would have never made that decision without the final piece of information. By no means am I advocating procrastination. I'm simply encouraging diligence, patience, seeking wise counsel, and prayer. Unfortunately for fast-paced leaders, that usually takes time.

Vision Trumps Uncertainty

While I certainly didn't have all the answers, there's one thing I did know: the vision God had given us at Buckhead Church. I am so passionate about our vision that I could say it in my sleep. (Just ask my wife, Wendy.) Here's an example of how this goes:

Question: "So Jeff, tell us how we're going to park thousands of people at a church that sits on a 2.5-acre tract of land in the middle of a city?"

Answer: "That's a great question, and I'll be happy to outline our plan. The reason we know we have to solve this is because there are over 300,000 unchurched people within a ten-mile radius of our church. And we will not stop until we give every one of those people a chance to understand who Jesus is and what He's done for them. We have a long way to go, but through God's help and the vision He has given us, I promise you we will figure this out. Not because we're parking experts, but because we're passionate about the vision God has given us. The passion for God and these 300,000 people will spur us on."

When people understand your vision for the future, they will accept the uncertainty of the present.

And that's the ball game. If your vision doesn't trump the fear, uncertainty, and haze of the future, then the problem isn't in the details. The problem is in the vision: it isn't big enough. That's the often-overlooked part of visionary thinking. A big vision brings massive uncertainty with it. The two go hand-in-hand. It's all part of walking in the Land of Uncertainty. My surprising discovery is that when your God-given vision takes you there, it's a pretty sweet place to visit.

No Comments »

Nobody has shared their thoughts about this article yet. Be the first by filling out the form below and joining in the conversation!

Sorry, but commenting is no longer available for this post.