The Leadership Road Less Traveled

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

All leaders are faced with daily decisions - choices whose sum total determine the direction and effectiveness of our lives and ministries.

It seems most important ministry decisions have to do with control.

How, when, and where should we inject our power and influence?

Where do we give slack by granting trust, and where do we reign in and exercise our authority?

Who owns this ministry, this church, this mission?

You? Or Christ?

Frost's lighthearted but profound observations sound the depths of our personal styles of leadership.

As leaders within the Church, we are repeatedly forced to choose between building and strengthening and protecting a hierarchical institution, or building and strengthening and protecting a relational organism.

The hidden cost: with each choice, you are not only choosing your venue, you are choosing the long term fruit of your ministry.

Choose wisely.