When I was in high school, I went on a mission trip with my church’s student ministry to the country of Grenada. It would be the first of many global adventures throughout my lifetime. I had a sheltered childhood growing up in the affluent suburbs of Pittsburgh, so I was excited to go on an adventure to the Caribbean with my friends and youth group leaders. We spent months preparing for the trip with training and fundraising. I was excited to experience other cultures and to participate in God’s redemptive mission abroad.
Our group landed in Grenada and hit the ground running. I can still remember the new sights, sounds, and smells of the island as we weaved our way through winding roads in an old van to the missionary base where we would be staying. I loved the food, I loved the fun, and I loved the people that we met through our outreach ministries and construction projects. For the first couple of days, I felt like my relationship with Jesus was coming alive! I was experiencing a spiritual high of some sort. We visited rural communities on the island where we met residents who were struggling economically. We also visited a bustling port city where we interacted with many different types of people. Everywhere we went, we were warmly received.
After a couple days, though, my teenage hormones must have inevitably kicked in, and my mountaintop experiences began to turn into a deep valley of struggles. I sliced the bottom of my foot on something sharp while I was swimming in the Caribbean with my friends. From that point on, I limped my way through the rest of the mission trip, literally and figuratively. My foot injury slowed me down. We met a person in the marketplace who was trying to swindle us. I noticed several large spiders in our men’s dormitory room, nestled snuggly in their gigantic webs just a few feet away from where I was supposed to sleep on the top bunk. I started getting irritable, and my friends all noticed and started calling me out on it. I tried to pray about it and adjust my mindset, but that didn’t help. God seemed distant, and I was homesick and moody. The things that initially enamored me about the culture in Grenada suddenly started to irritate me. I was deeply troubled and overwhelmed by the signs of need that we saw each day. I didn’t know what was happening, and I just wanted to go home.
Everything came to a head when, about two thirds of the way through our trip, our group carved our way through the sea on a banana boat to visit a tiny island. As we set out to sea, a storm developed and our boat was tossed about in big waves. We had been explicitly told by our leaders to stay inside the indoor cabin of the boat. But I was not getting along with anybody, and I have a bit of an independent streak in me. I snuck out of the indoor cabin, and I went to the very front of the boat by myself. I had a tumultuous storm raging inside of me, and there was something about experiencing the big waves and wind in my face in the front of the boat that resonated with me. I edged my way as far as I could to the front of the boat, peering over the edge and feeling the salty spray on my face as the waves violently splashed.
What happened next is hard to explain because it happened so fast. All that I can say is, an unexpectedly large wave hit the boat, and I went flying up while the front of the boat was going down. I was on a one-way trajectory out of the boat and into the sea. I was helpless, and my young life was flashing before my eyes. Just then, I felt someone grasping me by my ankles and pulling me into the boat. I landed in the boat with a thud, and I turned around to see who had rescued me. It was one of my student ministry leaders from church, Tim. I have always been big and tall my whole life, even in high school, so it was no small accomplishment for Tim to pull me back in the boat when all my momentum was taking me out of the boat. I’m still impressed to this day that he was able to save me.
As we sat there taking everything in, my initial thought was that of gratitude. My mind started to wander, though. Was he going to yell at me? Was he going to send me home from the trip early? Maybe that would have been the merciful thing to do at that point. Was he going to make an example of me in front of the other students about what not to do on a mission trip? Instead, he didn’t choose any of those scenarios. He demonstrated remarkable grace toward me. He said something like, “Let’s go back inside.” It turns out, he had been paying attention to how much I was struggling on the trip, and he had noticed when I went out to the front of the boat. He spent time with me, helping me to unpack why I had done what I had done so that I could learn from it. As he invested in me and helped me to process everything that I was going through, I felt myself starting to come around.
Tim kept a close eye on me for the rest of the trip. He would tell me how much Jesus loves me, and that God had big plans for my life. He became a sage guide who helped me to learn and grow, not only on that trip, but for years to come. He became a trusted person who I could talk to about things. He helped me see the potential that I had. He helped to draw out the best in me and understand my calling from God. A low point in my journey through life in Grenada became the start of a lifetime of adventures navigating across cultures as part of God’s redemptive mission in the world. God has worked through Tim to show up at critical points in my life and in my journey of leadership. We still go on big adventures in different countries around the world. When Tim shows up as a leader, something good always happens.
Leadership matters. Tim is a fine example of a transformational leader because his impact on me led to positive changes in my life and in the lives of people who I have in turn led. In a world that is filled with chaos at times, we need more people to show up in the best possible ways to provide steady guidance through the storms in life. Healthy leadership can lead to transformation in our personal lives and in the organizations and communities where we live, work, and play. In the same way, transactional leadership that is either too passive or overly aggressive can leave a path of destruction in individual lives, organizations, and communities.
Transformational leaders have a strong sense of calling from God to remain committed to relationships with the people that they are leading. These types of leaders are present, physically, spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally, with others. They reflect on complex circumstances and discern ways to influence others that lead to positive change. Instead of lording power over others, they serve others in meaningful ways. They take the time to get to know people and the unique context of each leadership scenario. They seek to understand how the world is increasingly globally interconnected, and they catalyze others to bring about flourishing in families, workplaces, and cities. They speak truth to the powerful and show remarkable grace and mercy to the powerless with equal integrity. Let’s work together to raise more transformational leaders in this generation!
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