Leading well over time with passionate convictions
It’s easy to get knocked off track. Every day, educators and school leaders come to work with a plan for success, and then end up putting out urgent fires and emergencies instead. We aren’t saying you shouldn’t do that. You have to take care of issues when they arise. Still, your big-picture plans matter. You need to find a way to stick to them in the long run. That’s how you’ll make the impact and influence you are trying to make
In our latest Clearly Christian podcast, I talk with Dr. Todd Marrah, Superintendent of Tree of Life Christian Schools in Columbus Ohio, and Board President at the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). He’s also an Executive Pastor at Rock City Church in Columbus. Todd has made it his life’s work to lead Christian Schools to excellence, as he believes that Christian schooling is God’s idea, and he is doing his best to put God’s plan into action, strategically for the good of others.
We talk about why “Big Picture Leadership” is so important, how it impacts your leadership success, and how that impacts long-term success.
You can catch this episode here at clearlychristianeducation.com
The issue is both clear and difficult. Our “Chalkboard Points” start the conversation:
Chalkboard Point #1: Leaders must constantly gauge the horizon in order to navigate change.
Given the pace and reality of change that takes place in our culture, the demand to change course when necessary is just a non -negotiable today. Leaders that have demonstrated competency here in terms of assessing what has happened, what's happening right now, and then looking well into the future, are the leaders that have lasted.
Chalkboard Point #2: Leadership that matters most is convictional leadership
People follow men and women who live and lead out of their convictions. They recognize that a passionate belief in the mission is something that is bigger than themselves. They recognize the behaviors of someone who knows their beliefs matter because they know they're grounded in truth. Leaders who endure recognize that we matter because our convictions matter.
Listen to the Clearly Christian podcast here:
The Battle Between the Urgent and the Important
School leaders can get stuck in the “Heads Down” approach to leadership. “What's happens at too many schools”, as I say in the podcast, “is head down”. You can't see the horizon because of the immediate stuff. Today’s agenda, the list that needs to get done by the end of the day. I got today's agenda. I got to get through it till three o 'clock. But you’ve got to be intentional about the “heads up”. I make a clear point in the show here: “Man, keep that head up because you won't notice those momentum moments”.
Dr. Marrah talks about strategy. God’s strategy. “I believe that Christian schooling is God's idea. I believe that Christian schooling is God's passion for discipling the next generation.”, says Dr. Marrah. “I think it is the most strategic thing that we can do with our lives. I'm a strategic person. If I thought there was something more strategic to do in the kingdom of God, in the whole world, if I thought there was something more strategic to do with my life than Christian schooling, I would do that.”
Partnerships with the Christian Church for Christian Education
Maintaining a big picture focus on God’s strategy is a clear path to leading with convictional, “heads up” big picture leadership principles.
But even the Christian church can get sidetracked and lose their focus on the Big Picture. There was a big bulk of our history where Christian churches stepped back, or financial struggles caused a distance between the church and Christian schools. “But now “, I assert, “we're coming back around to the point where I think that the churches are looking and agreeing with us and saying, ‘hey, I not only see this and agree with it, I'm willing to speak this from the stage and say, I think you're right.”
That relationship is important to maintain a common thread of support when times get hard and focus can be blurred. Dr. Marrah uses the Ecclesiastes description of the “three-stranded cord” to show how important a partnership between home, school, and church is.
“The scripture says it's the three-stranded cord”, says Dr. Marrah. “So pastors are asking themselves, ‘What's my third strand?’ Homes are asking themselves, ‘What's my third strand that's going to bring that kind of strength into my child's life?’ And I think the natural answer is Christian schooling.”
Tune in to this episode if you are interested in big-picture principles of leadership and improving your leadership success as an educator or administrator.
If you agree with me that the only way we're going to turn things around in this country, in your home and church and otherwise, is to increase the number of people who live and operate every day with a biblical worldview, then listen to this and other episodes of the Clearly Christian podcast.
Subscribe or follow our podcast, so you don't miss an episode of the Clearly Christian with Dr. Cy Smith podcast, available at www.clearlychristianeducation.com and wherever you stream your favorite shows.
For more information about Dr. Cy Smith, Mansfield Christian School and/or the Clearly Christian Education movement, click on ClearlyChristianEducation.com.
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