Dispatch 08.2022

Tov Leadership: The Core

Photo by Lukáš Kulla on Unsplash

Nearly thirty years ago, I entered the marketplace as a young business leader and eventually an entrepreneur. I then transitioned into full-time ministry in 1999, and I have had the unique privilege to be in full-time ministry while leveraging my business and leadership skills for multiple decades. This experience and journey has led me to what I am calling Tov Leadership. If you missed my last dispatch describing and unpacking Tov leadership, I recommend you read it before continuing. 

“Tov is from the Hebrew word for "good," but with a fuller intent which implies something which fulfills the purpose for which it was created.

If you didn’t read my previous dispatch and my recommendation wasn’t enough to entice you in that direction, let me say this: Tov leaders are centered around fulfilling the purpose God uniquely created and equipped them for.

To start, it’s important to say that this is a journey for me, one that is not nearly complete. A journey that leaves me still processing, learning, experimenting, and in no way an expert. But I believe that the core of Tov leadership is the connection between our spiritual formation and leadership. 

“Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.”

― Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

To be honest, I struggled with this when I first read it. But now, I believe it wholeheartedly. And just as strong as that statement is, I also believe that the connection between our spiritual formation and Tov leadership are the same. Here is my personal quote where I leverage Scazzero’s concept and words: 

Tov Leadership and spiritual formation are inseparable. It is not possible to lead beyond where our spiritual formation has us.

So, you might be struggling like I was with his quote at this point. Or maybe you are trying to wrap your mind around what spiritual formation is. Let’s turn to the expert in this field and a hero of mine, Dallas Willard:

“Spiritual Formation is the process of the human spirit or will is given a definite “form” or character. Spiritual formation for the Christ-follower refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.”

This is my attempt to break apart this beautiful, deep, and dense paragraph. 

Spiritual formation is a process.

The process is led by the Spirit.

The Spirit is forming our inner world, our human spirit, and will. 

With the Spirit’s help, we transform into Christlikeness. 

How I visualize this and see it in my own life is that leadership and spiritual formation are different, but parallel tracks. Spiritual formation does not go hand in hand with the leadership gift. However, if you do have the leadership gift and are operating in a role of leadership, your leadership track is running parallel with your spiritual formation track. It can be a windy path with ups and downs, but your leadership track will never be able to elevate or outgrow your spiritual formation track. 

The significant challenge I see with this reality is that so many have decoupled these or never had the realization they were connected. Take a moment and think about your day to day role as a leader and where your training or learnings are focused. When it comes to leadership, what are you listening to, who are you learning from, and where are you spending your energy growing? I have seen so much focus shift to the business world. My own natural bent is to learn from corporate executives and leaders for whom a natural decoupling of spiritual formation and leadership occurs. Of course there are wonderful learnings we can gain from the business community! But if we do not prioritize our spiritual formation, we will stunt our leadership growth. 

I was recently listening to a Carey Nieuwhof Leadership podcast where Carey was interviewing Rich Villodas, the pastor of New Life Fellowship in NYC. When Pete Scazzero was transitioning the church to Rich, Pete told him that spiritual formation needed to be the number one item in his job description. It wasn’t to grow the church, to bring focus to giving, lead the staff well, or to continue programs. His number one job was to continually work towards Christlikeness above all else. I think we could all learn from Pete. 

Quick shout out to an amazing book, by Pete Scazzero - Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. A must read! 

I believe this realization and passion inside of me has lead me to love the elegant simplicity of John Mark Comer’s focus with Practicing the Way. Be with Jesus. Become like Jesus. Do what Jesus did. Three very simple statements that carry so much power, nuance, and complexity in the culture of our world today. Simple isn’t easy. But can you imagine a world where Christian leaders were pursuing and living out these three statements daily?

Spiritual formation is a process.

Tov leadership is a process.

As leaders we must recognize that our leadership track runs parallel to our spiritual formation track. As shown above, you see them running in a clean, parallel manner. This is a visual only, for I have never found it to be this clean or neat. But know that the leadership line does not have the capacity to outgrow, jump off, or exceed our spiritual formation track. 

This growth and development is a process that can not be rushed, fast tracked, or hurried in any way. We will dive deeper into the “process” below, but what I will focus on today is the reality that we must honor the process. I believe we must keep the spiritual formation process elevated as a priority, make it the core, and leadership will follow. Priority matters. 

The process is led by the Spirit.

As a leader you must come to the understanding that you are not in control of the process. For many leaders that feels like a gut punch, but it’s just the reality. We are in partnership with the Spirit, a “both/and” interaction that requires our participation and deep engagement. However, the process is led by the Spirit and that means our timelines are out the window. Our expectations can and should be presented to God, but they must be laid down in a humble posture that echoes Jesus, “Not my will, but yours, Lord.” 

The Spirit is forming our inner world, our human spirit, and will. 

We can read this language and miss the connection again to leadership. Willard does a great job helping us break down the will. He says, “The will (heart or spirit) is the executive center of the self and our likeness to God, being “in his image.” As leaders we can find ourselves working on the outer world by focusing on the tactical and the symptoms, if you will. The tracks of spiritual formation and leadership should guide us to bringing intentional focus to our inner world in partnership with the Spirit who is leading the process. 

With the Spirit’s help, we transform into Christlikeness. 

It may go without saying, but I think it’s important to say it. This transformation is a lifelong journey that is not about a destination, but about the journey and the process with Jesus. That’s sometimes hard to swallow or navigate for me as an Enneagram 8 leader who wants to execute, break the mold, check the box, and deliver on the goal all while doing it under budget and exceeding expectations. However, we cannot apply that logic to our transformation into Christlikeness. We also need to make sure we understand what Christlikeness looks like as a leader. Simply put, this looks like Jesus. 

It looks like the Sermon on the Mount and like Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. It looks like Jesus walking away from the crowds and retreating into silence and solitude. It looks like Jesus offering hope and a new life to the woman at the well.  As John Mark Comer would say, “Do what Jesus did.” Let’s apply this to our leadership, our families, our teams, our organizations, and beyond. 

The core for Tov leadership is spiritual formation. All the following parts we will discuss and unpack in subsequent dispatches will always point back to the core — spiritual formation. 

May we as leaders remember that spiritual formation is a process that is led by the Spirit, and one that is forming our inner world, our human spirit, and will. This work of the Spirit transforms us into Christlikeness and therefore, our leadership improves and looks more like Jesus. We must prioritize this, bring appropriate energy and focus towards spiritual formation, and encourage and lead those around us in this direction. 

The greatest issue facing the world today with all its heart breaking needs is whether those who are identified as Christians will become disciples, students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the heavens into every corner of human existence. - Dallas Willard

Lord, may we treasure and love Your name above all other names. We seek Your guidance for today and ask that Your rule be completed in us. May we as leaders prioritize becoming disciples, students, apprentices, and practitioners of Jesus Christ.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.