Beat the Odds
What My Experience Taught Me About Finishing Well
Few leaders finish well.
In fact, studies show that less than 1 out of 3 leaders finish well.[1]
At some juncture of the journey, many leaders get stuck, take a long detour, or end up driving into a ditch. Some of these stories become very public, but similar stories happen with many leaders we’ve never heard of.
It may be part of your leadership story. It’s certainly part of mine.
I was in my early 40's and at the time, the senior leader of a large congregation in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. From its inception, the church I was pastoring possessed that “golden touch.” Within a few short years we had grown into one of the largest churches in our city. We were known for the passion of our worship, the excellence of our performing arts, and the overall vitality of our spiritual community.
But that once golden touch had waned, and the last few years felt as if we were making bricks without straw. Everything was hard. We experienced one grinding season after another. We would gear up to take one step forward only to take three steps back. One disappointment was followed by yet another. Perseverance became our daily motto and survival became our main mission.
First, we experienced a difficult and depleting building project. With more than a million dollars in cost overruns, and a sudden downturn in the economy, when we moved into our new facility and didn’t experience the expected and needed growth. The dream of having our own facility quickly became a nightmare, and the previous hassles of setting up and tearing down in a high school auditorium every Sunday — for over twenty years — didn’t seem like such a headache anymore.
Then, after being in our new building for only nine months, we experienced a trauma from which we never recovered. On a routine drive to a women’s Bible study, my wife of twenty-five years was killed in a car accident. The final blow was the unraveling of our pastoral team, most of us having served together for almost twenty years.
Now, over twenty years later, I’m delighted to report that I’ve been remarried for sixteen years, and God has restored my ministry in a way I would have never ever dreamed possible. I’m in love with God, my wife, and my family more than ever, and I’m still passionately leaning into my God-given assignment in this season of my life.
There is a proven path to long-lasting leadership. There is a way to finish well.
I want to invite you to download my Ebook, Beat the Odds: A Proven Path to Finishing Well where I tell more of my story, but more importantly, what I learned about walking through the hard seasons of leadership not just surviving, but thriving, living and serving out of your sweet spot.
I also invite you to explore The Legacy Leadership Group website where you’ll find resources for whatever stage of leadership you’re in. And if you don’t know what stage you’re in, take our free assessment to find out.
Living on Purpose,
Ken L. Roberts
[1] References that support only 1 out of 3 leaders finish well: Terry Walling, Stuck (Chico, CA.: Leader Breakthru, 2008), p. 108; Dave Kraft, Leaders Who Last (Wheaton, IL.: Crossway, 2010), p. 20; J. Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader (Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 1988).
