The Great and Powerful... Dorothy?

In the 1980s and 1990s, some Christians wrote a bunch of great leadership books. Men like Bill Hybels were teaching Christians how to lead like corporate pros. And this is a good thing. We need good organizational structure in the church. In times of crisis, we need great leaders.

But not all people can lead like Bill Hybels. We’re not the same people. Still, I think the rest of us who find ourselves with an opportunity to lead can follow another model of leadership. As Brian McLaren explains in his book Adventures in Missing the Point, we can follow a model of leadership from The Wizard of Oz.

There were really two main leaders in this movie. There is the great and powerful Oz. We later find out that Oz is just a short, fat man behind a curtain. Not quite the strong, powerful leader he had made himself out to be. The other leader is Dorothy.

See. Dorothy is on a quest of her own, and along the way she finds a few characters who have some things missing from their lives. So she says to the Scarecrow, Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion – why don’t you come with me? We’ll find what we’re looking for together. And in the end, it is Dorothy who leads them to find that what they were seeking, they actually possessed all along. Scarecrow had acted brilliantly. Tinman showed his heart. The Cowardly Lion wasn’t so cowardly after all. They only had a chance to prove themselves when Dorothy brought them into her journey.

What I am proposing is that we can all be leaders, even if it’s not in a stereotypical corporate American way. We can all look at the people around us, and invite them on our journeys with us. Along the way, they will see our vulnerabilities, and we’ll see theirs -- there’s no curtain to hide behind on this journey. We will find that the things we seek were created in us all along, and they are just waiting for the right time and the right person to bring them out of us. So leading others is not about being the smartest, the coolest, or the one with the “gift of leadership” all the time. It’s about being a part of a community of people all moving in the same direction.

Will you invite others to journey with you? Along the way, will you point out the heart, the gifts, and the love that God has given them? Maybe that’s all it will take to turn someone into the person God created them to be. May you also see yourself growing as you help others grow.

With love,

a young shepherd.