{"id":29037,"date":"2022-10-13T23:31:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T06:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29037"},"modified":"2022-10-13T23:31:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T06:31:04","slug":"leadership-the-presser-cooker-of-transformational-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/leadership-the-presser-cooker-of-transformational-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership: The Presser Cooker of Transformational Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

People who are transformational leaders willingly embrace a process of personal change which equips them to extract hope from a mountain of despair.[1]<\/a> Tod Bolsinger\u2019s Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change [2]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>is a realistic look at the character-building process of becoming a leader who is transformational. His use of descriptive words and images paints a vivid picture of the struggle and process one must proceed through to preserve.<\/p>\r\n

The eight chapters of well documented transformational leadership is specifically tailored for pastors and Christian leaders. Bolsinger\u2019s distinction between a good manager who is often received with gratitude and the leader, who is encouraging necessary change, is met with resistance.[3]<\/a> Leading transformational change is disruptive.[4]<\/a> The very nature of most people is to seek equilibrium or status quo. Alan Hirsch in The Forgotten Ways<\/em>,[<\/a>5] found<\/u><\/span>\u00a0a similar return to the familiar or safe, when engaged in apostolic movements. It did not seem to matter how dynamic the movement was, eventually it would gravitate toward a state of stability.<\/p>\r\n

The leader has an internal struggle when faced with the push back of those being led. Bolsinger asserts that there are two types, failure of nerve or failure of heart.[6]<\/a> A failure of nerve is when the leader is led of course by \u201ccaving to the pressure of the anxiety of the group.\u201d [7]<\/a> The pressure many spiritual leaders endured during Covid posed this type of challenge. The high pitch emotional fear around the unknown of the disease made it challenging to lead from a position of confident strength. I have had this sense, that Covid gave the church opportunity to shake free from practices they have always done and to reevaluate. However, once the restrictions and overall threat gone most pastors led their congregations back to where they had been. If Jesus is not surprised but what we encounter and he has a redemptive purpose in everything, what were we to glean from this time of global disruption?<\/p>\r\n

The second internal challenge for the leader is that of failure of heart. This occurs when a leader succumbs to discouragement that \u201cleads them to psychologically abandon their people and\u201d [8]<\/a> their calling. The author claims that this struggle and questions of self are normal part of the process to which we must pass through to develop the necessary strength and flexibility of resilience.<\/p>\r\n

The tempered leader is developed through being grounded in their identity in Christ. They are open to being corrected. These individuals are aware of who they are and are not while actively pursuing new avenues to grow. They are attuned to what is necessary to help everyone through the change. This requires a refined ability to be vulnerable. They can adjust and employ the tenacity to complete the transformation.[9]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

As I reflect on my own development as a leader, I am drawn to Bolsinger\u2019s emphasis on identity, vulnerability, and personal change through reflection within spiritual practices. I am very aware that my grounding is related to the strength of my spiritual practices, as they reinforce my identity in Christ. My tenacity is related to the clarity of my purpose of joint mission with Jesus. I am so grateful for the times that I have humbled myself before the trust few I serve to be taught amazing lessons of the Kingdom.<\/p>\r\n

I wonder if more Christian leaders embraced the ideas within this book if there would be few leaders who would moral failings or leave the ministry?<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

[1]<\/a> Tod E. Bolsinger, Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change<\/em> (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020), 7.<\/p>\r\n

[2]<\/a> Bolsinger, Tempered Resilience<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 3.<\/p>\r\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 4.<\/p>\r\n

[5]<\/a> Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating Apostolic Movements<\/em>, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016).<\/p>\r\n

[6]<\/a> Bolsinger, Tempered Resilience<\/em>, 5.<\/p>\r\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 21.<\/p>\r\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 28.<\/p>\r\n

[9]<\/a> John Davis, \u201cReview: Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change by Tod Bolsinger,\u201d Baptist Standard<\/em>, November 2, 2020, https:\/\/www.baptiststandard.com\/departments\/reviews\/books\/review-tempered-resilience\/.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People who are transformational leaders willingly embrace a process of personal change which equips them to extract hope from a mountain of despair.[1] Tod Bolsinger\u2019s Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change [2] is a realistic look at the character-building process of becoming a leader who is transformational. His use of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2394,2168,2386,2388],"class_list":["post-29037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grounded-identity","tag-tenacity","tag-bolsinger","tag-tempered-resilience","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29094,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29037\/revisions\/29094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}