NPPN Guest - Post: Pastoral Leadership
It has been some time since my last communication. Over the past three months, I have been helping a church pursue health and renewal, and that work has required much of my focus. Yet in that process I have been reminded again of something I have learned over three decades of pastoral leadership: it takes courage to lead.
Every time I preach, I write the same phrase at the top of my notes: “I am preaching to an audience of One.” I do it to remind myself that ministry is not ultimately about what others say about me, but about what God says. That truth applies to all of life, but it is especially relevant to leadership.
Leadership is not about titles, recognition, or influence. Leadership means stepping into problems as they arise and making decisions that serve the long-term health of the people and the organization—even when those decisions are difficult.
Leadership requires vision. Vision moves people away from the status quo toward an imagined future of what could be. But cultivating that kind of vision requires courage.
When leaders call people toward growth, renewal, and faithfulness, criticism inevitably follows. Vision does not cater to the most emotionally unhealthy voices in the room. Instead, it seeks what is right and healthy — even when that path creates discomfort.
Edwin Friedman, in his widely popular book Failure of Nerve, notes that without the courage to do what is right, any organization will revert to the least healthy voice. In other words, systems naturally follow the loudest or most anxious voices unless a leader has the courage to remain steady. Moses understood this 3,400 years ago.
Scripture shows us this reality clearly in Numbers 16. Moses had already led Israel out of slavery in Egypt. God had used him to confront Pharaoh, guide the people through the Red Sea, and bring them toward the Promised Land. Yet because of Israel’s disobedience, the nation found itself wandering in the wilderness.
Seasons like this test leadership. When people feel stuck between where they were and where they hoped to go, criticism grows louder.
That is exactly what happened with Dathan and Korah, who led a rebellion against Moses. Their movement was not made up of outsiders. It included 250 leaders of Israel, influential men who rallied others to challenge Moses’ leadership.
Their accusation sounded spiritual: “All the congregation is holy… why then do you exalt yourselves?” (Numbers 16:3). But beneath the language was a rejection of God’s leadership order. They even reframed Egypt — the place of slavery and humiliation — as though it had been a land of blessing and abundance. When people resist change, they often rewrite the past and blame leadership for the discomfort of the present.
Moses’ response reveals the heart of faithful leadership. Instead of reacting defensively, he fell facedown before the Lord (Numbers 16:4). Moses understood something every leader must learn: leadership is first accountable to God before it is justified before people.
Over the years, I have seen this pattern play out repeatedly in church leadership. When leaders pursue health and clarity, criticism will come. Sometimes it comes from those committed to maintaining the status quo. Sometimes it comes from sincere people who simply struggle with change.
Healthy leadership listens — but it does not surrender vision to every critical voice. Instead, it steps forward toward what could be, even when others cannot yet see it.
At Apollos Watered, our mission is to help leaders and churches become healthy. In a time such as ours — filled with blame-shifting, distraction, and relational isolation — that mission is more important than ever.
The wilderness seasons of ministry can feel long, but they are often where God refines leaders, clarifies vision, and strengthens conviction.
If you are leading and facing criticism because you are pursuing health and faithfulness, take heart.
Faithful leaders throughout Scripture walked this road before you. Leadership requires courage. It requires humility. And above all, it requires perseverance.
Because in the end, it is not about the crowds.
It is about faithfulness before the Audience of One.
Blessings,
Travis M. Fleming
Founder & Executive Director
Apollos Watered: The Center for Discipleship & Cult
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