{"id":2038,"date":"2021-08-05T11:12:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T15:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=2038"},"modified":"2021-08-05T11:12:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T15:12:13","slug":"leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I first started blogging because Thom Rainer, my former boss and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, encouraged me to use a blog to encourage and help ministry leaders\u2014thus the vast majority of my writing was for them.<\/p>\n<p>But after a few years of blogging, Chris Martin, who helps with my blog, surveyed all the readers and found that 40% were marketplace leaders\u2014from college coaches to entrepreneurs to business executives. I started writing with them in mind too. Though I know people at the church I pastor also read the blog, I still write primarily with leaders in mind\u2014both ministry and marketplace leaders.<\/p>\n<p>And leaders, one thing I have been reminded of during this season is the reality that pain and beauty often go together. It seems like they <em>always <\/em>go together.<\/p>\n<p>I often wish pain and beauty in leadership were siloed from one another, that the bad days and the discouraging news would not clutter the good days and the exciting part of leadership. I understand there will be tough times and rough days, but I have wished they could be isolated from the good stuff. What if we could just endure a bad day every now and then and be done with it?<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, that is not how leadership works. At all times, leaders carry both the thrilling and the troubling aspects of leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Our life group has been reading the book of Acts together and the mixture of pain\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0beauty are pronounced. Here are a few snapshots:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Acts 4: Peter and John in prison\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0the Word goes forth<\/li>\n<li>Acts 5\u20136: Apostles on trial\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0the Word is multiplying<\/li>\n<li>Acts 12: James martyred\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0the message spreads<\/li>\n<li>Acts 14: Ministry in Iconium is filled with persecution\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0wonders<\/li>\n<li>Acts 16: Paul and Silas are imprisoned\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0Lydia, the guard, and a young woman possessed with a demon are converted<\/li>\n<li>Acts 17: There is a riot\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0a large number of Greeks are converted<\/li>\n<li>Acts 19: Another riot\u00a0<em>and<\/em>\u00a0people burn their old books of magic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Leading a local church in a pandemic and coming out of a pandemic has been filled with both pain and beauty. God has done exceedingly more than I could ask or imagine. We will see four new congregations launch this fall. More than 1,000 people have stood and declared faith in Jesus in our physical gatherings over the last ten months. I taught systematic theology online to more than 1,000 people from our church during the pandemic. These are ministry dreams, dreams I am so thankful God has done in front of us. Insanely beautiful! And yet pain is there too. Staff departures, friends on staff moving to be close to family, tensions over politics, health challenges and clear attacks from the enemy.<\/p>\n<p>As leaders, we often want the beauty without the pain, but the two go hand-in-hand. To enjoy the beauty, we will simultaneously experience some pain. When there is beauty, the enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion will attack. In ministry, the Word will not multiply without the enemy\u2019s vicious and hateful attacks. We will one day only have beauty, but this world is marred by sin and there <em>will<\/em> be pain.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, some of the pain comes from our own doing\u2014our own failures, struggles and sins. And, by God\u2019s grace, He still works in front of us, in spite of us.<\/p>\n<p><em>This post originally appeared at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ericgeiger.com\/2021\/07\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\"><em>Eric\u2019s blog.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I first started blogging because Thom Rainer, my former boss and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2039,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[53],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-2038","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-article","topics-replanting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.0 (Yoast SEO v24.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together - Church Replanting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I first started blogging because Thom Rainer, my former boss and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, &hellip; Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together Read More &raquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Replanting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\",\"name\":\"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together - Church Replanting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-05T15:12:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-05T15:12:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":426},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/\",\"name\":\"Church Replanting\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Church Replanting\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/NAMB-Logo_Full_White.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/NAMB-Logo_Full_White.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":523,\"caption\":\"Church Replanting\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together - Church Replanting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together","og_description":"I first started blogging because Thom Rainer, my former boss and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, &hellip; Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together Read More &raquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/","og_site_name":"Church Replanting","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/","url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/","name":"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together - Church Replanting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-08-05T15:12:13+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-05T15:12:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/pexels-david-dibert-1300960.jpeg","width":640,"height":426},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/leaders-pain-and-beauty-seem-to-go-together\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leaders, Pain and Beauty Seem to Go Together"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/","name":"Church Replanting","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#organization","name":"Church Replanting","url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/NAMB-Logo_Full_White.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/NAMB-Logo_Full_White.png","width":2560,"height":523,"caption":"Church Replanting"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/2038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"channels","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/channels?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=2038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}