What To Do With Your Voice

Over the last two days I have spent 14 hours in meetings and look forward (I say that rather tongue in cheek) to another 8 hours tomorrow. In the midst of complicated issues and difficult decisions, we spend time discussing together the ideas set before us in these meetings. It is a challenging and, sometimes, grinding emotional process. I feel such a burden to do well at this task because it does have an affect on this Movement that I love and to whom I am so very grateful. It is not an ideal way to begin a Sabbatical but it certainly highlights the need for such an experience at this point in my life and ministry.

Following a particularly difficult issue and discussion, one of my friends and mentors in leadership, challenged me on an issue regarding how issues get discussed in the group. He suggested that the best use of my verbal skills would be to ask questions that help clarify rather than using questions to persuade others to a point of view. I am struggling with how I feel about that.

What is our responsibility as leaders? Do we use our voices to clarify or do we use them to persuade? Maybe this is not an either or situation. One of the most important roles of a leader is to make sure that everyone is on the same page in terms of information. If you do not know what the real issue is or what the actual parameters are concerning a leadership item, you have failed to bring everyone along with you. Clarifying is an art. So often, leaders make things more complicated than they should be. For instance, one of the arts of preaching is to take things that are complicated and make them understandable. Clarifying the issue is bringing light to that which is either confusing or complicated. A good leader makes sure that he/she uses their voice to help others understand what he/she already understands.

In the same way, it is hard for me to conceptualize not using my voice to persuade. Persuasion is a huge part of the pastoral role. A pulpit is designed to be a persuasive tool used under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Persuasion is a powerful tool. Directors, authors, teachers, salesclerks, politicians, and anybody working on commission try to persuade you to their ideas, products or positions. Preachers are no different, other than they do so to a higher purpose than a sales report or an election result. We attempt to persuade others to see the reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need for faith in Christ. All of us, whether in pulpit or pew, use our voices to persuade others to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior (or, at least, we should).

Maybe my friend was right concerning the issue he spoke to me about. But in the larger picture, I believe we use our voices both to clarify and persuade.